"Ghost of a Chance"
Writer: Greg Johnson
Director: Gary Graham
Original Air Date: October 11, 2003
Introducing: Moonstar
Synopsis/Review: Wolverine has taken
Kitty, Rogue, Kurt, Iceman, and Cannonball to a little Moto-Crossing excursion.
They’re moto-crossing around in a small canyon that going to be turned
into a reservoir tomorrow night, so they wanna get in a last bit of biking
before it starts to get filled up with water.
Rogue and Kitty go off
on their own, and further separate down the line. Rogue goes off on a higher
path, while Kitty goes on a lower one. However, Rogue knocks a couple of
rocks off the path that tumble down onto Kitty’s path below. Reacting instinctively
(meaning, not using her head and just phasing through it), Kitty swerves
to avoid the rocks and careens off the cliff. She falls for about six seconds
or so before finally reaching a ledge further down that she phases through.
The bike, however, crashes on top of it. Kitty grabs hold of another ledge
a bit further down, but it breaks, and she tumbles the short distance further
to the ground.
Wolverine sees the smoke
trail coming off the bike from farther away in the canyon and gathers that
someone must have had an accident. Gathering the others, they all make
their way down to where Kitty is.
Meanwhile, Kitty groggily
wakes up to find a Native American girl above her. The girl quickly drags
Kitty away from the place that she was lying just as the rock formation
that had Kitty’s bike on it crumbles and falls to the ground mere inches
away from them. Kitty thanks the girl for saving her life, and asks who
she is. The girl identifies herself as Danielle Moonstar- she saw Kitty
using her phasing ability, and gathered that she was a Mutant. Moonstar
says that she is, too! Wolverine and the others catch up, and are filled
in on what happened. Moonstar is invited to come back to the Institute
with them.
As the Mutants enter
the Institute, Cannonball asks Wolverine if he wants a rematch- both of
them were doing pretty good on the Moto-Cross race until they found out
about Kitty’s accident. Before Logan can even agree, Cannonball says “Alright,
sure! Tomorrow afternoon, then!” Logan feels like he’s being set up for
something… Rogue, meanwhile, apologizes to Kitty for leaving her alone
during the Moto-Cross bit, but Kitty shrugs if off, saying that everything
worked out, and besides, she met Moonstar as a result of it, anyways.
A short while later,
Xavier comes in to a room where all the Mutants have gathered and officially
introduces Moonstar to the other X-Men, saying that she has agreed to enroll
in the Institute. Kitty’s certainly happy about all this, and volunteers
to let Moonstar share her room. (Apparently, Rogue moved out of Shadowcat’s
room recently, or something…) Logan asks Xavier what Moonstar’s powers
are, and Xavier says that she has a form of telepathy… however, it’s a
bit garbled, as she’s apparently had some issues in the past that he cannot
discern yet. Logan isn’t too happy about hearing that a troubled youngster
that can enter other people’s minds is joining the X-Men…
Later, there’s a training
session going on in the bay cliffs near the Institute. Apparently, the
trainees- Moonstar, Sunspot, Cannonball, and Iceman- have to get to the
other side of a small fjord, but there’s going to be some… surprises along
the way. Shadowcat, Jean, and Nightcrawler are the ones in charge of overseeing
the operation. Some of the “surprises” are kinda funny- Nightcrawler teleports
Cannonball out during the middle of the exercise, a terrible storm (created
by Ororo) pops up, and Kitty phases Sunspot’s feet partially through the
rock, preventing him from leaving the shore. However, halfway through the
operation, when the New Mutants start to get frustrated, things go haywire.
Jean suddenly starts losing control of her telepathy and starts floating
higher and higher, Kurt teleports into the that alternate dimension with
the velociraptor-creatures, and Kitty starts falling through the ground.
However, as soon as it started, it stops- apparently, they were just having
visions of some sort. Xavier wheels up and tells everyone that it’s alright-
it was just a side effect of Moonstar’s abilities.
Later, back at the Mansion,
Kitty asks Xavier what was going on. She’s told that Moonstar doesn’t entirely
have control of her abilities- apparently, sometimes she inadvertently
causes others to hallucinate and experience their worst nightmares. Kitty
understands, but she begs Xavier not to let this affect Moonstar’s enrollment
at the Mansion- Danielle will be able to get over this…
That night, it happens
again. Danielle is causing many of the X-Men to experience their worst
nightmares in their sleep- Storm’s dreaming that the walls are closing
in on her, Xavier’s dreaming that a endless number of Sentinels have come
to take away the X-Men, etc. They all wake up, understandably scared and
a bit ticked when they come to the realization of what happened.
Kitty comes downstairs
in the middle of the night at the mental behest of Xavier. She finds the
Prof, Storm, and Logan in the kitchen, and finds them talking about what
to do about Moonstar- obviously, this cannot go on. Kitty is a bit worried
about what they might do, and again implores them that Moonstar can’t control
what she’s doing, but then goes back to bed.
When Kitty wakes up,
however, she finds Moonstar, as well as her bed and belongings, have vanished
from the room! She angrily goes downstairs and asks Xavier what he has
done with Moonstar- but everyone there looks at her quizzically. Xavier
then effectively says, “…Kitty, you be trippin’, yo. There ain’t no Danielle
Moonstar, foo’.” ...Only not in those exact words.
A little later that
day, Kitty is furiously calling several different numbers, trying to reach
Moonstar or her father, Black Eagle. No one knows anyone by that name.
Xavier wheels in and tells Kitty that there IS no Moonstar- Kitty was just
having a dream. But Kitty insists that Danielle’s real- she’s never had
a dream like this before! Xavier also tells her that she’s never slept
this long before- she had been asleep ever since the Moto-Cross accident.
He tells Kitty that she’ll be fine- it was just a vivid dream, that’s all.
Kitty gets back into bed, confused and crying a little. However, she suddenly
has a vision- the X-Mansion she’s in is now dark and dank, and dripping
water all over the place. She hears Danielle calling her name, and finds
her. Moonstar pleadingly asks Kitty to help her… Then Kitty snaps out of
it and comes back to reality. However, she gets a call on the phone- it’s
Moonstar, who pleads again with Kitty to help her- it’s so dark, and she
can’t find a way out… then the phone calls dead. Kitty is, understandably,
completely freaked out, and begs Kurt to take her to the small Indian town
where Moonstar said she was from. Kurt insists that there is no Moonstar,
and is a little disturbed by Kitty’s behavior, but after a bit of pleading,
he gives in.
Meanwhile, Wolverine
and Cannonball are having their rematch. They’re both doing pretty good,
and it’s a fun race- the assorted New Mutants are using their powers to
create obstacles along the path for them, like lava streams and electrified
water puddles. Heheh.
Back with the main storyline,
Kurt teleports Kitty to the Indian town, which now looks abandoned. Kitty
hears a phone ring from a nearby booth and picks it up. On the end, again,
is Moonstar, asking for help, saying that there’s not much time. And again
the line goes dead. Kurt walks up to Kitty, telling her that he’s really
getting worried- what was she doing? Kurt holds up the phone cord- which
is broken- and Kitty freaks a bit. She gathers herself, though, and leafs
through the tattered phone book. She spots Moonstar’s name, and the house
where she lives- it’s on Maggie Blue Road, which I thought was a nice touch,
since Kitty’s voice actor is Maggie Blue O’Hara. Anyways, the two X-Men
go there, and find a really old man sittin’ on the front porch. Kitty asks
him where everyone else in this town has gone, and he says that “They got
tired of her”. Kitty asks him if he knows where Danielle Moonstar is, and
he tells her that she went hiking up in the canyons and was never seen
again. However, that was two years ago…
Back with Wolverine
and Cannonball, the race is neck-and-neck as they approach the finish line.
However, Cannonball starts using his powers to propel the Moto-Cross vehicle
ahead of Wolverine’s- but a medium-sized rock is in his way, and Cannonball
can’t stop in time. He ricochets off the rock and a couple of other rock
formations like a pinball, losing his Moto-Cross vehicle in the process.
He stops just short of the finish line, and Wolverine zooms by him. Iceman
tells Cannonball that he’s won… their sympathies, that is. D’oh.
Meanwhile, Kurt has
teleported Kitty to the site of her Moto-Cross accident the other day.
Kitty has figured out that Moonstar’s telepathy must have been causing
all of these visions in her head over the past day or so, and they started
here- which means that Moonstar must actually be around here, somewhere.
However, the canyon is slowly filling up with water from the reservoir,
and Kurt tells Kitty that she doesn’t have much time. Kitty dives into
the water, swims to the bottom, and phases through the ground. She continues
phasing until she reaches an underground cave below. She has a flashback
of her vision earlier of the Mansion being dark and dank- that must have
symbolized the cave. She finds Moonstar in the corner, glowing slightly.
Kitty wakes her up, and Danielle stops glowing. She groggily mutters that
Kitty IS real… and Kitty says the same thing about Moonstar. Danielle thanks
Kitty for saving her, and tells her that she had fallen into the cave two
years ago, and the only way out had caved-in. Kitty tells her that it’s
not over yet- the cave wall is too high for her to phase them both out
of here, and Moonstar’s too weak…
Meanwhile, good ol’
Kurt has teleported to where Wolverine and the others are and tells them
about the situation with Kitty. They hurry over to where the place is (whoa,
déjà vu), and Logan asks if Kurt can teleport to wherever
Kitty is, presumably in the cave below. Kurt says that he can’t if he doesn’t
know exactly where the cave is! So, Iceman clears the water out of the
immediate area by freezing it, and Cannonball slams into the ground, trying
to break it open. Logan tells him to stop, as it might cause a cave-in.
It at least signals to Moonstar and Kitty down below that help is on the
way, though. Magma then burns a hole through the ground, and just in time-
the cave is filling up with water from the reservoir. Kurt teleports down
there, gets Kitty and Moonstar, and teleports them out.
Later, at the X-Mansion,
Kitty is keeping vigil by Moonstar’s side in the infirmary when the latter
finally wakes up. Kitty tells Moonstar not to worry, she’s safe now...
and her grandfather’s coming soon. Logan, meanwhile, is outside the infirmary,
as well as Kurt, and they ask Xavier what happened… how was Moonstar able
to stay alive all those months? Charles tells them that it was part of
Moonstar’s powers- she was able to put herself into some kind of hibernation
while she was down there. She managed to form a psychic connection with
Kitty when she had gotten that close to where Danielle was buried, and
they had formed a rather unusual friendship as the result of merely mental
experiences. And then Kitty wakes up again and finds out the whole ep was
a dream. (Okay, okay… I made up that last sentence.) End.
Last Words: This ep was slightly sub-par for the latest two seasons of Evolution, namely because I’m still kinda confused as to what exactly was real and what was exactly in Kitty’s head. That was never explained all too well, even “after the fact”. Why was Kitty having visions of Storm’s, Jean’s, and Logan’s experiences when they had nothing to do with her? It seemed kinda off to me, like the writers were just being misleading for the sole purpose of being misleading. Also, they never DID solve the problem of Moonstar’s lack of control over her invading the minds of others. Will it still happen? I doubt it, since I don’t know if the X-Men could live with that, but I wish it could have been explained better… Still, the animation and most of the dialogue was awesome, and the storyline kept you guessing. The sub-story with Wolverine and Cannonball Moto-Crossing was also pretty funny.
Overall Rating: 7/10 Good