In this episode, the gang is
stranded on the moon and Takuya's solution is casting magic missile
at the darkness.
The Royal Knights aren't featured
heavily in this episode, and that's probably a good thing. What we
have instead is a strange change in setting where the digidestined
don't have to deal with any villain, but struggle just to get back
and rejoin the battle. It's a novel concept, perhaps, and filled with
the odd sight of a lot of silliness entirely in their Digimon forms.
Still, it's empty calories as we're not quite sure how they got to
the moon and their return trip doesn't offer many surprises.
It's one of those times when you can't
ask too many questions. Crusadermon was mortified that despite the
kids being on the ropes, Dynasmon flipped out and knocked them all to
the moon instead of finishing the job. Why he did it, or even if he
was conscious of his actions (that wyvern thing he became seemed
pretty powerful and nobody this season has a good track record of
controlling power) is confusing but the end result seems just as
convenient. The denizens of the moon insist that getting back to the
Digital World is nearly impossible. If anything, Dynasmon got the
digidestined out of their hair without resorting to murder, which
sounds like a pretty Royal Knight-y thing to do.
Although the Royal Knights don't do
much this episode, they may have had the more interesting moment.
Crusadermon and Dynasmon, despite their efficiency, are complete
morons for thinking that the answer to society's ills involve a
combination of trusting a mythical demon lord and destroying the
world for him. To go even deeper, however, Crusadermon hints that
their service is coming at a price: they will destroy the Digital
World for Lucemon if Lucemon gives them access to the human world.
The Royal Knights are heralded as loyal
defenders of the grand powers that rule the Digital World, and with
the likes of Omnimon and Gallantmon among their ranks they sound like
really swell guys. But once you realize that “the grand powers that
rule the Digital World” may be just as corrupt as your typical
modern government, suddenly it's not hard to understand why they're
the bad guys every single time they show up. It's really easy to
picture them as snobbish, looking down on the plebeians that comprise
most of the world's population. Crusadermon and Dynasmon (and likely
others in their ranks) may view the world with contempt, making them
eager to blow it up and try out that shiny new place on the other
side of the tracks. Granted, they're still idiots for believing
Lucemon will hold his end of the deal.
Back on the moon, there's not much to
talk about other than Koichi questioning how he got through all that
unscathed. Everybody else is knocked out cold, leaving it up to
Koichi to find help (Lord knows Bokomon and Neemon wouldn't be able
to). He comes through, but asks some pretty intriguing questions
along the way. It feels early for Koichi to already be transitioning
into his next character arc, having only been with the team for nine
episodes (and reduced to the background for several of them), but as
we enter the home stretch, we should be thankful that there's at
least one bit of mystery for us to ponder over.
Everything else is just silly. The
kids, rather arbitrarily, spirit evolve to plan out a return to terra
firma, which leads to a bunch of slapstick as each of them try to
work something out. It's odd to see physical comedy from evolved
Digimon, especially with no humans around. While it's amusing enough,
hearing characters like Agunimon trying to sustain a voice that's
usually reserved for lots of screaming just sounds weird. It's all
moot, as the solution comes from a rocket that was just lying around
and a bunch of local Digimon who want nothing more than to get rid of
these kids.
My Grade: C+
Loose Data:
- Between the lesson in relative gravity, the hyperbaric chambers in the station, the electromagnetic plot device and the rocket, you'd almost mistake this episode for having educational value. Alas, you're not likely to reach escape velocity using a slingshot made of tank treads.
- If nothing else, we got one last hurrah from KendoGarurumon and BurningGreymon.
- It's impossible to take Agunimon seriously after he suggested attacking the darkness in order to propel the moon towards the Digital World. Kumamon's track and field exhibition wasn't a shining moment either.
- Did we really need a callback to the Burgermon from episode 19? It's like a strange wormhole between two filler episodes.
- If JP is actually smart enough to understand all those equations, he's as smart as Izzy. Therefore, it's mathematically impossible that JP actually understands those equations he was writing.
- How the hell did BurningGreymon get out of the hatch, fix the course of the ship, and get back in without killing himself and everybody on board?
The last data point! I was asking myself the very same question. Takuya's inside, then he's suddenly outside as BurningGreymon, then back to Takuya, now inside. Was that magic?
ReplyDeleteAh yes, I was somewhat disappointed that they didn't use a mass driver to get the rocket off the Blue Moon.
ReplyDeleteThough if the mass of the moon is low enough, the slingshot may be enough to get it off the surface, providing a head start for said rocket to use it's engines to achieve escape velocity.
^ If said rocket actually had a engine that is.
DeleteI always liked JP's line as the cast realizes they just dramatically fired off their attacks at absolutely nothing.
ReplyDelete"That should take care of... whatever we were shooting at!"
When the Royal Knights came in, I always wondered about that random Gallantmon from way back at the start, whether he might show up. Or indeed that there are any other members just wandering around the world working a trade or something.
ReplyDeleteOkay so, what was the Crusadermon and Dynasmon plan once they arrived to the human world (In the unlikely case Lucemon kept his promise)? Did they expect humanity to bow to them just like that and become their new overlords? Did they think about the fact they'd be the only Digimon in an alien world (I don't remember them having followers or an army)?
ReplyDelete