Episode 41 – Legend of a Pretty Lady

In which Judge JB plays Back to the Future.

It’s a stormy day in Fort Kerium, and Fuzz is spending the time telling irritating stories about giants, heroes and pretty ladies. The story is of course incomprehensible because it’s told in Fuzz’s ridiculous voice, which is borderline impossible to understand at the best of times, but suffice it to say that this is a Prairie People legend which Fuzz insists is true. BraveStarr, Thirty/Thirty and the Mayor are all convinced it isn’t true, so they decide to get Judge JB in to settle the debate.

Judge JB is over at the courthouse, where she’s actually doing her job for perhaps the first time in about 30 episodes. After she makes a judgement and pronounces sentence on a lizard called Mr Slug, lightning strikes the courthouse roof and sparks some kind of chain reaction in some kerium crystals, the upshot of which is that Judge JB disappears, leaving only a sparkle in the air.

Judge JB: “If you are being electrocuted, make sure to show no reaction on your face whatsoever.”

BraveStarr and Thirty/Thirty examine the sparkling air and somehow deduce that Judge JB’s vanishing might have been caused by an ion storm. How the hell would BraveStarr know what the residue of an ion storm looks like? On the other hand, Thirty/Thirty is unlikely to know either, so BraveStarr probably feels he’s safe from contradiction. Either way, they still don’t know where Judge JB is, so off they trot to Star Peak, where the Shaman instantly proclaims that Judge JB has been sent a million years into the past. He offers to send BraveStarr there too, on the understanding that he might not be able to bring him back. Here’s hoping.

Once back in the past, BraveStarr takes his sweet time but eventually locates Judge JB, and the two of them fulfil all the various parts of that stupid story Fuzz was telling earlier. Judge JB is the pretty lady, BraveStarr is the hero, and a bunch of not particularly intimidating giants are, er, the giants. When they’ve successfully proved that Fuzz’s story is entirely true, they return to the present and crow about it in Handlebar’s tavern.

Handlebar: “I am SO bored of these idiots.”

In today’s adventure…

The Shaman and BraveStarr come up with a new moral this week: it’s important to respect other peoples’ beliefs. They don’t say religion, but since they talk about peoples’ beliefs of how they were created, that’s clearly what they mean. It’s a good message, and subtly connected to the episode’s story, so I think it could be defined as a winner.

Character checklist

Right, so, we’ve got the usual suspects of BraveStarr, Thirty/Thirty, Fuzz, Judge JB, the Shaman, Handlebar, and the Mayor. In the past, we’re lucky enough to see a stupid giant and a whole host of irritating prehistoric Prarie People, while in the present, our guest cast consists of a guy called Billy Bob, Mr Slug, Mr Slug’s brother, and Mr Slug’s brother’s friends.

Judge JB: “This is a strong contender for my worst day ever.”

Insults

Nothing enormously exciting on this front today: one of the Slug family calls Fuzz a “fuzzball”, and Thirty/Thirty says that the various Slugs are “varmints” twice. And that’s your lot.

Ears of the Wolf

Once he’s in the past, BraveStarr decides the best way to find Judge JB is to listen for her. I’d have used the Eyes of the Hawk myself, but ours is not to question BraveStarr.

Speed of the Puma

When he’s decided where Judge JB is likely to be, BraveStarr puts on a quick burst of puma speed to find her quickly. He probably wouldn’t have needed to do this if he hadn’t been sauntering around aimlessly for the ten minutes or so prior to this. He also uses the puma speed again a few seconds later for no particularly evident purpose other than making a dramatic exit.

BraveStarr: “Got to run as fast as possible to avoid these kids.”

Starr Rating

I’ll give it credit for trying something different, and it’s quite cool to see the prehistoric past of New Texas, but unfortunately it’s not really quite there in the execution. The dialogue is even clunkier than normal, and added to this the Shaman and Judge JB’s voice acting is pretty poor. I don’t often comment on the background music, because normally it works well, so perhaps I ought to praise it more regularly, but I only really notice it when it isn’t very good. Today was such a case; the lengthy section in the middle where Judge JB was exploring the past was accompanied by some relatively chilled beats, when it could probably have done with a bit more urgency. All in all, I’d call this a worthy effort, and okay if you fancy a bit of a change of pace, but it’s not a highlight.