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This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work

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at MJMunoz.com Welcome to Red Panda Report, Episode 25. This time I'm talking about the

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episode Brimstone Alley. Here's the copy written by Greg Taylor.

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A pyromaniac is preying on the slums and tenement buildings of the city, bringing danger and

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misery to the lives of some of its most vulnerable citizens. The police are searching in vain

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for the firebug who holds the city in a grip of terror. But if a certain mass duo is right,

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there may be more to this arson spree than meets the eye. Can even the red panda and

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the flying squirrel withstand the flames of Brimstone Alley?

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Again, that copy was written by Greg Taylor, as was the episode. It originally aired September

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22, 2007. This is the start of Season 3. Every season of Red Panda is only 12 episodes long,

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and there's typically some sort of arc or some sort of overarching narrative for that

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season. I think there's a couple seasons where it's ongoing and they connect much more to

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each other. In this season, in particular, this episode is kind of a palate cleanser.

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It's kind of a fresh start. It shows you something a little bit different. We're not seeing a

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super villain we're seeing instead. You should have listened to this already, but it's a

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wealthy individual who wants to burn down the slums and the tenements so he can build

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a new city, a new Toronto that will last into the future. He wants to have his name on it

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and he wants to profit off of it. He knows who Red Panda is because they have an association

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with each other. They've known each other for a long time because they're both some...

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They're a pair of the city's wealthiest men and one of them dies and one of them lives.

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The fact that there's more Red Panda episodes, I'm guessing you can figure out who that is.

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But anyway, it's an interesting episode because it's a lot more grounded and there's a lot

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more of a serious tone to it, I would say. In some ways, it's less fun and it's more...

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I don't know, a little more real, a little more desperate, a little more gritty almost,

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you could say. A flying squirrel, nobody's breaking anybody's fingers and nobody's beating

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anybody to death or anything like that. But still, it's a grittier episode because it

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really is vile what this guy's doing. I think what really helps ground it is in the beginning

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of the episode, there's this fantastic set of vocal performances and great direction

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and great sound design, really, where there's firefighters putting out a fire in a building

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in one of these places, in one of these slums. And there's a lady who left her children at

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home because it was the 1920s and you could do that sort of thing overnight or for long

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periods of the night, leave your baby home with your son. I think today that sort of

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thing would be frowned upon, but it's a very normal thing for people to have done. And

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she comes home and her building's on fire and there's another guy who lives in the building

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and he says, hey, you police, you firefighters have to put this fire out, otherwise we're

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going to lose our building. And the firefighters say, no, we can't. We basically have to...

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Well, I don't think they decided they're going to abandon the building, but they're not going

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to go inside because they don't want to risk anybody dying to possibly have more corpses

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than just the people who are left in the building. And it's really intense and the performances

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are great. Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel show up and they help out and they end up

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going into the building and there's a boy there. This is one of the guys, one of the

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regular cast members trying to make himself sound youthful. But anyway, there's a boy

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in there and then there's a baby crying and it's the boy and his little sister, little

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baby sibling, and they are rescued and taken out of there. And anyway, it's really intense.

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It's cool. Flying Squirrel puts a harness on, which I don't know if she has extra harnesses

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or if they're talking about something that they have. I don't know if that's part of

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her equipment or if they're talking about something that is there in the house for the

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mom to wear the baby or what, but she puts a harness of some sort on, puts the baby in

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and flies out of there. And we don't know how Red Panda gets out of there, but the gas

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main blows, so the building's gone, so are most of their possessions, but they have people

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survive and this particular family, all of them survive and that's good for them. But

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it takes a lot out of Red Panda and Flying Squirrel and he kind of gives a, you know,

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firefighters are superheroes, don't wear capes kind of statement there, which is kind of

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funny. But you know, there is a great nobility and a great honor in doing something like

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that that saves people's lives. It's funny how it gets played up sometimes, but definitely

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I love the classic vibe of it here. And I thought it was really well done and it's kind

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of funny. I mean, it's a difference of specialties. You know, Red Panda and Flying Squirrel can

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fight super villains, but they can't put out fires so easily. They don't have the equipment

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for it really or the experience versus the firefighters couldn't really take down, you

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know, Mad Monkey. Although I'm sure he'd like it if they tried. Anyway, so yeah, we

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have that part of it. That was really good. That really brought the stakes and it really

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made it like a personal story. Even though we don't see these characters later on, you

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get to hear what's at threat. It's these, you know, the little people, the people who

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live in the slums, their lives are ruined basically by the fires and by what's going

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on with this guy. And we learned that it's this old associate of Red Panda who he hasn't

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seen in five years. And all this guy's doing is he's trying to burn down the city so he

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can buy this part of the city so he can buy all the property for cheaper and rebuild Toronto

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into something bigger, but that he'll profit off of specifically. And he claims to be a

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god and he says, you know, all of the rich people of Toronto are basically gods and everybody

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serves them at their will. And he ends up Red Panda tortures him with his psychic power

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with his hypnosis because the guy says, I know who you are and I'm going to tell and

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you and your little girlfriend are going to die and all this stuff. And he hypnotizes

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him to see what he fears. And he says, I'll make it stop if you confess. And the guy runs

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and he refuses to, he refuses to confess and he dies. And the episode ends with something

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like, what is it? Pandas? You know, and us Brimstone Alley has claimed its last victim

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and that's it. And I like how abrupt the ending was. I like how kind of hardcore the ending

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was. It was very reminiscent of shadow. There's a lot of episodes of the shadow that just

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end with the criminal dying or the bad guy dying in it. And this is reminiscent of that.

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And it was good. It was a lot of fun. It was very effective. Not much safer kitten and

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Red Panda, but I will say something that cause I've read the books. I know that kits, she

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mimics the voice of this lady criminal and she's able to do that because, well, you know,

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what is it? Well, anyway, in one of the books, Red Panda gives her something in her cowl

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that can cast her voice somewhere else. But I think he also gives her a voice changer.

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And I think that's exactly what she's using there, which is pretty darn cool. Either that

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or Red Panda was hypnotizing the guy actively because he was there the whole time to make

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it him hear his criminal associate as opposed to hear the flying squirrels voice. I'm not

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sure how that works. It's one of the two. It's either the technology or it's the hypnotic

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effect. But I like that we get a return of the line. Never tell the bad guys your powers,

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basically. Never explain your powers to the bad guys, which is great. It's a lot of fun.

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It's a great idea and it's something that makes a lot of sense. I like the attitude

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that it's said with here. So anyway, it was a great episode, a great way to start off

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a season. It's nice and clean. There's nothing hanging over us that's going to go on. It's

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just like a solid adventure and it kind of helps to characterize the desperation of Depression

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Era Toronto and how people will do bad for bad reasons, just for money, just for a few

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dollars more, as they've said before in the Red Panda. And it's good. It's good stuff.

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I like rich bad guys and I like rich good guys too, to counter them. Anyway, that's

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all I have to say for now. So please go ahead and subscribe and you'll get weekly Red Panda

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episodes. If you visit MJMunions.com, you can see the show notes and you can see all

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the other work I'm doing. I'm actively working on getting a book published. It's a kids book

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with magical bugs battling monsters. And over at the website pretty soon, you'll be able

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to see the newsletter you can sign up for to know when things are coming out, things

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that you're interested in. I have a short pulp hero story that I will, I think I'll

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publish it on this feed and I'll link to it in the show notes. So you can check that out

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and see what I do with my own character who hands justice to people in alleyways. Anyway,

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until next time folks, take care, be well, and hold high the lamp of justice.

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I hope you enjoyed that. Subscribe to keep up with me. Like and share to help me reach

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more people like you and go to MJMunoz.com to find your next favorite thing. And don't

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forget to let your voice be heard. Stories are always better when you're part of the

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conversation. Until next time, be well. This is MJ signing out. This has been a Story Over

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Everything production.