Farscape : Mental as Anything

April 29, 2015 in Farscape by Firebird

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Scorpius takes Crichton, D’Argo and Rygel into an advanced training camp where students learn mental discipline. D’Argo is confronted with the arrival of Macton, the Peacekeeper who murdered D’Argo’s wife, Lo’Laan, then framed him for the crime. When Scorpius forces Crichton into torturous anti-Scarran training, D’Argo must face the demons from his past… alone.

Synopsis

In which Crichton is tortured for no apparent reason. Yes, I know Scorpius says it’s ‘anti-Scarran training’ but I don’t see that at all.

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And we discover that D’Argo was indeed innocent of his wife’s murder and her brother did do it. Also D’Argo is better at controlling his temper than he used to be.

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While all this is going on the girls are off somewhere else looking for a part for Moya but that’s the subject of the next episode.

Farscape : Twice Shy

April 22, 2015 in Farscape by Firebird

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Chiana purchases Talikaa, an abused slave girl from a passing Trading Ship. When the crew starts acting strangely and Talikaa goes missing, they realize she may not be as innocent as she first seemed. The crew tracks down the Trading Ship only to find its occupants have succumbed to a painful death, the result of neural harvesting by an alien arachnid. When it is revealed that the arachnid is Talikaa’s true form, Moya’s crew must hunt down Talikaa before they suffer the same fate.

Synopsis

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Talikaa first hightens the crew’s prime characteristics and then harvests them taking Crichton’s optimism, Aeryn’s self control, Rygel’s greed, D’Argo’s anger and Chiana’s sex drive.

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She’s sure an ugly thing in her natural form.

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and the way her victims die is nasty

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but the crew figure out that something is wrong fairly quickly and find out what they’re dealing with.

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Luckily Noranti is too old to be of interest and Sikozu is immune. They allow Talikaa to harvest Scorpius and then Sikozu and a weakened Crichton follow her to her nest.

Main points of interest, Crichton and Aeryn finally get back together, Scorpius has definitely got a thing for Sikozu, oh and not for the first time the crew end up eating the monster of the week. Spider stew anyone?

The Seven Faces of Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks

April 18, 2015 in Dr Who, Guest Blogs by GuestBlogs

A Guest Blog by Hevy782

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So here we are at last at the end of our journey through the classic series. Last week we looked at the turmoil that was the Sixth Doctor’s era and now we take a look at the aftermath of that. Sylvester McCoy’s first year as the Doctor wasn’t exactly what one would describe as universally praised and the show was very much still trying to rediscover itself at that point. In the following two year however it knew what it was and took the Doctor in a much darker direction than he’d ever been in before, portraying him as clownish and silly on the outside but dark and manipulative on the inside. Unfortunately, tough scheduling and a poor reputation meant that not many tuned in to watch this new Doctor as thus he only lasted three years. The precise reason as to why the show was cancelled at the end of the eighties is unclear but during the wilderness years that followed the fandom was kept alive by novels, audio dramas, comics and a one off TV movie before the programme’s eventual return and reinvention with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and Billie Piper by his side as Rose. Anyway, the story I have chosen to represent these final years of the original series is Remembrance of the Daleks which was written by Ben Aaronovitch, directed by Andrew Morgan and featured Sophie Aldred as fan favourite companion Ace. I thought it was a fitting choice as the story has a strong feeling of coming full circle which is quite poet as this final review also brings us full circle by looking at another Dalek story. It also shows just how manipulative the Doctor can be and you can find out why that is in the synopsis that follows.

It all begins in nineteen-sixties London where the Doctor has some old business to attend to. Back in his first incarnation the Doctor left something behind and has now returned to put it to good use. That something is the Hand of Omega and he’s not the only one who’s after it. Two factions of Daleks have also arrived to claim the Hand of Omega and the two quickly start a civil war in the heart of London. The Renegade Daleks, the original Daleks who obey the Dalek Supreme, eventually capture the Hand of Omega but the Doctor is able to manipulate events so that it instead ends up in the clutches of the Imperial Daleks, the new race of Daleks who obey their creator Davros. It is then revealed that the Hand of Omega is actually a device used by ancient Time Lords to customise stars and that Davros plans to use it to turn Skaro’s sun into a source of unimaginable power. The Doctor tricks Darvos into activating the Hand of Omega which then turns Skaro’s sun into a supernova, destroying Skaro in the process. The Hand of Omega then returns and wipes out the remaining Daleks on Earth. With the Daleks seemingly completely wiped out, the Doctor and Ace move on to their next adventure.

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Now I’m going to start off by saying that I absolutely love this story and it’s one of my favourite Dalek stories of all time. I mean it’s a Dalek civil war and what’s not to love about that. This means that the second half of the story especially is very action heavy and there are loads of great actions scenes done with some very real and very large explosions. Some may argue that the classic series was all wobbly sets and poor effects but this story proves otherwise. Some of the effects are still very much of their time such as the Hand of Omega but that doesn’t mean they’re as bad as a lot of people make them out to be. While they’re by no means perfect they still work quite well. Probably the most breathtaking moment is the landing of the Dalek Shuttle in the school playground which was actually lowered by a crane which means it is very much real and it looks much better for it. But this story isn’t all flash and no substance, there is very much a plot behind there too and it’s a strong one at that. It added some mystery to the Doctor’s character that hadn’t been there for quite a while and also linked back into the shows history in a way which didn’t feel irritatingly forced. The pacing is also very well constructed as well and builds up over time rather than either being constant or all over the place. This means that when you get into the second half while it is most definitely quicker it’s not necessarily noticeably so because it has sped up over time. There are also some nice little slow moments which aren’t necessarily crucial to the plot but just compliment the piece as a whole and give it an element of humanity. My favourite scene is one of those moments which is the Doctor having some tea in the cafe. The conversation he has with the cafe worker is very well written and the cafe worker himself is really well characterised despite the fact that he does not actually play any role in the overall storyline whatsoever. It’s nothing much but I personally love it.

And with that said it now seems like the perfect time to move on to characters and there are quite a few to talk about here. Ace is going to be our first port of call as she is one of the most (if not the most) well developed companion in all of Doctor Who and she is played wonderfully by Sophie Aldred. It’s only her second story and she’s already settled in very well and has a wonderful dynamic with her co-star Sylvester McCoy that continued to grow following this. She’s very much a fun loving kid in this story and is yet to mature like she would in the stories that followed but that is far from a bad thing as something called character development and both sides of the character are likeable. In this we get to see her beat up a Dalek with a baseball bat which is something no other companion can claim to have done and overall she is just a joy to watch. Next up we have the Seventh Doctor himself and this is the first instance where we get to see his much more dark and manipulative side. Sylvester McCoy does a very good job portraying this side of the Doctor but there is still a fun side to the character so there is a sense of balance as well. Then we move on to the supporting characters such as Group Captain Gilmore, Rachael Jensen and Allison. These three are wonderful together and serve as a bit of a call back to the Third Doctor’s era as there’s the military leader, the scientific advisor and the assistant and so the dynamic is pleasantly familiar while the characters themselves are very unique. Another supporting character is Mike Smith who is very much there to provide an interesting subplot for Ace and while all that is nice it does feel a bit rushed in the first half but that’s made up for by the wonderful scene where Ace finds out he’s a traitor. Although after that he begins to feel a bit superfluous to the plot although at the same time I feel that getting rid of him there would’ve felt too sudden and messy. And finally there’s Davros who is kept hidden right up until the end which provides a nice little surprise when you’re least expecting it (although admittedly it is a little easy to predict) and it’s also good that he’s kept out of proceedings up until then to allow the Daleks themselves to dominate their own story for once as a lot of Dalek stories before this focused a little too much on Davros but thankfully this one is a nice change of pace. However, some could argue that it may be a step too far in the other direction.

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In conclusion, Remembrance of the Daleks is undoubtedly a ten-out-of-ten because it has the right balance of basically everything that’s important in a Doctor Who story. It’s one that comes highly recommend by me and I think that it provided a fitting end to this blog series that I thoroughly enjoyed writing and I hope that you thoroughly enjoyed reading. Now we continue the long wait for series nine which looks to be shaping up quite well but until then be sure to sound off your thoughts on the story in the comments below.

Farscape : Terra Firma

April 15, 2015 in Farscape by Firebird

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The crew returns to Moya – in orbit around modern-day Earth – to find Jack and a contingent of Earth dignitaries waiting for them. The aliens are introduced to an amazed and apprehensive public, but soon find life in the public eye difficult. As Crichton tries to readjust to life on Earth, his relationships become strained, especially with Aeryn. Meanwhile, a monstrous assassin sent by Grayza hunts for Crichton, and will stop at nothing to accomplish its mission.

Synopsis

Aeryn takes Jack on a tour of the solar system …

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Chiana shops …

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Rygel (surprise surprise) eats, Noranti is weird …

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and on the other side of the wormhole Sikozu gets cozy with Scorpius

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but the core of the story is Crichton. His relationships with his father and Aeryn and his growing realisation that he just doesn’t fit in on Earth any longer. By the time Grayza’s assassin attacks he’s already decided that they should all leave. The people of Earth know there are aliens out there now and need to get their act together.

The Seven Faces of Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen

April 11, 2015 in Dr Who, Guest Blogs by GuestBlogs

A Guest Blog by Hevy782

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Colin Baker is probably the most controversial actor to ever play the Doctor. He was of course the Sixth incarnation of the beloved Time Lord and was much more unstable than his predecessors ever were. It was originally intended that over the years his character would grow and mellow but unfortunately his time came to a premature end and thus he never had the chance to do this. There are many different reasons as to why this period of the shows history was such an unstable one. It is common knowledge that the higher-ups in the BBC at the time were not fond of the programme and were on the look out for any opportunity which would allow them to cancel it. Eventually they got that chance at the end of Colin Baker’s first full year as the Doctor but the outcry of fans managed to get this revised to a hiatus and when the series did return it was put on trial in more ways than one. The trial had proved successful enough for the series to continue but unfortunately it was not successful enough for Colin Baker to be allowed to stay. The classic series never quite recovered from this turmoil that had plagued it at this time and it was eventually cancelled three years later. So then, what story have I chosen to represent this period of unrest? Well I choose none other than Attack of the Cybermen which was written by Paula Moore (or so the credits say) and was directed by Matthew Robinson. For those who are interested it was Colin Baker’s second story in the role of the Doctor and Nicola Bryant’s fourth in the role of companion Peri Brown. Now then, something tells me you all know the drill by now so let’s not waste anytime and get on to the synopsis.

Continuing on from where the last story left off, this one begins with the Doctor still in the process of recovering from his regeneration. The TARDIS picks up an alien distress beacon and the Doctor heads to Earth to investigate. Following the distress beacon leads him and Peri into the sewers of London where they discover the presence of the Cybermen. They then return to the TARDIS but are followed by the Cyber Leader who orders the Doctor to take them to Telos, the adopted home world of the Cybermen. He also informs the Doctor that the Cyber Controller, who was once thought destroyed, is very much alive and is waiting for them on Telos. Once on Telos Peri manages to escape and runs into the native Cryons who were almost wiped out by the invading Cybermen. Meanwhile, the Doctor learns that the Cybermen have captured another time vessel and intend to use it to change time so that their original home planet, Mondas, was never destroyed. He then realises that the Time Lords must have manoeuvred him into this situation to protect the web of time. The Cybermen then imprison him within a refrigeration unit which contains a highly volatile substance which explodes at high temperatures. He uses a bit of it to destroy the guard outside and rigs the rest up to take out Cyber Control itself. The Doctor then meets up with Peri and the Cryons who help him destroy the Cybermen guarding the TARDIS. They then escape just as the substance self ignites, destroying Cyber Control as well as the Cybermen’s stolen time vessel. With the web of time now safe the Doctor and Peri continue with their travels.

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Now then, this story is about as polarising as the Sixth Doctor’s era itself, making it the ideal choice to represent this era. On the topic of the story itself it used more than a few elements from the show’s past and in my opinion it used way too many. The return to the scrapyard in Totters Lane was simply an unnecessary call back to An Unearthly Child; the plot links with The Tenth Planet are both forgivable and forgettable; the return to Telos makes the story seem like a poor remake of The Tomb of the Cybermen; the Cybermen in the sewers is actually a nice reference to The Invasion simply because it’s subtle; and finally there’s the return of mercenary Lytton who last appeared in Resurrection of the Daleks and I quite like what they did with his character here. Now one or two of these in a story is a nice reward for long term viewers but when there’s this many all it does is alienate most of the casual viewers and annoy most of the long term fans. Now the idea behind all this was that those who didn’t like the Sixth Doctor in his first story would come back to see all the familiar elements in his second and hopefully warm to this new incarnation in the process. And in that respect it did kind of work as the viewing figures were fairly high but unfortunately a lot of people felt that the quality, especially in the second part, was low. Another major complaint a lot of viewers had was the level of violence shown, and I can’t help but sympathise with this complaint even if I don’t agree with it. There is a scene where two Cybermen completely crush Lytton’s hands as a way to get him to talk and as a one off it works quite well. So while I see why people have a problem with this scene I personally don’t. It’s a bit like the “don’t cremate me” line in Dark Water where I can understand why there are complaints it’s just that I don’t have a problem with it myself. In fact even when I was younger I didn’t have a problem with this scene. The scene I did have a problem with though was when the Doctor gunned down a group of Cybermen in the control room. Since then I have grown to accept this but at the time I felt that it just wasn’t a thing the Doctor would just casually do. However, this is far from my biggest flaw in the story as you’ll soon learn.

However, before I reveal my biggest flaw with the story I first wish to talk about the characters involved. Now we’ve already talked a bit about the Sixth Doctor so why not start with him. As previously mentioned he wasn’t the most popular of Doctors for a lot of reasons and none of them are really Colin Baker’s fault. Now since this story is so early in his era it doesn’t show him in the best light as he has still yet to mellow out at this point and is very brash at times. Now to be honest I don’t mind him in this and while it took a while for me to warm to this initially prickly portrayal it wasn’t long before I learned to appreciate him for the Doctor he is. Next up is his companion Peri Brown who is supposed to be American but unfortunately Nicola Bryant’s accent sometimes noticeably slips back into her natural British one. I’m sure there are some out there who’ll probably find the accent offensive but she certainly didn’t have the easiest of jobs and this was quite early in her time before she was able to perfect and refine the accent. But on the whole her character is quite likeable and a suitable character for the Sixth Doctor to bounce off of. Then we have Lytton who’s character is nicely expanded upon here and who’s death actually means something to the Doctor because of how badly he initially misjudged him. Lytton himself is also a lot of fun and has a great double act with Griffiths. There is some wonderful dialogue between the two and in fact one thing this story does very well is dialogue. There are some real gems of it in this story, especially in the first half and Lytton gets almost all of the best ones. Unfortunately not all of the characters are great in this and one in particular is the Cyber Controller. He’s a little on the tubby side which makes it hard to take him seriously but he also pales in comparison to the Cyber Leader who is supposed to be him subordinate but nevertheless has a much more powerful presence in all of his scenes. On the whole this story doesn’t do the Cybermen justice but that’s not its biggest flaw in my eyes. The biggest flaw is that the story lacks focus. There’s far too much going on and while some people like that I personally do not as it distracts from the main story line. So much so in fact that I’m not even sure what that is.

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Overall, Attack of the Cybermen is not one of my favourite although I have heard people say that they love it and so I thought I’d include it because of that. However, that’s not going to stop me from giving it a five-out-of-ten which is by far the lowest rating up to this point. However, you’ll be happy to know that we’ll be ending on a much higher note next week with the Seventh Doctor story Remembrance of the Daleks where a Dalek civil war is raging in nineteen-sixties London but until then be sure to sound off your thoughts on the story in the comments below.

Farscape : Kansas

April 8, 2015 in Farscape by Firebird

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The crew travels through a wormhole to Earth, 1985, and Crichton finds he has somehow disastrously changed the course of time – his father Jack is now slated to fly the doomed Challenger mission. Lying low in Crichton’s home town, the ‘aliens’ use the timely Halloween celebrations to remain (almost) anonymous, while Crichton tries to revert the timeline – in the process putting his younger self in mortal danger.

Synopsis

We left poor Crichton, floating in space looking down on the Earth. As the outline above makes clear, he didn’t just go home, he went to a home in the past. His friends follow his voice through the wormhole and come out at the same place and time.

After that it’s a pretty typical time travel story …

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with the inevitable Farscape twists. Rygel high on Halloween candy. Aeryn watching Sesame Street. Chiana seducing young Crichton.

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Meanwhile back in the future and on Moya, Grayza and Braca arrive and we discover that Braca has been working for Scorpius the whole time. Unfortunately having discovered that Crichton isn’t on board Grayza leaves one of her agents behind to wait for him.

With the timeline fixed the crew return through time and we end with another cliffhanger, Crichton finding his father and 3 other people from Earth waiting for him aboard Moya.

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The Seven Faces of Doctor Who: Snakedance

April 5, 2015 in Dr Who, Guest Blogs by GuestBlogs

A Guest Blog by Hevy782

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After an unprecedented seven year run it was at last time for Tom Baker to step down from the iconic role of the Doctor and to replace him producer John Nathan-Turner choose Peter Davison. His casting had proved quite controversial at the time with Davison being far younger than any of his predecessors but this didn’t mean he wasn’t an established actor. Quite the opposite in fact as he was very much a popular figure in the early eighties due to his appearances on many highly regarded shows such as All Creatures Great and Small. But none of this could’ve fully prepared him for the immense challenge of following up Tom Baker who had been playing the role for so long that many of the younger audience members couldn’t even imagine anyone else playing the part. So how did he do it? He did it by being completely different to his predecessor in almost every possible way. He also bought a much more human and flawed element to the Doctor which is probably why so many fans of the new
series end up going to Davison first when they begin to explore the classic series. Another difference between him and his predecessor was that he didn’t stay nearly as long, leaving after only three years in the role. This was partially because of advice he received from Patrick Troughton but also because he felt the quality had sipped greatly in his second year, and many fans would agree with this statement. Funnily enough the story I ended up choosing is from this year but don’t worry, it’s one of the good ones. Snakedance was written by Christopher Bailey and it was a sequel to his previous contribution to the series, Kinda. So why did I choose this and not Kinda? Well mainly because Kinda was quite experimental and this is much more representative of the Fifth Doctor’s era as a whole. It also featured Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Jannet Fielding as Tegan and was directed by Fiona Cumming. I think that’s all I’ve got in terms of general behind the scenes info for this story so not wishing to bore you any further with useless facts let’s more on to the synopsis.

The story kicks off with the TARDIS landing on the planet Manussa which causes Tegan to have a strange nightmare. After questioning her about it the Doctor deduces that the Mara which once controlled Tegan’s mind is trying to assert itself again. While Nyssa watches over Tegan the Doctor explores and discovers that Manuassa is the birthplace of the Mara although the legend of its return is now treated by most as just a load of nonsensical superstition. The Doctor also deduces that the Mara was originally created through a group of minds meeting in the Great Crystal and believes that the Mara will try to use this to come in to being again. Meanwhile, Tegan takes fright and Nyssa loses her amongst the crowds. She then meets up with the Doctor again and informs him of this. The Mara then takes full control of Tegan and then does the same to the Federator’s son, Lon, who knows how to acquire the Great Crystal. The Doctor and Nyssa then go out into the desert beyond the city and find Dojjen, one of the few people on Manussa who believes the legend of the return, who shows the Doctor how to resist the Mara. He then returns to the city where Lon and Tegan have already gained possession of the Great Crystall. They place it in the appropriate place which causes it too feed off of the fear of the people of Manussa and thus allow the Mara to manifest itself as a large and deadly snake. The Doctor is the only one able to resist this which allows him to interrupt the manifestation of the Mara, causing the snake to die and Tegan and Lon to be freed. The Doctor then comforts a distressed Tegan and assures her that the Mara has at last been destroyed.

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Now while this story does technically feature two companions Tegan is very much sidelined during this due to the Mara inside her which allows the much underrated Nyssa to get some time in the spotlight for once. Nyssa is a favourite of mine so any extra attention put on to her is more than welcome. Sarah Sutton’s performance is great and the character herself stands up to the Doctor more than usual in the first half of this story. But Sarah Sutton’s isn’t the only fantastic performance here, far from it in fact as the guest cast is breathtakingly good which causes the regulars to raise their game and become even better than they normally are. One of the guest cast members is Brian Miller which gives us a nice link to our previous story, The Masque of Mandragora, as he is the widower of the late Elisabeth Sladen who of course played Sarah Jane Smith in that story. Here he plays Dugdale and does such a wonderful job with the role that makes it such a great shame that his acting career never really took off. An actor who had better luck with his career afterwards was Jonathan Morris who plays Chela here who almost acts like an extra companion to the Doctor in the latter half of the story.

Then we have Martin Clunes and Colette O’Neil who have a wonderful double act as Lon and his mother Tanha. But that’s not to say their acting abilities aren’t just as good when separated. Martin Clunes especially excels whether he’s with Colette O’Neil or not and his performance is arguably even more enjoyable when Lon is under the control of the Mara. It’s a shame about that ridiculous costume the production team made him wear at the end though. However, the guest cast isn’t all this story has to offer as it also has a fantastic plot which reveals more about the monstrous Mara rather that just continuing on with what they had at the end of the previous story. Here we learn about how the Mara came in to being and while that takes away some of the mystery it still adds to the monster itself. There is also a very nice world created here however I feel that a little bit too much time was wasted in creating it as it all involved a lot of exposition whereas the world in Kinda very much told itself and while there was some exposition there it was very much restricted to what was absolutely necessary. There’s also the issue that visually it doesn’t really get the feeling of this great world across that I feel the script was aiming for. Now while the market place worked well enough for the first few episodes the climax in the cave just didn’t really have this sense that it was supposed to be a massive celebration. Now obviously they didn’t have the budget nor the technology back then to make this work too well by nevertheless I feel this could’ve been done a lot better. On the bright side, the snake has improved greatly since Kinda but still leaves a lot to be desired.

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In conclusion, Snakedance is a fun story with a strong cast helping to support a great script, even if it’s a little ambitious. It’s getting an eight-out-of-ten from me but will my ratings remain so high when we move on to the Sixth Doctor’s era next week. You can find out next week when I review Attack of the Cybermen but until then be sure to sound off your thoughts on the story in the comments below.

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