Bad SWAT Kats Technology?

From: Kevin L. Knoles <klknole_at_rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu>
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 1995 00:09:01 -0500 (CDT)

    A sure sign that a person loves a show is how they act like they hate it
when they nipick it. (Just look at how Star Trek fans treat their shows.)
There are three pieces of technology from SWAT Kats that I simply cannot accept.

    I'm not exactly certain which episodes each comes from, but I consider
them all to be a tarnish on SWAT Kat's generally solidly established technolgy
reputation. I tend to get really irritated when a solid technolgical basis for
a show, toy line, or whatever is trashed. Back when I used to watch TMNT every
day, I tried to keep a mental record of all of the technologies on the Party
Wagon, Turtle Blimp, and other vehicles. But a tremendous amount of
inconsistencies kept appearing, and I became flustered, had to throw up my
hands and more or less say "It's not real, so who cares?". The same thing
happened with Transformers. First Autobots can fly, then they can't. After
awhile, the tech specs became outrageous (Flies a million times the speed of
light! Can lift mountains with ease!), and often still are.
    Anyway, the first bad piece of technolgy I can think of is a blade shooting
gun Razor used in Destructive Nature (I think). He comes up to a wall and
needs to get through. Does he blast a hole with his Glovatrix? No, he pulls
out an unusual looking gun and fires two sets of miniblades into the wall.
Somehow these tiny blades land in a perfect circular pattern even though the
gun doesn't fire them in such a manner, and the second set even lands exactly
where the first didn't. Only after the blades have firmly sunk into the wall
and remained motionless for a split second do they start spinning and moving in
a circle to cut through. Let's face it folks, this is some really awful
technology and poor thinking on the parts of the writers, artists,
storyboarders, animators or whoever is responsible.
    Item number two. I believe at another point in Destructive Nature (Might
not be, heck, probably isn't, that episode.), T-Bone needs to get around or
through a fence. He cuts it with some miniblades that fly out of his
Glovatrix. Not only would the miniblades need a tremendous amount of velocity
to cut the fence, but they probably wouldn't have hit anyway (Try throwing a
rock at a wire fence and see if you hit it.). Since clipping the fence with
wire cutters may have taken longer and been kinda boring, he should have jumped
it (If it was possible), "Tomhandled" it if you will, blasted it, or something
else, just not shoot tiny blades at the thing, that's for sure.
    The third piece of bad technolgy that comes to mind is the "middle engine
car" (Whatever it's called) from Bride of the Pastmaster. Suddenly the middle
engine can come off and it's sprouted wheels, fins, and even a cockpit to
boot?! Why not just use the double seated Cyclotron? I tried to rationalize
the existence of the middle engine car, I really did. But I figured that it
was way to complicated and requirering far too much removal of ductwork,
inclusions of ridiculous add-ons, too much sacrificing of precious space, and
other bits to make it feasible, especially when another more convienient
alternative was available.
    I can't think of any others, so if you do, please add them, and then, maybe
we can start up the converse of this list: The coolest technology from the show.

                Kevin L. Knoles klknole_at_rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu











Received on Sat Apr 22 1995 - 01:06:28 PDT