From: phillies@wpi.WPI.EDU (George D. Phillies)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: Power Pack Video
Date: 16 Apr 92 14:52:00 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute

This is the third part of a summary of the never-aired Power Pack 
live-action serial, based (reasonably tightly) on the Comic Book.  The 
previous part was posted ca. 4/5.  These could be said to be spoilers, 
except that most of you are unlikely to see the serial.  (Well, if 
someone wants to borrow the tape, and will cover my mailing expenses, 
I'm open to discussion.) 

I have tried a few audience tests on friends and their younger 
children.  The younger children (who are sufficiently blase about SF 
to ignore much of Dr. Who `Androids of Tara' and most of a ST:TNG 
episode with Whorf's son playing a major role) were absolutely riveted 
to the screen by the Power Pack episode.  The college-age (undergrad) 
audience had a large chunk not wanting pictures about children.  The 
afficianados were more impressed  "Marginally exceptional" being one 
characterization.  

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SPOILER DEFENSE FORCEFIELD ^L having failed last time (Sorry!)
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We return to Doctor Mobius's abandoned mansion, which Jack and two 
friends have now entered, Jack with flashlight in the lead.  Jack's 
two friends are mismatched in personality, one being brash, the other 
quite timid.  At the top of dark stairs, the brasher observes 
``There's nothing here'' and leans back into a large crate: a coffin, 
from which pops a skull.  The boys retreat across the corridor, into a 
skeleton, and back across the corridor, the more timid of Jack's 
friends triggering an armed, full scale guillotine.   The three shout 
and flee in terror into a large room, a room full of widgets.  

Widgets?  An armillary sphere.  Various statues, skeletons, skulls, 
petrified giant slugs, and other artifacts far too numerous to 
enumerate here.  On the far wall, above a fireplace, is a painting of 
the late Doctor Mobius, former proprietor of the Circus of the 
Macabre.  A very realistic painting it is --- the boys note that the 
eyes appear to move when the flashlight light is floated across them.  
The astute watcher will see Mobius has a 3" diameter tie-pin --- a 
gold disc with ruby center.  

The room becomes cold.  Harlan (Jack's larger, more timid friend) 
observes ``I hate it when that happens'' as though he is expecting 
this.  There is a clatter, a squeal of rats running across the room, a 
motion on the floor.  The boys find an amulet, which Jack picks up and 
offers to his brasher friend, who declines the honor.  Jack pockets 
the amulet.  Repeated deep rumblings, each louder than the last, send 
the boys fleeing in terror out of the mansion down the stairs, and 
around the gap in the locked fence.  As the boys leave the room, the 
camera flashes to the painting --- the amulet is no longer there.  "I 
can't believe you jumped so high" --- comparing notes on their panic.  

Cut to home, Alex on phone to parents, Julie listening. They are to 
put away all the dishes, pots, and pans, and finishing unpacking; 
parents will soon be home with groceries.  Julie begs Alex to cover 
for her; she wants to take off to the mall for a few minutes.  
``Please, oh please, ... I just want to make some new friends.''  She 
talks Alex into letting her go.  He starts into the kitchen, looks 
around, and realizes what he has gotten into --- a large family's 
worth of dishes, pots, and pans.  

Julie, outside, wheels bike from side of house: "Alex did say to be 
quick about it".  She looks around, hops onto bike, and accelerates to 
ultra speed down the pavement --- rainbow contrail prominent.  We get 
three views of this, one facing the house, a second from overhead, and 
the third as she fades (within a few seconds) into the distance.  The 
simulated speed, my estimate, is around 100 mph.  

Jack, upstairs, is unpacking.  Well, on occasion he unpacks something, 
spends time using or admiring it, and then goes on to the next object.  
On placing some comics in a drawer, he looks down at the amulet, whose 
centerstone is now glowing ``This is not good''.  It is also energized 
--- it burns if you touch it.  There is thunder in the distance, and 
odd pink glows in the dark sky.  

Jack upstairs and Alex, downspiritedly unpacking the kitchen, hear a 
distant voice  ``Return it to me.'' A black-hooded half-transparent 
figure appears on the sidewalk.  Jack looks down, seeing Mobius look-
ing up at him.  The ghost pounds on the door.  Jack runs downstairs, 
meeting Alex, who is about to answer the door.  Jack: "I wouldn't do 
that if I were you."  Alex  "Why not?"  Jack: "Well, you know what mom 
and dad say about opening the door to strangers." Alex (and Katie, who 
stands next to him) appear unconvinced.  (After all, they are heroes, 
yes?  Also, as we shall soon see, Katie has a dismayingly large amount 
of firepower.)  The background thunder gets louder and louder.  Light-
ning illuminates the outline of a cloaked figure outside the door.  
Katie screams.  Alex, firmly: "What is going on Jack?"  He pulls open 
the door.  The clouds instantly disappear, the thunder and lightning 
stop; a few dark traces are seen to recede into the distant sky.  
There is no sign of Mobius.  

Jack, Alex, and Katie are upstairs, Katie holding the amulet.  It 
glows, emits spiralling ruby sparks; Katie is not bothered.  Alex 
lectures Jack on his mistakes  "We weren't given our powers to show 
off...What if your friends had seen you...You shouldn't even have been 
in the place."   "So what do we do?"  "We have to put it back"  "I was 
afraid you were going to say that." 

Fade to parents in supermarket.  They hear thunder in the distance, 
and worry about their children.  Professor Power is confident the 
children are at home, having unpacked, watching TV by now.  The father 
tells a "physics" joke, whose point is supposed to be obvious only if 
you are a physicist; Mrs. Power survives the humor.  

Go to the House, Alex, Jack and Katie working their way up the stairs.  
Jack is not quite sure which way to turn.  Coming up over their 
shoulders is Mobius' disembodied head, luminous green, not noticed 
until he growls "Return it to me."  The Pack looks over shoulders and 
routs, dodging into a previously unseen room.  

Jack, Alex, and Katie find themselves in a hall of mirrors, one cunning-
ly designed to separate them, perhaps a trifle faster than is complete-
ly plausible.  Alex steps ahead, and discovers a trap door the hard 
way.  He starts falling.  Jack turns around, backs, and blunders into 
an animated skeleton.  Katie looks around, frightened.  There's an 
adult behind her.  An adult ghoul, which grabs her, admittedly not 
very firmly.  She screams in (quite legitimate) terror.  It's big and 
ugly.  And the background is very dark.  

Superpose a silver circle filled with Julie's rainbow effect.  (Which, 
by the way, is not the harsh primaries of the comic, but a real 
rainbow, the color balance being very realistic.)  Move back the 
camera, the darkness being replaced with bright outdoors.  Julie's 
bike comes to a stop, tire smoking.  She gets off, clutching a strip 
of film --- a mall fast-camera picture set, a half dozen faces staring 
in: Julie and her new friends.  She dumps the bike, goes to the door, 
and finds a note, contents remaining unseen.  It's clearly an explana-
tion from brothers and sister.  

Back to the haunted house.  Jack is in a cage, which snaps shut.  Alex 
is still falling, hair streaming upwards.  He's surrounded by a whirl 
of images: skulls, figures, a Greek temple (well, that's what I think 
it is).  He puts out his hands, flat, to hover.  His sister's screams 
--- calling for him --- are audible above.  Katie breaks free of the 
ghoul, confronts it, "Okay, you asked for it" (or close thereto).  Her 
attack has the form of multiple continuous beams of blue lightning, 
emanating from the fingers.  The ghoul is swallowed in brilliant 
light; it vanishes.  Disintegration!  Jack "I'm out of here" shrinks 
to finger size, skips between the bars of the cage, and runs.  Alex 
brings one hand above his head, then flies (ascent takes much less 
long than descent) back to and through the trapdoor.  He lands and 
hugs Katie, who is still clutching the amulet.  Jack calls from the 
corner and then (on-camera special effect) grows to full size.  The 
growth effect is an overlay; we see him at several different sizes at 
the same moment.  

Cut to Julie in the kitchen, unpacking, very quickly --- ultraspeed 
all the way.  

The Pack enters Mobius's inner sanctum, Mobius' voice calling "Return 
it to me".  Thunder and flashes of lightning.  Jack points out where 
he found the amulet; Katie returns it, to no avail. Alex shows his 
wits (he appears to be rather swifter than the Alex of the comic 
book), identifying the amulet with the gap in the painting.  Special 
effect:  Alex hoisting his sister ceilingward, simply by touching the 
small of her back.  

Mobius: "You must be punished."  (Sound is a bit weak here, but I 
believe Alex says "He's going to kill us".)  A hole is burned in the 
painting, a brilliant ruby beam stabbing down at the amulet and Katie.  
The contest is obvious; Katie must push the amulet back into the 
painting to seal the gap.  We have the better part of a minute of 
combat, Katie trying to push the amulet forwards, using her own attack 
--- a blue column of light --- to neutralize Mobius's deathray.  Jack 
stands there.  Alex shouts encouragement "Push harder, Katie!" "I 
can't!  It's burning my hand!"  "More energy, Katie, more energy!  
Come on, you can do it!"  Katie, in facial expressions, really does a 
great job of being the heroine scraping for every last erg of power 
from her reserves, while Alex does well the supportive older brother.  
Slowly, the amulet is pushed through several feet of space into the 
gap, and sealed in place --- a stitchery of miniature lightning bolts.  

Katie and Alex are sprawled on the floor by the backblast. Jack: 
"Nothing to it."  His brother and sister are decidedly  *not 
impressed* by their brother's wit.  

Return to the family kitchen, parents unpacking the groceries.  The 
three pack members run in.  Alex apologizes.  Their mother asks what 
he is apologizing for.  She clearly recognizes that they have been up 
to something.  Somewhat lamefacedly, he looks around the immaculate 
kitchen, completely unpacked, every pan in place  "For not being here 
to help with the groceries."  Julie walks around the room.  Mother 
compliments the three of them on their unpacking.  Julie has eyes 
skywards.  After all, she did the work.  Mother pours on the 
compliments, toward the three of them who disappeared leaving Julie to 
do the kitchen, Jack's bedroom, etc.  Alex:  "Oh.  Thanks!" A somewhat 
oddly-toned thanks, but he knows he didn't do it.  He looks at his 
sister and winks.  Her pout is replaced by a smile.  

Happy endings:  two five-year-olds tap at the back sliding glass-door.  
They want Katie to come out and play.  She beams and leaves.  The 
telephone rings, the Professor answering.  He'll have to see if 
someone will take a call.  He turns to Alex.  It's Tina.  Alex is all 
smiles, grabs the phone, says hello, and realizes that he has his 
whole family as audience.  "Do you mind?"  Family less Jack leave 
voluntarily; mother grabs Jack.  View of the outside of the house, 
Alex's voice heard.  He and Tina are clearly doing well.  With one 
break:  Mom, Jack's on the phone!  I am not!  Shift to credits.  

Special effects --  Stargate.  Production by Paragon Entertainment 
with New World Television.  There were a lot of credits; the unusual 
one was a Tutor.  The special effect density was quite high.  

Someone who has a better ear is welcome to comment on the musical 
support.  There were at least three distinct themes, one relatively 
serious, one much more playful (close to Julie's personal theme 
music), and a near-Wagnerian musical background for the combat scenes.  

Relative to the original source, Alex is perhaps a bit more mature, 
somewhat brighter, certainly much more the moral leader of the group.   
Julie is more feminine, more interested in making friends, but keeps 
the mothering role, doing what is needed to cover for brothers and 
sister.  Jack captures the attitude problem seen in the book.  Katie 
is a little girl, but one willing to come out slugging when it is 
necessary.  The original source, even in the early books, had a 
slightly acidic angst that is lacking here; the change is an 
improvement.  

George Phillies                  *Powerpax Lives! Powerpax Lives!* 
phillies@wpi.wpi.edu             * (Hey, it worked for Phoenix.) *