The Plasma Monster

[Eclipse'd]

Okay, I saw this last night, and it wasn't that great of an episode. It wasn't that bad either, but you know, kind of blah. The reason I want to discuss it is because it raised a couple of interesting questions as I watched it. ((I'm not sure if these questions have been answered before. ))

1. Is Booster a teenager? Think about Petra and Plasma boy. They're "in love" after only 6 weeks. She's rebellious and being sent off to military school (ranger academy) and Plasma boy's kind of a hippie. (( He called Buzz a servant of "the man" or something like that. )) Both of them look fairly young, heck, the kid even calls himself Plasma Boy instead of Plasma Man. So Booster can't be too much older than either of them to be so attracted to her. If I had to guess an age,

I would say Petra/Plasma boy are around 16 and Booster is around 18. It's weird for me to think about since he's bigger than everyone and pretty darn strong.

2. Has Buzz gone through a divorce or was he almost married before? Before you go "WTF?!", listen to his advice he's giving to Booster about love. He talks first about how wonderful it is, being a "we" instead of "me", but then his mood changes during the speech. I'll pick out bits I remember and comment on them. They may not be exact words, but close enough.

"And then you're there picking out the china..." Okay, when else do you go pick out china with your significant other? Maybe it's just me, but I thought people did that only when they were married or getting married.

"But then all of the sudden she's spending all her time playing tennis with the new fitness instructor!" Obvious here. Whoever she was, cheated on him. I thought this was supposed to be a kid's show o.O

"And then after all you've been through together, she hopes it's all right to JUST BE FRIENDS!" Buzz is practically screaming in Booster's face right now, and again, it seems really obvious that he's drawing from personal experience, which makes me wonder about his age as well. What is he? Like 40?

Anyways, what are your thoughts?

[Rein]

I just saw this episode this morning, actually. I share your opinion on the quality of the episode, not that great but not that bad either. Kind of standard.

Also, you make a good point with your questions. I don't know why I didn't notice the Booster's age thing earlier. But I guess he does seem pretty young, but not a teenager. And now that I think about he doesn't seem the right age to be attracted to a teenager, but maybe he is.

Now as for Buzz, his "advice" was kind of... strange. But I think he could be in his 30s and still have had that happen to him.

[RedRage]

Yeah, I agree with Eclips'd, I used to lean towards thinking he was 16, but after talking with Netto, I now think he is 17 (he thinks Booster is 18). In spanish in fact there is a part where buzz actually says that Booster is a teeanger, it's kind of a let down to see that in the original language it isn't like that.

So all in all, yes, Booster is pretty young. There is another episode where Buzz remembers his early years as a ranger, he says that they happened TWENTY YEARS AGO, so... yes, Buzz must be in his forties or late thirties.

I love this episode, it reinforces, along with others, how much Booster and Buzz have in common. PLUS, HE FRIKKING TOSSES A HOT DARN FRIKKING SPACE SHIP. WHAT DOES IT WEIGH, LIKE THREE FOUR TONS?!

LUFF

In fact, even four tons sounds like what a truck would weigh, so I'd go with like ten, maybe, what do I know?.

Pfft, Spidey can lift, about 4 tons (maybe less actually, depending on the continuity I guess, there is a Spider-girl comic that clear that out), The Thing can lift more, then comes Mistar incredeeebool, and THEN Booster.

I'de say Booster can trade punches with He-man, he would need to train more, become better at fighting if he wants to stand a chance against He-man, or heroes like Superman.

[Alohilani]

I love XR in this episode- I just want to squeeze him and call him George. Just, the way he talks about Booster, his tone of voice, it leaks 'BFF' all over the place (but more meaningful and less preppy).

And yes, this is an awesome Booster episode. It really shows his strength of character that he'll go on a suicide mission (well, they say it's a suicide mission, but it's Disney so us viewers know no one is really gonna die- but Booster doesn't know that) to rescue someone he was busy hating on a second ago.

I would say Petra/Plasma boy are around 16 and Booster is around 18. It's weird for me to think about since he's bigger than everyone and pretty darn strong.

Eh, it doesn't come off as weird to me. He acts pretty young.

[Eclipse'd]

Eh, it doesn't come off as weird to me. He acts pretty young.

That's true, too. Booster is such a luvable fella. I mean, I've seen shows where in a team or group, the youngest one is always small and spunky (and usually really annoying.) Booster's none of that, which is great.

XR, great as usual. "I hope that picture turned out, cause that was a heck of a flash!"

[slwatson]

Buzz is about 40 or so, if you take into account the dates in Lone Wolf. I think he was referring to an engagement, not actual marriage. Or, serious dating. That tirade made me LMAO -- it's rather mature humor, and hilarious.

ETA: Likewise, given that Buzz lives to 150... 40 isn't old. Ficcers who de-age him to hook him up with Mary Sues just burn my ass.

[Alohilani]

I could never think of Buzz as anything less than 40... and DE-AGING?

WHY, WHY, WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE A CHARACTER IF THEY'RE SUPPOSEDLY YOUR FAVORITE, AND YOU LIKE THEM ENOUGH TO HOOK THEM UP WITH A SUE IN THE FIRST PLACE. I... it just baffles me.

[RedRage]

I don't like the idea of "de-aging", if anything I would make Booster older, a more capable, more mature ranger, but keeping his personality, and you know, the rest so very HIM, so very intact.

Sometimes they do it to keep the "status quo" (did I use that right?), I think it means keeping the stuff the way they are.

In teen titans (the freaking COMIC, not the "hey, let's NOT relate ourselves to our adult version in anyway! don't even dare to say the word Batman, oops, I just did, consider myself out" cartoon) they returned beast boy and raven to being teens. I guess they stopped being "the titans" to become once more "teen titans", I don't really know for sure.

[Alohilani]

Making a character older is perfectly sensible because... well, people get older. But they don't get younger. Now, if you're visiting a character's backstory, they'll be younger. Otherwise, it makes no sense whatsoever.

I've always found changing a character's age and maturity level while keeping their personality recognizable a fun challenge. It's hard not to make the difference in age change them completely while at the same time keeping it realistic- people rarely if ever keep the same personality they had as a teenager as an adult.

I get the feeling I'm completely off-topic. |D;

[RedRage]

well, whoever minds the off topicness, should talk now of forever blah blah you know the rest.

I wouldn't want any of my favorite characters to change due to their age, at least I don't think I've changed much since I was a teenager, of course I have changed, but only for better (more assertive, bolder... the things that are meant to improve).

For Booster, I'd say he is a lot like his dad, so I wouldn't expect him to change drastically, even if he were a real person. Unless of course something tragic happened to him, say, murder of his parents, relatives and homeplanet, along with most of the galaxy.

[Alohilani]

Yeah. Well, I didn't mean <i>huge</i> changes, mostly just... different maturity levels. And if a character had a huge traumatizing event in their past, pre-traumatized character would act a lot different than post-traumatized character.

[RedRage]

That's pretty much what I meant.

What I wouldn't want and older Booster doing is the same type of mistake he and xr did with torque on "the taking of pc-7".

That part hurt a little the first time I saw it.

[Alohilani]

...yeah. I know what you mean.

[Eclipse'd]

Now that I think about it, a decent age range for Buzz would probably be anywhere between 35 and 40. Because if you can join the space rangers at like, 15 or 16, and it took Buzz 20 years to work his way up and become a legend, then yeah, I can see him being around 35.

And the earlier comment about age in general in this show is a good point, too. I mean if people normally live to be 150, that's an extra half century of life. Think about it, 40/150 years is about 26% of your life, so on a maturity level he could still be in his mid 20s, even though he's physically 40.

For us earthlings, that's about half of our life already gone so that's why we're like "omg he's old." But in this far off galaxy, age seems relative. It could depend on what type of alien you are, the planet you're on, etc. etc. We should really just kind of look at them on how they act.

Okay, too much of an in-depth analysis there.

[RedRage]

This may be just me, on a subjective level. But I think (or like to think) he is, and acts, his age (as in earth age), and since it's all space-galaxy futuristic and stuff they have medicines and methods to keep the organs healthy, and by that extending the life span.