BOA Deus Ex Machina

[Master Inika]

As much as I love the Bohrok Online Animations, I feel like the ending is kind of a cop-out. It detracts from their otherwise intact ability to function as a self-sufficient story.

[Toatapio Nuva]

I missed your point.

[bonesiii]

Do you mean the pre-Kal ones? Or the end of the Kal ones? What about it?

[Master Inika]

I mean the pre-Kal episodes from 2002. The penultimate episode ends with Takua and all the others poised for a big battle against the Pahrak, but in the next episode, the Ga-Suva glows and turns all the Bohrok off.

[Toatapio Nuva]

Actually that's not a deus ex machina at all, since the Toa Mata catpured the Bahrag at that moment... which, by the way, was the biggest even that year. The adventures of the Matoran were just a treat on the side. So no deus ex machina there, but rather showing what happened to the Bohrok whent he Toa Mata won.

[LewaLew]

Actually that's not a deus ex machina at all, since the Toa Mata catpured the Bahrag at that moment... which, by the way, was the biggest even that year. The adventures of the Matoran were just a treat on the side. So no deus ex machina there, but rather showing what happened to the Bohrok whent he Toa Mata won.

Yes, Deus ex machina involves a sudden stroke of luck, like say, the Scarabax monster in TLR. Out of nowhere, a giant tower of bugs appears and scares off a bunch of skrall, even though that ability was never hinted at or set up in any way.

 

In this case, we already knew the Toa were in the nests fighting the Bahrag, and that beating them would save the day. The Bohrok animations were a "meanwhile, back at the ranch" sort of story that kept us up to date on what was occuring on the surface at the time, while the comics handled the story of how it actually happened.

 

Though, come to think of it, the sudden appearance of Gali Nuva's symbol does appear to be responsible, which would actually be something of a deus ex machina. But the actual cause was the defeat of the Bahrag, even if the animation makes it seem like Gali's symbol was responsible.

[Master Inika]

I know, in the big picture, it wasn't a deus ex machine, but it is if the person watching it hadn't read the comics or books.

[~Shockwave~]

I know, in the big picture, it wasn't a deus ex machine, but it is if the person watching it hadn't read the comics or books.

 

Something does not become a Deus Ex Machina because the observer is unknowing of the full situation. It was not a random Stroke of luck, therefore does not fit the bill.

[bonesiii]

Regardless of the technicality of the label, I figured that was what you meant and get what you mean. I would tried to have had Takua come to a greater local-scale climax, like actually beating that squad somehow if possible. I think that's probably where you're coming from, right?

 

That said, realistically it's unlikely there was much left Takua could have done, I wasn't dissatisfied with it and I think neither were most others, and more to the point, the personal character-development was the real climax; that he faced them with resolve, despite not knowing whether they had much actual chance. That was a huge personal win for a character that was once kind of an irresponsible wanderer, and methinks that's why it worked.

 

Plus, mystical Suva headshot rocked.