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 twosome of Toronto.
Red Panda Adventures, episode 32 is an interesting one. Here's the copy, written by Greg Taylor,
the writer and director of The Red Panda, and also the voice of The Red Panda. Here
we go.
With that pompous pirate of the pen known only as the poet on the loose, it was only
a matter of time before clues in couplet form started sprouting up all over the city, each
promising new crime, more fiendish than the last. But Baxter's Law says when the goony
birds start changing their tune, there's usually something else going on. Will the Red Panda
find the key to the villainous verse in time, or will the city and its mass protectors fall
before the terrible two?
So this episode involves the poet, and it actually involves the poet. Sorry, this episode
was released March 22, 2008, and it's episode, I can't remember which, of season three. So
anyway, we're a good deal through season three. Oh, it's pretty close to the end. And I didn't
realize that. How interesting. Oh no, it's somewhere in the middle. Anyway, doesn't matter.
Right now I want to talk about what was so good, what was so interesting about this episode.
It does involve the poet, but it also involves another criminal, actually two other criminals.
And it's zany. And it's probably one of the funnier episodes there is, at least the interactions
towards the end. There's a little bit of the silliness of the humor, in particular this
one joke of you just came out right out and told him from Kit or from Flying Squirrel.
It fell a little bit flat for me, but I think the actress' performance closer to another
Whindon Taylor, her performance was good enough to, she made it work. I mean, I'm not sure
what else Taylor could have done at that point with the line as far as what he wrote, but
she definitely knocked it out of the park and made it sing, even though in ordinary
circumstances I would have been frustrated with that line or the way that was written.
Anyway, I'll get to the point because I've got to make this quick. I really liked this
episode. It was a lot of fun. And in this one we learn apparently that the Mad Monkey
is kind of hunky because Jack Rabbit has fallen in love with him and they are the terrible
two that are spoken of in the title. Yeah, they are the eponymous terrible two of this
episode and the Mad Monkey has this obsession, this mania where he wants to be the Red Panda's
rival and he sees himself as this great equal of Red Panda. And it's interesting because
he has this hypnotic power over monkeys, over, I don't know, I can't remember monkeys or
apes, but baboons specifically are what he uses for the most part, including Beauregard,
his most faithful and oldest simian partner or whatever you want to call him. I was trying
to come up with an alliteration, but I couldn't. Simian sympathizer? Maybe that works. Anyway,
Beauregard kind of gets to play the third wheel between Jack Rabbit and Mad Monkey when she's
trying to put her moves on him basically. And it's funny because he is unaware of what
her intentions are. He doesn't understand what's going on. And when she's trying to
seduce him, he's like, oh, you better put a rope on her so you're going to catch cold,
which is hilarious. And it's really interesting because there's this parallel between Kit
and Red Panda and Jack Rabbit and Mad Monkey. And I don't know, it's interesting on a story
level, it's interesting that idea of this romance blossoming between them and the fact
that this lady in both cases is working with this guy because she's in love with him, wants
to get closer to him. And it's just kind of funny how you have that parallel going on
there. And it doesn't feel like a cheap parallel. It feels, I don't know, it feels significant.
It feels kind of poignant. It feels like, it feels good. It feels like thematically
resonant, or not thematically resonant, but it just, it feels real and it feels resonant
and it's fun because it gives them one more way to relate to each other that Jack Rabbit
doesn't realize. And we get to see way more clearly that Kit, you know, based on the Red
Squirrel episode before and based on this, that there's definitely a potential for the
two of them to end up together. And if they don't, that her relationship with Red Panda
as co-workers or whatever will have such a deep impact on her that it's going to definitely
affect her in such a strong way that she'll have a granddaughter, a great-granddaughter,
or whatever, who will become somebody who learns hypnosis and becomes a crime fighter
and takes inspiration from the Red Panda as well as the Flying Squirrel. And that's pretty
interesting. I like when it's seeding. I like this relationship. At the end of it,
the poet does show up and he shows up because the verses that Bad Runky is using are so
bad that it's obvious that it's not the poet and he apparently was doing that because he
knew that the Red Panda would know that it wasn't actually the poet but he didn't think
the poet would get involved. Red Panda was sure that the poet would get involved and
he ends up coming in and causing problems. But then Jack Rabbit basically gives herself
up because she loves Mad Monkey and she doesn't want him going to jail. And then she declares
that to him and then he gives himself up and he goes to jail. And also the poet went to
jail on purpose. He surrendered himself so that he could clear his name and let people
know, let the public know that he wasn't a terrible poet and that the poetry that Mad
Monkey was writing for him wasn't actually his. So it's very interesting. It's like playing
on his vanities. It's playing on the bizarre relationship between these villains and how
it kind of parallels the relationship between Red Panda and Flying Squirrel and how oblivious
he is to her. And it was a lot of fun and it's just like, I don't know, he's a... I
put a little title card on this episode on the thumbnail for YouTube that says, Manic
Monkey Dream Boat. Because apparently Mad Monkey is just so alluring and so attractive
to Jack Rabbit that she's falling for him and she's in love with him and she'll do anything,
even go to jail. And when he finally hears what her feelings are for him, he's smitten
and he falls in love and oh my love. Or we'll go out handcuffing, handcuff our heads held
high. Nothing can separate us because of our love or whatever. And it's just really funny
how that turns out. It's a funny thing to do with the villains and it also, you know,
it kind of makes you hopeful that something similar is going to happen with Red Panda
and Flying Squirrel, if you're like me. If you don't like them as a couple, that's okay
too. But that's how it makes me feel. And it was a lot of fun. It was a funny episode
and there was a lot of cute stuff going on in it. And, you know, a lot more laying groundwork
for the future. And I think we'll see a return of the Jack Rabbit and Mad Monkey pairing.
I actually know that we will. But I think we will. It feels like we will and it feels
like it should be interesting. And who knows what will happen? Who knows what will happen?
Let me know what you thought of this episode if you checked it out. And if you haven't,
you should. You should definitely check it out. It's a fantastic episode, fantastic show.
And that's it for now. Check out all the other stuff I'm doing. On the Fortress Fiction channel,
I'm covering some manga now. Kamuro, which is a really cool, interesting manga. It's
fantasy with these demi-humans or demi-beings. They're like part animal, part beast, part
animal, part human. And they have this whole society, this world that's dying. And then
this human with like just like a dragon hand and some other stuff on him emerges from this
egg. And he might be the saviour of the world. It's written by Akira Himekawa, who is the
manga team who did the 10 volumes of the Zelda manga, generally speaking. And then like the
11 or 12 volume, Twilight Princess, Zelda, the Twilight Princess manga. So you should
definitely check that out. The art is stunning. It's beautiful. It's amazing. I hope the story
is going to be an epic family-friendly fantasy. That's what it feels like it's going to be.
And I would absolutely love that. Also, I think erroneously on Red Panda Report, I recently
was talking about Bob Kane and Bill Finger. I only mentioned Bill Finger and I mentioned
Bill Finger as the bad guy. Bob Kane is the guy who didn't contribute as much to the Batman
mythos as he could have and took a lot of credit for it. Bill Finger was actually the
stronger partner and the more creative partner in that relationship on Batman. You can look
up Bill Finger and Bob Kane and how they relate to Batman and see who you like better basically.
You investigate yourself and figure out who you like better in that relationship and that
creative partnership.
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.