This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Welcome to Red Panda Report.
Buckle up for two-fisted pulp action as I talk about the terrific Tuislem of Toronto.
Red Panda Report, Episode 28, will be covering Red Panda Adventures, Episode 28. Here is
the copy written and directed by Greg Taylor, who writes and directs the episodes of Red
Panda and starts with the voice of that marvelous masked mystery man.
If you play the game long enough, it is only a matter of time before others know your moves
as well as you know theirs. But when just such an old foe joins forces with a new organization,
the game is rigged against the Red Panda before it begins. When they begin taking pieces off
the board, will our heroes risk everything to get them back? Will either of them survive
the opening gambit?
Okay, so sorry, I got thrown off because that one had a typo in it, which is very rare. Greg
Taylor is usually tremendously on point, but in this instance, he had a little bit of a
faux pas. Not that I want to highlight and mock and, I don't know, badmouth, that's not
the kind of person I want to be in general at all. But also, I don't like doing that
as far as my coverage of things is concerned because I'd rather talk about what I like
about something and what the strengths of it are rather than the weaknesses. Although
if the weaknesses present themselves as an issue to be discussed, then they will be discussed.
Anyway, so yeah, there was a little bit of a typo there which threw off my performance.
Also, yeah, things are a little bit weird right now, and that's okay. I'm making some
adjustments, some micro adjustments to make sure I'm getting everything done the way I
need to get it done and when I need to get it done and such, and I'm being vague on purpose.
Anyway, on with the show. So what are my thoughts about this episode of The Opening Gambit?
I like it a lot. It's very interesting. The thing that happens, probably that's the biggest
deal is, well, there's a couple things that are all a big deal. One, one of the agents
of the Red Panda gets abducted by a criminal organization, specifically by Kid Chaos who's
taking point on this operation. For, did they say the name of it? It's just the syndicate
for now is what it's called. Anyway, so Red Panda takes point, Kid Chaos, an enemy of
the Red Panda takes point on this, and we don't know much about Kid Chaos because he's
only been mentioned in passing once before when Red Panda, when Flying Squirrel mentioned
the fact that Red Panda went back in time to battle him along with a super team of sorts,
which could have been the Justice League. No, not the Justice League, the Justice Team.
I can't remember what they call them, but they're a New York based superhero team that's
supposed to be kind of like an homage to the Golden Age. Justice League of America, I think,
is the idea. Anyway, I don't quite remember everything about them. They have a, is it
Miracle Max or Miniature Max? Anyway, they have a guy named Max who can shrink himself
to Molecule Max. That's his name. He can shrink himself down to the size of a, you guessed
it. You had it right on the first try, a molecule. Anyway, so yeah, he teamed up with Molecule
Max and the other members of his Justice Society. Is that what it could be? Justice Society
of America? I don't remember what it's called now, but anyway, that's who he teamed up with.
Thanks for mentioning it. Maybe, I don't know, six episodes or so ago. And here we get to
see the actual first time that they have been together. When would it have been? It would
have been when they dealt with somebody who was doing time travel and Red Panda said he
didn't believe in time travel. And maybe it was the Baboon McSmoothie episode. Anyway,
whatever, it doesn't matter. That's a distraction. Anyway, this one, this one was a lot of fun
and and yet I still had a problem with it, which is this, that for some reason, despite
the fantastic job of writing that he does, and by the way, I'm talking about Red Panda
for those who have missed it, those who have forgotten, I'm talking about Red Panda and
I'm listening to it again. And this is the third or fourth time. It's probably my, this
might be my fourth complete time of listening through the entire series. Why am I going
back to it again? Because it's that darn good. And what do I mean by it's that darn good?
One, it's, it tells basically one single story. And it does it all from Taylor's perspective
alone over 120 episodes plus the books. There's five books, I think. Pirate of Peril, Android
Assassins, Mindmaster. I can't think of the other one. I think it's just four books, maybe.
Anyway, still excellent books. Anyway, yeah, so here's the thing, you could buy the books.
I think they're all out of print now. But Taylor has been kind enough to share the episodes
on the Dakota Ring feed. So if you want to check those out, you can look for them and
find them there. They're excellent. And the books are really, really good. So I mean,
this guy's a very talented writer. And his humor is typically on point. The action, the
drama, it's all there. And also, you know, it's done in the audio, audio drama format,
and it's excellently executed. And it's all very well crafted, except for this episode,
he had the he's right there. Or he's right behind me. Isn't he gag? Sated once, clearly.
Like, plainly stated in that exact language. Perhaps, or once for sure, perhaps twice.
And there was somebody behind somebody. And it was a dramatic turn or a comedic turn or
ironic turn or whatever, like four or five times in the episode. And I thought that was
a little strange. I thought it was a little strange. I thought it was a little not lowbrow,
but just kind of beneath Taylor's level of skill. And I was surprised that it, you know,
broke out that way, that it happened that way. It was strange to see him relying on
that. I don't know. I don't want to be unkind. But it does feel a little bit as if he was
relying on that construction, that joke that I don't know what you call it. Could that
be a trope? I guess that you could call that a trope. I was gonna say leitmotif, but it's
not really a leitmotif either. I guess it would be a trope. That's what I would have
to call it. And it's a trope that I very much dislike. It's something I've, it's a trope
I've disliked since I was a kid. And I don't get it. And I don't understand why people
think it's funny at all. And yeah, I'm, I'm surprised that Taylor used it so liberally
in this episode. Switching gears to be more positive and talk about something that Taylor
didn't use liberally. Kid Chaos. This is his fifth appearance as far as the story is concerned.
He's, this is his first appearance in an actual episode. There was one other mention in this
is his second mention, but first appearance, but it's his fifth encounter, let's call it
with red panda and flying squirrel. And I'm pretty sure, no, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah. They
make reference to, there's banter and references to their history with each other. And that's
what's being referred to in the copy of, you know, knowing each other's moves so well.
So this is again, their fifth encounter and Kid Chaos is a delightful character. He's
very entertaining and I don't know how much he appears in the future. I'm going to say
at least two other times, if not three other times, he is featured heavily in one of the
books and he's fantastic. Really is really truly is a wonderful character to spend some
time with. And yeah, he's really enjoyable. And I very much enjoyed, well, yeah, as you
can guess, as you can guess, I very much enjoyed his, him as a character. And it's a lot of
fun. I can't tell if he's supposed to be a joker type of character or if he's supposed
to be somebody else. And I don't know who that would be because I don't have enough
knowledge of the pulps and I don't have enough knowledge of like a wide gamut of superhero
rogues galleries. And I don't know, even though Batman is based on the shadow, I don't know
that his rogues galleries based on the shadows rogues gallery and if there's any crisscross
or any overlap between them or not. I know. Well, yeah, sorry. I'm, I was just about
to start flexing for no good reason. So I will not do that. And instead I will say,
I don't know who could cast this was to be based off of or if he's an entirely original
character, but he's definitely a very well executed character regardless. I want to divert
real quick before I get out of here and say that I want to tick note of or make note of
some special things that happened with the characters in the world of the red Panda.
We get to see that, you know, this is the first time ever. So many agents have been
joined together. We get to see Harry Kelly making some career advancement, you could
call it in the red pandas organization, which is super cool. Very interesting to see that
sort of thing happen over the course of the series. We get to see stuff happen with Spiro
like his mind gets wiped for a little while based on a post-hypnotic suggestion that red
Panda left him as a safeguard against people doing this, you know, you know, bad people
doing this very, this very thing using one of these agents against them. And then we
see his memory restored, which is really cool. We get no clear hints of who this syndicate
is, but the way the guy talks, he's got like this, I don't know, almost religious fervor
or something about, I don't know, purifying the streets with criminal activity or whatnot.
So I think this may be a hint that this is something dealing with the Nazis, the Nazis,
the Germans, you know, it's the Nazis in red Panda. That's, that's what he ends up dealing
with a lot. So it very well could be that, but I'm not 100% sure. But it is nice that
it is setting up an overarching plot. And we also get to see featured a classic gag,
which is the red Panda using disguise makeup on himself. I don't, I feel like this is something
the shadow does as well. And yeah, I feel like this is something the shadow does as
well. And I don't know. There's been at least an episode per season where red Panda has
done it, but we've also heard mention of him doing it in the past. Like in the episode
with the circus family, he mentioned that he used a disguise and, you know, he uses
makeup disguising skills on himself to make himself look like a different person. And
they knew he wasn't really who he said he was and he wouldn't give them a name. So he
just kept using that face for them, that disguise for them. And, you know, whatever it worked.
There's the history of it and that's a historical mention of it. And we get to see it actively
used a few other times, which is a lot of fun. Overall, the episode was a lot of fun.
It's episode 28. So we're one quarter into season three, each season being 12 episodes.
And we don't really know where the season's going just yet, but we're, I guess, starting
to feel the development of this plot happening, this, this overriding overarching plot of
something's happening, something's trying to get at the red Panda and the flying squirrel.
And we need to figure out who or what that entity, that organization is. And I would
think that the rest of the season should be us unraveling, seeing red Panda and flying
squirrel unravel the syndicate. But let's see what happens next time.
Leave your thoughts, comments, questions. I would love to hear feedback from you and
talk about this episode. And please remember to check out Karuv, Midnight Angel, my short
story that is very much pulp and red Panda inspired. And it's not going to take long
to read. In fact, you can listen to me read it to you if you don't, if you like, just
by following the link in the show notes. I hope you enjoyed that. Like, share and subscribe.
I invite you to comment, ask questions and share your thoughts with me. It's always more
fun when you're part of the conversation until next time. Be well and hold high the lamp
of justice. Visit MJMunoz.com for more of my work and help me build up the Fortress
fiction.