Channel Awesome
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'''Linkara:''' So, I.Q. was smart enough to pack the miniature explosives, but not smart enough to pack a friggin' walkie-talkie?
 
'''Linkara:''' So, I.Q. was smart enough to pack the miniature explosives, but not smart enough to pack a friggin' walkie-talkie?
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'''Linkara (v/o):''' So Wheeler– I mean, James is climbing a mountain, and doing so Adam West-style without any kind of help or even tying it around his waist or anything.
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'''James:''' Ahhh! Looks like I hit the jackpot!
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'''Linkara:''' ''(as James)'' Yes, I've climbed a mountain and found... more mountain. ''(holds up fist)'' The jackpot has clearly been hit!
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'''Linkara (v/o):''' He spots a helicopter flying nearby and uses a slingshot – a freakin' slingshot of all things – to toss his homing device onto it. However, he's interrupted by a loud screeching sound. Back in the village, the sound is apparently strong enough to cause an earthquake, bringing down most of the buildings. Back on the mountain, James runs for cover inside of a cave... which makes even less sense considering the possibility of the ceiling falling down on him, but for now, he's protected but sealed in because of rocks falling in on the entrance. I.Q. and Tracy head out in search of James, following behind some of Goldfinger's goons. James frees himself from the cavern using one of I.Q.'s battery grenades, but he drops the other one.
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'''James:''' ...And that's the other one lost! Oh well! No time to look for it.
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'''Linkara:''' ''(as James)'' Damn, it fell down all of three feet! Clearly, I can't just reach down and grab it.
   
 
'''This guide is not complete. Please finish.'''
 
'''This guide is not complete. Please finish.'''

Revision as of 16:42, 13 November 2018

James Bond, Jr. #3

James bond jr 3 at4w

Released
December 21, 2009
Running time
22:48
Previous review
Next review
Tagline
So our hero doesn't drink martinis, doesn't sleep around, doesn't wear a tuxedo, isn't a spy, doesn't have a license to kill, and has the generic puns any halfwit could come up with when quipping. So, yeah, he's just like James Bond – except in everything that makes James Bond James Bond.
Link

Linkara: Hello, and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. You know, if often surprises me how many franchises aimed at a slightly more adult audience somehow end up with kids' cartoons.

(Cut to the opening for a cartoon version of Rambo)

Linkara (v/o): Take, for example, Rambo. It's freaking Rambo! He picks up a gun and starts shooting and killing things while firing randomly and speaking incomprehensible dialogue! And really, half the time, it just sounds like he's saying (slurring) "Outlaw!" or something like that.

(Cut to the opening for Conan the Adventurer)

Linkara (v/o): How about Conan the Adventurer? Admittedly, Robert E. Howard's classic fantasy hero probably has a better time fitting into a kid's cartoon than others, but the guy from the books and the movie was a womanizing, thieving, bloody warrior. Again, nothing really wrong with turning that into a cartoon. It's just that they went for name value instead of making up their own hero.

(Cut to the opening for a cartoon version of Highlander)

Linkara (v/o): Or how about the Highlander cartoon? How the hell did they get away with a cartoon about beheading people?! Furthermore, who was it that looked at Highlander and said, "Yeah, this could work as a kid's show"?

Linkara: Which brings us to today's subject: James Bond, Jr., a cartoon from the early 1990s that just reeks of "What the hell were they thinking?!"

(Footage of this cartoon series is shown)

Linkara (v/o): James Bond is a secret agent – and I use that term loosely – who routinely has to kill people and sleep with women who are named in rather cosmopolitan fashion after parts of the human anatomy. What TV executive nodded their head at Sean Connery banging some woman before shooting out an enemy in a tuxedo and a smug expression and thought, "Oh, hell, yeah, I'm green-lighting this cartoon"? Well, of course, they couldn't make the best role model out of this guy, so they gave it to his nephew. Wait, his nephew? Then why the hell is he named James Bond, Jr.? The only way that makes sense is if he slept with his sister. Which would not surprise me, considering how the man is apparently allergic to his own pants when around women.

Linkara: So order yourself up a nonalcoholic martini as we dig into (holds up comic of review for today) "James Bond, Jr. #3".

(Title sequence rolls; title card has the opening to the classic James Bond theme playing; cut to a closeup of the comic's cover)

Linkara (v/o): Wow! This actually isn't that bad a cover! We have an action scene that's related to the plot. Hell, even the stupid tagline isn't that bad: "Can James save El Dorado from Goldfinger's evil... EARTH-CRACKER?"

Linkara: (looking at comic) "Earth-Cracker"? What, is Goldfinger really into organic foods?

Linkara (v/o): We open to the woods, where we see James Bond, Jr., accompanied, coincidentally, by the relatives of other members of the franchise, including I.Q., Tracy Milbanks, and Lotta Dinaro. Subtle.

I.Q.: Look here...

Linkara: Wow! Grass! We don't have anything like that outside the woods!

Linkara (v/o): All of a sudden, a tank comes charging at them. How the hell did they not hear that thing coming? Not to mention, I love how that guy in the tank is just hanging out of there like he was friggin' Patton.

Linkara: (calling out) Hey, General! Where are you going?

(A clip of Patton is shown)

Patton: (voiced by Linkara) England! I'm gonna personally shoot that martini-guzzlin' son-of-a-bitch!

(Cut back to the comic)

Linkara (v/o): So as the tank begins blasting, no doubt shattering all their eardrums, the young James Bond runs off to the side.

James Bond, Jr.: Quick! Get back to Warfield! I'll try and distract him!

Linkara (v/o): Which he tries to do by standing directly in the path of the tank... which he was running away from in the previous panel. And then suddenly he teleports since now he's off to the side, and the tank is going a completely different way.

James: Blast! He didn't fall for it!

Linkara: Didn't fall for what? Your ingenious plan of standing there and shouting, "Hey! Over here!"? And why didn't the tank just blast his ass?

Linkara (v/o): The tank shoots down a tree, blocking the escape of the other three. The pimp clothes-wearing man grabs Lotta and pulls him [sic] into the tank. How the hell did he do that? Did she just stand there while he reached down and grabbed her with a six-foot arm? Anyway, the man tosses his hat at James, which embeds itself in a tree.

Linkara: Wait, wait, wait, wait! That's Odd Job? Why the hell is he dressed like the deformed offspring of the Joker and Mr. T?

Linkara (v/o): James immediately runs off in pursuit of the tank, proclaiming...

James: Don't worry, Lotta... They won't kidnap you that easily...

Linkara (v/o): James is somehow able to keep up with the tank as it arrives at an airstrip, immediately loading itself onto a huge plane. And it's only now that Odd Job decides to slap a sticker on the tank that says, "Ship to: Puerto, Peru".

Linkara: Yeah, don't put an address on it or anything, just drop it off near the bus line and they'll be fine.

Linkara (v/o): Actually, what I really love about this is that James says he needs to go see where they're going and it's almost like Odd Job is pointing at it, like, "Go here, idiot." So the plane takes off, leaving James on the runway.

Linkara: Huh, I guess they will kidnap her that easily, kid.

Linkara (v/o): So who's the first person that the young Mr. Bond decides to inform?

James: I've got to get back and find Coach Mitchell.

(Cut to the MST3K gang watching Mitchell)

Joel and the Bots: (in unison) Mitchell!

(Back to the comic again)

James: He'll know what to do...

Linkara (v/o): Yeah, go to your gym coach, kid. That's the right strategy when reporting a kidnapping. Well, apparently, Mitchell...

(Cut to the MST3K gang again)

Joel and the Bots: Mitchell!

(Back to the comic again)

Linkara (v/o): ...is smart enough to report it to the authorities, but in the meantime, he provides exposition.

Coach Mitchell: I see your point, James, but Lotta's father has a reputation for being eccentric... After all, he spent his whole life searching for El Dorado, the lost city of gold!

James: Isn't it meant to be in Peru?

Mitchell: James! Everybody knows El Dorado doesn't really exist!

Linkara (v/o): (as Mitchell) Like the invisible breaths I'm holding for some reason. (normal) More exposition follows back in James' dorm room.

Tracy: Lotta's father was working on a secret project back in Peru, but he's been missing for over a month!

Linkara: You'd think people working on secret projects would have a cover story instead of just saying their project was secret.

Linkara (v/o): By the way, didn't the coach just say he was looking for El Dorado? How secret is it if the prep school's gym coach knows about it?

I.Q.: The authorities have drawn a blank! I don't think they'll believe your story!

James: Getting shipped to Peru in a mini-tank does seem a bit far-fetched.

Linkara: Geez, you know it's bad when the characters admit that the premise is weak.

James: There's only one way to find out, of course!

Linkara: Call your super-secret spy uncle who has the resources of MI6 at his disposal?

Linkara (v/o): Why, of course not. Little James is going to put himself at risk by going to Peru... along with his friends, who insist on coming.

I.Q.: Don't argue with her, James. There is no fury like a woman whose best friend needs help!

(Canned audience laughter and applause are heard)

Linkara: (laughs) The James Bond, Jr. Show will be right back after this ad for expensive crap you don't need.

Linkara (v/o): I.Q., like his grandfather, has gadgets ready for James.

I.Q.: ...a rope-launching watch, with built-in grips for securing to rock walls...

Linkara (v/o): Okay, pretty good so far.

I.Q.: ...a gold detector disguised as a camcorder with a range of twenty-five miles...

Linkara: Aaaaand any credibility this comic had is now circling the drain. Gold detectors do exist, but they're basically like any metal detector, producing a magnetic field that causes eddy currents when a conductive metal is near the coil. It sure as hell doesn't work 25 miles away, and you don't look through a viewfinder like they'll do!

I.Q.: ...the "batteries" next to it are mini-grenades, you arm them by pressing both ends twice...

Linkara: (stunned) Okay, I.Q., if you say you've got a gold detector, fine, I'll buy it. Just don't hurt anybody with those explosives you've got LYING AROUND YOUR DORM ROOM!!

Linkara (v/o): And finally, a homing device, though, that really doesn't seem as impressive compared to the mini-grenades and gold detector!

James: Thanks, I.Q. But haven't you got anything to protect me from Odd Job's flying hat?

I.Q.: The man with the bowler hat who captured Lotta was Odd Job? But that means...

James: Yes! If he's involved, then so is his boss... Goldfinger!

(The James Bond theme plays briefly)

Linkara: Wait, didn't they both die in the movie?

Linkara (v/o): We cut to two days later in Peru. I guess the three travel on horseback the whole way there or something. Now that we're in Peru, let's also mention that they're in the city of Puerto, which does not exist. There is a city called Puerto Maldonado, but since it doesn't look like an impoverished village, obviously they couldn't use that, which is kind of a shame since one of the few remaining industries in the city, according to Wikipedia, is gold collection in small quantities. Subsequently, "puerto" is Spanish for "port", which means that these people simply named their village "Port". You'll also notice that there doesn't seem to be any large body of water anywhere near the village. Huh. Speaking of things that make no sense, James uses his camcorder gold detector to see gold in the hills. While James goes off to the hills to look for the gold, the other two head into town to look for a hotel.

James: Be careful - I'll see you later. Look after Moneypenny, would you, Tracy?

Tracy: Moneypenny?

James: My mule!

Linkara: So you named your mule after Miss Moneypenny? Nice to see how much respect you have for her, kid.

Linkara (v/o): By the way, there's something about this kid that's put me off since I first saw him, and I think I figured out what it is: If you dyed his hair and combed it down a bit, he's...

(Cut to a panel of another comic showing...)

Linkara (v/o): ...friggin' Wheeler from Captain Planet! I mean, he's even got the stupid jacket to boot!

(Back to the James Bond, Jr. comic)

Tracy: I wonder if there's a hotel with running water?

I.Q.: I wonder if there's a hotel at all...

(Cut to an image of the central plaza of the real Puerto Maldonado, which is comparatively modern and far less run down)

Linkara (v/o): And once again, here's the central plaza of Puerto Maldonado. Whew! What an awful place!

(Another image is shown, this one showing numerous skyscrapers)

Linkara (v/o): Here's the financial district of another Peru city, San Isidro. Geez! What a destitute hellhole Peru is!

(Cut back to the comic again)

Linkara (v/o): After the two get shoved around by military officers, they meet an older white guy who says that the military officers are people who live in the mountains, who also have a big cannon up there. Welcome, once again, to Plot Convenience Playhouse, where there's an English speaker right in the village who can tell them that. You'll also notice that despite the face that Peru only has a 3% population of white people, every person in the village and working for Goldfinger, with the exception of Odd Job, is Caucasian. Then again, the only reason I know he isn't white is because I know in the movie he's Korean. Otherwise, he's colored as peach as everyone else. Well, except for the coach.

I.Q.: I hope James is having more luck than us.

Tracy: I just hope he doesn't end up on the wrong end of that big cannon the man talked about!

Linkara: So, I.Q. was smart enough to pack the miniature explosives, but not smart enough to pack a friggin' walkie-talkie?

Linkara (v/o): So Wheeler– I mean, James is climbing a mountain, and doing so Adam West-style without any kind of help or even tying it around his waist or anything.

James: Ahhh! Looks like I hit the jackpot!

Linkara: (as James) Yes, I've climbed a mountain and found... more mountain. (holds up fist) The jackpot has clearly been hit!

Linkara (v/o): He spots a helicopter flying nearby and uses a slingshot – a freakin' slingshot of all things – to toss his homing device onto it. However, he's interrupted by a loud screeching sound. Back in the village, the sound is apparently strong enough to cause an earthquake, bringing down most of the buildings. Back on the mountain, James runs for cover inside of a cave... which makes even less sense considering the possibility of the ceiling falling down on him, but for now, he's protected but sealed in because of rocks falling in on the entrance. I.Q. and Tracy head out in search of James, following behind some of Goldfinger's goons. James frees himself from the cavern using one of I.Q.'s battery grenades, but he drops the other one.

James: ...And that's the other one lost! Oh well! No time to look for it.

Linkara: (as James) Damn, it fell down all of three feet! Clearly, I can't just reach down and grab it.

This guide is not complete. Please finish.