Friday, November 27, 2009

Ruby-Spears: Mega-Pinocchio

Guest Starring: Ring Man, Crash Man, Spark Man and Magnet Man

Plot Synopsis
Wily's robots break into the lab of a scientist named Dr. Petto (they aren't being subtle here at all) and Mega Man shows up just in time to rescue him. Mega Man takes Dr. Petto back to Dr. Light's lab where Dr. Petto talks about his ground breaking research that can turn robots into humans. How exactly this works isn't really elaborated on, but apparently the robot will have real human emotions or something. Dr. Light is impressed even, so lets not dwell on how dumb this plot point has the potential of being, because very soon it won't matter too much.

Dr. Petto offers to turn Mega Man into a real boy and Mega Man is hesitant at first, but then decides he'd like to be human. He heads to Dr. Petto's lab to have the procedure done, and Dr. Petto deactivates him temporarily. Just then, Dr. Wily shows up and, UH-OH, Dr. Petto was one of Wily's robots all along! Wily installs a mind control microchip into Mega Man's brain which Wily can control from a helmet he made. Mega Man is reactivated and Dr. Petto shows Mega Man a flower to show that Mega Man is now human. Dr. Wily whispers to Mega Man (one of the greatest lines of the series) "You feel warm, und tingly undside" To which Mega Man repeats verbatim. Oh Wily, you crazy kraut!

Mega Man, now thinking he is human, runs off to show Dr. Light and Roll. As they are congratulating him, Wily's robots are attacking the city. Mega Man runs off to stop them, but Wily uses his mind control chip to instill fear and doubt into Mega Man which causes him to fail at stopping Wily. The townspeople get upset and the media blame Dr. Light. Mega Man begins to question if his existence was a mistake, and over hears Dr. Light questioning Mega Man's self determination.

Wily tells Mega Man to reprogram Dr. Light's other robots and remove their self determination so that he can reprogram them. Mega Man listens and ends up throwing Dr. Light, Rush and Roll into a trash compactor, ala every Star Wars trash compactor scene ever done. Dr. Light and the others escape, while Dr. Wily steals all of Dr. Light's robots and takes Mega Man with him to march on Washington. Dr. Light heads to Dr. Petto's lab where he discovers Wily's plot and works to create a counter to Wily's mind control chip.

Mega Man is easily taking down the US army and ordering Light's robots around when Roll comes down and begs Mega Man to stop. Dr. Wily tells him to destroy Roll, but Dr. Light tells Mega Man about the mind control chip. Mega Man thinks quickly and fakes working for Wily. He leads Roll off, then returns to Wily and his robots. He then high fives Magnet Man and steals his weapon (this whole sequence is so stupidly awesome). Mega Man uses Magnet Man's magnetic ability (no Magnet Missile) to steal Dr. Wily's mind control helmet. He orders Dr. Light's robots to attack Wily. Then, Mega Man and Proto Man get in the best fight of the series. "He's about to blast Mr. Lincoln!" I'll leave that to your imagination. Mega Man defeats Proto Man and the day is saved! Dr. Light tells Mega Man that he has many human qualities even as a robot and everything is okay again!

Critique
The idea of robots turning into humans is a strange concept, and I can't say the story itself is particularly great, but this episode does work. It's decently funny, the concept of Dr. Wily controlling Mega Man works well enough, and god damn that high five kills me every time. There are some clever things in this episode that make it worth watching and the whole process of turning robots into humans is never dwelled on so it won't ruin it for you.

Rating: Thumbs Up!

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