Whudda W.A.S.T.E.

"Tell them I said something important. You're supposed to say something important when you die." Last Words of Poncho Villa

 My Photo
Name: Monstro
Location: Northampton, Massachusetts, US

"Behind the intials was a metaphor, a delirium tremens, a trembling unfurrowing of the mind's plowshare. The saint whose water can light lamps, the clairovoyant whose lapse in recall is the breath of God, the true paranoid for whom all is organized in spheres joyful or threatening about the central pulse of himself, the dreamer whose puns probe ancient fetid shafts and tunnels of truth all act in the same special relevance to the word, or whatever it is the word is there, buffering, to protect us from." Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

There is an 'A' in Team

Let's face it. I am not the person who should be discussing at any length the A-Team. The Drivler and I went to New Orleans with the express purpose of putting to Marie Laveau the request of bringing that frightening foursome back on the air, so technically, if they come back I'm partly responsible, but really, it was Herr Drivler's idea. I was merely along for the ride (and to perform my duty of annoying him). Anyway, said duty accomplished, I am here to tell the tale, but really I'm like that Malcolm guy discussing what it is to be bad. I never was a sex pistol, and you all know it.

Furthermore, Jason has just finished writing and recording lyrics for the A-Team theme song, so seriously, I'm not the guy who should be doing this, but nonetheless, here I am. Jason hasn't written shit for weeks. I'm all you got.

So first of all, I want to answer the most common criticism of the show's... urhh... tactic--namely, the construction of the tank. Every episode, they construct a tank. "How many seasons of tank construction should the public be expected to endure," runs the common complaint.

Well look, I'm with you, but then again I'm not. You see every week I play a chaos army in Warhammer 40k, and every time I play my chaos army, I play the raptors. Why? I mean I have tons of chaos miniatures. I have all four greater demons. Innumerable lesser demons and something like 60 regular soldiers. Two obliterators, a defiler, a couple rhinos, a predator, noise marines, thousand sons, khorne berzerkers. The combinations by which I could make a choas army are such that I could play a hundred times and still never play the same army twice, and yet, every time, I play my raptors. Why?

I submit that the reason is the same as the reason that the A-Team always build a tank. They like Tanks. It's as simple as that. Moreover, it's not like they do badly with the tank. Why change tactics?

No, if you're going to criticize the A-Team, don't criticize the tank. Criticize the untold story. It's here that perhaps I have a better attitude towards A-Team criticism. The Drivler, in his love for B.A., Faceman, Howling Mad Murdock, and of course, Hannibal, is unlikely to go here, but I will.

How does the A-Team make their money? Every episode it's the same thing. Someone wants to hire the A-Team but they don't have enough money but the A-Team, out of the kindness of their hearts, take the mission anyway. Why? Because its the right thing to do. But they couldn't do this at all without ANY money. They must be getting their money from somewhere.

I submit that between the episodes, the missions that the public is allowed to see, the fab four are performing more monetarilly beneficial missions. Why don't we see those missions? Well, they are less than noble. What other reason would there be for not letting us see the A-Team earning the dough? Like Frank Zappa, every fourth mission or so is from the heart. The other three? Pure black ops stuff.

Someone had to say it. I'm sorry it had to be me.