Re: Stuph, morbid and non-morbid...

From: Andy Hill <chance_at_unix.infoserve.net>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 20:50:10 -0700 (PDT)

On Tue, 25 Apr 1995, Jonathan Higa wrote:

> However, you will notice that Feral *doesn't* arrest the SWAT Kats when he
> encounters them in general. Furthermore, Feral *does* realize that they are
> an asset to the city (cf. Andy's story--if you accept that it is based on
> the series, then whatever reference he used is valid support for this
> statement).

     Someone pointed out to me on the phone that the reason the end of
"Metal Urgency" plays so well is because Feral silences Mac and Molly
rather than learning who the SwatKats are. I interpreted that another
way. Feral isn't stupid, though his actions aren't always well
thought-out ("no, it's desperate, and it's stupid...), and I think he
must know who the 'KAT guys really are, but no one has confirmed it, so
he feels no use for action. I personally feel that had he heard it from
Mac and Molly, though perhaps no one else would've overheard their
conversation, he would have felt bound to do something because he now
knew for certain, whereas he had only previously strongly suspected.
This is the part of the "some rules couldn't be broken by anyone - not
even himself - but Steel broke them all" line that's applicable: Feral
isn't obligated to act on his suspicions, but being a basically
honor-bound and disciplined sort, if he was told who the KAT guys were,
he'd be forced to act. This is one of the rules his character couldn't
break for anyone. I left it purposely ambiguous at the end, though his
actions, in my mind, leave little doubt he knows their identities.

> In addition, the SWAT Kats themselves have at least two reasons, to wit,
> *not* to harm innocent civilians. One is their characterization as "good"
> guys. (Consider, if Razor had never found out that the two civilians hurt
> in "Razor's Edge" were working for Dark Kat, wouldn't Razor have turned

     Razor is my favourite character on the show, hands down,
specifically for this reason in terms of his nature. He *would* have
turned himself in. He took a huge chance just going to the hospital.
It's not a character weakness, it's a strength. T-Bone strikes me as
being honourable, and he would've felt bad, but I think he would have
been more likely to chalk it up as "it happened, what could we do about
it? We did the best we could, and it was an unfortunate accident." It's
the attitude cops and soldiers have to take to be able to do 99 percent
good against the one percent "collateral damage" - but Razor's character
wouldn't let him sleep nights even for the one percent.

> innocents. Another is their duty--possibly self-imposed--to keep themselves
> available *as* protectors of the city. Given the paragraph above, if the
> SWAT Kats were brought up on (possibly defensible) charges for killing
> anyone, they wouldn't be able to defend the city, would they?

    You'd end up in an "end justifies the means" confrontation here. A
similar scene to above plays out in the Edward Woodward movie "Breaker
Morant", where they're up on similar charges, and even though they face
the death penalty, they're let out long enough to repel an enemy attack,
then re-incarcerated to await execution.

> Well, you may argue, they could get out on bail. Perhaps, but Feral would do
> his official duty by insisting that the SWAT Kats be held without
> bail--manslaughter is a sufficiently serious offense to merit the
> possibility of holding without bail.

     That'd be pretty much a given concerning the offense I was
picturing. More of the character-dev stuff could occur if they HAD to be
let out to combat something, perhaps exonerating themselves in the process.

> cannot *afford* to make that kind of mistake. Razor *knows* this, as we have

  Razor *does* know this, I just wish "Razor's Edge" could've been
expanded somehow to include T-Bone's perspective. That's the problem
with 23 eps as opposed to the 65 intended - all the threads are in place
for future stories along these lines, but no one was allowed to sew them
into anything.

Andy


Received on Tue Apr 25 1995 - 23:42:20 PDT