On the celebration of another mythical holiday

First time in years I had it written on the calendar ahead of time. 
It's Miracle Monday, the third Monday in May, a celebration of the human spirit that will one day surpass any religious or civic holiday in human history, even the ones created by greeting card companies.  It was created by Elliot S! Maggin in his Superman novel of the same name.

On Miracle Monday the spirit of humanity soared free. This Miracle Monday, like the first Miracle Monday, came in the spring of Metropolis, and for the occasion spring weather was arranged wherever the dominion of humanity extended. On Uranus's satellites where the natives held an annual fog-gliding rally through the planetary rings, private contributions even made it possible to position orbiting fields of gravitation for spectators in free space. On Titan, oxygen bubbles were loosed in complicated patterns to burst into flame with the methane atmosphere and make fireworks that were visible as far as the surface of saturn. At Nix Olympica, the eight-kilometer-high Martian volcano, underground pressures that the Olympica Resort Corporation had artificially accumulated during the preceding year were unleashed in a spectacular display of molten fury for tourists who walked around the erupting crater wearing pressurized energy shields. At Armstrong City in the Moon's Sea of Tranquility there was a holographic reenactment of the founding of the city in the year 2019, when on the fiftieth anniversary of his giant leap for mankind the first man on the Moon returned, aged and venerable, to what was then called Tranquility Base Protectorate, carrying a state charter signed by the President of the United States. The prices of ski lift tickets on Neptune inflated for the holiday. Teleport routes to beaches and mountains on Earth crowded up unbelievably. Interplanetary wilderness preserves became nearly as crowded with people as Earth cities. Aboard the slow-moving orbital ships that carried ores and fossil materials on slowly decaying loops toward the sun from the asteroids, teamsters partied until they couldn't see. On worlds without names scattered throughout this corner of the Galaxy, where Earth's missionaries, pioneers and speculators carried their own particular quests, it was a day for friends, family, recreation and - if it brought happiness—reflection.

Long story short, Superman is tempted by Satan himself, through his minion, C.W. Saturn. After endless disasters and acts of evil, Superman defeats Saturn by simply being the strong incorruptible character he is, refusing to take a single human life in exchange for the rest of the world.  In his defeat, Saturn must grant Superman a boon; he chooses simply to have all the evil and destruction wrought by the demon undone, and have no one remember what they have suffered. The wish is granted, and when everyone awakes the next day, the terrors the world underwent are gone. But in their place is an unidentifiable feeling that they've dodged a metaphoric bullet, an overwhelming sense of of relief, the sense that something wonderful has happened somewhere in the world.  This shared sense of inner peace and happiness passes quickly, but so moves the people that over the course of time, the anniversary of the event becomes a global celebration, and as man conquers the stars, a galaxy-wide one. 

Elliot S! Maggin is responsible for some truly magnificent parts of Superman history, and this book is one of them. In another story, Kristin comes back to learn more about the mysterious "Superwoman" who appeared once to save Superman, only to discover that she herself was the strange visitor from another time. 
He is also responsible for the single funniest time-travel joke ever.  The Miracle Of Thirsty Thursday! from  Superman #293, came out a full six years before this novel, and shares many similar concepts. Joann Jamie, a future historian comes back to our time to discover the secret of the titular event of the story (see what I mean?). When she gets here, can't find a hotel room to save her life. Another tourist explains that the city is choked to bursting with OTHER time-travelers who are also trying to learn the secret- he reveals he's from a couple centuries LATER than Joanne, and he reveals that they STILL haven't figured it out. 
While these stories have been wiped away by numerous Crises, they still hold an important place in the hearts of Super-fen.  Kurt Busiek wrote a story where another Kryptonian was living in secrecy on Earth, under the name...Kristin Wells.  And just a year or so back, Sterling Gates got to write about a mysterious new Superwoman with a costume similar in design to Kristin's a clear tip of the hat to the original.
The full text of Maggin's novel is available online, It's long out of print, but can still be found in used bookstores if you're lucky enough to have on in your town.  You should find one.

Now if I can only remember to celebrate Klordny this year, I'll be set.

On finally being able to easily explain why the dwarves in Final Fantasy saying "Rally-Ho! is funny

Modern video game fans know "Rally Ho!" (sometimes translated as "Lali-Ho!") as the greeting of the Dwarvish race in the Final Fantasy games.  But older fans, who grew up in the late 60s and early 70s remember the phrase from a far different source.

The Impossibles were one of Hanna-Barbera's first Superhero cartoons, following Atom Ant and Secret Squirrel, and coming out the same year as the legendary Space Ghost.  As opposed to the more serious hero from the Ghost Planet, The Impossibles were a more tongue-in-cheek show, with an animation style closer to the more "cartoony" Winsome Witch style. Featuring villains like The Paper Doll Man and The Insidious Inflator, the trio fought crime in the Washington DC area, as well as a number of fictional cities across the country.

Coil Man had the ability to stretch and spring his body, Fluid Man could change to any form of water, including steam and rainclouds, and Multi-Man could create a seemingly endless stream of duplicates, all expendable, as long as the villains never took out the original, which they never seemed to. Fluid Man could fly; indeed they all seemed to be able to on rare occasion, though Coil Man usually bounced along, and Multi-Man had this cool way of traversing chasms by generating duplicates in rapid succession like a deck of cards being spread out on the felt.

Like all superheroes, they had secret identities, though theirs were a bit "Hide in plain sight"y.  When not fighting crime and/or evil as The Impossibles, they were a popular singing group called...The Impossibles. I mean, NOBODY made the connection?  Even when on occasion they'd visit the villains' prison cells as the SINGING Impossibles?  Also, we never learned their real names; they were ever referred to as "Coily", "Fluey" and "Multi" to each other, in our out of their fighting togs.

The shows would begin and end with a small number of the band's catchy pop tunes, a theme we'd see repeated on Josie and the Pussycats. Though, sadly, we never got to hear longer versions of the songs, and certainly never got to buy an album.

The character designs and stories were a delight, and the voice talent was from the heart of H-B's stable of classic actors. The team were voiced by the inimitable Paul Frees, Hal Smith (who aside from his miles long voice resume, you likely better remember as Otis the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show) and Don Messick, who was as close to royalty as a voice actor can get. They doubled up on numerous characters, but villains were also voiced by such luminaries as Alan Melvin (Best known as Barney Hefner on All in the Family) and Fred Flintstone himself, Alan Reed.

The team were paired with an equally outlandish superhero character's adventures, Frankenstein Jr. The creation of boy scientist Buzz Conroy, Frankie was a giant robot with a seemingly infinite array of powers. Combatting an endless rogues gallery of criminals and mercenaries, the pair prevailed time and time again in their science-fictiony world of the near future.

Again, only the best voice talent was good enough for Hanna-Barbera. Frankie was voiced by Ted Cassidy, who didn't get nearly enough of a chance to show off his vocal and comedic talents as Lurch on The Addams Family. Buzz Conroy was played by Dick Beals, another perennial worker for H-B, and best known as the voice of Speedy Alka-Seltzer.. John Stephenson, the original Dr. Benton Quest played Buzz' dad, Professor Conroy. His wife, Buzz' mom was never seen on the series; The Wife assumed she left the relation ship early; I assume some sort of experiment of which the pair do not speak...

Once again beating the trend to the punch, Frankenstein Jr. appeared well before the big explosion of gian robot cartoons. Only Gigantor (originally the Japanese show Tetsujin 28) appeared first, several years earlier, but while Jimmy Sparks controlled Gigantor from afar, Buzz piloted Frankie personally, riding on his shoulder. Only years later would the genre make a reappearance in Japan, spawning the endless examples that we've seen since.

After a great number of requests, the increasingly awesome Warner Brothers Archive has made the show available on DVD. The Print-on-Demand DVD industry has seen a lot of growth in the last year or two, with almost all the major studios starting a line. It's a great way to make movies available that would appeal to a core audience, but could never support a full-blown release which would require thousands of copies to be printed and distributed. Here, they only need to build the content and label, and burn a copy as it's ordered, making each release profitablequickly, possibly after only a few dozen orders.

As the lines have proven successful, more time and money have been invested on the releases. In addition to a very nice digital clean-up and re-mastering of the cartoons, this release features a short documentary on the shows, with interviews with animation historians and W-B animator Scott Jeralds, late of the under-appreciated Krypto the Superdog and The Secret Saturdays. The mini-feature includes a look at a lot of pre-production art for both series, back when the super-team was to be named "The Incredibles" (Pixar dodged a bullet there, huh?) and Frankie was actually going to be created by Dr. Frankenstein.

The WB Archives have released a number of H-B series so far including The Pirates of Dark Water, and up next, The Herculoids. But it's this release that has created the most excotement and joy in our household, and it's WELL worth a look.

On the countdown to the Alpocalypse

So "Weird Al" Yankovic made the papers lately.  You might have heard about it.

Allegedly, Lady Gaga, a popular vocalist, refused Al permission to include a parody of her song "Born This Way" on his album.  Specifically, her manager asked Al to actually write, record and submit the parody, a series of hoops that no artist had ever requested.  After doing so, Gaga's manager, Troy Carter, told Al that she had decided against the song being included.

After a moment of frustration, Al did what he did when Atlantic Records vetoed the James Blunt parody "You're Pitiful" (even after Blunt himself gave permission, but feared he didn't have the clout to overrule the label): he posted it on the Internet for free.

On the passing of royalty

She was the queen of the Companions.  She was a reporter that could have, on her worst day, gone toe-to-toe with Lois Lane.  Of all the passengers of the TARDIS who had come before, she was the first that you got the feeling that Something could be Going On between her and The Doctor.  We will not see her equal, and she is gone from us too soon. 907 years would have been too soon.

Elisabeth Sladen passed away today, reportedly of complications from cancer. Doctor Who website Gallifrey One confirmed the news with a report from Nicola Bryant, who played Peri Brown on the show. 

Sladen's early acting career started with an uncredited role in 1965, and included a brief run on British perennial Coronation Street and police procedural Z Cars.  It was her work on Z Cars that got her suggested to the production staff at Doctor Who when they were looking for a new actress to work against Jon Pertwee.  Her performance as intrepid reporter Sarah Jane Smith on the show was the one that would make her a household name.  When she left the series five years hence, her departure made the news, one of the first times events on the program were covered by the media.

She continued to appear in other shows and productions, but her career would always lead her back to Who in one fashion or another.  After a pilot for a series, teaming her up with "Tin dog" K-9. she returned for the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors and some years later for the Children in Need charity performance Dimensions in Time.  She appeared in a series of radio format plays from Big Finish, a fan-run company that produced authorized Doctor Who adventures for many years, including the period that the show was off-air.

When the series returned, hopes rose high that we'd see Ms. Sladen reprise her classic role; when she did in the adventure School Reunion, to say it was a success would be an understatement.  Almost immediately afterwards, a new spinoff series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, was launched.  Aimed at a younger audience than Who, it featured Sarah Jane protecting the Earth from alien threats with the assistance of some young people from her home at 13 Bannerman Road.  The series ran for four seasons, with a fifth already in production. There are reports that much of Sladen's footage is already shot, so we'll be blessed with a little more of her work.

She is survived by her husband Brian Miller, and their daughter Sadie, who appeared with Elisabeth in her Sarah Jane Smith plays for Big Finish.

On a classic telling of a classic joke about a classic character.

John Boardman is what we used to call a Big Name Fan back in the days of Science Fiction fandom when fanzines were typed, and printed on mimeographs, or if you were really lucky, on the Xerox at your office if no one was looking.  He hosted First Saturday at his home in Brooklyn, and was almost required attendance if you were a fan in NYC.  I believe every fannish community had such a recurring party, and First Saturday was ours.

For those who played the complex boardgames from companies like Avalon-Hill, John is best known for inventing Play-by-mail Diplomacy, a game which is like Risk in the same way the Titanic is like the Minnow.  He ran numerous fanzines and APAe over the decades, including APA-Filk, the first one to which I ever contributed with my first zine, "Beyond the Last Visible Dog". 

When asked (which was often) and if plied with liquor (which was required), he would regale all and sundry with the following epic poem, a rhythmic and lyrical rendering of an old chestnut of a joke, making it so much better.

In honor of the upcoming film, it is presented for your pleasure, in tribute to Professor Boardman, and the many fine times spent at his domicile.

The Thong of Thor
by John Boardman

In days of yore the great god Thor would ramp around creation.
He'd drink a pint and slay a giant and save the Nordic nation,
Or kill a Wyrm and watch it squirm and vainly try to fang him,
Or lock up Loki in the pokey and on the noggin bang him.

Once he did bawl through Thrudvang hall that on a trip he'd wander
In a disguise from prying eyes in Midgard way out yonder.
So all his slaves and carles and knaves packed up his goods and gear-o,
And off he strode on Bifrost road, a perfect Aryan hero.

In Midgard land he joined a band of hardy Viking ruffians.
And off they sailed and rowed and bailed among the auks and puffians.
Whene'er they'd reach a foreign beach they stopped to raid and plunder.
Each Nordic brute got so much loot their longship near went under.

But though they rolled in coins of gold they had one joy forsaken.
For on each raid Thor's party made, no women could be taken.
Each drab and queen fled from the scene when Viking sails were sighted.
And Thor felt needs for certain deeds that had gone unrequited.

Thor's brows were black as they rowed back to Oslo's rocky haven,
Unto his crew he said, "Beshrew me for a Frankish craven,
"If I don't wrench some tavern wench, or else may Frigga damn her!"
Replied one voice, "You've got first choice. You have the biggest hammer."

Into an inn this crew of sin disbarked upon their landing.
Each tavern made was sore afraid of pirates of such standing.
But golden coins warmed up their loins, and soon the ale ran free.
Thor's motley crew poured down the brew and made an all-night spree,

Thor's glances strayed unto a maid with hair as gold as grain,
A lisp so shy, a downcast eye, and not a trace of brain.
He swept her chams into his arms and to an upstairs bower,
And did not cease or give her ease for three days and an hour.

When he arose and donned his clothes she looked like one near death.
Her limbs were weak, she could not speak, and scarcely gasped for breath.
"You ought to know, before I go, I'm Thor," he bade adieu.
"You 're thore!" said she. "Conthider me! I'm thorer; thir; than you!"

On the importance of having a Two

Freakazoid: One: Norm Abram is missing. Two:...

Cosgrove: We don't have a two.

Both Marvel and DC had returns of major characters today; one fairly well guaranteed ahead of time since it was the plot of the book, the other a pretty universally guessed (but denied till the last moment) secret.

Marvel has brought back The Scarlet Witch in the miniseries Avengers - The Children's Crusade.  Now, Wanda Maximoff's history is a complicated one, due to a number of decisions and changes of mind made about her origins and adventures. 

To summarize (and get a lot wrong) greatly, she first thought she and her brother Quicksilver were orphans, and first appeared working with/for Magneto in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.  She later found out she was the child of golden-age heroes Miss America and The Whizzer.  She later LATER found out she was misled about that, and they were in fact the children of the selfsame Magneto who ordered them around like day-laborers.  The both turned face, Wanda fell in love with and married The Vision, a synthetic human.  He figured out a way to create artificial sperm so they could have children.  She discovered later that she had in fact dreamed all that, and the children that she carried, bore and raised were creations of her own reality-warping powers.  This started her decline into madness, one that first caused her to reshape the entire world into one where mutants were in power, with her father in charge.  Realizing what she had done, she changed everything back, with a major change - 90% of the world's mutants lost their powers, and it seemed as if there would be No More Mutants.  She vanished, and was presumed dead.

She popped up a couple times, seemingly depowered and with no memories of her actions, but that appears to no longer be the case.  There are several issues to go, and there's every possibility that she'll be gone again (one way or the other) by the end, but a couple events in the latest issue, including seemingly undoing one of the deaths she caused (TANGENT ALERT in the EXACT FUCKING WAY I've been saying they could STILL bring back Ted Kord, by simply popping him away right after the presumed death, let every THINK he's dead, don't affect any of the events said deaths caused, and bring him forward to the present, where there would be much rejoicing. END TANGENT ALERT), I'm thinking they may try to rehabilitate her much like Geoff Johns did Hal Jordan by claiming much of her actions were out of her control, and in fact few if any people died from it after all. 

Allan FallbeHeinberg has been telling some wonderful stories with the Young Avengers since their first appearance, tying two of the members to Wanda in a very nice way, making the events of the new mini a logical extension of their character arc.  The part about Doctor Doom wanting to marry Wanda, not so much, but hey, bitter with the sweet.

Over at DC, the Brightest Day mini-series is one issue away from completion, and the new champions of both the White (life) and Black (death) energy have been revealed, and in a weird way...it's the same person.  The Black Champion is Swamp Thing, who hasn't been seen in the DCU proper since the mid 80s.  The champion of the White entity is revealed to be Alec Holland, the scientist from whose remains Swamp Thing would be created (again, to summarize greatly). 

Swamp Thing was a...some term other than "game-changer"...for the comics industry.  The first major US work by Alan Moore, it became the first comic from the Big Two to drop the Comics Code altogether and market to an adult/mature audience.  It would become the tentpole title for Vertigo, DC's new all-mature titles line, which has been a success ever since. 

The downside to that is that we never again saw Swampy in a regular DC title.  The idea was that if he appeared in a DC book, kids might seek out the mature title, see something Mommy and daddy wasn't expecting, and here comes the media.  That, combined with the alleged iron grip group editor Karen Berger held on the vertigo characters, rendered the character unusable by DC.

Vertigo hadn't used the character since 2005 after another short-lived attempt at a revamp.  So the chance that he could return to DC became more and more possible, and considering the forest motifs that came up in Brightest Day, more and more folks posited the same Clever Theory that this would be his Rebirth. 

In both cases, the return of these characters at both companies has been met with vocal reactions, mostly to the positive.  But in both cases, I have to be the guy who asks "NOW what?"

Yes, we're all happy to see Swamp Thing back.  But after a three-issue "aftermath" mini where the new guardian of Earth gets the hang of his new position, we've no idea what plans there are for the character.  They tried, repeatedly, to spark new interest in the character at Vertigo, each sputtering to an end.  Which of those versions will we see DC use?  Are they all to be wiped off the map and go back the Moore version, possibly even ignoring Rick Vietch's contributions?  Where's Abby and Tefe?  Will see a new Swamp Thing title, and if so, will be similar to the horror theme it's had for decades, or a more Superhero-y bent?  Or will it end like oh so many spectacular returns, going up like a firework, and ending just as fast?  Will Swamp Thing sink to the mid-card of DC characters again, or have they got something specific in plan?

Similarly at marvel, while the story they're telling with Scarlet Witch right now is very good indeed, if she stays around, do they have a plan in mind?  or will she simply go on a big apology tour, take a spot in the Avengers again, and drop back in place?

As a TV producer famously said when asked why he doesn't take advantage of all those internet videos for a show, "What happens in episode two of 'Cat runs into kitchen door'?" 

DC has guessed right on a couple of returns: Green Lantern was a success beyond all hope, Flash has spawned the new event Flashpoint, and Legion of Super-Heroes is back to having two monthlies dedicated to it.  Aquaman is getting a new series after Brightest Day, as is Hawkman is the rumors and tongue-slips are to be believed.  So it's to be assumed that DC has step two firmly in mind.  I'll just be curious to see how well fans react to it.

On a classic example of the audience not wanting what it's been offered

It's Wrestlemania weekend. 

To a wrestling fan, that's as big a deal as the Super Bowl, the World Series or any other championship for any other sport.  It is traditionally the season finale, the event at which angles and plotlines running for much of the year come to a head and climax.  It's the big one, the one event that you still get, even if you're a lapsed fan. Back in the day when there were only four pay-per-views a year, the three months between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania were an emotional rollercoaster.  Now that they have to set up big matches every month for a PPV, that's reduced a bit, but they still do a good job of upping the ante for what is known as "The Showcase of the Immortals".

The list of the classic matches that have appeared at this event is long indeed, but there's one in particular I'd like to discuss today.  The Rock vs. "Hollywood" Hogan as WM 18, or as it was billed, "Wrestlemania X-8"

First, a bit of history.  By this point in time, "Hulk" Hogan had long since left the WWE for its chief (and honestly, only) rival, WCW.  Its boss, Eric Bischoff, had a radical idea; he wanted to turn Hogan into a bad guy, or "heel".  To say it was a success was an understatement.  With Hogan's help, WCW would beat the WWE in the ratings for almost two years.  Hogan stopped using the "Hulk" moniker, and started being known as "Hollywood" Hogan.  (This is not only because of the new persona, but because Marvel Comics got a check every time they used the name "Hulk".)  The same charisma that made Hogan such a superstar was now being used to make him the most hated man in WCW, turning on old friends, teaming with people whose guts he once hated, everything a heel does.  Seeing it done by Hogan was almost unfathomable. 

Time passed, WWE took the upper hand once again, and eventually they ended up buying WCW.  This meant they got ownership of WCW's sizeable film library, as well as all of the current wrestler's contracts.  Many started working for WWE straight away, but many of the big names, including Hogan and the other members of his "stable", the NWO, took a bit more coaxing.  They eventually showed up shortly before Wrestlemania, and The Rock (at the time the biggest good guy, or "babyface" they had) quickly challenged him to a match.

Wrestlemania was held in Toronto that year, at the SkyDome.  Now Canadian fans love wrestling, and take it seriously to a degree that can't be fathomed by Americans.  Not that they "don't know the truth" or anything, but that they suspend disbelief, appreciate the mechanics of the sport and can recognize a well-performed match when they see it.  They don't watch it with the smug irony Americans do, but with the determined to have fun eye of a person who knows he's surrounded by like-minded people who aren't going to judge him, and is determined to have as much fun as he can.  In that, I envy them.

Hogan had left the (at the time) WWF in 1994.  In 2002, wrestling fans never thought they'd see him in a WWE ring again, so his return was a time of nostalgic joy indeed.  The way the story was being played, Hogan was clearly the bad guy, and The Rock was the good guy.  But after an absence of eight years, these old-school, hide-bound wrestling fans were simply not going to boo Hulk Hogan.


NOTE - I've posted three or four YouTubed versions of the match here over the years, with them eventually pulled down for copyright issues.  But now that the WWE Network has started, you can finally see the match again, so go there and watch it as you read on.


After a nice recap/prologue, Hogan makes his entrance at 3:30 into the segment. He's not coming out to his classic song, "Real American", he's not in his traditional red and yellow, he's got a beard and is clearly playing an arrogant bad guy.  Listen to that crowd.  They Do Not Care.  This is their chance, possibly their only and last chance to cheer for him, and damn the plotline, they choose to cheer.  The announcers, Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler, hastily amend their commentary from what was surely supposed to be clearly negative to the "You have to appreciate his past, regardless of what he's like now" variety.

He stands in the ring alone for a solid three minutes before they send in The Rock. They wouldn't stop cheering long enough to cue the entrance music.  He gets a mere minute and a half to enter and do his moves for the crowd before the music stops and the match ostensibly starts at 7:45.  Again, the crowd would not let the show continue.  The pair can not start the match for almost another two minutes.  They spend a good chunk of time looking out into the audience, clearly overwhelmed at the reaction.

The sound never lets up.  When Hogan lands a blow or sends Rock to the mat, they pop like their son just scored a touchdown after triumphing over both cancer and a serious stammer.  When Rock was winning, they acted as if he had called each of them, face to face, and in front of close friends, fat.  Ross and Lawler swore blind there were people cheering for The Rock. At that moment, there were probably more people in the SkyDome cheering for Dick Butkus.

As the match went on, it was clear what the audience wanted, and the pair knew how to deliver it.  Hogan started to flag, falling under Rock's blows, which gave Rock a chance to take on the heel role, prancing and preening, almost taunting the crowd as Hogan lay on the mat.  This gave Hogan the chance to return to his traditional babyface role, if only in disposition, as he kept on using traditional "heelish" moves like biting, choking, and a glorious nut-shot that had the crowd wincing and cheering.  If there was any question that the roles had reversed, Rock gets Hogan down and puts him in the Sharpshooter, signature move of Bret "Hitman" Hart, member of the Hart clan, the closest thing to the Canadian Royal Family of wrestling there is, and whose history with Vince McMahon is Quite Another Story Indeed. 

When Hogan starts his "Hulk out" revival sequence, the crowd goes to eleven.  Once that starts, you can call the match with your eyes shut: three blows by the opponent, Hogan stands straight up, stares him down, does the "YOU" point, Irish Whip, big boot, Atomic Leg Drop, 1 - 2 - 3.  And by the time the ref got to three there wasn't a person in that arena over the emotional age of ten.  A Hogan match is the wrestling equivalent of comfort food - you know exactly what you're gonna get, it's always warm, yummy and filling, and that crowd had not eaten in a loooong time.

Except the ref DIDN'T make three.  Rock gets up, and after TWO Rock Bottoms, he wins the match.  And it is not until the very end, when he goes for his big finisher The People's Elbow, do the fans start cheering for him.  Because what tops off a nice meal of comfort food like a great dessert.

By this point, the lines of face and heel were lost - Hands were shaken, and the proverbial torch is passed. They'd obviously planned a long run with the NWO angle after this match, but after that reaction, it was clear it would not stand.  In what felt like a hasty move, Hogan's NWO compatriots Scott Hall and Kevin Nash come out and start beating up on him for losing, giving Rock the chance to come to his aid and set up a quick face turn for Hogan.  The traditional six minutes of posing for the audience followed, and it's clear that the crowd would have sat through another twenty.

Hogan stayed with the WWE for another year and change, but to draw a parallel to a previous era, Andre the Giant stayed around for a while after Hogan beat him in WM3 so many years before.  In both cases, most consider those matches to be each wrestler's last great moment.  But the real star of that match was the audience.  There's hasn't been a crowd that hot and excited for a match since the fifties, and there hasn't been one since.  They told the WWE what they wanted, and they were smart and deft enough to change plans and deliver.