Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Catching Up


It seems I’ve been away from Alley Oop Watch for much too long. My apologies. I know I am way behind, but I just want to comment on a few past strips that struck me as especially odd.
First there was the way Alley Oop was able to contact the folks in the time lab by walking up to a hidden video camera and waving. We’ve all seen how the time machine can magically send back images of the past in concurrent time to the folks in the time lab. No explanation was really needed for how this was done. If you can accept that there is a time transport in the first place (with the magical ability to allow anyone who travels in it to speak the native tongue wherever they end up) then the ability to monitor events with a video screen seems less fantastical. However, now we have this mundane explanation of a video camera that had to be set up in advance and it only serves to send a jolt of reality into the story and emphasize just how ridiculous it all is. Are we supposed to believe that they have set up video cameras all over the world and all throughout time and leave them there indefinitely - powered by Energizer batteries, I assume?
And of course, the folks in the time lab just happen to be monitoring the scene when Oop walks up. How convenient.

Next we have Oop suddenly threatening to punch out Dr. Wonmug. Not a very admirable thing for our hero to do, to say the least. And then we have this extended sequence where they fret about not knowing the exact time and place where the Conquistador invaders came from, as if this should prevent them from swooping in and saving the Moovians from this threat. Here’s an idea - why don’t you scoop up with all the invaders with the time machine and get them out of Moo. Put them somewhere else, anywhere else, until you figure out where they came from. That way the folks in Moo are safe.
But no, that would be too easy. So instead we have to go searching for the answer to their whereabouts before taking any action. But, hey, at least that is something. And now with the reintroduction of Oscar Boom, the story is starting to get interesting again. So let’s sit back and hope they will salvage a halfway decent story out of this mess before it is all over.