Features:
Description:
"Negotiator" Roger Smith uses his giant robot, the Megadeus, to fight crime in the amnesiac world of Paradigm City. A mad scientist tries to re-create a kitten from human tissue in "Missing Cat." A screechy kidnapper bedevils Roger in "Beck Comes Back," and Smith's former boss, Major Datsun, is haunted by a spectral image that may be a lost memory or an illusion in "Winter Night Phantom." In the latter episode, the filmmakers appropriate images of Jacqueline Kennedy and John-John at JFK's funeral--an egregious lapse of taste. This popular mecha detective series suffers from a visual discontinuity: the designs of Roger and the other regular characters display an art deco elegance, but the villains and minor characters are drawn in a more cartoony style. The results are as incongruous as pitting the Archies against Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop. Rated 13 Up: Violence, minor profanity, alcohol and tobacco use. --Charles Solomon
|
