Top Twelve X-men-Number 8 Gambit



Gambit

Here is one of the first shots we have of Remy in his first apperance in the X-men. Not quite as handsome as they make him later.



I might get some flack for this one, but it's my list and I have my reasons for putting Remy LeBeau a little further down the list than some people might appreciate. Before we get into all the reasons, let's talk about the the man himself.

Gambit officially hit the pages of the X-men in the 90s during a period of great upheaval for the team. The Mutant Massacre had mixed things up and sent Shadowcat and Nightcrawler to England to be a part of Excalibur a book set in England and put together by the legendary team of Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. Then Storm and Wolverine had followed up on a plan to 'kill' the team and allow them to work behind the scenes without endangering their friends and family. Later on, the whole team either died (well it looked like Storm died) or walked into the Siege Perilous with some not-so-gentle persuasion from Psylocke. (The Siege Perilous was a fine McGuffin that sent the X-men off in different directions and placed them in different lives for a while.)

OK, sorry that took such a tangent, but it needed to be said in order to get to the next part. You see, Storm didn't actually die, she ended up being turned into a child again and she went back to the only life she knew from that time of her life-being a thief. That's how she met Gambit. They were both in the process of stealing paintings from the same not-so-nice guy and ended up having some adventures together. Eventually all of the X-family gets back together and the entire mutant community gets turned on its head. Gambit ends up becoming a part of it all even with his unclear back ground.



Remy's first cover shot.



Let's talk about powers and abilities now for a little bit. Gambit is a mutant who was born with the ability to transform potential energy into kinetic energy. Not sure what that means? Don't think about it too hard because the idea doesn't completely hold up to scrutiny, but let's just put it this way, Gambit can take an object and fill it with the potential to explode. He usually uses playing cards because the charge quickly, but with enough time, he can use his power on any object. He even blew up his motorcycle in an attempt to defeat a bad guy.



Like any worthwhile anti-hero, Remy has a dark past beyond his life as a thief. He was the man that led the Marauders to the Morlock tunnels for the Mutant Massacre. It turns out that he's also been closely connected to the history of Mr. Sinister (albeit through time travel) helping this menace to the X-men become the threat that he is. (I guess was is a better term since I think Mr. Sinister is dead at the moment. Maybe next week he'll be back.)

Remy also suffers from the typical comic book character syndrome- too many writers.  Everyone wants to work with this kind of character, and everyone seems to want to either add to his back story or just rewrite it. (Wolverine has the same problem.) Some of the changes have been for the better. I'm sure the original plan for Gambit was not for him to be responsible for the Mutant Massacre, but it definitely works for the character and the story. Hopefully no one will decide that Remy's blood can cure cancer or something ridiculous like that.

Why does Doctor Who continue to miss opportunities to draw fans into the old series?

So this will sounds a little petty and pointless to some of you that haven't really seen any of the old run of Doctor Who. I want you to know that I'm mostly happy with what is happening with the show, but like any long-time fan, I have some issues with what is happening, and I want to gripe about it a little bit.

I was super excited to find out that Doctor Who was starting again. I'd seen most of the old Doctors at some point growing up thanks in part to PBS carrying the show on a 7-year delay. I can say all sort of things about the original run, but lots of that can be found under other posts that I've already made here. I'm especially glad that they didn't choose to reboot the show like so many other shows have done. (Battlestar Galactica is an example of where this was a good idea. Doctor Who would have been a bad idea.)

The writers have paid tribute to the original Doctors from time to time, but that usually takes the form of the blurry series of images of the Doctor up to his current form like we see at the end of Eleventh Hour. What about some other homages to the Doctors of the past.

Before I get into examples of missed opportunities, I suppose I should make sure to point out one very valid spot where the writers looked back to the old show. When we get a copy of the Doctor in The Rebel Flesh storyline, we get to see this copy try to adjust to being replicated as a Time Lord rather than a human. We get to see this new copy of the Doctor go through the struggles of figuring out who the Doctor is including some references to older Doctors. ("Reverse the flow" coming from #3 and "Do you want a jelly baby?" coming from #4.)

So this begs the question, why didn't Matt Smith do any of these things when he started as the Doctor? The same question can be used for David Tennant. Christopher Eccleston has an excuse since he didn't actually regenerate on screen. Instead of reminding viewers of the past Doctors, we just get recurring jokes about new teeth.

What about in "The Doctor's Wife?" Sexy sends Amy and Rory to an older copy of the TARDIS control room. Which control room do they end up in? The previous Doctor's control room. Why not do a little searching and go back a little further? I was hoping it might even be the original control room. Sure it's not very exciting, but it might have made viewers take an interest in where that control room originated and go back to see it in action.

What about the very recent episode where the the Doctor is poisoned by Melody Pond and he struggles into the TARDIS and activates the Voice Interface and he gets to see a series of options for people to have for interaction. Sure it is nice to see images of Rose, Martha and Donna, but why not use someone from the older series? It could even be Sarah Jane Smith. That would be worth something, especially with the recent death of poor Miss Sladen. However, wouldn't it have been fun to see some of the other companions ad perhaps spark a little interest in those characters and those Doctors?

Well, that's probably why I don't write for Doctor Who, but it won't stop complaining about it. Leave some comments below.

Being up late at night is a dangerous thing

Why is it that I'm always up so late at night? It's probably because there are so many things I want to get done. I know I'd be able to get just as much done if I were to go to bed at a decent hour and get up early instead, but I think there is a desire in me that wants to stay up late and get stuff done. Unfortunately, the late-night me is also prone to staying up later because I don't want to push myself too hard.

It's really a lose-lose proposition. I don't get enough sleep, and then I stay up even later because I'm trying not to push myself too hard. Perhaps it's just a part of who I am, but I doubt it.

When I was a kid, my parents used to send me to bed at horrible times. (I mean 9pm is just barbaric.) I don't know why they would do such a thing, but I would usually be up 6 hours later raring and ready to go. This came in great for Saturday morning cartoons, but it didn't serve any other point. Well, maybe it helped them to get up in time to do whatever they needed to do, but I doubt it.

So here I am, trying to sort out my life and sleep patterns. I'll probably still be a night owl when it is all said and done, but at least I'm thinking about making changes. That has to count for something.

My latest Doctor Who rant

OK, I don't know about most of you out there, actually, I probably do. If you are a part of that group of people known as Whovians, you've probably spent most of the summer struggling to survive your Doctor Who withdrawal. I am not one of you when it comes to that.

Actually, there may be some other differences that I'll write about quickly. First, I love the Doctor. That does not mean Matt Smith or David Tennant. I love all 11 of the actors who have provided a basis for the Doctor. OK, I've got that out of my system. Now I can get to my regularly scheduled rant. (Click here to see my other Doctor Who related posts.)

So the BBC and the head writer for Doctor Who, one Stephen Moffat, decided that for the latest series (British for the American season) that they should split the season in half so there is less waiting between seasons. This is an idea that I do not approve. Let me put it to you this way. I've only seen three of the seven episodes of the sixth season so far. It's not that I don't want to know what has happened, but with the split season, I have no excitement about having to keep up. I've still got a couple of weeks before I will be missing out again.

Aren't I curious about what I'm missing? Not really. The new fandom for Doctor Who just can't keep quiet. I already know all of the major details from the episodes, and I've even heard some of the details about the upcoming stories. Even Moffat can't resist spoiling some of his stories. (I don't need to know about Kill Hitler or why Rory has to die in every episode.)

Anyway, that's my rant for now. I'll definitely have more soon.

(PS with all that said, I can't wait for Doctor Who to start again.)