Birth Of The Blades - yes, this episode is all about the flashbacks, the events of the present don’t really have much of a story. The flashbacks themselves are set immediately before the events of Legacy, and the two could have worked together. We get to find out how both swords were forged, and that’s no bad thing. The backstory here is great - and, once again, there is a strong Star Wars feel to this episode. Mumm-Ra would have made a great Sith lord.
Despite the nature of the flashbacks automatically inviting talk of Legacy, the structure of the episode is more like Journey To The Tower Of Omens, but with a less interesting storyline in the present. Which is a pity, because Mumm-Ra getting his hands on the Sword Of Plundarr is a really important moment in the show. This is symptomatic of the over-reliance on flashbacks at the expense of the present action - Panthro, Tygra and Cheetara are instructed to get to the tank at the start, and that’s the last we see of them until the end when Lion-O announces that Mumm-Ra has the sword. It would have been nice to see their escape to the tank and see them fending off an attack.
Also, Pumyra’s attitude towards Lion-O is getting ridiculous. Even if there was some justification for her earlier rage towards him (which is debatable at best), he’s just freed the cat slaves, hasn’t that earned him a break from her? Evidently not, she’s still not letting up. Until the very end, when he chooses her over the sword, like magic, she’s suddenly on his side. The way he says “call me Lion-O” at the end - you know what part of his anatomy is doing his thinking for him there. Again, in the words of Wilykat, I think I’m going to cough up a hairball.
Overall, a very important episode, and a good one - but like so many before it, it could have been a lot better.
The Forever Bag - a difficult one to place here. I get the feeling that this one should either have been aired either before Curse Of Ratilla or after Recipe For Disaster. I know the previous episode felt like “the end of Act III” as it were, but they really needed to follow it up with an episode of direct relevance to the main story, rather than this. Same as The Duelist And The Drifter coming right after Legacy. It’s not a bad episode by any means, but as a sort of comic relief episode, it’s slightly in the wrong place. As for the episode itself - well, I just compared the music of the last one to Star Wars, this one has more of a Disney vibe to it.
The star of this show is of course Tookit - much as Cornelius Tuna was essentially Captain Ahab, this character is basically Fagin from Oliver Twist, with his gang of thieves. Not a bad thing in itself, but character-wise, they could have done a lot more with all of them. Making Tookit less morally ambiguous was a bad move, just as it was with Captain Shiner in the original series when he reappeared. The other gang members are also a little nondescript, there’s nothing to tell them apart really. None of them really has their own moment to shine as an individual, which is a shame. And once again, Snarf’s inability to speak is a downside. The original Snarf would have had plenty to say on this one.
Storywise, it’s pretty generic, follows the sort of twists we’ve come to expect as standard. Indeed, can we really call them twists if this is the case? Still, the journey from A to B does at least work. And yes, like the kittens, despite Tookit’s essentially having no sense of morality in the end, I still liked him, and smiled when he produced that hairpin. Had the show got a second season, you just know he’d have been seen again. And who knows, maybe he’d even have redeemed himself . . .
And of course, the magic word - “Rankinbass” - nice little touch to the original producers of the show.
Overall then, two very interesting episodes, both good, but both could have been better.
