Media Review : Mental Block"

Last reviewed 9.07.03, by Shaytar Watching YTV tonight, we happened to see one of their new, Canadian content, shows, called "Mental Block." Intro blurb: Life is pretty crazy for 12 year-old Donovan Mackay - he's got four opinionated teenagers living in his head: Sparks, Maynard, Skipper and RJ! Their mission is to get Donovan through another day of Junior High.

It's both as cheesy as it sounds and not as bad as it could be. The four kids appear in a "high-tech" command room that is (apparently) inside Donovan's head. They attempt to guide his actions and reactions throughout the school day. Amusingly enough, when the four of them get occupied with holding a discussion in the head, Donovan goes rather blank (though not quite drooling) on the outside -- which implies that is not a "host/alter" set up, but a co-operative that co-ordinates all aspects of daily living.

One of the four (didn't catch names) is also female, and she spends the most time in the control chair, complete with fingertip sensors and assorted other gadgetry to "run" Donovan's life. The other three are male, and seem to divide up the tasks of physical and intellectual responses, with varying degrees of success. There's much use of laser disks (didn't you wonder where those things went?) and typing on archaic keyboards, with an assortment of plugs and monitors to provide outside visuals to those on the inside.

Overall, it was a bit on the weird side, but most YTV shows are. ^_^; Despite that, it was interesting to see a mostly positive portrayal of co-operative multiplicity. And the non-positive parts were more the fault of incompetence on the part of the four in the head than any "disordered" view kicking in.