A lot of hoopla is made about this chapterplay being the first to have death rays, ray guns, etc. All well and good. What no one bothers to mention is it's one of the most boring serials in existence. And stupid.
Most villains are bent on world domination. All Wade Barrett wants is to take over a newspaper. Wow, big deal. Why not start his own?
Other serials have attractive heroines. Ada Ince is not, unless you like chubby kewpie-doll types. I kept thinking if she does 'Add-a Inch' she's going to bust out of her wardrobe.
You have a blood thirsty mad scientist who's one of the good guys and is a far greater menace than any of the villains.
And there's a robot that does nothing until the final two chapters. What little it does do makes it hardly worth the effort.
The hero is stupid. He has an invisibility ray but he only uses it to slip inside rooms. The minute he's in he turns visible again. Why? Why not stay invisible until you're done? May as well not have it at all if you're hardly going to use it.
There are no cliffhangers. The good guys crash their car down a ravine, turning over 7 or 8 times--it comes to a halt and they get out and walk away like nothing happened. An avalanche of dirt buries the car--they drive right thru it. A plane crashes into the ocean--the hero swims away. A room filled with alcohol catches fire and explodes--the hero just shuts the door and walks off. No clever escapes, no suspense, no thrills.
What you're left with is a stupid hero, a bloodthirsty scientist, a fat heroine, an underachieving villain, a useless robot, and gadgets that seldom get used.
And to make it all worse the ending is so flat--none of these miraculous inventions come into play. There's no grand battle. The police simply walk in and arrest the bad guys. What a ripoff. If they'd done that in Chapter One they could have spared us the rest of this ridiculousness.
Give me a Republic serial any day.
Most villains are bent on world domination. All Wade Barrett wants is to take over a newspaper. Wow, big deal. Why not start his own?
Other serials have attractive heroines. Ada Ince is not, unless you like chubby kewpie-doll types. I kept thinking if she does 'Add-a Inch' she's going to bust out of her wardrobe.
You have a blood thirsty mad scientist who's one of the good guys and is a far greater menace than any of the villains.
And there's a robot that does nothing until the final two chapters. What little it does do makes it hardly worth the effort.
The hero is stupid. He has an invisibility ray but he only uses it to slip inside rooms. The minute he's in he turns visible again. Why? Why not stay invisible until you're done? May as well not have it at all if you're hardly going to use it.
There are no cliffhangers. The good guys crash their car down a ravine, turning over 7 or 8 times--it comes to a halt and they get out and walk away like nothing happened. An avalanche of dirt buries the car--they drive right thru it. A plane crashes into the ocean--the hero swims away. A room filled with alcohol catches fire and explodes--the hero just shuts the door and walks off. No clever escapes, no suspense, no thrills.
What you're left with is a stupid hero, a bloodthirsty scientist, a fat heroine, an underachieving villain, a useless robot, and gadgets that seldom get used.
And to make it all worse the ending is so flat--none of these miraculous inventions come into play. There's no grand battle. The police simply walk in and arrest the bad guys. What a ripoff. If they'd done that in Chapter One they could have spared us the rest of this ridiculousness.
Give me a Republic serial any day.