1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,800 This is MJ, I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work at MJMunoz.com. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:11,840 Welcome to Red Panda Adventures number six, or rather Red Panda Report number six, 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:18,160 Fame Monster, where I will be analyzing and discussing Red Panda Adventures number six. 4 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:24,320 And to start it off, I'll let you know that the episode is titled Death Danced at Midnight, 5 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:30,240 and that it originally aired or was released on December 24th, 2005, which is a while ago. 6 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:35,360 It was written and directed by Greg Taylor. This is episode six, of course, of season one, 7 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:40,800 which has 12 episodes, and the synopsis for the episode goes like this. Will Holland was sentenced 8 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:46,240 to die for his crimes. That should have been the end of the story. But one year later, the jurors 9 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:52,160 that condemned him are sharing his fate one by one. With the aid of a new ally, the Red Panda 10 00:00:52,160 --> 00:01:00,000 and the Flying Squirrel must learn how Death Danced at Midnight. And yeah, this was a pretty 11 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,560 good episode. Pretty, oh no, I was just saying it's pretty straightforward, but there's a twist. It's 12 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:09,200 one major twist, and interestingly enough, oh, I didn't mention that yet, but I'll mention it 13 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:14,960 when I get to the point, when I get to that part rather. There wasn't anything I really disliked 14 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:20,640 in this episode, so I shall skip over trying to force myself to dislike something and just talk 15 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:26,560 about the things I liked. One of which was Kit coping with failure. So if you've listened to 16 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:31,680 the episode, which you should by now, and if you haven't, shame on you and go listen to it. 17 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:42,480 Kit really messes things up, sort of. She very much trusts the asset, the lead, the new ally 18 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:52,800 mentioned in the copy for this episode, and she almost allows him to keep the murder spree going. 19 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,680 It's interesting that she feels so guilty over that, and it's interesting that she 20 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:06,400 fails so badly. What I really like about it is that at one point in the episode, she 21 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:11,920 comforts this same ally who is upset with his own failure, which is orchestrated and manufactured, 22 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:17,760 of course, though they do not know that yet, the terrific Two-Smooth Toronto, but they learn it 23 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:24,960 later, and she comforts him and tries to help him know that it's okay, everybody makes these 24 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:29,840 mistakes, and that he has to buck up and keep moving and do the best he can for the most people. 25 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:38,080 By the end of the episode, Red Panda uses that on her, slash against her, and I think that's a 26 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:47,120 great thing, because what she said to the true culprit is true, and they're wise words, and 27 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:54,160 hearing them quoted back at her was one, good. Two, a good moment for the characters, for Red 28 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,920 Panda and Flying Squirrel, and three, they got to make a really fun joke about how quotable she is, 29 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:06,080 and Taylor, as Red Panda, does this great thing where he kind of affects her accent, and that was 30 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:11,760 a lot of fun. But yeah, what she said about not being smart enough, strong enough, lucky enough, 31 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:16,560 whatever, or fast enough, I think was one of them too, was good, because, you know, life isn't 32 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:22,720 perfect, and of course this is a fictional life, but still it has the very similitude of Red Panda 33 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:29,040 and it has the very similitude, which makes it all that much more rich and enjoyable, I think. 34 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:44,640 I like that there is kind of this cat and mouse aspect to the episode where they are trying to 35 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:52,000 catch this serial killer who is striking again, and they're finding that they're always kind of 36 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,720 one step behind him, and their efforts are frustrated, and that's interesting because, 37 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:02,880 like I said, nobody's perfect, and despite the fact that this show goes on for 120 episodes, 38 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:08,160 spoilers, and, you know, Red Panda and Flying Squirrel live through all of them, spoilers again, 39 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:17,040 it, there wouldn't be very good stakes and very good drama if they always won every fight 40 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:26,560 unequivocally. So having their foe out match them, outwit them in some way, is really good, 41 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:31,520 and it raises, like I said, the stakes, and makes things a lot more interesting, so I appreciate 42 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:36,240 that Taylor was able to do that in this, and the way he did it was, I think, quite clever, 43 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:44,800 and one of the ways that he does that is that the killer who was executed about a year ago, 44 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:51,040 his juror, or his jury, rather, is being killed, and the papers claim that it's a ghost, that it's 45 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:56,080 the ghost of, what is his name, Will, Will Holland. The ghost of Will Holland is coming back. Turns 46 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:02,560 out he has a twin brother who assumes an identical twin, and he at one point gets framed up for doing 47 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:08,800 the murders as vengeance for his brother who he had falsely testified for, he falsified evidence, 48 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:14,960 and other things, and it was pretty interesting that that was a route that we were going to go, 49 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:19,520 and honestly, I listened to it twice, not in a row, but I listened to it twice in succession, 50 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,480 and even the second time I listened to it, I thought, I'm actually convinced that the twin 51 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:30,640 could be the killer, and what a great gag that is, what a great idea that is for it to turn out that 52 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:35,920 this guy who's come back from the grave to effect his revenge on the jurors who got him executed for 53 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:44,640 his serial murder spree, is able to do that because it's not really him, it's not really the ghost, 54 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:50,240 it's his brother, and at this point in the world of Red Panda, we don't know whether or not there 55 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:56,240 are ghosts and goblins and demons and things like that, and there's a healthy skepticism from Red 56 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:03,040 Panda himself about this ghost of Holland, and it gets played with in an interesting way here, 57 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:07,360 and it turns out that it's not a ghost, but there's a plausible explanation for all of it, 58 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,760 and having the twin as an option for that, even though he turned out to be Red Herring, 59 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:21,040 is very satisfying. Okay, now, I'm going to spoil it for you a little bit, but it turns out that the 60 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:27,360 contact that they have is a newspaperman, and he is actually the villain of the episode, and he's 61 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:34,720 making this all happen for himself so that he can reclaim his glory and keep his byline, I guess, 62 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:41,040 above the fold. He wants to be a headliner daily, like he was back during the Holland murder trial, 63 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:47,600 or serial murder trial, I should say, and he becomes warped by that, and that's pretty interesting 64 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:52,480 that that would happen to him. I forgot a key thing earlier, but it's okay. 65 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:59,040 Anyway, so he becomes warped and twisted by his desire to keep his name in the headlines, 66 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:05,600 and it plays a pretty interesting part in the story. It's his motivation, basically, but 67 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,440 there's a statement, and I wonder if you've ever heard this, that the media, the news media, is 68 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:17,760 factual but not truthful, and that they have been called the enemy of the people, at least in the 69 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:23,840 United States of America. And there was one day, at least we think, when journalists were hardworking 70 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:29,520 people trying to get the truth out for, you know, Joe Citizen, so that he and she could make the 71 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:34,640 right decisions and be fully informed. But then again, as we've seen even in the body of this 72 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:41,440 episode, Red Panda tries to weaponize the press, and we have the culprit, who's the reporter, 73 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:46,480 weaponizing the press as well, and using it to keep his murder spree, and he's trying to get 74 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:52,480 it to keep his murder spree going, and that's pretty interesting stuff. I'm going to move on 75 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:58,960 from there, and basically I've kind of already talked about Holland's ghost. It's an interesting 76 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:03,440 concept that gets brought up, but it's debunked. It's not actually a ghost or specter or spook. 77 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:10,160 It's just a man who has lost touch with reality, a man who, through his own twisted logic, has 78 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:19,840 decided to commit serial murder for the fame, basically. And this desire for fame, this desire 79 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:25,600 to have that thrill of being so popular and so acclaimed, has warped him until it's turned him 80 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:32,720 into a monster, the very type of monster that he got famous documenting in the first place, which is 81 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:40,640 an interesting story. I don't have much else to say about him. He had no powers. He had, I don't 82 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,480 know how he gained entry into any of these people's homes in order to murder them. I don't know any of 83 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,720 those things, and it's all glossed over, which I find clever and interesting on the writing aspect 84 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:55,280 of it, but also it's interesting how in the moment, the way it's written, it didn't really matter, 85 00:08:55,280 --> 00:09:01,360 and it definitely gets a buy or a pass, and I like that. I want to emulate that kind of writing. 86 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:06,320 It's good, I think. There are a few lore points that I will go through quickly, and then I'm going 87 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:12,720 to go ahead and wrap up the episode. Like I said, I did enjoy the episode overall, so there's 88 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:20,640 nothing to complain about or, you know, attack it over. So the first thing, well actually the last 89 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:24,880 thing that I have on my list is that Red Panda is apparently not a good driver, and that's pretty 90 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:29,680 funny. He's so good at all these other things, but not driving. Driving is not his strong suit, and 91 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:36,080 that's funny, and I can relate. So the Masked Phantom apparently was a mystery man operating 92 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:41,360 sometime before Red Panda started his career, I would assume in Toronto, partly because he's 93 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:50,960 mentioned by this fellow from the Sentinel, and that he was mentioned, it basically sounded like 94 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:54,960 he was in the area, and Red Panda could have known him because of him being in Toronto, and this 95 00:09:54,960 --> 00:10:00,880 reporter being from Toronto knew of this Masked Phantom. So that's cool. I like to, well anyway, 96 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,480 that's just neat to think about that there were other mystery men before Red Panda, which makes 97 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:09,680 sense he wouldn't be the first one, and it's kind of cool to get any clue about those who came before 98 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:15,760 him. And who knows, maybe the Masked Phantom will show up in an episode of Red Panda when things are 99 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:20,560 dire. Maybe he'll come back and give some assistance to help protect the city that he once fought for. 100 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:26,560 Next thing is Jack Peters reports for the Sentinel, or he does that first of all, which is the paper 101 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:33,600 that this fellow that they're working with is also a newspaperman at, and he was kidnapped as part of 102 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:39,840 a plan to use him to get to the Red Panda, which is pretty cool. Which is pretty cool. Not good for 103 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:44,400 him, but good for the story and the drama telling, right? Apparently there's another reporter, Bailey, 104 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:51,040 who works for the Sentinel, and he's a contact for them there and helps them. They give him scoops on 105 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:56,240 stories and he plants information and things like that for him. And that's the last little bit of 106 00:10:56,240 --> 00:11:01,120 lore here that Red Panda uses his newspaper contacts to plant useful information in the papers from 107 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:07,120 time to time. And again, that's interesting in the context of everything that was going on in this 108 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:12,480 episode and with the story and this reporter who turned heel, who turned into a villain and a 109 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:19,440 murderer. So anyway, that was all. Check out all my other work on the website. You can find the links 110 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:27,440 to everything in the show notes, and I would appreciate you checking that out. I have my own 111 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,520 superhero universe in mind, which is part of the reason I'm going through Red Panda like this, 112 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:39,120 and doing these reports so that I can learn the craft, because I think Taylor did a masterful job. 113 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:46,080 And I'd like to emulate him and exceed his performance, his achievement with this show, 114 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:52,000 or you know, in what he did telling the story of the Red Panda. And anyway, I don't know that I will 115 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:55,600 do that, but that's my aspiration, and I'm working on it. I'm studying the material in order to do 116 00:11:55,600 --> 00:12:00,720 that. So look forward to my superhero writing, which you can find on the website on MJMunoz.com. 117 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:08,240 And I'm going to go ahead and call it a night for now. So thank you very much for listening. 118 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,920 And until next time, be well. This is MJ signing out.