Editing 1023: Late-Night PBS
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{Incomplete|Clean up title text explanation, remove redundant or unhelpful information from subsections (especially additional details), check for grammar and spelling}} | |
− | + | This comic is a joke about how some things are often not how you remember them as a kid, taken to a humorous extreme, due to complex subtext or naivety, with a specific reference to television programs for children. | |
− | + | {{w|PBS}} is a television station known for high brow and educational programming, it is often an outlet for BBC programming in the US. The show "''{{w|Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (game show)|Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego}}''" was a lighthearted educational game show that was canceled in the 90's. In the show players follow geography based clues to find out where a master criminal, Carmen Sandiego, is going, and catch her. After catching or failing to catch Carmen Sandiego the chef would congratulate or encourage you. Rockapella was an a cappella band featured on the show that gave clues, punctuated the show with humor, and closed the show. | |
− | After | + | [[Megan]] recounts the story about her surprise as to the nature of programming on late night PBS to Cueball. She claims to have fallen asleep after watching ''Downton Abbey'' and woken up to see that ''Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego'' is still making new episodes, but is significantly darker then she remembers it. The host has grown older, he would be 50 when the comic was written, and developed a drinking problem, the locations the child contestants visit are traumatizing, and the children are clearly freaked out. In the end they find Carmen Sandiego hiding behind a Dutch bookcase, an allusion to "The Diary of Anne Frank", thus implying that the kids have been working as investigators trying to find the locations of Jews for the Nazis. The Chief admonishes the children for their actions and Rockapella glares at the children disapprovingly until the children break down into tears. |
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+ | After completing her story Cueball's remarks that he did not remember the show being that dark, in response to Cueball's statement Megan replies that as kids neither of them could probably understand on the darker subtext of the show. It is true that some programs intended for children often have subtle themes for adults who may be watching the show with their children that the children do not usually remember or pick up on. The joke being that although children viewers may not be able to pick up on everything, there is no way that a child would not notice if a show was as dark as previously described. | ||
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+ | {{w|Bob Ross}} had a painting show on PBS and was known to describe components of his painting as "Happy little" objects. {{w|Ambien}} a prescription sleep aid, can cause are vivid dreams and hallucinations. Thus, the joke in the title text is that Randall/Megan isn't sure if this is hallucinating from taking Ambien (thus giving an alternate explanation for the changes to the programming), or if something horrible has happened because PBS's security staff isn't large enough. | ||
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===Locations visited=== | ===Locations visited=== | ||
− | + | {{w|Mogadishu}} is a battle-torn city in {{w|Somalia}}, where there was the aptly named "{{w|Battle of Mogadishu (1993)|Battle of Mogadishu}}" in 1993, which would coincide with the air dates of "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego" game show. | |
− | + | {{w|The Killing Fields}} are a number of sites in {{w|Cambodia}} where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the {{w|Khmer Rouge}} regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the {{w|Cambodian Civil War}} (1970-1975). | |
− | + | The reference to "A Bookshelf in a Dutch Apartment" is a reference to {{w|Anne Frank}}, who was a Jewish girl who hid from the {{w|Nazi}}s in a Secret Annex hidden behind a bookshelf in an apartment in {{w|Amsterdam, Netherlands}}. She wrote the famous diary, {{w|Diary of Anne Frank}}. | |
===Carmen Sandiego=== | ===Carmen Sandiego=== | ||
− | + | "{{w|Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego}}" was a {{w|computer game}} series in the mid-80s. {{w|Carmen Sandiego}} was a mysterious character that you tracked around the globe, attempting to find clues to find out where she was headed to next. The point of the series was to learn about geography and the world while having fun. The series moved to a {{w|Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego (game show)|game-show TV series}} in the early 1990s from 1991 to 1995. The role of The Chief was played by {{w|Lynne Thigpen}}, a role she played in all 3 computer games (Where in the USA, Where in the World, and Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego) and both TV shows (Where in Time and Where in the World). She was responsible for telling the detectives (sleuths) what had been stolen, which of Carmen's thieves was suspected of stealing it, and some relevant information about their last whereabouts (effectively, telling the sleuths what their mission was). Whenever the detectives would catch a thief (or Carmen), she would appear and congratulate them or console them if Carmen got away. | |
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+ | ====TV Show==== | ||
+ | The host of the TV show was {{w|Greg Lee (actor)|Greg Lee}}. When the show originally aired, Greg was in his late 20s/early 30s. His job was to ask the questions of the contestants and tell them which flags to plant on the map in the final round, as well as engage in silly situations with The Chief and Rockapella to keep the show moving and provide clues. | ||
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+ | The show was split into 3 rounds. In the first round, there were 3 sleuths. Each question they got right gave them additional points. The top 2 scoring sleuths moved onto the next round, where they had to play a game (like the game Memory) where they had to find the thief, warrant, and loot in the correct order. Whichever sleuth did so captured the thief, saved the loot, and moved onto the next round, where they had a chance to catch Carmen Sandiego herself. Success was not always guaranteed in this round, as contestants had to plant flags correct on 7 different countries in a continent within a very short time period. If the sleuth was successfully able to do this, they captured Carmen and won the grand prize (a trip to a place of their choosing in the continental US). If not, Carmen would escape and the sleuth would win a lesser prize (like a computer). | ||
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+ | ====Rockapella==== | ||
+ | {{w|Rockapella}} was the '{{w|A cappella}}' group (keeping up the tradition of punny names for a cappella groups) which sang the theme song to "Where in The World Is Carmen Sandiego." 'A cappella' is a loan word from Italian meaning "''in the manner of the Church''" hearkening back to {{w|Gregorian chant}}; in the 19th century the term evolved to mean any vocalization without accompaniment. In the TV version of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Rockapella also acted as a "house band" of sorts, singing songs while the contestants transitioned between events, providing clues, playing pranks on Greg Lee, etc. At the end of each show, Greg Lee and the episode's winning contestant would shout "Do it, Rockapella!" at which point the band would sing the shows theme song. | ||
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+ | ===Additional Details=== | ||
+ | One continuity issue in this comic is that the places they have to visit in this episode seem to require traveling to different periods in time (1993, 1975-1979, 1940s, respectively). Episodes of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego usually did not deal with this — this is what the TV show Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego (the successor to Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, albeit with a different house band and a different host) did. | ||
− | + | {{w|PBS}} stands for Public Broadcasting Service and is an American TV broadcaster that is predominantly supported by the viewers themselves through pledge drives. It often runs (and sometimes co-produces) acclaimed British {{w|costume drama}}s, including the mentioned ''{{w|Downton Abbey}}''. | |
− | + | This comic is not the first time a host of one of the Carmen Sandiego TV shows was mocked and shown as drinking on the job; Robot Chicken showed a similar scenario with the host of Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego in 2010 ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EIULR-zLEk link] — the voice of the host in the skit is the voice of the actual host from Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego). | |
− | + | {{w|SpongeBob SquarePants#Reception|SpongeBob SquarePants}} and The Fairly OddParents are other examples of shows that have hidden meanings in things for the adults watching the show with their children. | |
− | {{w| | + | {{w|Bob Ross}} was a famous painter with a painting show on PBS called "{{w|The Joy of Painting}}" that ran for 12 years. |
− | + | {{w|Ambien}}, also known as Zoldipem, is a prescription medication used for the treatment of insomnia, as well as some brain disorders. | |
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Megan | + | :[Megan is rubbing sleep out of her eyes and talking to Cueball.] |
:Megan: Have you ever watched PBS late at night? | :Megan: Have you ever watched PBS late at night? | ||
:Megan: I fell asleep after ''Downton'' and woke up at like 3 AM. | :Megan: I fell asleep after ''Downton'' and woke up at like 3 AM. | ||
− | :[ | + | :[The upper portion of the panel continues dialogue, while the lower shows a drunk gameshow host and several contestants. The monitor shows a field of crosses, presumably graves.] |
− | :Megan | + | :Megan: ''Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego'' was back on, except the host hadn't aged well and he'd clearly been drinking. |
− | :Megan | + | :Megan: Every question took them to some horrible place like Mogadishu or the Cambodian killing fields. |
− | :[ | + | :[Now it shows a bookshelf revealing a hidden room.] |
− | :Megan | + | :Megan: The kids were freaked out, but they kept playing. Eventually they were told they'd found Carmen Sandiego hiding behind a bookshelf in a Dutch apartment. |
− | + | :Megan: The Chief appeared and asked "Are you proud of what you've become?" | |
− | :Megan: The Chief appeared and asked "Are you | ||
:Megan: Then Rockapella walked out and just glared at the kids until they started crying. | :Megan: Then Rockapella walked out and just glared at the kids until they started crying. | ||
:Cueball: I, uh, don't remember the old show being that dark. | :Cueball: I, uh, don't remember the old show being that dark. | ||
:Megan: Maybe we were too young to pick up on it. | :Megan: Maybe we were too young to pick up on it. | ||
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | ||
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