RE-IMAGINING

TOMBOY FOREVER! is a spirited re-working of the 1985 movie TOMBOY, which starred Betsy Russell as a female athlete/auto mechanic who lives in Lincoln Heights, East Los Angeles. This version, intended for comics, webisodes, or other related entertainment venues, drops the character down a year or so and places the emphasis on action-comedy: Tommy is something of a martial arts streetfighter now, a teen guardian angel who protects defenseless neighborhood kids from local toughs like Frankie and Pimples (featured in the movie), in addition to taking on all competing sexist jocks on the sports field. Chief among these is preppy blowhard Chad Parker and his ever-scheming girlfriend and partner-in-career building, Marcia Sloan. Other regular characters include Tommy's nerdy best pal Harold Pinter, secret love interest Randy Starr, and hopelessly old-fashioned guardian Aunt Edwina Strictland.

Themes: It's not a man's world anymore... or is it? Curiously, the impossibly regressive elite now lording it over East Los Angeles' Lincoln Heights is deliberately oblivious to current social reality: to these self-satisfied conservatives, it's still 1955, and women are logically expected to pursue domestic interests, get married and serve their husbands. Throwing a greasy wrench into the very heart of this outdated thinking is our 17 year-old heroine, a classic teen tomboy who was taught martial arts fighting techniques by her absent father (a military figure) and now uses these remarkable skills to keep neighborhood bullies in line. Colonel Boyd pretty much raised an ultra-receptive Tommy as the son he never had. But feeling guilty over selfishly denying his daughter necessary feminine influences, he leaves her in the legal safekeeping of his older sister, Edwina Strictland, while on an extended assignment overseas. Clueless, single-minded Edwina, like something out of another era, is charged with the daunting task of making a "proper young lady" out of her rebellious niece, a goal that often unwittingly allies her with Tommy's manipulative enemies and sports rivals. In the end, the oh-so-confident boy blowhards invariably get clobbered, and female athlete supreme Tommy Boyd can't help but advance the cause of Girl Power, even if those controlling the political and social character of Lincoln Heights do everything to shrug it off.

But there's another theme in TOMBOY FOREVER! that is just as important as female empowerment. It's about a girl growing up and eventually accepting all sides of her nature, not fighting against biological change but embracing the exciting possibilities of it. Still trying to be the son her dad always wanted, Tommy openly thinks of herself as a pre-sexual entity, despite the demonstrative fact that she has now sprouted rather dramatically in some obvious feminine ways and is clearly frustrated about where these "developments" might lead. As nerdy best pal Harold points out, Tommy's no kid anymore, something that's especially obvious when her curvaceous, modestly-attired body sees action on the sports or fighting field. Super-teen TB teaches male chauvinist creeps a lesson in every tale, but she also learns a lesson in humility herself, impulsive and potentially dangerous tomboyish stunts often leading to ignominious capture or punishment. Just as scary, and even funnier, is Tommy Boyd's fierce denial of romance and childlike refusal to be kissed, for fear that her potential male partner will "take charge" and reduce her to putty like most females she's observed. Not surprisingly, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy at first. Tommy's personal challenge (and series arc) is to eventually acknowledge her female side without selling out or giving up her athletic endeavors and tough, heroic crusade against bullies, bastards and chauvinists. It is through the slightly patronizing but ultimately benevolent character of sports ace Randy Starr, TB's first crush, that her agonizing growing-up curve is played out, often with humorous results.