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This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. Welcome to Red Panda Report.

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Buckle up for two-fisted pulp action as I talk about the terrific twosome of Toronto.

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Red Panda Adventures, episode 32 is an interesting one. Here's the copy, written by Greg Taylor,

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the writer and director of The Red Panda, and also the voice of The Red Panda. Here

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we go.

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With that pompous pirate of the pen known only as the poet on the loose, it was only

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a matter of time before clues in couplet form started sprouting up all over the city, each

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promising new crime, more fiendish than the last. But Baxter's Law says when the goony

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birds start changing their tune, there's usually something else going on. Will the Red Panda

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find the key to the villainous verse in time, or will the city and its mass protectors fall

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before the terrible two?

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So this episode involves the poet, and it actually involves the poet. Sorry, this episode

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was released March 22, 2008, and it's episode, I can't remember which, of season three. So

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anyway, we're a good deal through season three. Oh, it's pretty close to the end. And I didn't

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realize that. How interesting. Oh no, it's somewhere in the middle. Anyway, doesn't matter.

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Right now I want to talk about what was so good, what was so interesting about this episode.

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It does involve the poet, but it also involves another criminal, actually two other criminals.

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And it's zany. And it's probably one of the funnier episodes there is, at least the interactions

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towards the end. There's a little bit of the silliness of the humor, in particular this

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one joke of you just came out right out and told him from Kit or from Flying Squirrel.

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It fell a little bit flat for me, but I think the actress' performance closer to another

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Whindon Taylor, her performance was good enough to, she made it work. I mean, I'm not sure

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what else Taylor could have done at that point with the line as far as what he wrote, but

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she definitely knocked it out of the park and made it sing, even though in ordinary

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circumstances I would have been frustrated with that line or the way that was written.

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Anyway, I'll get to the point because I've got to make this quick. I really liked this

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episode. It was a lot of fun. And in this one we learn apparently that the Mad Monkey

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is kind of hunky because Jack Rabbit has fallen in love with him and they are the terrible

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two that are spoken of in the title. Yeah, they are the eponymous terrible two of this

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episode and the Mad Monkey has this obsession, this mania where he wants to be the Red Panda's

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rival and he sees himself as this great equal of Red Panda. And it's interesting because

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he has this hypnotic power over monkeys, over, I don't know, I can't remember monkeys or

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apes, but baboons specifically are what he uses for the most part, including Beauregard,

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his most faithful and oldest simian partner or whatever you want to call him. I was trying

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to come up with an alliteration, but I couldn't. Simian sympathizer? Maybe that works. Anyway,

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Beauregard kind of gets to play the third wheel between Jack Rabbit and Mad Monkey when she's

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trying to put her moves on him basically. And it's funny because he is unaware of what

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her intentions are. He doesn't understand what's going on. And when she's trying to

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seduce him, he's like, oh, you better put a rope on her so you're going to catch cold,

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which is hilarious. And it's really interesting because there's this parallel between Kit

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and Red Panda and Jack Rabbit and Mad Monkey. And I don't know, it's interesting on a story

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level, it's interesting that idea of this romance blossoming between them and the fact

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that this lady in both cases is working with this guy because she's in love with him, wants

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to get closer to him. And it's just kind of funny how you have that parallel going on

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there. And it doesn't feel like a cheap parallel. It feels, I don't know, it feels significant.

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It feels kind of poignant. It feels like, it feels good. It feels like thematically

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resonant, or not thematically resonant, but it just, it feels real and it feels resonant

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and it's fun because it gives them one more way to relate to each other that Jack Rabbit

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doesn't realize. And we get to see way more clearly that Kit, you know, based on the Red

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Squirrel episode before and based on this, that there's definitely a potential for the

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two of them to end up together. And if they don't, that her relationship with Red Panda

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as co-workers or whatever will have such a deep impact on her that it's going to definitely

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affect her in such a strong way that she'll have a granddaughter, a great-granddaughter,

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or whatever, who will become somebody who learns hypnosis and becomes a crime fighter

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and takes inspiration from the Red Panda as well as the Flying Squirrel. And that's pretty

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interesting. I like when it's seeding. I like this relationship. At the end of it,

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the poet does show up and he shows up because the verses that Bad Runky is using are so

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bad that it's obvious that it's not the poet and he apparently was doing that because he

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knew that the Red Panda would know that it wasn't actually the poet but he didn't think

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the poet would get involved. Red Panda was sure that the poet would get involved and

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he ends up coming in and causing problems. But then Jack Rabbit basically gives herself

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up because she loves Mad Monkey and she doesn't want him going to jail. And then she declares

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that to him and then he gives himself up and he goes to jail. And also the poet went to

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jail on purpose. He surrendered himself so that he could clear his name and let people

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know, let the public know that he wasn't a terrible poet and that the poetry that Mad

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Monkey was writing for him wasn't actually his. So it's very interesting. It's like playing

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on his vanities. It's playing on the bizarre relationship between these villains and how

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it kind of parallels the relationship between Red Panda and Flying Squirrel and how oblivious

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he is to her. And it was a lot of fun and it's just like, I don't know, he's a... I

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put a little title card on this episode on the thumbnail for YouTube that says, Manic

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Monkey Dream Boat. Because apparently Mad Monkey is just so alluring and so attractive

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to Jack Rabbit that she's falling for him and she's in love with him and she'll do anything,

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even go to jail. And when he finally hears what her feelings are for him, he's smitten

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and he falls in love and oh my love. Or we'll go out handcuffing, handcuff our heads held

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high. Nothing can separate us because of our love or whatever. And it's just really funny

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how that turns out. It's a funny thing to do with the villains and it also, you know,

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it kind of makes you hopeful that something similar is going to happen with Red Panda

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and Flying Squirrel, if you're like me. If you don't like them as a couple, that's okay

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too. But that's how it makes me feel. And it was a lot of fun. It was a funny episode

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and there was a lot of cute stuff going on in it. And, you know, a lot more laying groundwork

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for the future. And I think we'll see a return of the Jack Rabbit and Mad Monkey pairing.

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I actually know that we will. But I think we will. It feels like we will and it feels

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like it should be interesting. And who knows what will happen? Who knows what will happen?

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Let me know what you thought of this episode if you checked it out. And if you haven't,

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you should. You should definitely check it out. It's a fantastic episode, fantastic show.

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And that's it for now. Check out all the other stuff I'm doing. On the Fortress Fiction channel,

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I'm covering some manga now. Kamuro, which is a really cool, interesting manga. It's

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fantasy with these demi-humans or demi-beings. They're like part animal, part beast, part

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animal, part human. And they have this whole society, this world that's dying. And then

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this human with like just like a dragon hand and some other stuff on him emerges from this

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egg. And he might be the saviour of the world. It's written by Akira Himekawa, who is the

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manga team who did the 10 volumes of the Zelda manga, generally speaking. And then like the

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11 or 12 volume, Twilight Princess, Zelda, the Twilight Princess manga. So you should

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definitely check that out. The art is stunning. It's beautiful. It's amazing. I hope the story

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is going to be an epic family-friendly fantasy. That's what it feels like it's going to be.

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And I would absolutely love that. Also, I think erroneously on Red Panda Report, I recently

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was talking about Bob Kane and Bill Finger. I only mentioned Bill Finger and I mentioned

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Bill Finger as the bad guy. Bob Kane is the guy who didn't contribute as much to the Batman

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mythos as he could have and took a lot of credit for it. Bill Finger was actually the

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stronger partner and the more creative partner in that relationship on Batman. You can look

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up Bill Finger and Bob Kane and how they relate to Batman and see who you like better basically.

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You investigate yourself and figure out who you like better in that relationship and that

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creative partnership.

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I hope you enjoyed that. Like, share and subscribe. I invite you to comment, ask questions and

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share your thoughts with me. It's always more fun when you're part of the conversation.

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Until next time, be well and hold high the lamp of justice. Visit MJMunoz.com for more

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of my work and help me build up the Fortress fiction.