SP Productions' Purrsuing Truth Episode 22: Escape From Tigerclan (with commentary)
An opening message displays with red text.
"The events of this show are not to be taken as strictly fact. Certain aspects have been exaggerated and dramatized for entertainment purposes."
The opening sequence begins. The scene shows a cat stalking through the woods. Over time, pieces are replaced with metal until the cat us fully robotic, IE Sparky. Sparky trots into a clearing with four trees. Sparky sits in the center where a red cross suddenly glows beneath him, symbolizing his role as a medic. The camera pans away from Sparky and begins to look towards one of the four trees. Sitting in front of it is a bright orange tom. The look the tom gives is one of benevolence and rulership. A bolt of yellow lightning glows behind him. Flashes of moments with the tom standing upon the high rock and speaking as well as brief scenes of him leading the charge into battle display in the lightning bolt before settling to the regular yellow glow.
The camera pans away from the tom to look at another tree where a somewhat older and lanky tom with a black and white coat and a long tail sits. A wind seems to rip through the clearing rustling the grass and leaves before a visible curly set of lines appears behind the tom representing wind. Brief scenes are shown of the tom running and speaking from his clan's announcement place. A brief moment is scene where the tom is bleeding heavily, but his eyes are filled with dogged determination before the scene ends, going back to the symbol of wind.
The camera pans once more, instead looking at a point between the two trees. In front of one tree is a hunched yellow form with a leopard like pattern. The faint image of water in emblazoned of the tree behind her. The other tree is mysteriously without a cat in front of it. Only the shadow of a cat rests upon it. Then from between the trees emerges a dark brown tiger striped form. His steps are slow but deliberate. The claws upon his front paws are almost comically long, but the click as they touch down destroys the notion of humor. The tom's yellow eyes seem to glow with malice. The symbols upon the two trees seem to be dragged together to appear as three black slashes, stripes of a tiger. Within the slashes appears the scene of Tigerclaw tossing rabbits into a pit of rabid dogs, a mountain of bones, and a brief flash of pale blue eyes in pitch black darkness. The stripes fade to black before the opener ends.
An avatar of Sparky appears at the corner of the screen of Sparky, somewhat chibi-ized. "You know, I never really liked that intro. I mean it is full of symbolism, sure, but it makes the clans seem so much more mystic than they actually were. Also, I never liked how they depict Tigerclaw. I get that the studio wanted him to appear more visibly evil, but he never needed to look Saturday morning cartoon evil, but I guess he does look intimidating."
The show continues with Sparky's avatar still sitting in the corner. Tigerstar sits upon a mountain of white cat bones. A dramatic flash of lightning strikes in the background.
"OK. Pause. I know this is nitpicky, but I was actually there. There never was a 'mountain' of cat bones. It was more of a small mound, and they weren't even cat bones. They were mostly birds and rodents. Also, that pile was most certainly not white. Bones don't bleach white as soon as they are removed from a body. It was more yellow with flecks of brown and red in the mix. I still have nightmares about that thing and how sick it made Riverclan. Sorry if this ruins the fantasy somewhat, but I was asked to honestly review these episodes."
Again, the footage starts. Two cats appear by Tigerstar's side. One is a dark gray tom who looks utterly starstruck at Tigerstar. The other is a mostly white tom with black paws and ears, Blackfoot. He appears more wary, but accepting of Tigerstar.
"Ok. Blackfoot was never that wary of Tigerstar. He was a minion through and through seeing as he was also a pawn to Brokenstar, but he did figure it out in the end once Bloodclan came along. Oops. Spoilers."
Below the bone mountain was a prison made from branches. Two indistinct cats stood guard. Within the prison were four cats, two adults, and two apprentices who were depicted as far younger than they actually were. The Sparky avatar rolled his eyes at the misrepresentation of the two apprentices. Slowly a metal clinking and slight whir sounded in the air indicating the protagonist of the show, Sparky, was approaching. His metal form gleamed like silver, and he carried with him a tray of food.
"I never understood why they always depict me as being bare metal. I have synthetic fur and skin. At first glance, I do look like a regular cat. Also, why do I have a food tray? It's silly."
The two guards step aside allowing sparky to enter the prison and present the prisoners their food. The prisoners looked extremely grateful, but they said nothing. The adult tom prisoner found a folded piece of paper, glanced at it briefly, his eyes sliding left to right before nodding and comically swallowing the paper.
"Now that never happened. The clans don't have a writing system, so any note would be useless. I also never tipped off Stonefur that someone was coming to rescue them. That'd break the rules of my oath."
Suddenly, the guards outside stand at attention. Blackfoot appears outside and opens the prison. "Everyone out." He orders, forcing the prisoners to line up. He then guides them up the bone mountain to where Tigerstar sits with a most evil look of condescension. Three of the four prisoners look at Tigerstar with fear, but Stonefur stands in defiance.
"Will you submit yourself to my will?" Calls a terrible and dark voice from the tyrant.
"Never!" Spits Stonefur in refusal.
"Then I'll have to make an example of you." The voice states before Darkstripe appears beside the tyrant.
Darkstripe descends with a mad glee. He is the Harley Quinn to Tigerstar's Joker. At first, it appears Darkstripe is toying with Stonefur. Stonefur lashes out, putting a scratch upon Darkstripe's face.
"Useless." Spits Tigerstar from atop the pile, signaling Blackfoot to appear. Blackfoot makes his descent, with the camera panning to watch the shadows instead of the actual cats. Blackfoot's shadow lashes out, and Stonefur falls, tumbling down the bone pile.
Suddenly, the sound of thunder rings out. Firestar stands proudly in a heroic pose before charging in. More cats follow him into the battle. Firestar and his cats liberate the remaining three prisoners before making their retreat. Tigerstar watches them leave utterly furious at what happened.
"At least they got that mostly right, besides Firestar posing for the camera. It was a fast hit and run that struck so quickly Tigerstar couldn't respond."
Slowly the scene shifts to show Sparky crouched beside Stonefur who has a large red wound on his neck. He was lying weakly but alive. The pair were concealed in a small clearing seemingly completely hidden to Tigerclan. Sparky appears to finish dressing Stonefur's wound.
"You got real lucky I was there. Since Tigerstar never actually exiled you, I was allowed to save you. Just rest up. I'll be able to move you in a few days." Mews the robot Sparky.
"Thank you." Is all Stonefur mutters before laying his head down to rest.
The credits begin to roll.
"I will admit that I did save Stonefur, but it wasn't quite as altruistic as the show implied. I honestly hated Tigerstar and didn't really see the reason for why Tigerstar was trying to kill those four. Regardless, it would have been against my oath not to save him. Stonefur knew that, but he did thank me. Honestly, this was one of those episodes done to drum up viewership for the season finale, but the clans aren't really complaining seeing as they receive kickbacks for allowing their likeness to be used. At least it pays to keep their territories free from human development."