Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Narrative inconsistency


This is all just so wrong.
So the accidental discovery of Tunk's crown under some bushes took all the wind out of his sails just as he was about to strike the final blow against his arch-nemesis King Guz. Then, inexplicably, Guz and Oop, who seconds earlier were totally incapacitated and under the control of Lemmian soldiers, are suddenly set free and allowed to waltz out of the cave over to Tunk and start threatening him. Finally, Dinny the Dinosaur shows up on cue to chase away the entire Lemmian Army (all three of them.)
Now, my biggest problem with all of this (other than the fact that it is really lame) is that it is totally inconsistent with things that were said and done earlier in the narrative of the story. Let us step back in time for just a bit and review some of the events that led up to the victorious "five-minute war" that Moo is about to memorialize for all time.
When Tunk is first challenged on his theory that Guz stole his crown his reaction is to declare "I don't know and I don't care!" That would lead us to believe that he is intent on attacking Moo regardless of what happened with his crown. This point is reinforced in the subsequent panels where Tunk muses about "killing two birds with one stone" and notes that "this is the excuse I've been waiting for."
So it makes no sense that Tunk's plans would fall apart the moment he realizes Guz did not really steal his crown. But unfortunately the Benders can't keep their story straight. It's either that or Tunk is suffering from a split-personality disorder. Maybe he is bi-polar.
Either way it is disconcerting for the readers and now to have the incompetent and clueless King Guz standing up and taking credit for a great victory after leaving his kingdom defenseless is just maddening. I'm not sure how this storyline could get any worse, but I'm confident that we shall not be disappointed in that respect.