#It seems a bit iffy but not like in an egregious way so far

[lizardgimpking]

Comic Review: Predator #1-6 (Marvel)

When the inevitable, but all the same slightly frustrating news came that Marvel Comics were to gain the comic book licenses to both ‘Alien’ and ‘Predator’, post 20th Century/Disney merger, in the process taking it out of the hands of Dark Horse, who’d been shepherding both franchises and their combined crossover franchise since the 1980s, I decided I was going to buy the first ‘run’ of each comic. I’m a big fan of both franchises, and having an #1 for the new runs seemed like a fun idea. Now, I don’t normally buy comics as individual issues, if I’m interested in a comic series I’ll wait until the trade paperback releases, as it’s both the better and cheaper way to digest these stories. But I made an exception for these, because...well...why not? Bit of fun I suppose. The first run of ‘Alien’ came in 2021 and was...uhh...pretty iffy. The art was the most egregious issue by far, reeking of trace-overs and generally quite uninspired as a result, but the story was nothing to sniff at either. The first six-issue run of that wasn’t great, so I had no issue waiting for the collected paperback for the second run...which I got about a month ago, and was actually something of an improvement. ‘Predator’ on the other hand, had a rough run of actually reaching store shelves. Initially supposed to release later in 2021, it disappeared off the face of the Earth not long after its announcement, and then took until August of 2022 to actually start coming out, presumably to follow in the footsteps of last year’s gangbuster new streaming movie entry in the franchise, ‘Prey’. Despite that troubling road to release, the issues came out mostly pretty smoothly afterwards, and the first six issue run wrapped up mid-way through last month. So...how was it? Wellll...

Straight out of the gate, the basic premise of this first run of ‘Predator’ was a lot more intriguing than ‘Alien’. Whilst the latter mostly dabbled in the same kinda ‘run around in a space ship being killed by Xenos’ generic tosh that a lot of the less successful ‘Alien’ comics have done, ‘Predator’ offered an intriguing, blood-soaked intergalactic revenge arc. It follows lead character Theta, a woman who’s family and friends were all murdered by a Predator when she was a child, as she travels across space hunting the titular hunters, all in search of the one responsible for her trauma...who in that same moment gained a notable facial scar. It’s not the most unique premise in town, but it’s a new angle for ‘Predator’ as a franchise, and offers a much wider scope of locations and concepts than the somewhat static first run of ‘Alien’. Whilst promising in basic premise, in practice the actual story of ‘Predator’ is a little disappointing. That’s not to say it isn’t entertaining, but ultimately it all proved to be a little shallow. It certainly isn’t suited to the bare-bones episodic nature of comic books, which regularly offer pretty measly page counts per issue. Resulting in the story feeling a little less like an epic revenge quest across the galaxy, and more like a series of four mild inconveniences between the promising set-up of #1 and the disappointing conclusion of #6. It’s still a lot better than the first run of ‘Alien’, but it’s far from essential reading either, for ‘Predator’ fans or not (Those looking for some connective tissue to the wider franchise will be left disappointed). The space-voyaging nature of the series also results in some often strange non-Predator based alien encounters that feel less suited to this franchise and more suited to Marvel’s usual cosmic superhero output. I’ve not got any problem with expanding the scope of a franchise that often feels a little samey, but the designs just felt a little too odd and cartoony, given the only other alien entities we’ve seen in both the ‘Alien’ and ‘Predator’ franchises tend to be decidedly more on the gnarly side. And as I say, for all the promise of the revenge arc, the conclusion to it is hugely underwhelming. I won’t spoil the details, but if that really is the end of that particular saga? Huge let-down. Maybe there’s more to it than we yet know, there is another run of ‘Predator’ comics coming later this year, but given the numbering reset, I’m assuming they won’t carry on from this one. Bummer!

Where the ‘Predator’ comic really shines through is in the artwork. Whilst ‘Alien’ floundered in uncanny facial tracing and ugly action-figure style Xeno posing, ‘Predator’ is a very cool looking thing indeed. It has a distinct art-style, and at its peaks, it’s some of the best looking ‘Predator’ comic stuff I’ve seen. The titular monsters in particular look very cool in this style, with great use of colours and shadows, and the fight scenes with them and Theta, often dripping with blood, both green and red, are easily the standout moments of whichever issue they’re found within. The human faces are stylised but expressive, and again, thanks to some great colouring/shading, lead to some notably unhinged (In a good way) looking panels, particularly for our lead character who...well...has some issues, shall we say. If what you look for in a comic book is all about the visuals, then this run certainly isn’t going to disappoint. I hope the artistic talent for this comic is kept on-board for the next run, even if the writing talent moves on.

So...yeah. ‘Predator’ #1-6 is a mixed bag, but it’s still pretty decent. As a trade paperback, I can see it being a fun, if not ultimately forgettable read, and first foray into the franchise for Marvel Comics. It’s a sturdier foundation to build upon than ‘Alien’, which did a lot better in its second run...so fingers crossed that is the same for ‘Predator’. It’s not something I’d recommend as individual issues, but I would almost never recommend that for comics in general. The premise is promising but the execution of it lets the side down, whilst the art is strong and distinct in ways that almost make up for the often quite shallow narrative. In the battle of Alien vs Predator in the field of Marvel Comics, the latter has certainly won with ease, but that doesn’t mean it was a flawless victory. I’m hoping in the coming months and years that Marvel are able to start putting out the same kinda quality publications that Dark Horse managed. That’s not to say Dark Horse didn’t drop the ball quite frequently, but they also regularly showed exactly how to handle these properties, both individually and combined, within the realm of comics. Fingers crossed Marvel get it figured out in the same way, and soon!                 

Read it or Leave it : Read It...as a Trade Paperback.

[blackosprey]

Still pretty early in the game, but I think I actually like Pokemon Scarlet?

Don’t get me wrong, the performance issues... oof, they go way beyond anything wrong with Elden Ring, that’s for sure. I’m not one to normally complain a lot about that sort of thing, but when you’re dealing with an openworlder, part of the magic is getting immersed in the experience. It’s a little difficult to get lost in a world when you’re bombarded with constant reminders that this “world” is fraying at the seams because Game Freak seriously underestimated the time it takes to release a competent openworlder. 

This is probably the first major title I’ve seen where models’ animations drop down to something more choppy than stopmotion on the regular, and still get displayed *prominently.* Especially egregious are models included in text cutscenes and any large, conspicuous landmarks throughout the region. These are often featured front-and-center, impossible to ignore, and they look unbelievably goofy in a world that’s otherwise running at about 20-30 frames. 

And the less said about the sandwich minigame, the better. 

Despite that I think I’m really enjoying the meat and bones of what’s on offer here. While I still feel iffy about non-optional exp share, it DOES encourage freer experimentation with your party, since training any one mon isn’t a massive commitment. And honestly, you REALLY need that freedom unless you’re dead-set on what you want, because this game has a huge heaping variety of mons from every generation. It’s actually really hard to decide on what I want! So many cats and dogs and birds this generation... and how can I decide between Volcarona and Salazzle? Or Corviknight and Talonflame?! It might add to replayability but it’s gonna drive me crazy on this first run.

The game’s difficulty is a little hard to gauge. A lot of the bossfights were incredibly easy to stomp, except for the ones that I probably was super underleveled for because this game doesn’t scale difficulty with the player. Between purposefully holding back and accidentally wandering into something way over my head, I’ve actually had at least 2 TPKs or near-TPKs. 

The red lizard bike boi was everything I’d hoped he’d be. He’s adorable and half the reason why I put down the money for this title in the first place. I’ve even gotten used to his goofy bike mode so it doesn’t bother me as much as it used to. Speaking of adorable, everything about picnics (besides the sandwich minigame) is just a joy to watch. I definitely prefer this in-world interaction over a nintendogs minigame, and each mon has enough animations and AI to seem surprisingly lively. 

Years of playing Pokemon Go gives you an instinct to go and fight/catch everything in sight, and luckily, this game actually rewards that with more than just exp, since every single mon will drop crafting items now. The TM moves they’re used to craft have been... a bit on the lame side so far, but maybe that’s just an early game problem. 

But yeah, I’m not having trouble with having no motivation to play the game. I’m reeeeally hoping GF will actually put in the time to patch up the technical problems, even if the game should’ve never been released in that state in the first place. But it’s been fun so far!

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream - Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars is a franchise very near and dear to my heart. I’ve grown up watching the films and have fond memories of each of them, in particular Revenge of the Sith, which I got to see in theaters with my father. It’s a series that has introduced me to great characters, great actors, great ways to tell stories, and if nothing else the movies were always fun. I never saw a Star Wars movie I couldn’t enjoy on some level.

That all changed with this movie.

The Rise of Skywalker is a wet fart of a finale. It is a mess, it is underwhelming, it is disrespectful to the previous two films, and worst of all it’s bland. But hyperbole aside, this movie isn’t a complete and utter waste; it’s certainly not the worst film of all time or anything, or even the worst Star Wars movie. It’s just a sad case of a mixed bag where the bag skews more to the bad side than the good side.

Let’s go over what I actually did enjoy first. Obviously, the score was fantastic, but I think this goes without saying; John Williams has never once screwed around, so why would he stop now? His music honestly does a lot of the heavy lifting emotion-wise, as scenes such as the supposed trinity of this trilogy’s reunion at the end would not have any sort of impact otherwise. Then we have stuff like the practical effects, which is both a blessing and a curse as they seem to be a sort of dancing bear for this trilogy. As great and lively as they make the worlds, they shouldn’t be what gets focus over story and character development… but hey, Babu Frik is great.

Speaking of characters, there are a few who were handled very well in this film. In terms of comedy, there is C-3PO and Palpatine. C-3PO is just a genuine riot here, and almost every goofy little joke he cracked gave me a genuine chuckle. He’s really at his best here. Palpatine on the other hand is just a character who is so inherently hilarious that it is physically impossible to be mad at him. Like, he’s an evil zombie wizard who spends half the film insulting Kylo Ren and then the other half cackling and shooting lightning in his big arena full of hooded weirdos while strapped to a big dialysis machine and wearing a sparkling red vest under his robe. Sheev Palpatine is pretty much the greatest character in human history, and while his role in this film is so stupid, shoehorned, and underbaked, you cannot help but crack a grin at the sheer lunacy good ol’ Sheev brings to the table. The sheer revelation that this man actually, canonically had more sex than Kylo Ren is enough to send a man into a fit of giggles.

In terms of actual character, Rey gets a solid arc marred by some incredibly poor writing choices, but overall stays solid throughout. Her interactions with Kylo Ren especially solidify her as an interesting and engaging character, and honestly the whole reveal that she’s a Palpatine is intriguing and could have added depth to her… but they managed to bungle it. And it’s an easy fix too; early on, there’s a scene where she and Kylo are playing tug-of-war with a transporter that is holding an iconic character. Rey accidentally unleashes Palpatine lightning and blows it up, seemingly killing the character inside… only for the character to inexplicably be alive two scenes later. Now, if Rey had actually killed said character by accident and spent the rest of the film struggling with her nature, it would make her ultimate showdown and rejection of Grandpa Sheev’s ideology all the more sweeter and satisfying. A moment at the end would have likewise been improved if she had simply not chosen to rename herself and instead chose to just simply be “Rey,” but gotta have that sweet, sweet branding! Still, I think Rey is remarkably done here, though not nearly as good as she was in The Last Jedi.

But the real MVP here is definitely Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. I’m just gonna say it: this guy carries the film. He has had the most remarkably consistent character arc in this new trilogy, and that concludes just as well here, though sadly in the most obvious way: with a redemption. However, it comes not from Rey, as desperate shippers had hoped, but from his parents – Leia and Han both play a part in ensuring their son’s redemption. And when he’s redeemed, the way Driver is able to convey the character of Ben Solo with just his face and body language is incredible enough to make the redeemed man feel like a totally different character than when he was Kylo Ren, and all of this is without speaking. Driver deserves every ounce of praise he gets for these films, and while I feel his arc would have been far more satisfying if it wasn’t a carbon copy of Anakin’s arc, it’s a testament to Driver’s skill that he managed to sell me such a cliché turn of events and made it work.

This is where my kindness dries up, however, as the rest of this is going to be pretty negative. The story here is just an incoherent mess; it honestly feels like an entire trilogy crammed into one film, a film divorced entirely from the other two films. The big problem with this trilogy is how there is so little cohesion between films that each film feels like a soft reset, and nowhere is that more clear than here. It doesn’t help that this film decides to cram in a bunch of stupid backspaces to everything from The Last Jedi, the most awkward and egregious being how they write off the “Holdo Maneuver” as a one in a million shot at success despite the fact that using the far more obvious “using the rebels as suicide bombers is a bit morally iffy and such a move should not be used unless we’re totally desperate” explanation would have sufficed. It honestly feels like the writers were chickening out a lot of the time and decided to try and distract us from their yellow-bellied attempts at ignoring the previous film by slapping us in the face with tons of fanservice. Sometimes it works – the voices of all the fallen Jedi in the final act was an awesome touch (I hear you Qui-Gon, Windu, and Ahsoka!) - but most of them time it is just painfully on-the-nose and groan worthy, such as when Chewbacca gets his medal. The worst offender here is Lando, who is so carelessly tossed into this mess of a plot that it feels really disrespectful to Billy Dee Williams.

Speaking of screwing over characters though, no one got it worse than Finn, Poe, and Rose. With Rose, it’s frankly just insulting they didn’t even try. It would have been so easy to redeem Rose in the eyes of the fans that didn’t like her character in The Last Jedi; if The Clone Wars can make Jar Jar a likable character, then I’m pretty sure a big budget Hollywood blockbuster can fix the issues of a poorly written character in its sequel. Instead though, this film takes the coward’s route and relegates Rose to a role less important to the plot than Babu Frik, who despite his integral role is only in one single scene. Poe is just handled as nonsensically as ever, given really dumb jokes and a forced and unneeded backstory as a spice smuggler, complete with an implied female love interest in an attempt to try and convince us the character is heterosexual.

But Finn gets it worst of all. Not only does he get a forced implied love interest (who is black, because we can’t have miscegenation in our big blockbuster films!), but he just in general gets shafted so hard. Finn being shafted has been a running theme with this trilogy. The first film set him up to be an integral, important main character, one who would even become the main character…. And then he slowly faded from relevance as the writers put him in increasingly bad plotlines, culminating with the slap in the face this movie gives us by implying but not outright stating that Finn can use the Force. There were so many interesting ways they could take Finn’s arc and they chose the route that is, quite frankly, the absolute worst. The fact that Finn got totally shafted in such a way despite being a fan favorite is all the more baffling and honestly has me wondering what the suits at Disney were thinking. If they weren’t actually minimizing a character as beloved as Finn was after The Force Awakens out of racism, what were they even trying to do? John Boyega has a right to be as angry as he is.

There’s other stuff that’s obnoxious. Leia’s scenes are all terrible and poorly executed, which comes off as really disrespectful to Carrie Fisher; the romance in this film which, as mentioned above, is totally forced, but special mention goes to the Ben/Rey kiss at the end, which while not some life-ending travesty is so utterly out of nowhere due to the lack of romantic chemistry between the two in any of these films that it’s laughable; the editing is so incoherent and terrible in places that it feels like it was done by someone on a mixture of crack and Red Bull; the complete waste that is Hux and his childish reasoning for betraying the First Order, completing the character’s change from a terrifying Nazi allegory to a complete and utter joke; the fact that the new First Order general who takes center stage gets so little development despite being a great throwback to Grand Moff Tarkin and a genuinely amazing character otherwise, with a fascinating history with Palpatine that is never explored and no meaningful interactions with the heroes; the complete and utter unexplained nature of Palpatine’s return; and just how painfully unfunny a lot of the humor in this film is. This movie just has so many problems, so many flaws, and it ends on such a completely limp and unsatisfying note that it’s honestly kind of sad.

This film… I don’t know about this film. It’s definitely not the worst Star Wars film, because it at least has some genuinely good bits to it, unlike Attack of the Clones which I can only really justify liking ironically. But that being said, this film is just so unsatisfying, and what’s more, it’s not very memorable. Not much will stick with you with this one, and if it does, it might be more of the bad things rather than the good ones, which is a shame, because I do think there’s some good stuff buried under the garbage here, but I don’t know if it’s worth sitting through this film to find. This is not the worst thing ever, I really can’t stress that enough… but it’s just not fun, engaging, or anything that will really make you feel anything meaningful, and sometimes that’s just worse.

Ultimately, this film has an incredibly uncertain audience. It’s wrapping up a trilogy in one of the biggest franchises on earth with a plotline that tries to pander to fans in a way that feels gross and condescending, leaving the film feeling like it was made for absolutely no one. If you like this, that’s fine; Star Wars is a franchise that has greatness ingrained in its DNA, to the point where I can’t say any of the films are really among the worst I’ve ever seen. But I think generally this is not going to be a film worth watching, and certainly one to skip in any future marathons of the franchise. It really is a shame… this trilogy if nothing else was full of potential to be a new take on Star Wars for a new generation. Instead, it ended up as a confusing, corporate mess. 

[guardianreadersofthegalaxy]

Dom’s mini Who reviews - the iffy episodes

Asylum Of The Daleks – A cool elevator pitch that doesn’t deliver. Also a pretty problematic portrayal of disability. And you’ve got a problem if you have a Dalek episode where no one gets exterminated. Amy & Rory’s ‘divorce’ is a joke

The Christmas Invasion – Tennant’s entrance is so good here because you have to wait for it but that doesn’t make the waiting any easier. Lots of people watching the news which RTD’s episodes have way too much of. Still this nails the light and dark extremes of 10’s personality.

Father’s Day – A really great concept that combines characterisation with sci-fi stuff. The church setting makes this a bit boring though. Also the Reapers’ POV shots look terrible. Brilliant performances from everyone.

A Good Man Goes To War – Another Moffat episode which is just loads of ‘stuff’ happening. More of the Doctor being a super legendary badass legend which I hate. I do like how the main antagonist is seemingly defeated at the end of the second act. River being a Pond is a bit Rey Palpatine.

Hide – This improved on the rewatch but really, it’s not that scary. Relies a lot on you caring about the two scientists getting together. Brilliantly weird stop motion monster though.

It Takes You Away – The antizone, flesh moths and the backwards world all look great, and at least there’s some development for Graham and Ryan. The Doctor and Yas have one of their more egregious exposition scenes and the child actor is bad.

The Lazarus Experiment – This is kind of fun and the action is competent. The CGI is awful. My favourite thing about this on initial transmission was the trailer for Series 3 Part 2, which it doesn’t have any more.

The Magician’s Apprentice/ The Witch’s Familiar – I don’t find the guitar playing and sunglasses as cringy as others seem to. Missy is a different story. She’s at her least interesting when she’s a standard villain. I sometimes forget Davros and the Daleks are in this.

Nikola Tesla’s Night Of Terror – Though the old-timey New York setting is played out by this point and there’s too much hand-wavey exposition this has a great script that competently develops the theme of exploitation. Goran Visnjic gives one of the best guest performances of the show.

Resolution – Tosin Cole ups his game acting-wise and they manage to get you to care about Lynne and her fella. The Dalek possession stuff makes me laugh and I don’t know why. Also random family saying “We’ll have to have a conversation?!” is hands down the cringyest moment in modern Who history.

The Runaway Bride – I don’t think about this one much. Catherine Tate’s basically playing herself. It does a good job of keeping the momentum going despite the Doctor’s sadness. They should have let the Racnoss queen overdub her dialogue.

Smile – This is mostly fine til the last ten minutes. The premise of having to smile to survive is really creepy but it doesn’t carry the episode. Ralph Little’s character is annoyingly dumb.

Thin Ice – Fine but forgettable. Bit weird how the writer congratulates herself on how good her speech was, but that scene does show how far 12 has come, which is nice. I like that there’s a good amount of time just having fun before the plot starts.

Time Heist – This looks great and the Teller might be the best creature design of the whole show. The cyberpunk elements fall flat, and Ms Delphox is interchangeable with all the other Moffat era female villains.

[slothcritic]

Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Episode 4 Review

Hit-or-miss introduction makes way for some golden moments.

The opening skit for Snakeway to Heaven has a satisfactory comedic weight to it, though upon re-watching it for this review, I noticed an editing mistake I had never noticed before, despite becoming a fan of the series in 2012. When Goku falls off Snake Way, the scene actually freezes on that frame. It wouldn't be noticeable if the truck itself hadn't frozen as well. Small gripe but I thought it was an interesting observation to share.

[Title Sequence]

Goku's scream carries over into the first few seconds of the intro and resumes near the last few seconds, which I found to be a well played editing decision.

Once Goku has stopped falling, we're treated to an amusing take on the filler ogres from hell. The blue one is given the Swedish Hansel-und-Gretel accent while the red one speaks like a German or Austrian. And puritan as ever, KaiserNeko made sure to use the original, unedited footage. It would’ve been funny to see them maybe have a scene or two with the ogres wearing their different HFIL shirts, or maybe a bit more fun poked at the Ocean Dub, but no such luck in this scene.

TFS doesn't spend too much time on this scene at all, really. It’s filler, and so nothing here really matters to the story aside from laugh-factor. The comedic nature of this first scene is that it’s rushed. Goku swindles the two ogres out of a fight, like he’s trying to swindle the show into skipping this filler arc, as he immediately guns it for the exit... and then stops?

It would've been a much more emphatic punchline if the scene had changed right here. Instead we have an awkward stop-and-go motion to the scene they're trying to orchestrate and it feels stilted. A lot of this scene after Goku finds the exit I find to be entirely unneeded. Raditz has already been established as being in Other World so the callback here wasn't necessary, the special King Yemma fruit could be argued for having no plot relevance as it never existed in the manga, and we didn't really need that post-Goku scene to get the hint that these ogres were very chummy with each other when it came to subjects like oil wrestling and speedos.

But then, where would they put that great joke about the Blood Fountain? And the small dialogue about Dabura I did find risible as a fan of the original DBZ, despite my usual curmudgeonly take on yet-to-be-established jokes. Like many things, this does get much better as the series continues, eventually turning some moments of sequence-breaking into moments of well-crafted foreshadowing. This is just a funny pointless joke, and a nod to fans of DBZ, that has no impact on the actual story of DBZA itself.

Again, this isn't too much of a big deal. Just a whole work-with-what-you've-got bizarre scenario likely due to bizarre source material. Yet this was all deemed funny enough to edit, voice and keep in the episode instead of trimming it out like the other 90% of this mini-arc. I'm not convinced the presentation was done to par, but I do feel that the inclusion of "Goku in Hell" is necessary for the sake of tying loose ends together. Also, it would've been a far more egregious decision to have that cold open end in a do-nothing cliff hanger. So, a goofy scene and perhaps iffy writing, but not terrible.

We then return to the person who has so far been the breadwinner of the series, and Piccolo hasn't let up on either the humor or Gohan. Kind of a contrast to how somber he is in the show. It's not whack-a-doodle humor, it's exaggerated frustration and exasperation, which lands almost dead-center on my humor nexus.

But even better than Piccolo has to be this next scene - Debatably the first "meme" or seriously quotable moment in the show's history: Popo's Pecking Order.

On paper this doesn't look like it'd be necessarily funny, but when you attach to it a very do-nothing character like Mr Popo and turn him into a sadistic dictator, combined with the special emphasis and excellent delivery of the line, it's simply outstanding, and raises the bar for this entire episode.

Now I've said before that the source material of Z shouldn't factor into the end product that is DBZA. If I were to show this episode to my mother, I shouldn't have to show her all 291 episodes of Z so she can understand it. The show should be able stand on its own. That's not to say parody should have zero factor in the writing of this, or that there should be zero references at all, ever. By god what a silly thing to imply. But people can still enjoy Spaceballs even if they haven't seen Star Wars.

However, in the case of Mr Popo, DBZA does a good job of setting up Popo in the same way Z does. He initially speaks in a low, subdued tone, and is spoken of by Kami as some kind of adviser, or perhaps a respected peer, but as someone who is indirectly and respectfully implied to be below him. After all, it's called Kami's Lookout, not Popo's Lookout, and Kami is literally regarded as "The Guardian of Earth" while Popo just appears to be... there.

That all changes the second Kami leaves the outdoor area and Popo is entrusted with the reigns of the new Z Fighters. LISTEN UP, MAGGOTS!

The Krillin Owned Count also chimes three in this scene, and shows its first signs of picking up momentum.

Back on Snake Way, Goku gets eaten by the head of snake way, which leads into Jadoshin's palace. This is such a quick, cheesy, quirky but funny edit that I'm not sure what to say beyond I enjoyed it. It just hits you and then boom, you're in her castle.

The joke of Jadoshin being voiced by Solid Snake (Princess Snake, Solid Snake, on Snake Way) seems like a bold strategy but I think it's one of the better jokes they've committed to that ended up being really good, at least this early on. The voice even lends itself to the awkward dialogue that would've simply lost its charm or fallen flat otherwise.

Unrelated, but one of my favorite lines from the dub happens in this scene, where Jadoshin's attendant simply says "I've got something to show you. And it's my gun.", and then kills herself with it. I didn't expect to see that in this scene, but a small part of me did hope.

When Goku finishes up in the hot springs (with a Metal Gear Solid box gag to boot) and tries to leave, Jadoshin then states that she wants Goku inside her. Goku is confused, of course, and smash cut to Goku flying for his life from a massive green fire-breathing snake trying to eat him.

Jadoshin however still has the voice of Solid Snake even in this form, complete with periodic grunts as they maneuver through the air. This eventually transitions into Jadoshin saying waka-waka, and the backdrop changes into a Pac-Man map. The Pac-Man skit was perhaps a bit overdone, with Goku finding meat instead of the normal fruit, but on the whole this was a very "solid" scene.

During the Ozaru scene, I feel like Piccolo just screaming "MOOOOOOOON!" in the DBZA Kai version is funnier than the "Stop mocking me!" we got in DBZA proper. Also, donkey kong barrel, really? It's not bad, but it's an "oh, brother" moment, like hearing a very bad pun.

When Gohan transforms back into his human (or Half-Saiyan technically) form, his junk is censored with a Dragon Ball. This is an interesting contrast in philosophy over the years, as KaiserNeko explained the decision "to not censor baby dicks" in a Episode Breakdown livestream on the Broly Abdridged movie, where Broly's baby wiener can be seen uncensored in a few scenes of that movie.

The episode ends with Goku continuing down Snake Way, having tied Jadoshin up into a tangled ball, prompted the GAME OVER screen and someone yelling "Princess Snaaaaaake!"

Conclusion

Despite my lackluster thoughts on how Hell was handled, this episode had a lot going for it compared to it's predecessors! Most of the episode was spent on two strong scenes, and while I didn't think the Ozaru scene was anything special, it didn't feel out of place or off-kilter, but provided more insight and I suppose world-building into the relationship between Piccolo and Gohan and the constant reminder that they're training to eventually face off against the Saiyans. This is further reinforced by Stinger #2 with Nappa and Vegeta en route to Earth.

This was almost opposite to Episode 3, which I felt had strong bookends. While I didn't find the end of this episode to be bad, it was simply "alright" when compared to the Popo and Jadoshin scenes. Characters are starting to have stronger internal identities instead of simply being parodies of their original counterparts. Though it is noteworthy, and rather obvious, that this only applies to characters with speaking lines. Tien, Yamcha and Chiaotzu made their first appearances but had nothing to say. Maybe it would have been cluttered or detracted from the pacing of the Popo scene, but it may prove challenging to properly attach sentimentality to these characters in the short few episodes they have before the inevitable happens. 

Because y'know, nobody watched Dragon Ball.

Score: 73

Passing Thoughts

I liked that Stinger #1 dealt with the actual ramifications of DESTROYING THE MOON unlike the series proper did. I guess it was just no diff for the Dragon Ball world?

"He made a horrible mess of the blood fountain." "Looks fine to me." "IT USED TO BE WATER!"

"I killed everything here with my bare hands. Including the bear hands." -Pictured in the top left of the frame are actual bear hands.

"Stop grunting, it's creepy!"

"CLOTHES BEAM!" and “That is easily my most metro attack.”