Walker, Texas Ranger vs. Zorro

So it's 1:30ish in the morning and nothing's on and my head's spinning so I'm too lazy to get up to go searching through things and put on a movie (plus I don't know where the VCR remote is) so here I am watching Walker Texas Ranger. I haven't decided whether I dislike it or not yet. (It's only been 20 minutes) but I am definitely thinking how much better Zorro is. So far this guy (Walker I guess) and his partner have had to go to Cleveland to pick up this cop and ranger murderer and bring him to be executed in Texas instead of Ohio. Dumb if you ask me -- dumb that they have to switch where he's executed. a) why should it matter? Dead is dead (and it's still wrong both ways) and b) FAR too many things could go wrong -- why give them an opportunity for such a thing? *eyeroll*

So first thing, they pick up this guy (after some unpleasant exchanges between the Ohio cops who want the murderer to suffer on the electric chair instead of being killed by an injection) and get on the airplane and what do you know? Two people are assigned to the same seat, Walker and an insurance salesman who knows the statistically it's safer to be far away from the cockpit and thus won't move to First Class. So now Walker has to seperate from his partner and the prisoner due to all sorts of regulations. Ridiculous if you ask me. Proving once again that lawful good is dumb. Laws = downfall. If you insist on following things to the letter of the law instead of the good intentions behind them, things will be bad. I suppose it's a personal philosophy of mine, probably a byproduct of writer syndrome and American background (forefathers clearly not lawful good and probably more likely to be neutral good to put it in D&D terms.) And neutral good is what Zorro is. It's the whole philosophy of do what's right even if the laws are wrong.

Oh look and I was completely right about the whole airplane traveling + rules and regulations = downfall. The 2nd partner gets drugged, the prisoner escapes and general chaos ensues. Of course otherwise it wouldn't be so interesting.

But take the whole death penalty thing. I for one find it completely morally wrong and for a very large part, highly unnecessary. So did old school Zorro actually. The only time someone ever got killed in the book/tv show was either an accident or a bad guy thing. It's the totally Catholic tradition of killing not to protect yourself but only other's innocent lives. And in Zorro's time it was perfectly legal to kill as a punishment but Zorro recognized that that didn't make it right.

It's funny sometimes how you can tell certain things about a writer just from the first couple seconds or so. For instance many tv shows have an entire STAFF of writers; not just one. But I'm willing to bet quite a lot that Walker, Texas Ranger is written by one screenwriter or else adapted from an original one writer, and furthermore it's very clear that said writer is DEFINITELY on the lawful side of things.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's bad to obey the laws. Au contraire; I believe standing for what's right WITHIN the laws if at all possible but if in some case it's NOT possible and then the laws come last not first. You know what? Batman was totally the same way. He was clearly a neutral good whereas Superman was lawful good. I can't stand Superman but notice that I love Batman. Muy intersante, no?

This is one of those things that no matter what evidence I could use to prove my point though, it mostly comes down to a matter of "opinion." It's everyone's individual sense of morals. Just as someone who's Lawful good is going to think not only am I incorrect but morally wrong and that laws should ALWAYS 100% of the time be followed (except perhaps in the case of Nazis or where it's very clear-cut like that.) But me, I will always have a slightly unlawful-like streak. Not chaotic though; chaotics are more like Peter Pan and Lord of the Flies... they make me nervous.

Hmmm ok so now Walker is on a motorcycle chasing the guy through a shopping center (in a True Lies kind of way -- haha greatest chase scene ever) and then he randomly decides to take off his helmet. Now I'm sure that it's because when he goes hand to hand with the guy (as he's doing now) they want people to see his face but that is just bad writing there. It wouldn't make any LOGICAL sense. a) he was STILL riding the bike when it happened and b) it'd give him more protection. A more tactical way would have been to have it knocked off, have him crash slightly and it gets rolled off etc. etc. The way they had it though was lame. (I'm so thinking one writer again, a team would been much more likely to pick up such a thing as they're usually around for the filming process as well in case the director/producer wants to change things.)

*sigh* And there I go again... being all egotistical. It's a common thing for me, I'll read or watch something and think, heh, I could do better. In my defense though, the things I really enjoy the most are the ones that blow me away where I'm so sure I might never ever reach that level and yet I have a desperate craving to try. Hmm... I think I may have mentioned this before?

Yay! And now we come to the show I'd originally intended to watch: Nothern Exposure. Heh silly Hallmark Channel. I can't believe I'm even watching it, even though they do own 10th Kingdom now. YAY! A MOOSE!!!!! Awwww where's Pat when you want him? He's obsessed with moose.

I wonder if it's still snowing outside? It's actually surprisingly hard to see from this angle. Laura's hoping for a snow day and I'm hoping not ;) Although if it is too bad for driving tomorrow that means I won't be able to get Volume 12 :/ Hmm well according to weather channel it IS still snowing but only up to 3 inches and then it's supposed rain a bunch in the morning.

Well I'm going to finish up now and crawl into bed and watch the rest of Northern Exposure from there. *spins around humming Ryoga's song*