Ugh, what an awful episode! It started off promising as an homage to classic Westerns with Scott, Rand, and Annie riding into a hostile frontier town, then degenerated into a Western spoof with the sheriff tossing our ragtag rebels into the hoosegow like Thurston Howell did to the Brady Bunch. A couple geezers then rustle their Cyclones. The addled sheriff then inexplicably releases Scott, Rand, and Annie who ride away in hot pursuit on horseback. And all this before the commercial break!
The premise begged a lot of questions. Why would a once-modern society revert back to the Old West, including adopting its dress, horses, and cowpoke lingo? Scott said these cities were built in the craters created during the war with the Robotech Masters, which wasn't all that long ago in the series timeline. Rick Hunter is still alive, for example, as are an odd assortment of Macross-era soldiers. The city is decrepit, however, like a dilapidated old ghost town of the title. But if it was built in the wake of the Robotech Masters War, it should be bright, shiny, and gleaming with modernity.
Another nagging question--pun intended--when did Scott learn to ride a horse? Just two episodes ago in "Metamorphosis" he told Rand he couldn't swim because he spent his life in space. Am I nitpicking? Yes, and I know that Rick Hunter and the Robotech Masters played no roles in the original GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA series. Carl Macek, in stitching together this patchwork quilt of three disparate series with a staff of ten writers, conflicts and continuity errors were bound to abound.
Some writers call Annie "Mint," and others don't. Some writers make Scott a halfway likeable human being who can kick back in a lounge chair and good naturedly splash in the surf, and others cast him as a jayvee George S. Patton, as he was presented in this episode. Full disclosure: I'm no fan of Scott. He's my second most-loathed character after Lynn Minmei. Yeah, he's the star of the New Generation, but let's be honest, Rand is the breakout character who brings life to this party.
What a revoltin' development. What began as a tribute to Westerns degenerated into a flag-waving, martial-drum-beating propaganda piece. UN Spacey's recruitment detail should play this episode in retirement homes and swell their ranks with grizzled warhorses and old soldiers eager to die with their boots on.
Can even the most ardent fan of Scott Bernard like him in this episode? First, he barks at Rand and Annie when they suggest he stop playing soldier and loosen up. "I'm not here for pleasure. There's no time for a vacation as long as the Invid are still on earth." He's a man singularly obsessed. Okay, fine, but don't drag others down into your maelstrom of madness. Then Scott tried to pull rank on the cowtown sheriff, haughtily declaring, "I just happen to be an officer from Mars Base!" This expectation of awe and respect--if not a snap salute--for the uniform revealed Scott's myopic militaristic mindset.
But Scott lost my last lick of loyalty and respect when he punched the veteran soldier square in the face and sneered, "You cowardly scum! I hate to even dirty my fists on you!" Wow, what about respect for one's elders? You just don't punch an old man in the face! Worse, the old duffer didn't even see it coming. The droopy-mustached vet informs Scott that they aren't soldiers anymore and aren't under anyone's command. Lancer adds that they fought bravely against the Robotech Masters and that the fight has gone out of them. The vets appear to be in their 70s and know Rick Hunter so presumably also waged war against the Zentraedi. Does Scott respect those decades of dedicated service? No, "you're all traitors!" he shouts, yanking a skinny codger by his shirt front. Scott may be an officer, but he's no gentleman.
An outlier among the veteran ranks is a younger, shell-shocked soldier dubbed "Gabby" since he's mute. He often goes to the receiver and watches messages we learn come from his son. Watch for Scott aggressively elbowing this poor, broken man to the side so he can frantically yell into a radio he was already told is no longer operational. Scott is so rude with a reckless disregard for people and their feelings. Only the mission matters. Scott displays megalomania here, believing he's on a mission from God--or Admiral Rick Hunter, whom he's elevated to deity-- and only he can accomplish it. People are just disposable tools to be used, abused, and discarded, means necessary to achieving his ends and winning his glory.
Good leaders can become obsessed. Two examples from STAR TREK: Captain Kirk in "Obsession" and Matt Decker in "The Doomsday Machine." In the latter, Decker blithely risked the lives of an entire starship in his mad quest to settle his personal grudge.
That tragically is similar to what happens in "Ghost Town" as this over-the-hill gang is bullied into undertaking a suicide mission to do what? Take out an Invid antenna? Is that a hill to die on? No, and neither was the "Anthill" in PATHS OF GLORY, a powerful movie that sprang to mind watching these futile events unfold.
In the end, Decker put skin in the game. Scott doesn't, hanging back and letting the vets to do the heavy lifting. Yeah, Scott made pleas for the vets to use the escape pods, but it was too late. He had already sufficiently shamed them into paying the ultimate price. We never learned Shorty's real name nor why Rick Hunter was never to be discussed among them.
I groaned after Marlene somberly informs Annie, "they were... heroes." That line brought to mind the underappreciated antiwar song "Billy, Don't Be a Hero." After the lives of Shorty and friends were snuffed out by the push of a button and a blinding flash, Scott pompously pronounces, "They'll be awarded medals of honor." First, what good will medals do them? They're dead--vaporized! And secondly, medals to be awarded by whom? There is no military structure in place to conduct such ceremonial niceties. If there were, Scott would have military backup instead of his ragtag band of misfit toys.
I'll end this review with the apt closing stanza of the song, which stands in stark contrast to the jingoistic theme of "Ghost Town": "I heard his fiancée got a letter / That told how Billy died that day / The letter said that he was a hero / She should be proud, he died that way / I heard she threw the letter away."
The premise begged a lot of questions. Why would a once-modern society revert back to the Old West, including adopting its dress, horses, and cowpoke lingo? Scott said these cities were built in the craters created during the war with the Robotech Masters, which wasn't all that long ago in the series timeline. Rick Hunter is still alive, for example, as are an odd assortment of Macross-era soldiers. The city is decrepit, however, like a dilapidated old ghost town of the title. But if it was built in the wake of the Robotech Masters War, it should be bright, shiny, and gleaming with modernity.
Another nagging question--pun intended--when did Scott learn to ride a horse? Just two episodes ago in "Metamorphosis" he told Rand he couldn't swim because he spent his life in space. Am I nitpicking? Yes, and I know that Rick Hunter and the Robotech Masters played no roles in the original GENESIS CLIMBER MOSPEADA series. Carl Macek, in stitching together this patchwork quilt of three disparate series with a staff of ten writers, conflicts and continuity errors were bound to abound.
Some writers call Annie "Mint," and others don't. Some writers make Scott a halfway likeable human being who can kick back in a lounge chair and good naturedly splash in the surf, and others cast him as a jayvee George S. Patton, as he was presented in this episode. Full disclosure: I'm no fan of Scott. He's my second most-loathed character after Lynn Minmei. Yeah, he's the star of the New Generation, but let's be honest, Rand is the breakout character who brings life to this party.
What a revoltin' development. What began as a tribute to Westerns degenerated into a flag-waving, martial-drum-beating propaganda piece. UN Spacey's recruitment detail should play this episode in retirement homes and swell their ranks with grizzled warhorses and old soldiers eager to die with their boots on.
Can even the most ardent fan of Scott Bernard like him in this episode? First, he barks at Rand and Annie when they suggest he stop playing soldier and loosen up. "I'm not here for pleasure. There's no time for a vacation as long as the Invid are still on earth." He's a man singularly obsessed. Okay, fine, but don't drag others down into your maelstrom of madness. Then Scott tried to pull rank on the cowtown sheriff, haughtily declaring, "I just happen to be an officer from Mars Base!" This expectation of awe and respect--if not a snap salute--for the uniform revealed Scott's myopic militaristic mindset.
But Scott lost my last lick of loyalty and respect when he punched the veteran soldier square in the face and sneered, "You cowardly scum! I hate to even dirty my fists on you!" Wow, what about respect for one's elders? You just don't punch an old man in the face! Worse, the old duffer didn't even see it coming. The droopy-mustached vet informs Scott that they aren't soldiers anymore and aren't under anyone's command. Lancer adds that they fought bravely against the Robotech Masters and that the fight has gone out of them. The vets appear to be in their 70s and know Rick Hunter so presumably also waged war against the Zentraedi. Does Scott respect those decades of dedicated service? No, "you're all traitors!" he shouts, yanking a skinny codger by his shirt front. Scott may be an officer, but he's no gentleman.
An outlier among the veteran ranks is a younger, shell-shocked soldier dubbed "Gabby" since he's mute. He often goes to the receiver and watches messages we learn come from his son. Watch for Scott aggressively elbowing this poor, broken man to the side so he can frantically yell into a radio he was already told is no longer operational. Scott is so rude with a reckless disregard for people and their feelings. Only the mission matters. Scott displays megalomania here, believing he's on a mission from God--or Admiral Rick Hunter, whom he's elevated to deity-- and only he can accomplish it. People are just disposable tools to be used, abused, and discarded, means necessary to achieving his ends and winning his glory.
Good leaders can become obsessed. Two examples from STAR TREK: Captain Kirk in "Obsession" and Matt Decker in "The Doomsday Machine." In the latter, Decker blithely risked the lives of an entire starship in his mad quest to settle his personal grudge.
That tragically is similar to what happens in "Ghost Town" as this over-the-hill gang is bullied into undertaking a suicide mission to do what? Take out an Invid antenna? Is that a hill to die on? No, and neither was the "Anthill" in PATHS OF GLORY, a powerful movie that sprang to mind watching these futile events unfold.
In the end, Decker put skin in the game. Scott doesn't, hanging back and letting the vets to do the heavy lifting. Yeah, Scott made pleas for the vets to use the escape pods, but it was too late. He had already sufficiently shamed them into paying the ultimate price. We never learned Shorty's real name nor why Rick Hunter was never to be discussed among them.
I groaned after Marlene somberly informs Annie, "they were... heroes." That line brought to mind the underappreciated antiwar song "Billy, Don't Be a Hero." After the lives of Shorty and friends were snuffed out by the push of a button and a blinding flash, Scott pompously pronounces, "They'll be awarded medals of honor." First, what good will medals do them? They're dead--vaporized! And secondly, medals to be awarded by whom? There is no military structure in place to conduct such ceremonial niceties. If there were, Scott would have military backup instead of his ragtag band of misfit toys.
I'll end this review with the apt closing stanza of the song, which stands in stark contrast to the jingoistic theme of "Ghost Town": "I heard his fiancée got a letter / That told how Billy died that day / The letter said that he was a hero / She should be proud, he died that way / I heard she threw the letter away."
