- Pac-Man
A lot of people often call out and criticize the recent media adaptations of video games. Though they have their share number of problems, people seem to forget the very first misfires. Way before two plumbers entered a cyberpunk dystopia and two pretty boy martial artists fought in a cyberpunk dystopia, there were a slew of television shows that stretched the term "loose adaptation". Today, we will focusing on Pac-Man, more importantly its Christmas special, Christmas Comes to Pac-Land.
Pac-Man was an very odd show that sadly impacted the future of the franchise by being the influence to Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures. Created by Hanna-Barbera, the show followed Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man a.k.a. Pepper, Pac-Baby, and their two creepily shaped Pac-pets. Nothing much happen with them besides boring domestic and topical chores until the "Ghost Monsters", along with a fifth female ghost, come in to chomp them. These ghosts are sadly lead by Mezmaron, one of the stupidest and badly designed villains. Mezmaron, who looked like a lame copy of Prime Evil and a non-helmet Darth Vader, followed the Gargamel method by obsessing over the Power Pellets. Of course, our boring heroes eat some power pellets and chomp the ghosts away. Rinse and repeat.
The show was pretty forgettable except for its Christmas special, which still occasionally plays on Boomerang during the holiday season. The special opens up with Santa riding his sleigh while marvelling over his computerized list for some reason. Meanwhile in Pac-Land, the Pac-family create snowman versions of their video-game sprites. They then decide to jump into a toboggan, without securing themselves or Pac-Baby. The ghosts come in and ruin their fun way too far, as the Pac-crew falls off a high cliff. Power Pellet ex machina later, the naked ghosts run into Santa's reindeer and scare them. Santa and the reindeer suffer a severely violent crash, seriously it's pretty brutal, and the Pac-residents run to them. As they care for the ailing victims, Pac-Man ventures out to pick up Santa's toy bag before the ghosts get it.
Overall, the show can be enjoyed and seems to be pretty harmless. However, some of its script elements are pretty shocking and the overall Christmas moral is disrespectful. Writer Jeffrey Scott, an animated television journeyman, fills the story with a lot of sadistic cliff falls and crashes. Somehow the Pac-people can survive them easy but Santa and the reindeer nearly die from there's. Also, Pac-Man is kind of a jerk by using guilt trip "think about the children" speeches and tactics to persuade the ghosts or simply chooses to steal the toys out of their unassuming hands without explaining his purpose. But the truly offensive inclusion is the special's message that Christmas is only about the presents. Everyone talks about the toys, how important the toys are, how they need to deliver the toys. Nothing about family and friends or anything else, just pure materialism. After the Pac-crew send Santa off with the toys, they return home finding out that Christmas was saved because they received presents, including the ghosts. Charitable acts must be paid with something in return.
Animation is pretty decent in relation to the character cels. Of course, this satisfactory animation is what makes the violent crashes so violent. However, the backgrounds are pretty awful at times, often being nothing more than a single coat of color with nonexistent details. The sound effects are stock, with no inclusions from the video game's sound board. This leads to some truly odd moments, such as how the reindeers sound like horses.
If you can try hard not to think too much, Christmas Comes to Pac-Land is a fair feature to watch. But the disturbing Christmas theme and prat falls ruin the mood.
TOMORROW'S ENTRY: Controversy creates cash. I tackle America's favorite family with an episode that I absolutely loathe.
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