Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Jack of All Trades PLAY BY PLAY Episode 3: The Floundering Father


Hello I am the movie encyclopedia and if no one else will see it, I will.

Moving into Day 2 of our coverage we will be covering Episode 3 and 4. But first we will start with Episode 3 entitled The Floundering Father.



The episode starts with Emilia working on what looks like an old school version of a submarine. The difference is that it is shaped like a fish, is run on electricity and is totally pre-historic compared to today's models. But she works on it, much to the chagrin of Jack who finds the racket annoying.
They receive a knock on the door shortly after. But instead of a person behind the door it turns out to be a parrot in a pirate hat. This turns out to be a carrier parrot by the name of Jean Claude. He becomes a semi-regular part of the show as it goes on and his main purpose is to deliver time sensitive information on their next mission.

Their mission this time: Stop Blackbeard and Croque from doing whatever it is that they are doing.
So with mission in hand Jack and Emilia go to the docks where we see Croque, Brogard, a few of his men and a group of pirates. The leader of the pirates is the filthy mouthed, kerosene drinking, fire breathing, face licking brute Blackbeard. Yes he ACTUALLY does all the mentioned things....*sigh*
In exchange for a treasure chest load of gold and silver, Blackbeard was supposed to deliver a very special package. The package? Founding father Benjamin Franklin. Croque and Brogard want to use Ben Franklin to create an electrical weapon that can make them the supreme power in Palau Palau. Croque and Brogard offer Blackbeard more gold in exchange for one more deal...a deal they will explain over dinner.
With this knowledge Jack and Emilia disguise as guards and try and rescue Ben Franklin. Franklin is a bit of a know-it-all, a science wiz and certainly loves to eat, but he gives more info to Jack and Emilia about the weapon and when and where they are taking him to do what needs to be done. Jack and Emilia leave and plan their ambush.
At the aforementioned dinner, Croque and Brogard tell Blackbeard of the Daring Dragoon. They also say that they want him to stop the Dragoon and that he will probably try and ambush them when they have Franklin again. Blackbeard agrees to help.
The next day Emilia distracts Blackbeard and his men as the Dragoon rides up and ambushes them. Blackbeard runs off rather uncharacteristically and the Dragoon takes Ben...or so they think. Once the Dragoon reaches the safe area it is revealed Brogard was under the bag. Emilia knocks Brogard out and they figure out Ben is on Blackbeard's ship.
So Emilia and Jack take the old school submarine, armed with a drill, and drill a man sized hole in Blackbeard's boat. They use the hole to find Ben and are about to leave before they are suddenly confronted by the pirates. Emilia stays with Ben as Jack (as Dragoon of course) fights off the other pirates before dueling with Blackbeard.
Things seem to be going okay until Blackbeard gains the upper hand. With Jack stunned, Blackbeard grabs his kerosene and burps out a fire ball at Jack. Jack dodges and runs down ship to find Emilia and Ben having problems with the electrical connection. Jack volunteers to help and the sub door closes just as Blackbeard gets ready to deliver another fireball into the sub.
Turns out Jack's not a great listener since as soon as he grabs the electrical wires he has waves of electricity shooting through his body. It DOES power the sub though and they get away...at the expense of Jack's health.
The episode ends with Ben praising Jack and Emilia saying that he is proud to see America and England's best working together. Jack then notes that his brains and insight is what got him on the 100 dollar bill.

The Verdict:

Enjoyment-4
Plotline-4
Jokes-4
Acting-4
Technical-5

The sub effects are cool and it's overall a pretty good episode. Not great but still a good episode.

4 out of 5.

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