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Original Air Date: November 13, 1987 Review completed August 6, 2007 "Fighting City Hall" After yet another warning not to play baseball in an abandoned lot, Punky is curious to see if she can get a park built nearby. To that end, she gets Henry to be her spokesperson to the city council, despite his fear of public speaking. Their first attempt goes very badly, as Henry can't even get his words out and embarrasses himself on public access TV. Punky saves the moment by making the speech herself while he's gone, but the next meeting finds her points rejected for the construction of a new mall. Henry snaps into action, rallying the attendees into reversing the council's position. Thankfully, we start with something that's not really bad synth. Okay, it's opera, so it's a push. Oddly enough, the show is really pushing Henry's love of classical, as two sequences in the last two episodes show. And then, a little something different as we get a joke about the iron bras of opera. Awesome. That's not the only oddity in the first... what, two minutes so far? For example, did they just plug New Blue Cheer? I swear they just did that. Then again, I suppose it's more successful than advertising Eddie. (BA-ZING!) They also just busted out, "Why don't we hire President Carter? He needs a job." Carter hate? What? And then, sorry everyone, but it's looks like he's coming back soon. Yeah, Spud. ARRRRRGH! Alright, just one more thing about the opening filler. Henry busts out Halley's Comet as an excuse, and that's actually pretty nice, in that kids out of school know some crazy things that adults don't remember. It added an unexpected familiariity to the dialogue, like you've seen this kind of thing happen with your own parents. (Or your own children? That's not outside the realm of possibility with this age group.) On to the main plot. "I am... not perfect." Ha, that is so open. And they play it so straight, which makes it so that it's actually, y'know, funny. There's been too much of that "it's so funny even the characters are laughing!" thing (that I despise) lately. Let us laugh, let the characters do their schtick. Speaking of our schticks: Anyone else catch that echo of "I only asked for one" from the third episode? Yeah, it wouldn't be one of my reviews if I didn't dig something like that up. As the plot moves to Henry and Punky ironing out the details in the kitchen, it marks a good time for me to give another point. This reminds me of one of the filler episodes from Season One: The driving situation for the plot is dead boring, but it's played out so naturally that you kind of get into it anyway. See the Henry/Brandon exchange for a good example. If you don't remember what it means to be into the Season One episodes (those reviews HAVE been in the can for about a year and a half now), it kind of looks like they're acting off of bullet points and improving jokes on top. Which means that they're actually using the chemistry this time. And Henry being interested in rubber underwear. What the heck?! This early thought held up during the first meeting, with a little aid from the cameramen to boot. The shots with Henry's terrified look straight into the camera were well-chosen. It's not a perfect sequence (if he were really that bad a speaker, he wouldn't that good at acknowledging his flubs), but it has a nice slow bulld capped off with "All in favour of his leaving?" "Aye!" I should be a bit scared that Gaynes' voice can go that high even at 60, but hey, it works. Not much can be gleaned in between meetings (people don't watch public access, guys, even in Chicago), but Punky's re-assurance about his choking with the addendum "...and you did!" was nice. Brutally frank Punky, I love you. Brutally ham-fisted episode, I didn't miss you so much. I guess if you're getting the old-time formula, you should expect both sides of the formula. But come on, why did they ditch the main menace of Henry's stage fright for a really half-cheeked developer foe? Punky can get anyway with having an actual person to fight off (look at Simon Chillings, most notably), but not like this. I'll bet there's a good argument out there somewhere for a mall over a park, but this episode sure doesn't try. It's just a really rushed plot device. Where was this guy the first time again? On the other hand, the old theme of Henry jumping through (Chicken On) fire for Punky finally makes it out of whatever hole it was locked in. This theme saved more than a few episodes in its day ("Lost and Found" wouldn't have done so well without it), and it does the job right now just as well. We even get a fired-up crowd yelling behind him as a result. Sure, it's about the same amount of realism as the infamous trial from the beginning of the series (gotta love how it's such a giant swing in Henry's abilities *wink, wink*), but I'm actually getting into this thing, so the realism must not be a requirement. Also, it's a nice touch how Henry doesn't remember a thing about it soon after. That's it? That's it... oh, look at this credit. Michael Dorn as a councilman! Hah, there's a real story for you. Good old Worf on Punky Brewster. Back on-topic, I liked this episode, despite it being nothing in regards to the overall story. I don't know who decided on Punky's new direction after the cancellation scare, but this episode is living, breathing proof that that person really wasn't thinking in the right direction. Work from the chemistry out, not from the plot in, stupid. I sound like a broken record by now, but what can I say? Even with the spots of good episodes so far this season, I'm still not impressed with the quality overall. At any rate, though, we're over the halfway point, so let's see if the turn-around can still happen. If more come like this, combined with the idea of plots updated for teen Punky, maybe it can. - Jimmy Vibes |