Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Another, Beyond Belief

Here’s yet another sequel to the adventures of the eternal boy.
It's called Peter Pan II: Beyond Neverland
and is written by Carla Peele.

This one, though, is a stage play. Pardon me, but I’m not pleased given the description.

Wendy has aged three years, and because Peter has come so often to Earth to watch over her, unable to forget her, he has begun to age as well. To stop this process, and to stop Neverland from disappearing altogether, Peter asks Wendy once more to return with him to Neverland. This time, she does... Years pass without them realizing how long, and they are faced with a threat to their beautiful home and the Fairy Kingdom: An alternate mirrorverse called Nega Land, the evil antithesis of everything in Neverland... Can Peter and Wendy survive their quest and save their kingdom? Or, will the evil Nega Fairies win the day?

For one thing, Peter Pan is eternal from the get-go, that’s sort of the point. And (with the exception of my own novel, Peter Pan’s NeverWorld) the boy doesn’t ever leave Earth. [Many people seem to think the Neverland is in the stars or whatnot.] He doesn’t grow up. Going “back” isn’t going to make that happen - a la he lived in London for a very long time and never aged - it’s not going to happen from frequent visits, which, I might add, he made all the time.

It also seems to ignore the fact that Wendy went back the Neverland twice in the three years that followed the end of their first adventure.

Perhaps it tells us, but why does Wendy being in the Neverland matter about whether or not Peter ages or it disappears?  What sort of magic does SHE have?

Gone for years? Oh my word! Wait. So what? It’s possible she’d been there years the first time.

The alternate Nega Fairies? That, my good people, is something that has been done on the joyous cartoon The Fairly Odd Parents. (Called Anti-Fairies, though.)  And not to mention self/mirror-battle of Scott Pilgrim vs. Nega Scott! It doesn’t belong in the tale of Peter Pan. Perhaps Ms. Peele isn’t aware of the fact that Barrie’s fairies as “nega” fairies are already self-contained within them as they are. They can be very mean and mischievous and would just as soon harm a human as help. They’re not just cutesy delights.

So, I’m going to dismiss this one for reasons of contradiction.

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