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From: trrich@aol.com (TRRICH)
Subject: We Gotta Get Out of this Place - Review
Date: 9 May 1997 07:50:57 GMT
We now begin my reviews of the first season of Space Cases.
I'm going to try to evaluate these episodes as pieces of a
puzzle, as if they were shown in order -- a difficult task,
because I did not originally view them in order!
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
Our journey begins with an exterior view of the Starcademy.
In one of the classrooms, a stern assistant principle is
taking role in a classroom full of underachievers. The
teacher leaves them unattended for a moment, and the kids
notice an unfamiliar alien spacecraft hovering outside their
classroom window. Harlan decides to make first contact, and
talks the others into joining him.
On board the alien ship, the five students simultaneously
touch the walls of the ship, and the ship bonds with them,
opening her doors for them. They continue to explore the
ship. Harlan explores the command post, where he finds a
humanoid android (and accidentally damages her memory
crystal), Cat and Radu explore the engine room, and Bova and
Rosie explore the bunkrooms. They find no crew.
Meanwhile, Davenport and Goddard board the alien ship in
search of the students. They touch the walls of the ship,
but the ship clearly rejects them.
Harlan learns that the ship has begun to move away from the
Starcademy. Down in the engine rooms, Bova accidentally
fires a bolt of electricity and triggers the hyperdrive.
Our heroes are moving away from the Starcademy at faster-
than-light speed, and Thelma can't give a coherent answer as
to how to get back home.
Cat and Radu are trying to shut down the engines, but not
succeeding. On the ComPost, Goddard learns that the ship is
being pursued by the white circle, a legendary rip in space
that could spit them out anywhere. The Christa can evade
it, but only if her hyperdrive engines are still online, and
Goddard learns that Cat and Radu are trying to shut down the
engines.
The engines shut down, they decide to try to maneuver away
from the white circle. The kids become the crew of the
Christa, but are unsuccessful in avoiding the white circle.
They find themselves more than seven years from home.
Goddard is upset, because he was looking forward to ending
his stint as a teacher and returning to space with a crew.
But the kids convince him to think of the Christa and the
kids as his ship and crew, and they begin their long journey
home.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
This is not the best episode of the first season, but it is
quite good. I think it must be evaluated in light of its
goals. The purpose of this episode is to introduce the
characters and the situations, and it does an excellent job
in that regard. One of the things I remarked on in my
letters to Nick and the Sci Fi channel is the fact that a
complex show like this takes time to gain an audience,
because it takes time to get to know the characters and the
situations. It is remarkable how much of the back story
they manage to work into this episode. They manage to
expose us to all of the following ideas:
1. Cat has an invisible friend
2. Rosie is painfully cheery
3. Bova is painfully not cheery
4. Radu is Andromedan, and the first of his kind at the
Starcademy
5. Harlan doesn't like Andromedans
6. Harlan and Cat have a rivalry for leadership of the
group.
7. Thelma doesn't work properly
8. Goddard is a starship commander demoted to teacher
9. Davenport, though cool and confident in her native
environment, is uncomfortable is space.
10. Rosie overheats when she gets upset.
11. Cat is an engineering genius (or Suzee is)
12. Bova shoots electrical bolts from his antennae.
13. Radu has very sensitive hearing.
In short, we've gotten the basis of almost all of the kids'
powers and personal quirks in this episode (we haven't seen
Cat's sonic scream, or Radu's strength, but those both come
into play in the second episode), and that's quite a lot to
see in one episode, and still have time for a plot that sets
up the series' premise.
Another great thing about this episode: this was not the
first episode filmed. It was actually filmed third (after
Desperately Seeking Suzee and Nowhere Man). I don't know if
this was the intention(PAD?), but it gave the actors a
chance to settle into their characters before the
"introductory" episode. The first episode of a series so
often feels a little rough, because the characters aren't
very well developed yet.
The benefits of this out-of-order filming can be seen most
vividly in Rahi's performance. In the first episode filmed
(DSS), he was playing Bova very flat. By the time they
filmed this episode, he had a good handle on the sarcasm
that defines this character, and did a much better job than
he would have done if this episode has been filmed first.
Anik's performance as Thelma had also settled into something
much more mechanical (she was a little too expressive for
the role in DSS, for example).
And while we're speaking of performances: I've busted on
Walter quite a lot through the course of these reviews, but
I should emphasize that my criticisms come up when Walter
tries to play a different personality (like the evil Harlan
in TWD, or the childish Harlan in MKB). When he sticks to
basically playing himself, he does a very nice job, and that
is evident in this episode. Watch the look of wonder on his
face when he first sees the Christa, and when they board
her, or the child-like joy when he discovers Thelma, the
discomfort when he realizes he has damaged her memory, or
the anger whenever he has to deal with Radu. Walter can do
a very nice job of conveying a broad range of emotions; he's
simply limited to playing one character (and there are a lot
of actors out there who make a good living playing one
character).
And some great stuff from Paul as well. I love the look on
Goddard's face when the kids take their positions. You can
see that he really does feel what the kids say later: that
he's back out in space, with a crew, and that is everything
he ever wanted in life. Another good look: the snide
expression on his face when Harlan says, "the vacuum of
space isn't fair, Commander!" Or the smile on his face
after he gives the inspirational speech to the crew at the
end (I saw you do it earlier; I think you can do it again.)
And by the way, that inspirational speech was wonderful.
It's bits like this that were lost in the second season when
the cut the adults out of the mix.
I like the role call scene at the beginning. It's a very
effective, natural way to provide you with all of the names
and planets of origin of all the characters at one shot.
Some other great bits: androids taking people too literally
is old stuff in SF, but it's done wonderfully here.
Harlan's desperation to get back to the Starcademy plays
beautifully against Thelma's literal interpretations. Some
of my favorite bits in this episode come from Thelma's
literalness.
Goddard: Can you turn us around?
Thelma: (nods, and physically turns Goddard around)
Goddard: No, I mean, can you turn the ship around?
Thelma: Oh, I would need much bigger arms.
Goddard: Where are we?
Thelma: We're on the floor, sir.
I also love the scene where Harlan and Goddard are trying to
stop Radu and Cat from shutting down the engines -- and they
don't know where the engine room is! They both run off
half-cocked, not even asking where it is, running around the
ship like lunatics. Love it.
Let's hear it for consistency: once the hyperdrive is shut
down, they say it will take 20 minutes to restart -- and
they have stuck to that limitation throughout the series.
There are a lot of series out there that alter the time
necessary to fit the episode's time frames.
I've heard a couple of people remark that they like the
"Harlan Harlan Band" line in this ep. PAD used the same gag
in the first Oblivion movie, when our hero Zack Stone meets
his future sidekick, Buteo.
Buteo: I am Buteo.
Zack: I'm Zack. Zack Stone.
Buteo: Pleased to meet you, Zack Zack Stone.
There are a few painful pieces of bad direction or bad
editing in this episode. Throughout the first season, many
of the episodes have an annoying tendency to focus on
reaction shots of another person while one person is
talking. While reaction shots can often be interesting, I'd
be more interested in seeing the expression of the person
who's actually talking. And the cutting between reaction
shots and the person talking often borders on schizophrenic.
The most egregious examples of it in this episode were two
cuts away from Radu while he was talking in the engine room.
First was when he was talking to Cat and asked what "the
imaginary ... uh, sorry ... invisible engineering genius"
thought. They cut to an unusually long reaction shot on Cat
in the middle of this line. Both of the kids had
interesting emotions going on here, so we should have been
seeing a two-shot. Second was when Radu first notices
Goddard in the engine room. You see a 1/4 second of Radu
reacting to his presence, but when he delivers his line
(Commander, what are you doing here?) the camera is focused
on Goddard, who is not doing anything.
I used to think this cutting away business was an attempt to
cover up sub-standard performances by child actors, but both
of these were cuts away from Kristian, and I find it
impossible to believe that Kristian is capable of doing
anything so bad that it needs to be hidden.
Another example of bad editing or directing (er, I'm
assuming this wasn't in the script): that bit where they
circle the room saying "What" =really= doesn't work for me.
It seems so contrived it's almost painful.
Again, the scene after they go through the white circle, and
everybody's talking at once. The characters actually have
lines here, and a couple of them are apparent, but it chops
around in a way that prevents you from understanding half of
it. Cat and Rosie are actually talking to each other, but
you can't really tell, and you don't get all of what they're
saying. You can have different characters talking over top
of each other and make it interesting (Moonlighting used to
do this brilliantly), but this just doesn't work.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The title is a line from a rock song (like most of the
titles in the first season), but I can't recall the name or
the band.
When the crew finds themselves on the other side of the
galaxy, Davenport cries, "We're lost in space!" an obvious
reference to Bill Mumy's best-known role.
The Christa is named after Christa MacAuliffe, a high school
science teacher who was essentially a passenger on the space
shuttle Challenger when it blew up on takeoff in 1985 (a
publicity stunt for NASA gone =very= wrong).
A few references that apply to the whole first season:
There is an Executive Story Consultant credit here for David
Gerrold, best known for writing the original Trek Trouble
with Tribbles episode.
The opening credit narration was written and narrated by
well-known SF writer Harlan Ellison. A bigger ego does not
exist in the world of SF, and it is widely debated whether
that ego is justified. You either love him or you hate him,
and PAD is one of the people who loves him.
This seems like as good a time as any to identify the
references in the character names:
Harlan Band: for Harlan Ellison, mentioned above, and
Charles Band (I'm not sure who he is, although his name
is in the credits for Oblivion).
Catalina: for a woman PAD knew while filming Oblivion in
Romania. It's a common Romanian name.
Radu: for a man PAD knew while filming Oblivion in Romania.
It's a common Romanian name.
Bova: for science fiction writer Ben Bova.
Seth Goddard: for Bill Mumy's son Seth and his former Lost
In Space co-star Mark Goddard, although I always
thought it was for Robert Goddard, inventor of the
liquid fuel rocket (as in Goddard Space Center), and
perhaps it's a little of both.
T.J. Davenport: for Veronica Hamel's character in Hill
Street Blues.
--------------------
They used to say that an infinite number of monkeys working on an infinite number of keyboards would eventually write the complete works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.
From: trrich@aol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: Who Goes Where - Review
Date: Fri, 16 May 97 02:01:28 GMT
And now, the review you've all been waiting for: Who Goes Where.
Well, at least one of you has been waiting for it . As
always, I will summarize the ep first, then review it. You can skip
down to the review if you like; it is clearly marked.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
Radu finds a teddy bear floating in space and retrieves it for
Rosie, as a way of thanking her for being so nice to him. Within
moments after retrieving the bear, Radu begins to shiver. He
hallucinates that Harlan has turned into a monster, but he says
nothing about it to Harlan, who already thinks Andromedans are
crazy.
Radu's hallucinations become worse. He sees things attacking him
from his food tube, and sees both Goddard and Harlan as monsters.
Again, he keeps this to himself, because he is suffering from
paranoid delusions. Thelma notes that Radu's temperature is low,
and his barometric pressure is dropping. Radu initially resists
when they tell him to get some rest, but then he realizes that it's
all "a plot" and he must go along with it for now.
Meanwhile, Catalina is celebrating the Saturnian Rejoicing Festival,
the most exhausting holiday in the universe, which requires her to
dance around wearing increasingly elaborate costumes.
Eventually, Radu's paranoid delusions become so intense that he
attacks Thelma, ripping her arm off and trashing the room. He also
tries to attack Catalina, but she chases him off with a sonic blast.
Goddard realizes that something is very wrong with Radu, a great
danger because (as we learn for the first time) Andromedans have
incredible strength and endurance. Goddard warns the crew, but it's
too late for Harlan, who is in the ComPost with Radu. After a brief
struggle, Radu overpowers Harlan and takes him to the airlock,
planning to blow him out into space.
Rosie realizes that Radu's condition is a result of his contact with
the bear. She finds out from Thelma that an alien race has been
known to leave booby-trap viruses in this part of space, and that
these viruses are designed to survive in the cold. She decides that
she can help Radu by using her Mercurian heat powers to kill the
virus.
Radu, lost in his paranoia, does not trust Rosie, but she struggles
with him and succeeds in curing him. But Harlan is still trapped in
the airlock, and the outer door has opened. Radu forces open the
inner door and saves Harlan.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
Well, what can I say. This was a great episode, but the most
remarkable thing about it is that, as good as it is, there are
several episodes in the first season that are even better. I'd rank
this one about 5th out of 13 episodes last season. That's what made
this such a great series. That's what made it so heart-breaking to
watch it descend into mediocrity and ultimate cancellation this
season.
What makes this episode work is a truly amazing performance by
Kristian. We have to invent some new superlatives for this guy,
because I run out of words to describe what a wonderful job he does.
This episode is incredibly demanding, both physically and
emotionally, and Kristian is more than equal to the task.
At the beginning of the episode, we see the sweet, innocent,
self-deprecating Radu we all know and love, shyly offering a toy to
Rosie in gratitude for her friendship. This image is sharply
contrasted with Harlan's impression of Radu: a dangerous alien who
cannot be trusted, not even to give navigational coordinates. And
over the course of the episode, we see Radu turn into exactly what
Harlan fears, a menace to the ship and its crew. We watch Radu's
descent into madness largely through his facial expressions and
lines in voice over. He has nothing to react to, and yet you can
see all of these complex emotions in Kristian's face. It is a joy
to watch.
Another thing that blew me away was the constant shivering. From
the time the ice first begins to form on Radu's eyebrows, he never
stops shivering. That must have been completely exhausting.
There is a clumsiness in Radu's movements throughout this episode,
an uncharacteristic lack of grace that ever so subtly suggests that
he is not entirely in control of himself.
And there is a marvelous bit, as Rosie is trying to help Radu, when
Radu rips the control panel apart and towers over her menacingly ...
it's not easy for a small, slender person like Kristian to convey
that kind of physical menace, but he pulls it off, and Rosie looks
all the more brave for standing by him in that moment.
And while we're speaking of Rosie... Paige also does a wonderful job
in this episode. It's nice when they give her something more to do
than just look cheerful. There's a marvelous look on her face, when
she first realizes that Radu's condition might be caused by the
teddy bear he retrieved for her.
Unfortunately, Paige is a victim of the bad editing that was
characteristic of the first season. During her big speech near the
end, where she's trying to help Radu, about half of the time she's
talking, we see Radu's face instead of hers. What were they
thinking?
Another great piece of acting is the look on Anik's face when Thelma
suddenly realizes that Radu is a danger to her. She's been her
normal goofy self, oblivious while Radu, deeply mired in his
delusions, rambles on about conspiracies. Then he turns on her with
a terrifying look... and suddenly it occurs to Thelma that maybe
something is seriously wrong with Radu. Great expression.
I really wish I had seen this episode in its proper sequence (it was
one of the last first season eps I saw), because one of the
interesting things about it is the way Radu's strength is revealed.
Radu's strength was never mentioned in the first episode, and is not
explicitly mentioned in this one until after Radu attacks Thelma.
You're not supposed to know about Radu's strength, when he turns on
Thelma. The shock of seeing Thelma in pieces, the room trashed,
must have been extraordinary.
The fight scene between Harlan and Radu in this episode is very
well-done. This is the way fight scenes involving Radu should be
done. We've seen them fight a couple of times before, most notably
in Trouble with Doubles, and it always annoyed me, because if Radu
is as strong as he's supposed to be, he should be able to snap
Harlan like a twig. In this sequence, Harlan fights smart. He
avoids Radu, using Radu's strength against him, getting Radu to hurt
himself and wear himself out. But as soon as Radu gets a good grip
on Harlan, Harlan is out of the picture.
BTW, did anybody else notice that Radu gained about 30 pounds when
he carried Harlan away down the hall? Can you say "stunt
double"?
There were some here who argued that Rosie should not have been able
to hold her own against Radu. I didn't really have a problem with
that, because we must keep in mind that Rosie was using her heat
powers to burn the virus out of his system. Her normal body
temperature is 200 degrees, and she was deliberately increasing it.
Radu couldn't be expected to inflict much damage while essentially
holding onto a glowing electric stove.
This is the episode that brought us the classic line "I heard
that... I heard that too." It's also the first time we hear Cat's
Saturnian expletive, Grozit.
I love the hug that Goddard gives Rosie when he realizes that
everybody is safe and back to normal. A nice, warm, fatherly
moment. You rarely see that kind of affection on TV.
I like the fact that we some cultural and biological differences
here. It's always nice when aliens are actually alien. Catalina
has her own distinct holiday, with no apparent connection to any
Earth holiday I'm familiar with. Radu, of course, has a
significantly different biology. And I love the snow gag. The
first time I saw that I was so amused that I had to drive over to
the bookstore immediately to share it with Celia. I think Eileen
and I have adequately discussed my concerns about the temperature
issue already, so I won't belabor them here.
Carla was particularly fond of the sonic scream bit here. She's
always frustrated when women on TV scream at the slightest sign of
danger. It tickled her to see a woman in danger screaming ... as a
means of attacking the person putting her in danger! And succeeding
in harming her attacker that way!
Some other great gags here:
Thelma tells Harlan all the things he is "good" at (good at goofing
off, good for nothing, etc)
Goddard: Radu's dependable. He's level-headed.
(Radu comes out of jump tubes and screams at the sight of them)
Radu: I've got to do something!
(runs smack into closed door)
Bova: Interesting choice.
Goddard: Tell us what happened, from the beginning.
Thelma: First, the universe was void and without form. Then, there
was a big bang.
Davenport: This might take a while.
(I love the juxtaposition of religion and science here. In case
anybody doesn't recognize it: the first line is a paraphrase of Gen.
1:2)
Thelma: And the last thing I remember is... the floor coming at me
very quickly!
Thelma: Forcing open the inner air lock door while the outer door is
open is a safety hazard. Please, don't do it again.
And one you may have missed: when Radu first enters the ComPost
intending to attack Harlan, if you listen very closely, you can hear
him whisper "Harlan..." almost in a sing-song. It's hilarious.
And I love the little dance sequence at the end. Celia was
impressed to note that Radu and Cat are obviously making the same
dance moves, obviously doing some kind of patterned dance, but it is
not anything like any dance we've ever seen, something completely
alien. There's a nice moment of chemistry here between Goddard and
Davenport as they do a little jitterbug. And watch Thelma dancing
with the Gizbot! But the best part of this whole bit was Bova,
looking at them all as if they were specimens in a jar, rolling his
eyes and walking away.
There are really only a few nits to pick in this episode. As I
said, I'm not going to belabor the temperature issue, because we've
taken that as far as we can.
At the end of the episode, we see Rosie bandaging Radu's hands,
obviously because of the burns she must have inflicted while curing
him of the virus. But why is she bandaging him over the gloves?
This made so little sense that one of my friends speculated that
they weren't gloves at all, that's what Andromedan hands look like.
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
This is a new addition to my reviews. I realized while reviewing
this episode and the first episode that one of the major
characteristics of the first season is the ongoing story line, which
is revealed gradually over the course of the entire first season
(and apparently many points still remain to be revealed!) I thought
it would be worthwhile to identify the ongoing story line and
character elements that are revealed in each episode.
Things we learned in this episode:
Rosie is the only person who is nice to Radu.
Andromedans have a very different biology from humans.
Rosie is interested in medicine
Bova is interested in science.
Rosie has the ability to control and channel her body heat.
Andromedans were at war with humans fairly recently (recently enough
that Goddard fought in the war).
Andromedans have great strength and endurance.
Catalina can emit a piercing sonic scream.
I think this is the first time we see the Gizbot (as yet unnamed).
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
Is there anybody out there who doesn't know the bear story?
The bear is the very same one that was used in a Babylon 5 episode
that PAD wrote, and is part of a running gag between PAD and JMS.
Apparently, PAD's wife gave the bear to JMS. JMS doesn't like
"cute" things, so he stuck it in PAD's B5 episode and had Sheridan
toss it out an airlock. When Radu brings in the bear, Rosie says,
"What kind of dope would throw away a perfectly good bear?" Later,
we find out that the bear was left by an evil race called the
Straczyn (a reference to JMS). Apparently, JMS has sworn vengance.
Bova is reading a book on what to say when making first contact.
The first suggestion is "Fascinating," which was a catch-phrase for
Mr. Spock on Classic Trek. Rahi Azizi even says the line with a bit
of a Spockian flair.
Thelma talks about Minbar chess, a reference to Mumy's role as a
Minbari on B5.
I'm not sure if this counts... I'm not even sure I'm remembering it
right... but I remember hearing about a story idea that David
Gerrold had submitted to Trek at the same time he submitted Trouble
with Tribbles, something about the crew turning against Kirk, and I
seem to recall that alien teddy bears were involved. If I'm
remembering this correctly, this can't have gone unnoticed, because
Gerrold has an Executive Story Consultant credit on SC's first
season.
-------------------------------------
They used to say that an infinite number of monkeys working
on an infinite number of keyboards could eventually produce
the complete works of Shakespeare.
Now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.
From: trrich@aol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: A Day In The Life - Review
Date: Fri, 23 May 97 11:56:43 GMT
And now the episode review I've been waiting for : A Day in
the Life.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
The kids are caught in the middle of a conflict between Davenport
and Goddard. Goddard needs them in the command post to pilot the
ship, but Davenport insists that their studies must continue.
Catalina suggests that they create a schedule so they can do both.
Davenport and Goddard agree. Davenport tells Thelma that the
schedule is "tip-top priority."
Meanwhile, the Christa is passing into Ferna Herna space. The
extremely polite members of the Ferna Herna planetary intruder squad
discover their presence, but instead of blowing them up, they give
the Christa three hours to explain their presence.
Thelma receives the message from the Ferna Herna, but does not pass
it along immediately because she must stick to the busy schedule.
She wakes the children up. As she is doing so, she attempts to tell
Harlan about the Ferna Herna threat, but he asks if it can wait.
She says it can wait three hours.
Thelma tries on several occasions to inform the crew, but her
efforts are either thwarted by the schedule or by Catalina's sonic
practicing, which is starting to get on everybody's nerves. Cat
eventually manages to blow out her vocal chords.
The Ferna Herna, having received no explanation, fire their missiles
at the Christa. Thelma then finds an opportunity to tell Cat that
the Ferna Herna have fired their missiles. Now Cat is the only one
who knows, and she can't talk!
Cat goes to the command post to tell everyone what is happening, and
manages to use charades to tell them to ask Thelma. Thelma finally
tells Goddard about the message she received. They send a message
to the Ferna Herna, apologizing profusely, but it is too late, the
Ferna Herna's most deadly missiles have already been fired.
Cat comes up with a plan to stop them: she will use her sonic powers
to disrupt the missiles' guidance. She gets her voice back just in
time, and saves the ship.
Back in quarters, time for bed, both Harlan and Cat tell their
journals, in exactly the same words, that they saved the ship today.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
This episode is the best humorous episode Space Cases has done. It
is absolutely hysterical, one of the top four episodes of the
series. I laughed from beginning to end on this one.
This is the episode I use to introduce new viewers to the series.
We Gotta Get Out of this Place is fine, and it sets up the premise,
so it needs to be the first episode broadcast, but this episode is
great fun and establishes all of the characters very nicely. After
people see this episode, they want to see more. Then you can show
them a more serious, character-driven episode like Spung at Heart or
It's My Birthday Too (Yeah), and you've got them hooked!
The best part of this episode was, of course, the Ferna Herna,
played by Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill and series co-creator Bill
Mumy. Their performance as "polite killers" is so funny that I
nearly burned out my pen trying to write down all of the great lines
they had in this episode. Rather than write down all of their great
lines, I'll just have to have a separate category for Ferna Herna
lines and write the best one or two.
But the best thing about the Ferna Herna is that even though they
are completely hysterical, they still manage to be completely
convincing AND a completely credible threat. They are basically a
couple of very sweet, loopy guys who have a job to do, and they do
it.
I also like the nature of the conflict in this episode: a threat
that is not caused by anybody's malice but simply by
misunderstanding. The "villains" in this episode are simply taking
reasonable steps to protect their planet from a perceived threat
(blowing up a ship that enters their secured territory without
responding to communication). Our heroes are in danger because they
have not made their priorities clear enough to the android who
receives the message.
I also like the way they use Cat's sonic powers in this one. It's a
very intelligent and unusual use of the power, and it's great that
Cat came up with it.
A clever bit: The Ferna Herna contact the Christa at about 8 AM.
They say that they will blow up the ship in 3 Ferna Herna hours.
Thelma calculates the time of attack at 11:57:40, which is 4 hours
later. At first, I thought this was a mistake, but in retrospect I
think it was supposed to reflect differences in time scales (which
is why they specify Ferna Herna hours, instead of just saying 3
hours). I'm assuming that this one was intentional, and I think
it's pretty nifty!
I love the wake up call in this one. Waking Radu up by whispering
in his ear ("AH! You don't have to scream!"), waking Bova up by
jump starting him, waking Harlan up with a carefully extruded
feather (I had a mental image that they do this every day, complete
with Harlan banging into the wall).
I love the way the kids react to the conflict between Goddard and
Davenport. When Goddard tells them to go to the command post, they
all run towards it... but when Davenport tells them to go to class,
they all shuffle reluctantly.
I love the subtle ways that they work with Radu's strength in the
first season. In this ep, Goddard simply tells Radu to lift a
console, and he does it, no muss, no fuss. No attention is drawn to
the fact that this thing is probably so heavy that Harlan and
Goddard combined couldn't lift it. Another very subtle bit: when
the missiles hit the Christa, Goddard and Harlan are flying all over
the place, but Radu is standing in the background at his console,
not moving at all. Absolutely no attention is drawn to this fact (I
completely missed it the first time), and it's wonderful.
I love Jewel's performance in this one. Her charades are
hysterical. There was a lot of comment around here that Cat should
have just written it down, but I'll forgive that because I enjoyed
the charades gag so much, particularly the 37-word charade that
Thelma guessed simply from the word "Try."
I just noticed that I started four paragraphs in a row with "I
love..." and I was about to fix that, but chose not to - it's that
kind of episode! I'm that pleased with it!
Another thing I love is the parallel journal entries at the
end. It's a nice hint of where things are going with Harlan and
Cat: that they are so much alike that they both like each other and
drive each other crazy. Of course, Cat is the one who really saved
the ship, not Harlan...
One thing that earned some comment here: should Radu really be
eating eggs, given what we know about his birth? Celia hesitated on
that one, but I figure they're not Andromedan eggs, and we eat veal,
so why not? Anybody else got an opinion on this one?
I love the music they put on the missiles right after Thelma's "my,
what polite killers" line. I can't recall the name of that piece,
but listen to it, I'm sure you'll recognize it.
I believe it was Diana who caught the goof in this one: Class from
9:30 to 11:30, free study from 11:00 to 12:00. Well, it was a tight
schedule...
They have entirely too much fun with Davenport's pronunciation of
"schedule." That got old very fast. Although I found myself
wondering if this was supposed to be a reference to Patrick Stewart,
because I remember him saying once that they forced him to pronounce
it "skedule" and he hated doing it.
Great lines by the Ferna Herna:
Who ever heard of invited intruders? If they were invited, they
wouldn't be intruders, they'd be invitees and we'd be having them
down for drinks and cheezy-bits, not blowing them up!
BM: Even if they contact us now, apologizing profusely, they haven't
got a prayer.
MH: Look! It's them! They're contacting us and apologizing
profusely!
Both: Ew....
Other great lines:
Harlan: We're trapped in space! It's like seven years of detention!
What else can she do to us?
Rosie & Radu: You ... don't want to know.
Bova: I'll be in charge of mess!
Davenport: You mean food.
Bova: That too.
Harlan (to journal): I try hard not to constantly be the first one
to give the answer in class...
Catalina (to Suzee): It's a good thing you're here, or I'd have gone
nuts.
Goddard: Radu, raise the shields!
Radu: How do I do that?
Goddard: I don't know!
Davenport: Why is he telling us to stay here?
Bova: Maybe he thinks some of us will panic and be a distraction.
Goddard: Thelma, you've got to have priorities.
Thelma: All right. When shall I schedule them?
Thelma (referring to the Ferna Herna): My, what polite killers.
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
This is the first time we hear about Harlan's father, and I really
like the way we find out about it. It could easily have been
brought out in some kind of direct conflict, but I thought it was
very creative to have Radu sneak around, get the info from Cat, and
explain it to his journal, and defending himself to the journal
instead of to the person he really should be talking to. Very in
character for Radu to avoid the confrontation, and very
interestingly done.
This is the first time they actually explain Catalina's sonic
powers. Although she used them in Who Goes Where, to fight off
Radu, no explanation was given at the time.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
In the background of the Ferna Herna command post, right behind Bill
Mumy throughout the episode, you can see the robot from Lost In
Space, the show that made Bill famous. I must confess that the
first time Celia and I saw this episode, we did not notice the robot
until the closing credits. We then rewound the episode and watched
it again, just to see the robot in the background.
The title of this episode is the title of a Beatles song, as are
several of the episode titles in the first season. The Ferna Herna
speak with Liverpool accents (like the Beatles).
Harlan speaks of Cat as being "hooked on sonics" - a reference to
the reading technique Hooked on Phonics (huked on fonics wurked four
me!)
When the others are late for lunch, Davenport remarks, "Actions have
consequences." This is a recurring line in PAD's Oblivion movies,
although I'm not sure whether this is an intentional reference to
Oblivion or whether it's just a recurring theme in PAD's life.
-------------------------------------
Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
Bad kitty. No biscuit.
From: trrich@aol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: Spung at Heart - Review
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 97 01:07:52 GMT
Ahh... The first season was so great... two of the best episodes of the
series back-to-back. How I miss the first season...
This week, we review Spung at Heart.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
The Christa receives a distress signal. Harlan and Radu take it
upon themselves to offer assistance to the unidentified alien ship,
identifying themselves as the Captain and First Officer of the
Christa. When the alien pilot emerges from the airlock, the crew
discovers that she is a Spung.
Goddard consents to help the Spung girl, whose name is Elmira, but
they must keep a close watch on her, because Spung cannot be
trusted. Radu is particularly suspicious of her, because the Spung
enslaved the Andromedans. This sparks conflict between Radu and
Harlan, who hates Radu because of what Andromedans did to his father
but who does not blame Elmira for what the Spung did to the
Andromedans.
Elmira works on repairing her equipment. In exchange for the crew's
help, she offers to tell their fortunes. She makes predictions for
several members of the crew, and some of them are pretty grim. The
predictions begin to come true almost immediately.
Elmira is alone for a moment, and we see her receive a message from
Spung Warlord Shank.
Elmira predicts that the white circle will appear, to take the crew
"back to where this all began."
Later, Elmira is alone with Radu. She predicts that he will be a
great hero. She also tells Radu that Harlan doesn't hate him, but
fears him because Radu challenges all of Harlan's preconceptions.
And she points out that Radu feels the same way about her.
Just as Radu is beginning to soften towards Elmira, Warlord Shank
appears threatening to destroy the Christa. At first, Radu thinks
that Elmira has been deceiving them all along, but she persuades him
that Shank is after her. Radu helps Elmira escape.
The killcruiser begins firing on the Christa, when the white circle
appears. Elmira tells the Christa to dive for it while she
distracts the killcruiser.
The Christa goes through the white circle, and does indeed return to
"where it all began": the position where the white circle dropped
them off the first time. They must begin their journey home all
over again.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
This is the second of my "top four" episodes of the series, a
four-way tie for best episode of the season. It has a wonderful
blend of humor (the Goddard as cook gag, for example) and deep
characterization.
The chemistry between Radu and Elmira is incredible. There are
times when you can almost feel the electricity between them. And
it's played out in an innocent way that I think works as well for
children as it does for adults. From the moment the airlock door
opens, Radu is like a deer caught in the headlights, simultaneously
terrified of her and fascinated by her, and it shows in every muscle
of his body. Elmira, however, is completely calm and confident in
his presence. I have always suspected that she knew, even before
the Christa picked her up, that Radu would be an important part of
her future, and that he would be on the Christa.
Katie McIninich's performance as Elmira is brilliant. I love the
way she works with her body language. She has very odd gestures and
movements. Note the way her head jerks around at odd angles, much
like a lizard or a bird. The way she calls Harlan "Harlanband," as
if it were one word (I'm sure this spelling was in the script, but
it takes no small talent to say it in a way that conveys the idea).
And there is also a sense I get from her at times, as if she is
almost bored with her life, going through the motions because she
already knows how everything will come out. Yet that boredom is
most notably not there in her interactions with Radu!
Kristian's performance is also wonderful, as we have come to expect.
When he first hears Elmira's voice, before he sees her, you can see
in his face that he is in love with her voice. He looks like he's
about to burst (hmn... maybe a little too graphic for a children's
forum... sorry). As Celia pointed out, "sounds must be a real turn-on
for Andromedans." And I love his body language throughout the
episode. Note that through most of the ep, he has his arms folded
across his chest, a gesture of defiance. And yet, when Elmira moves
towards him, telling him his future, his arms move down, an almost
involuntary submissive gesture. Watch his hands: you can see the
knuckles turning white as he clenches his fists. When Warlord Shank
threatens the Christa and he believes Elmira has betrayed him, you
can see him trembling. Catch the little grin on his face when
Elmira reveals that she knew all along who was in charge. Or the
look on his face when Elmira kisses him, fear and fascination and
confusion all intermixed... it makes it that much more poignant when
they meet the second time, and are unable to kiss because she gets
teleported away. When they emerge from the white circle, and he
realizes where they are, you can hear his voice catch in his throat.
Just wonderful stuff (I told you I need some new adjectives for
this guy!).
And how can we forget George Takei's all-too-brief performance as
Warlord Shank. I think George has one of the most amazing voices in
the business, and he works it to its full potential here, dripping
evil with every syllable.
Jewel does some fabulous stuff in here too. I love to watch her in
the background, because she makes so many interesting gestures and
facial expressions, even when she is not the specific focus of
attention. Of course, we've had some disagreements about the
significance of some of those gestures , but even so, she
makes herself a part of the scene, even when she doesn't have
anything specific to do. She also created a very distinctive voice
and mannerisms for Suzee. Even without the static hair, you could
tell when she went from one to the other.
Here's an interesting question: Now that we know Suzee is real... did
Cat and Suzee really switch places here? Obviously, they did not
physically switch places, but did they switch bodies during this
episode, or did the electric shock just cause Cat to delude herself
into believing they had switched places? I suspect the latter.
Cat-as-Suzee doesn't act anything like the Suzee we know. I can't
picture our Suzee giggling, and Suzee never tells people what Cat
has to say about any situation. Of course, the problem with my
theory is that when Cat goes back to normal, she asks Suzee if Suzee
is OK, and judging by Cat's reaction, Suzee seemed to accept that
they had switched places. Perhaps Suzee got mentally fried in the
blast too, and also thought she was Cat. What do you think?
The Goddard-as-cook gag is hysterical. The look on Goddard's face
when Harlan announces this is priceless. Goddard looks like he's
about to physically chew Harlan's head off. And I love the way that
plays out through the episode. "Would you excuse us for a moment?
Something's burning. Cook stuff, you understand." Or later, "Do
cooks always have this much power on an Earth vessel?" "It's an old
Earth tradition: if the cook doesn't get his way, we don't get
dessert." "Oh." And the look on Goddard's face when Harlan says
"You are never gonna let me live that down, are you?", a look that
seems to say, "No, I'm enjoying making you suffer."
The argument between Harlan and Radu was great. For me, the heart
of the first season was the relationship between Harlan and Radu,
and we see a lot of interesting things percolating here. I was
always fascinated by the idea of a black man being bigoted against a
race of slaves, and that idea really comes out here. We see how
unreasonable Harlan's bigotry is: he hates a race of slaves for
doing what their masters forced them to, and yet he does not hate
the race of masters! And we see the beginning of the camaraderie
that will ultimately develop between them when they interact on the
bridge in the teaser. They are alone, and they are being reasonably
friendly. I love their little bickering over titles. "You can be
co-captain." (Radu gives him a look) "Vice captain?" "First
officer." "Whatever."
About Elmira's predictions: Some of them were clearly short-term
predictions (the white circle related ones) and some were clearly
long-term ones (the one for Radu, which I would not expect to see
fulfilled until he is an adult). But a few of them had both
long-term and short-term implications. The prediction for Cat was
fulfilled in some sense in this episode, but was fulfilled more
completely in On the Road to Find Out, when the characters switched
places. Likewise, Davenport's prediction was sort of fulfilled in
this episode, but was fulfilled much more fully in Break On Through
to the Other Side. I've always wondered if some of the other
short-term predictions will also have a greater meaning to be
revealed in the future.
The best dialog of the episode, and perhaps of the entire series:
Elmira: Harlanband doesn't hate you, Radu. He's afraid of you.
Radu: Afraid?
Elmira: Yes. Every time he looks at you, he's afraid that
everything he knows is wrong. And so are you, every time you look
at me.
Wow. What a scene that was. It sums up the character relations so
beautifully. I love Radu's reaction to the idea that Harlan is
afraid of him. He seems to assume that Harlan is afraid of Radu as
a physical threat, and seems embarrassed by his own strength. And
yet Harlan is not afraid of the physical threat at all; Harlan is
afraid of the challenge to his preconceptions. Look at Who Goes
Where in light of this line. When Radu turns into the scary alien
that Harlan has always believed Andromedans to be, Harlan is not
afraid. This, he can deal with. But Radu as a friendly, insecure
guy, the "Nicest Guy in the Galaxy," is difficult for Harlan to deal
with. The line gives us an interesting look into Harlan's soul.
Catherine has often spoken about how she likes the end of Trouble
with Doubles, where they get the heartbreak of realizing that they
cannot take the hyper-warpway to shorten their trip home. But that
scene can't compare to the heartbreak here, when they think they are
going home, get to the other side of the white circle... only to
realize that their long journey home has started all over again.
Wow. What a scene.
Davenport as a ghost was really funny the first time around, but it
gets really old when you've seen this ep a few times. I do love the
look on Bova's face here, though. Rolling his eyes and shaking his
head. It's marvelous.
One thing I do not like is that awful tutu costume on Elmira. I
like her 2d season costume better. Oh my, is there something I like
better about the 2d season? Shocking!
There is one oddity in this ep: there is a scene where we see the
exterior of the Christa navigating through what appears to be an
asteroid belt. Where did that come from? PAD, was something cut
here?
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
This episode is our introduction to the Spung. It's hard to
believe, but during the first three episodes of Space Cases, we
didn't even know the Spung existed! Here, we find out that they
exist, that they enslaved the Andromedans, and that they started the
war between the Andromedans and the UPP (although we don't actually
hear the term UPP until Homeward Bound in the second season). It
ties together a lot of the concepts that have been trickling out
through the first few episodes.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The title of the episode is a play on the song title Young at Heart
(Frank Sinatra)
Harlan tells Shank that if he attacks the Christa, the hull of the
ship will explode and destroy the killcruiser. This trick was used
successfully in an episode of Classic Trek (I think it was The
Corbomite Maneuver, but I'm not sure). It is particularly funny
that Shank (who is played by former Enterprise helmsman George
Takei) didn't buy this for a minute.
Presumably, Elmira is named for Myra David, although I've never seen
that confirmed anywhere.
-------------------------------------
Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
Bad kitty. No biscuit.
From: trrich@aol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: Forever Young - Review
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 97 03:06:49 GMT
This week, we'll be revisiting Forever Young. I guess we're about
to get a little controversy going, because I know a lot of people
like this one, but it didn't do much for me.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
The episode opens with Harlan, Cat and Radu on the ComPost, giggling
about a joke they have planned. Ms. Davenport walks in and the
children become serious. They turn on the viewscreen, showing a
person floating in space. They say it is Goddard, and they don't
know how to rescue him. They try a tractor beam, but the image on
screen explodes. Suddenly, Goddard appears from the jump tubes.
Ms. D faints, as usual.
We see a mysterious probe following the Christa.
Goddard chews the kids out for their prank and confines them to
quarters, but he can't deny that he found the prank amusing.
Suddenly, a probe appears on the ComPost, and zaps the adults.
The kids hear an alarm and go to the bridge to find the alien probe
and two children. They realize that the children are Goddard and
Ms. D. The crew explains the situation to young Goddard and Ms. D.
Harlan doesn't want to tell them that they are they adults, but Radu
reveals it. Harlan doesn't particularly want to change the adults
back. Instead, he instigates a food fight.
Meanwhile, on the bridge, the various personalities of the alien
probe argue about the appropriate punishment for the misbehaving
children. The probe takes control of the Christa, redirects the
ship, and begins to take over Thelma.
The probe, known as Neinstein, gives the children a set of rules to
live by, and sets Thelma to enforce it.
In the middle of the night, the children conspire to take back the
ship. They decide to try electrocuting Neinstein, using a cable to
get power from the engine room to zap Neinstein. They must also
crawl through the jump tubes, instead of using them normally, to
pull this off.
Young Goddard wants a more bold, action-packed solution, but Harlan
acts as the responsible voice of reason.
The kids ultimately manage to zap Neinstein and disengage him from
the computer. In the process, they also cure Neinstein's
schizophrenia. He leaves peacefully, and returns the adults to
normal. But the adults still retain some memories of their time as
children.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
Hmn. Well. This wasn't a bad episode. We saw enough of those in
the 2d season to know what a bad SC episode is like. But it wasn't
a particularly good episode, in my opinion. This is the first SC
episode that was not written by Peter and Bill (first both in
filming order and in airing order), and the difference in quality
was obvious to me, even before I started consciously noting the
credits. It seems to ramble on rather pointlessly most of the way
through. A lot of it doesn't make much sense, and the story never
quite seems to gel.
The biggest hole in this episode is in the handling of its premise:
turning the adults into children. Neinstein made it very clear that
he does not like children and he does not want them in the ComPost.
So why didn't he turn the children into adults instead of the other
way around? He said he did this so they would live long enough to
be useful crew members for 70 years, but that makes no sense at all.
First of all, Neinstein is quite capable of controlling the ship
himself (the crew did nothing to run the ship in the entire
episode). And even if he needed them for some reason, if lifespan
is the issue, why didn't he wait until they actually started getting
too old to run the ship? He demonstrated that he can age regress
people any time he wants. And if Neinstein hates children so much,
why did he take it upon himself to educate these children all day?
Especially when the education began with irrelevancies like the
living conditions of a planet they will not see for 70 years.
The episode suffers from an enormous amount of convoluted back
story, most of which is recited rather perfunctorily, as if the
writer weren't really interested in his own inept excuses for
setting up this situation.
One point of this episode seemed to be a lesson in teamwork, and
indeed, the kids did pull together better than they had in the past.
But the message is badly blurred, because ultimately, they
succeeded not because of their teamwork, but because of Goddard's
showboating.
Something seemed to be seriously wrong in the scenes where they were
dragging the cable around the ship. First of all, anybody who's
ever carried a long length of cable knows that you carry the whole
thing with you and then release it from behind; you don't leave the
main mass in the back and drag forward, because it may get stuck on
something. But aside from that, everybody seems to be carrying the
front of the cable! We see Harlan and Radu with the front, then
later we see two others with it, then later two others, then later
Harlan with Goddard, and finally back to Harlan and Radu. What's
going on here???
This episode did have its amusing moments. Of course, everybody
talks about the big food fight scene, which was certainly fun,
though I wasn't as impressed by it as most people seem to be. It
was just too contrived. Part of the fun of food fights is the
spontaneity. They just sort of happen; you don't plan them. You
don't say, "hey, let's have a food fight!" collect the food and then
start throwing it, which is what happened here.
The performances by the kids playing young Goddard and Davenport
were quite good. I can see those kids growing up to be the Goddard
and Davenport we know and love.
There are a couple of bits I particularly like in here. Ms.
Davenport reciting "Humpty Dumpty" while she's recovering from the
shock of seeing Goddard blown up on screen. Thelma meditating (you
have to watch for this to catch it, but it's hilarious). Harlan
instinctively obeying the 12-year-old Goddard ("Sorry Commander, we
were just -- wait a minute!"). And on the ComPost, when they're
pulling the prank, watch Radu in the background: when Cat starts
talking about the possibility that Goddard will be blown up, you can
see Radu giggle, then very consciously put his serious face back on
again. (er... I'm assuming that was Radu breaking character, not
Kristian). Harlan asking Cat "What does Suzee think? I can't
believe I just asked that!" The kids dragging this cable all over
the ship, only to have it come up six feet short.
I like the business about Davenport being fast with the computer.
It's nice to see that she's good for something. We so rarely see
her do anything useful.
But there were a number of things that fell flat. The one that
annoyed me most was the gag of mispronouncing Neinstein. I mean,
it's not particularly difficult to pronounce, and the pronunciation
they kept mistaking was one that people usually use when the see
those German names written down, not spoken, so I found myself
wondering whether the actors kept messing it up and it later became
part of the episode.
Radu's character is somewhat off here. He's much more assertive,
self-confident and in-charge in this episode than he usually is.
For example, he stands up to Harlan in the team room when they are
first talking to the 12-year-old adults. After the food fight, Radu
is the voice of reason trying to get them back to performing their
duties. In the huddle sequence, Radu almost seems to be leading the
discussion. When I first saw the episode, and noticed the "Story by
Kristian Ayre" credit, I assumed that this was all due to Kristian's
influence. I thought a teenage actor had written a "my character
saves the day" story, which the writers had toned down into an
ensemble piece. I also noted the business about the high gravity on
Neinstein's homeworld, thinking that Kristian's the original
intention was to have everybody suffering except Radu (which is what
really should have happened).
Fortunately, Kristian was kind enough to share his original
treatment with us, so I now know that my original assumptions were
way off the mark. The original treatment never even mentions Radu,
and has nothing that seems directed toward Radu.
In fact, I think this episode could have been a lot better if it had
stuck a little closer to the original treatment. In that treatment,
the adults became children more or less by accident, which
eliminates that disastrous excuse for turning them into children.
Also, in the treatment, the children are the same age as the
regressed adults, which would have resulted in more interesting
character interactions.
Big question raised by this episode: Are the kids able to control
the ship because they're kids, or because they bonded with it? I
always thought bonding was the issue, but in this ep, it seemed like
Goddard and Davenport were able to control the ship.
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
Not much going on here. I can't think of anything revealed here
that played a significant role in later episodes.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The episode title is a song title, as usual. Probably refers to the
Joni Mitchell song, which is unrelated to the Rod Stewart song with
the same title.
-------------------------------------
Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
Bad kitty. No biscuit.
From: trrich@aol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: Nowhere Man - Review
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 97 12:36:52 GMT
This week's episode review: Nowhere Man.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
Harlan is in the bunkroom making a model. Radu startles him,
causing him to smash his work. Harlan gets mad at Radu, and decides
to pretend that Radu doesn't exist. He goes down to the engine room
to work on his model. While in the engine room, Harlan spills his
beverage on the console. There is an energy surge that zaps him and
a regulator control.
The power surge is noticeable on the bridge, and Goddard sends
Thelma down to do something about it. While she is working on the
console, it becomes apparent that she cannot see or hear Harlan or
the regulator. Also, Harlan is able to pass through objects, and
Thelma passes through both Harlan and the regulator.
Harlan walks around the ship, trying to get people's attention, but
no one can see or hear him. He watches Davenport chew out the kids
in the classroom. Later, he watches Radu, Cat and Thelma talking in
the ComPost. He begins to realize that Radu is not such a bad guy
after all, and is disturbed by the thought.
Meanwhile, system failures are beginning around the ship, and no one
knows why. The jump tubes aren't working properly, and other things
start going wrong.
The kids are also trying to be nicer to Ms. Davenport. Rosie and
Bova make some fudge for her, but accidentally use glue instead of
marshmallow sauce, and glue her mouth shut, something that Goddard
enjoys entirely too much.
Harlan notices that the regulator panel indicates a leak in the
protomix, which could be dangerous for the crew, yet he has no way
of warning them. He keeps trying, but he just can't get through to
them. Finally, in the classroom, with the other kids, he shouts out
that he is sorry... and Radu hears him.
Harlan is so excited to be heard that he starts shouting all sorts
of information to Radu, including that everyone should stay out of
the engine room, but the only thing Radu hears clearly is the word
"engine room," so everybody goes there.
They discover the spilled beverage on the panel, and decide to
reproduce the accident to bring Harlan back. Harlan, now visible,
tells them about the leak, and it is repaired.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
This is not one of the best episodes of the season, but it's still a
very enjoyable episode, at least as good as the best episodes of the
second season.
This was the last episode I saw all the way through. In fact, I
didn't see it until after second season began! I wasn't watching SC
regularly the first time it aired, but the second time, as I recall,
it was not shown on a Saturday night in sequence, but was shown on
the Sunday morning. The Nick site on AOL indicated that a different
ep was airing that Sunday afternoon, one I already had on tape, so I
didn't record it. When I got home from some grocery shopping, I
flipped on the TV to watch the end of what I thought was a rerun,
only to discover the end of an episode I had never seen! When they
were showing the last round of reruns before the new season, the
last one they showed was Forever Young. I only managed to catch
Nowhere Man in a weekday showing on Nick in the Afternoon. Just
another example of how Nick mishandled the show from beginning to
end, that somebody who was consciously trying to tape every episode
could still manage to miss one until after the second season began.
Anyway, I point out this viewing history because I have always
perceived this episode as a missing piece of the puzzle. There is a
big change in the relationship between Harlan and Radu that goes on
somewhere between Spung at Heart and It's My Birthday Too (where
Harlan is genuinely trying to be nicer to Radu), and I think this
episode is it. In the course of this episode, Harlan comes to
consciously realize that Radu is not such a bad guy, and is not so
different from Harlan (Elmira's speech in Spung at Heart indicates
that he subconsciously realized this, but this ep makes it
conscious).
It's nice to see a character grow and change in a TV series.
Usually, if a character changes at all in a series, it's just a
change in the way the series writes the character, instead of the
result of the character's experiences. The scene that really struck
us in this regard was the scene in the classroom, when Davenport
talks about all the things she has tried to do to get the kids to
pay attention, and Harlan says "How 'bout being nice?" Then Radu
says exactly the same thing, and Harlan has a puzzled look on his
face.
I initially thought that Radu subconsciously heard what Harlan said
and repeated it, and Harlan was wondering whether Radu could hear
him. Celia read this one differently, and I think she was right:
Radu simply had the same idea as Harlan, and expressed it in the
same words (friends do that all the time), and Harlan is confused
and disturbed by the thought that Radu is like him. What do you
think?
The opening scene of this episode is absolutely chilling in its
realistic depiction of how cruel kids can be. Harlan, the leader of
the kids on the ship, telling Radu he doesn't exist. What a
horrible thing to do, and yet, I can very easily see a kid like
Harlan doing that. And in a master stroke of poetic justice, Harlan
himself promptly becomes invisible.
The walk-through effects in this episode are fantastic, and they do
quite a lot of them. The only one that seemed at all "off" was when
the kids were leaving the classroom. The timing is off, and Harlan
shudders before Bova actually walks through him.
The actors also do a great job of not looking at Harlan when he's
standing right next to him. Watch the way Jewel's eyes are focused
in her scene with Harlan and Suzee. You think she's talking to
Harlan at first, and yet her eyes are ever so slightly off focus
from him. Her eyes stay focused on the person that's not there as
Harlan moves away. That is NOT easy to do. Kristian, also, looking
away while Walter is screaming in his ear. Paul not quite looking
at Harlan when he walks on the ComPost. Great stuff.
Walter also gives a particularly good performance in this one. He
does a marvelous job with the growing panic as he realizes that the
crew is in danger and there is nothing he can do to even warn them.
And his excitement when he realizes that Radu can hear him, that he
can get some information to them, is wonderful.
One thing that did not work particularly well, though, was the bit
where Harlan is mimicking Davenport. At the beginning of it,
there's too much (her gestures are exaggerated too much, to the
point where it's not entirely clear that he's mimicking her); later,
there's too little (his arms are crossed like hers, but nothing else
about him looks at all like her).
Paul does some nice stuff here too. I love the way he delivers the
line "Find another way, please." He says it completely flat, with
no expression, and yet you can hear the tension in his voice, the
sense that he is at the end of his rope. I also love the look on
his face when he realizes what "percussive maintenance means." And
his joy at Davenport's mouth being glued shut, quickly changing when
her lips get unstuck.
And Davenport's delivery of the line "fun? I am not here to have
fun. I am here to teach." was absolutely wicked! Love it!
Great lines:
Harlan: I've been thinking about trying to be nice to you. I've got
no idea why.
Radu: Because the commander told you to?
Harlan: OK, one idea why.
Harlan: I broke the ship!
Thelma: I have been trying to deal with it. [a problem with the
ship]
Goddard: How?
Thelma: By ignoring it and hoping the problem will go away.
Goddard: Find another way, please.
(Radu bangs his head after a jump tube mishap)
Radu (to Thelma): I'm fine, Commander Goddard. My, what a lovely
hat.
Goddard: Are you saying Harlan's invisible?
Cat: Bet he doesn't make fun of Suzee now.
Radu: I could have broken my neck!
Thelma: Broken your neck? Without a toilet seat?
The whole bit with the jokes is great, particularly the way Jewel
plays it. Here arrogant insistence that she has never told a joke,
when Radu would obviously have heard it; her horror when Thelma
starts reciting them, and her apologetic look when she admits it.
I also love Bova's almost gleeful description of what would happen
if he ate fudge. "Death by chocolate!" someone here proclaimed
(it's the name of a popular desert at a local restaurant).
But by far the best line was Thelma's "percussive maintenance," a
term which has become part of my basic vocabulary (I work in the
computer field; I do a lot of percussive maintenance).
We also get some hint of the way Radu's hearing works here, notably,
the fact that he can focus it. That was a question we had
throughout the first season: can he focus it, or does he just hear
everything. It's pretty clear in the last scene that Radu has
focused his hearing on Davenport's screaming, and can't hear Harlan
standing right next to him.
I like the idea that Andromedans are by nature so quiet that Radu
could walk into a room, walk right up next to Harlan, so close he
should be able to feel the body heat, yet Harlan didn't hear him
until Radu spoke. Celia noted that Radu spoke awfully loud under
the circumstances, and suggested that Radu has a problem with volume
control, because to him, it always seems like he's shouting.
How I miss the old engine room! We spend a lot of time in the
engine room in this one, and the organic feel of it is particularly
striking. I point this out now, because next week I'll be reviewing
the Birthday episode, which is where the Christa first starts to
lose her organic feel (or at least, it's the first time I noticed
it).
One of the great mysteries of Space Cases: the incredible
weight-gain jump tubes. Radu goes in thin, and comes out about 25
pounds heavier. Really, folks, I know Radu is supposed to weigh 200
pounds because of his molecular density, but that doesn't mean his
stunt double has to actually weigh 200 pounds! This is the same
stunt double they used in Who Goes Where, where it was also
painfully obvious that someone much larger than Kristian was in the
costume.
Actually, this bit about Radu's weight was one of our questions in
the first season. We knew that his strength was caused by molecular
density, so Celia wondered if he was heavy because of that. Watch
the way Goddard picks Radu up: clearly more effort here than you
would expect for a guy Radu's size. Nice that the show picks up on
subtleties like that. Peter and Bill have thought this stuff out
from beginning to end, and it shows.
When the issue of Walter's missing finger first came up, a couple of
people said they had not noticed it. In this ep, you'll see the
clearest shot of it: when Harlan is apologizing, right before Radu
hears him, Harlan puts his left hand on his chest, and you can quite
clearly see the finger, or lack thereof.
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
Well, I talked about the main one above: the growth and change in
the Harlan/Radu relationship.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The episode title is a Beatles song title.
Catalina suggests fixing the problem by "reversing the polarity of
the neutron flows." This is from the BBC science fiction show Dr.
Who. One of the early doctors (Pertwee, I think) could never
remember his technobabble lines, so he would substitute the line
"reverse the polarity of the neutron flows." It became a running
gag in Dr. Who. Thelma also suggests at one point that the Christa
sometimes rearranges itself, which is something that the TARDIS in
Dr. Who did.
When Davenport talks about getting even with the kids for
accidentally putting glue in her fudge, Goddard remarks that this
will teach them "No good deed goes unpunished." A quote from Mark
Twain.
-------------------------------------
Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
Bad kitty. No biscuit.
Subject: Desperately Seeking Suzee (long)
From: trrich@aol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 97 02:42:50 GMT
Well, I've been out watching the comet several times this week (hope
everybody's getting as splendid a view of it as we are here in
Philly!), so I thought I'd toss in a "bonus" review of Desperately
Seeking Suzee (aka, the comet episode of SC).
As I said time, I'm going back to review episodes I haven't already
reviewed. Since some of you may not have seen the episode (or may
not have seen it recently), I'll start each review with a brief
summary. If you've seen the episode recently, you may want to
scroll down to the review, which is clearly marked.
================================================
SUMMARY
================================================
Our story begins in the engine room, where Cmdr Goddard and the guys
are trying to improve the efficiency of the engines, and thereby get
the crew home faster. While they are working, they talk about Cat's
imaginary friend Suzee. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the ship, Cat is
arguing with Suzee about who was the first to spot a comet and who
gets to name it. Cat tells Suzee to "leave me alone!" and Suzee
does.
Cat mopes around the ship, upset about the loss of her invisible
friend. Davenport, who ordinarily expresses scorn whenever Cat even
mentions Suzee, is now concerned about Cat's mental state. Cat is
suddenly unable to answer even relatively simple academic questions.
Cat says that Suzee was the real engineering genius, and Cat thinks
she's nothing without Suzee.
Cat, in a desperate attempt to prove her worth, begins tinkering
with the engines... and unintentionally puts the ship into a sort of
time warp. Although she manages to normalize time within the ship
relatively quickly, the ship is out of sync with the rest of the
universe, causing the ship to overheat. Meanwhile, the ship's
engines aren't working either, and they are on a collision course
with the comet.
Cat manages to figure out how to get the power they need and how to
get the engines working again without Suzee's help, but the engines
are cold and won't start. Suzee reappears in time to suggest that
Rosie channel the heat she has sucked in into the engines, and this
is enough to start the engines and get them away before the comet
hits them.
Cat and Suzee are friends again... and promptly start arguing again!
================================================
REVIEW
================================================
This was the first episode filmed, so it's a little rough in places.
The characterizations haven't quite gelled yet, and the character
interactions aren't quite as interesting as they are in some of the
other episodes, but still it's a lot better than a lot of what we've
seen this season.
Some clear signs that this is the first episode: Radu's not wearing
the gloves yet (you get a clear view of his hands in the engine room
sequence in the teaser); his coloring is very pale; Rosie's wearing
her helmet (I gather that it was supposed to be some sort of heat
regulator - they ditched it pretty early on).
I love the camera angles in this one. When Cat is arguing with
Suzee in the teaser, Cat is in the extreme left of the shot, as if
the camera man was filming Suzee as well as Cat. In the end, you
see Cat walking down the hall on the extreme left side, as if she
were walking side-by-side with someone.
I particularly like the scene where Davenport expresses concern
about Cat's welfare. This is really the role she should have been
playing all along: teacher and concerned mother figure, not mere
comic relief. Keep in mind: Davenport really hates the whole idea
of Suzee. A shallower person might have simply been relieved to see
Suzee gone (see Goddard's reaction). Davenport is sensitive enough
to recognize how traumatic this situation must be for Cat, and to
realize that Cat needs special attention at this time.
Another thing I like about this episode is the way it subtlely
integrates a little educational material. I've always been fond of
the idea of subversive education, as Chris Stasheff puts it,
educating people without them realizing they're being educated, by
sneaking it into movie plots and bar conversations. This episode
manages to slip in some basic facts about comets through the course
of a classroom lecture without making it sound like we (the
audience) are being lectured to. That's another thing I've missed
this season: those little educational bits that slipped in here and
there. The only one I've caught this season was the Long Distance
Calls reference to Julius Caesar (which, btw, had us ROTFL).
Like most first season episodes, this one was written by PAD and BM,
and it shows. There's a lot of snappy dialog here. I particularly
like:
Goddard: You can aim that thing, can't you Mr. Bova?
Bova: Let's find out together.
Goddard: Command Post, not Compost. Space hates smart alecks.
Goddard: Thelma! The engines!
Thelma (who is leaning against the control console): I'm on them!
Bova: We won't fry. The comet will smash us to bits first.
Goddard: Thelma, can you give me a hand?
(Thelma removes her hand and tosses it to him).
Thelma: Would anyone like a beverage? With lots of ice?
Cat: (referring to the ship's situation): I don't understand!
Thelma: When water freezes....
Radu: There's meteors in the way.
Goddard: Try to miss the big ones.
Goddard: Do you know what that means?
Radu: No, but if you hum a few bars, I can screw it in a lightbulb.
I was particularly impressed by this last line, because humor is one
of the things that is hardest to translate from one culture to
another. I used to hang out with some of the international students
in college and law school, and I know how difficult American humor
was for them to grasp. The fact that Radu mangles this old gag so
badly underscores his alienness. I would have liked to see more
things like this.
One of my favorite bits in this episode, though, is where the
meteors are hitting the ship, and Harlan and Davenport are lurching
from side to side, just like in the classic Star Trek episodes. The
camera pulls back to reveal Radu... standing perfectly still with
his arms folded. Harlan looks at him like "how are you doing that?"
and Radu looks back as if to say "What's the big deal?" This killed
me. A couple of people in my crowd didn't catch it the first time,
but everybody who did demanded to rewind the tape and see it again.
Way to skewer a cliche!
The performances are a little weak here because, as I said before,
the characters hadn't gelled yet. Rahi's got a couple of the best
lines in this episode, and he's got the deadpan down pat, but you
can see he hasn't quite figured out the facial expressions to go
with it. Thelma is also a little bit more... well, animated than
she is in later eps. You can see that Jewel is uncomfortable doing
the scream; it just doesn't look right. Walter, however, is
actually a bit better here than he is in some of the later episodes.
He seems more loose here, more relaxed, and looks less like he's
trying to act, if you know what I mean.
I love the look on Thelma's face when Cat says that she's not
talking to Suzee, she's just talking to herself. "Oh. That's
interesting." It's a priceless look, vaguely
frightened by Cat's admission. A little out of character for Thelma
as she develops over time, but I wouldn't give it up for anything.
One point that's interesting in retrospect: even though Suzee's not
seen here, and we don't even know she really exists at this point,
she's already being a -- er -- jerk!
We've discussed the Harlan/Cat relationship lately, and we see some
Harlan/Cat stuff in this episode. Harlan teases Cat several times
in this episode, and some people have taken this teasing to indicate
a lack of interest, or at least an unhealthy kind of interest. But
I've seen teenage boys flirt this way before. Girls, I wouldn't
recommend chasing after guys like this, but it's not uncommon that
this kind of teasing leads to a relationship. Contrast this playful
teasing with the hurtful way that Harlan usually teases Radu
(although that distinction is not as sharply drawn in this ep, and
Harlan teases Radu in a friendly way, which actually fits when you
consider where their relationship was at that point).
Inside Jokes and References:
The episode title is a reference to the Madonna/Rosanna Arquette
movie, Desperately Seeking Susan.
-------------------------------------
If you can't say something nice, say it in Yiddish.
Tracey R Rich
From: trrich@aol.com (TRRICH)
Subject: It's My Birthday Too (YEAH!) - Review
Date: 20 Jun 1997 16:25:35 GMT
This week we'll be discussing It's My Birthday Too, Yeah! Warning:
anybody who doesn't want to hear glowing things about Kristian's
performance probably shouldn't read this.
Some of you may be wondering why I skipped Desperately Seeking Suzee.
I reviewed that one back in April, a special bonus mid-week review in
honor of Hale-Bopp, which I was watching at the time. We didn't get
much of a discussion going at the time (not a single response), so if
people would like me to repost it next week for group discussion, let
me know, either here or at cawinder@aol.com (an address I created for
Celia, which does not restrict e-mail). Otherwise, I'll be reviewing
Kangaroo Court next week.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
Bova is in the bunkroom, hiding a huge rock, which he picked up on a
planet they were exploring. Harlan finds it, teases him, but agrees
not to tell anyone about it. Bova admits to the audience that the
reason he took it is as a birthday present to himself. But this is
no ordinary rock -- when the guys leave, it starts moving, and
affecting things in the room.
In class, Davenport gives the kids a new assignment: trace their
family trees. Most of the kids are excited about this, but Radu
is uncomfortable. Davenport notes that the Starcademy has no
family history for Radu, so he will have to fill it out himself
as well as he can.
As the kids research their family history, they find lots of
interesting things. Harlan is descended from a runaway slave who
worked on the underground railroad and famous explorers. Cat is
descended from important diplomats. But Radu is still reluctant
to discuss his family. Finally, goaded by Harlan, Radu begins to
talk about his ancestors, Andromedan pioneers and politicians.
Meanwhile, Davenport finds Bova's rock and takes it away. Goddard
decides, upon Thelma's advice, to recycle it to use as fuel, and it
is stored temporarily in an airlock.
The crew also finds out about Bova's birthday, and gets really excited.
Radu claims it is his birthday too.
When Radu is alone, working on his project, we learn that Radu made up
his family history. We also learn from Goddard that Radu seems to
have been lying about his birthday as well.
Radu finds the rock in the airlock, and recognizes it as something
wonderful. He wraps it up to give Bova as a present.
In the middle of the birthday party, Harlan storms in and reveals
that Radu has been lying. He tells them that Andromedans are hatched
from eggs in hatcheries, and don't have families or birthdays. Radu,
humiliated, runs from the room. Goddard chews Harlan out, and Harlan
is mad at Radu for making a fool out of Harlan.
Thelma comforts Radu, telling him that "Family is not just those to
whom you are born. Family is those to whom you belong." Radu realizes
that the Christa is his family.
Something is happening with the rock. Radu goes back to the team room
and tells them that it's not really a rock; its the egg of an Andromedan
creature called a gerkel. Radu saves the creature's life. Harlan,
watching this, seems to come to terms with Radu.
Back in the ComPost, Radu turns in his family tree: a picture of
himself and the crew of the Christa. Publicly, Harlan calls it
sappy, but privately, he apologizes to Radu for embarrassing him.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
One of the things that was so wonderful about the first season was
that its stories were driven by character interaction, not by action.
The antagonist was often not any outside evil force, but the characters'
inability to work together, their personal shortcomings, which they had
to overcome in each episode to get where they needed to be.
This episode is a perfect example. Although the rock/egg provides a
certain amount of external tension, the episode is really driven by
Harlan's internal conflict of emotions, Radu's struggle for acceptance
and the conflict between Harlan and Radu, which has reached a critical
phase.
Harlan is beginning to accept Radu, beginning to try to get along with
him, and is consciously making an effort to be nicer to him, but he's
fighting with his gut reaction to a member of the race that killed his
father. Harlan has consciously figured out that Radu is an OK guy.
But a part of Harlan is waiting for Radu to slip up and prove that
Andromedans are really bad. And a part of Harlan doesn't want to
admit that he has anything at all in common with Radu.
Meanwhile, Radu is desperately trying to fit in. He wants to be like
everybody else. He emphasizes his connection with Harlan (that they
are both descended from slaves). But the simple fact is that Radu is
NOT like everybody else. At first, he tries to hide the differences,
but when backed into a corner, he begins to lie to sound more like them.
The two of these internal struggles are in conflict with each other.
Radu is trying to be like Harlan, and Harlan is trying not to be like
Radu. And the conflict between the two explodes across this episode
with an emotional power that left me breathless.
The performances by Walter and Kristian, as well as Jewel, are amazing.
When Harlan starts berating Radu that Andromedans "knuckled under" to
slavery, you can see in his face the exact moment when Harlan remembers
that Radu is strong enough to mash him into a slimy paste. Radu's
discomfort at the whole family tree assignment is marvelous. Jewel's
reactions to the boys fighting, wincing are also a pleasure to watch.
And the scene where Harlan is trying to be nicer, with Cat's help, and
is screwing it up, is fabulous: Jewel's amusement when it works and
desperation when it doesn't; Harlan's constant backpedaling; Radu's
confusion. And the scene where Harlan reveals Radu's lie is
heartbreaking: Harlan's anger at being betrayed, Radu withering under
the anger. Radu crying in the bunkroom, humiliated when his secret
was revealed. Harlan's anger, that he tried to be nice to Radu and
Radu seemed to betray his trust and friendship. Radu's reaction to
the birth of the birth of the gerkel, you can see his whole face
light up.
As I've said before, this is one of my top four of the series. If
I had to put one of those four above the others, this would be it,
but more for personal reasons than for anything inherent in the quality
of the show. The awkwardness of Radu's situation in researching his
family history really struck a chord with me. When I was in 4th grade,
we were studying immigration to America, and we were assigned to do a
family tree tracing our roots back to our countries of origin, and it
was very strange and uncomfortable for me, because I was adopted, and
these people I was researching really had no connection to me at all.
And of course, the lesson that Radu learns in this episode (real parents
are the people who love you) is familiar to every adoptee.
I used to show this one to people as an introduction to the series, but
it really doesn't work that way, because it relies too much on the history
of these characters (another thing that made the series so good!). When
introducing people to the series, I would recommend A Day in the Life
first, because it's fun and gets you to know the characters. Then I'd go
with Spung at Heart or Who Goes Where, both of which give more meat to this
conflict. Then show this one, and you've got them hooked!
Some great lines and bits:
Bova: I was practicing faking it.
Harlan: Like my dad, in the Stardogs, fighting And-and-and-and exploring.
(Walter's delivery REALLY makes this line work -- it's VERY clear that he's
about to say Andromedans, and yet he never does).
Thelma: It is so inconvenient when machines are confusing and less than
helpful. (three words, Thelma: Pot. Kettle. Black.)
Cat: Harlan...
Harlan: I know, I know.
Cat: You have got to lay off of him!
Harlan: I know, I know.
Cat: Well, what are you going to do about it?
Harlan: I don't know!
Harlan (softly): Sorry.
Radu: I heard that.
Harlan: I knew you would.
I love Goddard's speech about not being able to apologize.
Rosie's "simple" family tree is a trip. I particularly like Jewel's reaction
to it (she nearly falls over at the creation of the universe bit).
So... how many people here think Radu intentionally crushed Harlan's hand?
I love the ambiguous way it's left. Radu looks very casual, as
if nothing were out of the ordinary, and yet... it almost seems excessively
casual, doesn't it?
This episode marks the beginning of the end for the Christa's organic nature.
There are some changes to the set in this one, most notably the Christa's helm.
It used to be controlled by crystals, but those crystals are now replaced by
metal levers.
There are some odd things in this episode. For starters, the egg should have
been much smaller. I find it very hard to believe that Bova could sneak
something like that on board the Christa, that he could ever believe it
would be possible to hide something that big.
And what's the deal with the gerkel? It screws up electronic devices, makes
the cover placed over it fly away, it glows in the dark. And what's the
connection between the gerkel and Radu? The way he reacts to it does not
seem like he's hearing something. He touches his forehead, not his ears,
when he first notices it and when it starts to hatch -- is there supposed
to be something empathic going on here? Hard to say.
And some of the episode is VERY misleading about the nature of Andromedans.
It led me down completely the wrong path. Harlan says that Andromedans don't
have families or birthdays because "it makes them better fighters, better
slaves," which seems to indicate that this was something imposed by the
Spung, but Peter has told us that is not true. OK, OK, so Harlan made a
mistake, but it's a mistake that never got corrected and is confusing to
the audience. Also, Radu seems to show a paternal instinct toward the
gerkel that does not make sense to me for a character who comes from a
species that does not nurture its young.
And we have more of that very bad editing I've mentioned before. The
scene where Harlan is trying to be agreeable is priceless, but the camera
always seems to be focused on the wrong person. Reaction shots can be
valuable, but there are far too many of them here, and not enough focus on
the person who's talking. While Harlan has several lines where the camera
is focused on Cat and Radu reacting. A brief shot of their reactions
would certainly be valuable, but the extent of this shot is such that it
takes away from Walter's performance, which is also important here.
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
Of course, the big revelation in this episode is the backstory on
Andromedans, although a lot of the way it came out misled me (and
apparently others around here). We learn that Andromedans are hatched
from eggs and don't have families or keep track of birthdays.
There's a lot of nice background on the origins of the characters in this
episode. We find out about several of the characters' parents and
grandparents.
We also get several hints of other things, although none are quite made
explicit. Cat's parents are dead (she refers to them in the past tense).
Cat's family tree seems to indicate two siblings. There are also vague
references to Rigelian colonists and colonization, which the Nick FAQ made
more clear: the people of Mercury, Saturn and Uranus are descended from
colonists who came to the Sol system from Rigel a few generations before
SC takes place.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The episode title is a line from a Beatles song (They say it's your
birthday [guitar riff] It's my birthday too, yeah!)
Catalina tugs on her ear to give Harlan a sign. This was something Carol
Burnett was known for.
As I said once before, Gunter and Dalia Ianni are named for Gunter and
Dalia David, Peter's parents. Gunter is played by Ted Jessup, a producer
of the show; Dalia is played by Monica Heuser, Paige Christina's real-life
mother.
--------------------
Overheard at the office:
I've given up on trying to hire programmers who speak English.
I'm just going to teach our Product Manager Russian and Chinese.
From: trrich@sol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Court - Review
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 97 23:12:02 GMT
Since nobody expressed any interest in seeing a repeat of the
Desperately Seeking Suzee review, we'll move on to Tie Me Kangaroo
Down, Court.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
The ship is passing through an ionic storm with Cat at the helm.
Harlan and Cat fight over the controls. Harlan ultimately gets them
out of the storm safely, but in the process, he causes them to lose
part of an incoming message. The message is from themselves in the
future, and warns them about Spung, but is so distorted that they
cannot decipher it.
Cat is frustrated with Harlan's overbearing and irresponsible
behavior, and complains about it to the other students. She gets
the idea to hold a board of inquiry to charge Harlan with "crimes
against future Stardogs."
Cat examines Radu, who testifies that the whole crew gets blamed for
Harlan's pranks. Cat then takes the stand, to be examined by Suzee,
and tells a version of the events that is grossly distorted in her
favor. Harlan tells his own grossly distorted version of the
events.
Meanwhile, Davenport has begun itching for no particularly good
reason. She suspects the kids are pulling a prank. Goddard thinks
she's being paranoid, but then he also begins itching.
Later, in the galley, Davenport's skin begins to peel off, revealing
green skin below. Thelma reports that Davenport is turning into a
Spung. Goddard appears, and he is also turning into a Spung, both
physically and mentally. Davenport also begins to think like a
Spung. They go off in search of the children.
They find the kids wrapping up their trial. The kids escape, but
don't understand why Goddard and Davenport are turning into Spung.
They determine that they have passed into a parallel universe, where
there is nothing but Spung, and they have become subject to that
universe's physical laws, under which they too will become Spung.
They must return home. They decide to return to the ionic storm,
thinking this is a gateway home. But when they get there, there are
two gateways. Both are collapsing, and the crew are fast turning
into Spung.
Harlan and Cat argue over whether to go right or left. They try to
analyze the message, but it keeps disappearing every time they go
right (Cat's choice). Cat realizes that the message is disappearing
because they are going the wrong way: when they go right, they go
toward a future where they will not survive to send the message, and
therefore the message disappears.
They go right, arrive home safely, and the adults are back to
normal.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
This is another very good episode. Crisp, crackling writing, lots
of excellent performances, and a clever, non-obvious plot that the
crew has to think their way out of. Even so, it's not quite up
there with the best-of-the-best. It doesn't quite have the
emotional power of the best serious episodes, or the fun of A Day in
the Life. It is remarkable that, as good as this episode is, I
would still only rank it around the 6th of the season.
This is the episode that really made me stand up and take notice of
Cary Lawrence's talent. In most SC episodes, Cary simply does that
flustered, fainting Davenport thing. She does it very well, but
she's really only playing one note, so you don't get to see the
breadth of her skill. Cary's transformation from human to Spung is
remarkable. Watch her sudden change in attitude from squeamish to
sensual; truly amazing. Her performance as a Spung is chilling.
Note the look on her face right before she went down the jump tubes
after the kids. It made my blood run cold.
Jewel also provides a particularly noteworthy performance here. Her
general flamboyant behavior, her freak out during Harlan's fantasy
in the Rashomon sequence, her smugness when the others side with her
over Harlan, all display a talent far beyond her years (she was,
what, 13 when this was filmed?).
The dialog in this episode is amazing (need I point out that Peter
and Bill wrote this one?). There is a wealth of great lines:
Harlan: When there's trouble, people turn and say, "Harlan Band--
Cat: --stop making trouble.
Harlan: Mr. Radu, did you know that when you enter a room, the hair
on the back of my neck stands up?
Radu: Yeah. I hear it.
Harlan: Hey! How can he be a witness AND on the jury?
Bova: We believe in recycling.
Davenport: I'm itching!
Goddard: That's not usually the kind of problem that requires a
command decision, but OK: Scratch it!
Goddard: I want you to get a dictionary...
Davenport: A dictionary. Uh... all right.
Goddard: Then look up the word 'paranoid' and see if your picture is
next to it.
Davenport: Commander, you're NOT funny!
Goddard: I hear that a lot.
Harlan: Judge Bova, I want to be a witness.
Bova: Go ahead. It's not like WE know what we're doing!
Cat (in Harlan's imagination): Suzee! Help! Tell me what to do!
Tell me what to think! Tell me what to wear! I didn't bring any
ionic storm outfits!
Davenport (upon learning she is turning into a Spung): The
commander! We must tell the commander!
[Goddard enters room as a partial Spung]
Thelma: He... already knows.
Bova: Is it possible that I could turn into a dish of tapioca
pudding?
Thelma: Yes, it is possible!
Catalina: Thelma, you think anything is possible, don't you?
Thelma: Almost! It is an exciting cosmos, isn't it?
The Rashomon-esque scenes are particularly amusing. They are a bit
over-the-top for my tastes generally, but in this case, it works.
They're not supposed to be realistic; they're the fantasies of two
egotistical students. And the business with the other students
forming a cheering section is hysterical, particularly given that
they actually reported these cheering sections in their testimony,
to the other kids who knew full well they weren't there.
One interesting thing to note in the cheering section business: Cat
has the other students in full uniforms, while Harlan merely has
them in tunics and pants. I'm not entirely sure what that tells us
about the characters, but it seems to say something. Note also that
this is the first time that we see the colored tunics that became
standard later in the series (up to this point, all of the kids wore
yellow tunics).
The over-the-top performances by both Jewel and Walter in the
flashbacks were very entertaining. Yes, it was excessive, but it
wasn't intended to be realistic. Contrast this with Mother Knows
Best or Trouble with Doubles, where the performances were similarly
over-the-top, but they were supposed to represent the characters'
real behavior. :^P
I love the bit where Radu is arm wrestling with the mechanical arms
on the wall. Another example of the subtle way that they worked in
Radu's strength during the first season.
And watch the end of the trial, just before Goddard and Davenport
enter as Spung, when Harlan and Cat are arguing with each other:
Rosie and Radu are watching them, heads bouncing back and forth like
at a tennis match.
I also like the fact that Cat is completely willing to admit that
she was wrong. Once she realizes what's going on, she flat out
admits that Harlan was right and they should do what he said.
Contrast this with Harlan, who takes an "I told you so" attitude,
even though his decision to go left seemed to be purely arbitrary
and based on instinct rather than any reasoned analysis.
An odd bit: when Harlan back flips in to save the day in his
imaginary flashback, it looks like they're using a stunt double (at
least, they seem to go out of their way to have him flip behind an
object, then pop up). I was surprised by this, because I'm sure
Walter has the athletic skill to pull off that stunt by himself, and
it would have looked more impressive if we could clearly see that it
really was him. The only reason for this that we could think of is
that Harlan's cadet uniform was too constricting to allow him to
pull it off.
For those who are curious, here is the full text of the message from
the future. We worked this out with a combination of repeated
listenings, lip reading and educated guesses:
This is a warning. Repeat: This is a warning. You are going to
turn into Spung. Repeat: Spung. You must get out quickly. There
is only one possible exit. Listen to Harlan. Left is the way to
get out. Right isn't. Go left.
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
We begin to see some hint of the spark between Harlan and Catalina.
Even though they are bitter rivals in this episode, watch them
interact when they are trying to escape from the Goddard and
Davenport Spung: each wants to protect the other.
The kids are beginning to grow up. This is the first time we see
them resolve a problem entirely on their own. Ironically,
Nickelodeon didn't like this episode, because they said it focused
too much on the adults.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The episode title is a reference to the song Time Me Kangaroo Down,
Sport, a children's song by Rolf Harris. It's playing with the
expression kangaroo court, which is a way of referring to an
irresponsible, perverted court with irregular procedures.
The bit where Cat and Harlan tell different versions of the same
story is vaguely reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's 1951 the Japanese
film classic Rashomon (based on two short stories published in 1915
by the Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa), in which several
witnesses describe the same crime (played out for the audience to
see), and the basic facts are the same in each version, but the
behavior of the characters is colored by personal bias.
Thelma describes their transformation into Spung as the result of
"the Lister effect," apparently a reference to the character Lister
on the BBC science fiction series Red Dwarf.
-------------------------------------
Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
Bad kitty. No biscuit.
From: trrich@aol.com (TRRICH)
Subject: The Impossible Dram - Review
Date: 4 Jul 1997 13:06:02 GMT
This week, we'll be taking a look at The Impossible Dram.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
As our story begins, Catalina is dreaming of a medieval court populated by
the crew of the Christa. Thelma awakens Cat. Cat is surprised to realize
that she was dreaming, because Saturnians, and Cat in particular, don't
usually dream.
Cat leaves the bunkroom to play with Rosie, but forgets to set her
destination and finds herself at the landing bay. An old man dressed as a
knight comes out of the landing bay and threatens her. But he promptly
decides that Cat is his long lost daughter and commits himself to
protecting her. When Goddard and Harlan arrive to investigate the
intruder, the old man also threatens and attacks them. Dram ultimately
decides that Harlan is his long lost squire, and leaves Goddard alone. He
warns the crew that there is a monster on board.
Dram is still causing trouble. He attacks Bova as a "bug creature" and
threatens Rosie, the "talking radish monster." But he continues to warn
the crew about a soul-sucking monster that drains your energy. Goddard
decides Dram could be dangerous, and demands that Dram turn over his
sword. Dram does so when Cat convinces him that Goddard is the "lord of
the vessel."
Dram is making quite an impression on Catalina, who is becoming quite fond
of him. He encourages the children to have dreams, and to pursue their
dreams. But Cat tells him she has no dreams.
Meanwhile, Thelma retrieves a data crystal from Dram's cryopod, which
reveals that Dram is suffering from a terminal illness. He will die, and
there is no way to stop it or even slow the process. They can't even put
him back into suspended animation. Cat wants to stage a quest for him, to
give him the chance to be the knight he dreams of being.
Meanwhile, the crew begins to pass out. Cat brings Dram his sword. She is
becoming convinced that Dram may be right about the monster, because he
knew what would happen before it happened. Radu and Thelma are also
attempting to determine what is causing people to pass out.
Dram with his sword takes Catalina to the engine room, to do battle with
the monster. He convinces her that the monster is real, and she begins to
see it. Cat attacks it with her sonic scream, and dram with his sword.
Ultimately, as Cat is passing out, he stabs the monster through the heart,
right into the engine core, and is disintegrated by the energy blast.
Cat awakens in the medlab. At first, she thinks it was all a dream, but
then she sees Dram's sword. Radu explains that there was no monster; the
chemicals used to induce Dram's sleep for suspended animation leaked from
his cryopod into the Christa's air system. But Cat insists that it was
real, or at least, as real as she needed it to be. They leave Dram's
sword floating in space.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
For some reason, I always forget about this delightful little episode. I
think I'm going to have to revise my rankings of other episodes this
season to move this one higher up the list, because this is a very good
episode. It left a warm smile on my face from beginning to end.
The entire episode is one big reference to Don Quixote (or, more likely,
to Man of La Mancha, the musical based on it). Since there are a lot of
kids here, perhaps I should explain: Don Quixote is a wicked 16th century
parody of chivalry and knighthood, written at a time when those values
were going out of style. It is the story of a senile old man who roams
the Spanish countryside believing he is a knight, along with his faithful
squire, Sancho Panza, who knows full well that the guy is nuts. He does
battle against ferocious giants (really windmills) and defends the honor
of his chaste lady fair, Dulcinea (really a cheap whore). The book makes
him a pure object of ridicule, but the musical treats him as more of a
noble, albeit misguided, figure.
The episode has two important themes running through it: one deals with
the dignity of the elderly, treating them with respect, and dying with
dignity; the other is about the need for dreams and imagination.
Jim Bradford's wonderful performance as Dram really makes the first theme
work. He manages to do the most insane things, and yet still does it with
a sense of dignity and nobility that is very appealing. He plays it
completely straight, never going overboard, never hinting to the audience
that he knows he is insane, or that he knows what he's doing is funny.
Yes, he's crazy, but he deserves to be treated with respect nonetheless,
as Cat points out several times.
And of course, Dram teaches the children the value of dreams. This lesson
is not only for Catalina: he also impresses it upon Bova. I love the bit
about the artificial oxygen formula. It's impossible, what were you
thinking. Next time, try it this way... Hehehe.
This is also the first episode to give a really solid focus on Catalina,
and Jewel does a marvelous job here. Her tenderness for Dram is a
palpable thing, and her defense of him is very powerful. I read somewhere
that Cat's parents are supposed to be dead, and it struck me as I
rewatched this episode that she seems to be latching onto Dram as a father
figure.
I like the bit with the juggling here, too: Cat's inability to juggle
seems to be symbolic of her inability to dream. She can't juggle in the
dream, and that is when she wakes up. She tries to juggle in reality, but
she can't do it again. But at the end, when she has learned the value of
dreams, then she is able to juggle.
The dream sequence was very interesting to me. I was amused to see how
Cat, in her mind, cast the crew in her medieval court. I would have
expected to see Goddard and Davenport as the king and queen, Harlan and
Radu as the knights battling, Thelma and Rosie as ladies in waiting, and
Bova as a footman (a suitably undignified position ). Instead,
we see Bova and Rosie as the king and queen, Goddard and Harlan as the
knights, Thelma and Davenport as the ladies in waiting, and Radu as the
jester. There are some interesting hints in there about Cat's attitude
towards the other characters.
The episode even gives Walter a brief opportunity to show off his athletic
prowess (the handstand), something we didn't get to see much of in the
first season.
And of course, as you would expect in any episode written by Peter and
Bill, the episode is full of wonderful lines:
Goddard: You'll "smite" me?
Harlan: Smite? Or he smite not!
Thelma: The Christa is an excellent judge of character.
Davenport: (smugly) And how do you know that?
Thelma: It let you in.
Cat: Bova! How could you have hurt him?
Bova: I should have just let him stab me. What was I thinking?
[Rahi does an amazing job with the sarcasm here]
[after Radu suggests entering Dram's ship to retrieve a data crystal]
Thelma: Entering it could be extremely hazardous. I wonder who should go
after it.
[Radu and Davenport look at Thelma]
Thelma: I wonder why I asked.
Goddard: Well, let's check out this data crystal, shall we?
Thelma: Excellent idea, Pierre! The corn muffins look scrumptious today.
Goddard: After we fix Thelma.
Catalina: He deserves to live his dream, not dream his life.
Thelma: Not a problem, Radu. I have been effecting additional repairs on
myself, and am now operating at peak efficiency.
Radu: It's good to see you're OK, Thelma.
Thelma: Not a problem, Radu. I have been effecting additional repairs on
myself, and am now operating at [stutter] peak efficiency.
Dram: Dream of glory, Mirabella. Dream of life. And dare to fight for
both. If you believe in nothing else, I say believe in that.
The episode did raise one major question in my mind, though: what is the
scope of the UPP's sphere of influence supposed to be in this time?
Davenport mentions that Dram is from "one of the outer rim colonies." Are
those supposed to be Earth colonies? And what are they on the outer rim
of? (presumably, the solar system) Davenport also talks about medical
facilities at Tau Ceti (about 12 light years away from our sun). Again,
are these facilities of the UPP, or of a nearby alien race?
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
We get another hint here of a relationship between Catalina and Harlan.
Dram says he can see that Cat is interested in Harlan, but not that Harlan
is interested in Cat. However, given the way Harlan baited her at the
end, I suspect the interest is mutual. If he were not interested in her,
and she were interested in him, I don't think he would want to call
attention to her interest.
We learn that the Christa has at least some degree of sentience. It made
its own decision to let Dram on board, and Thelma indicates that it is
able to judge character.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
Well, I already mentioned the big one: the whole episode is based on Don
Quixote. But there are a few specific references. Dram refers to himself
as "a knight of Cervantes." Goddard refers to Dram as "Don Quixote." The
episode title comes from The Impossible Dream, a song from Man of
LaMancha.
Catalina mentions that she was going to play Minbar chess with Rosie, a
reference to Bill's role as a Minbari on Babylon 5. Minbar is mentioned
in several SC episodes.
--------------------
Overheard at the office:
I've given up on trying to hire programmers who speak English.
I'm just going to teach our Product Manager Russian and Chinese.
From: trrich@sol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: Break On Through To The Other Side - Review
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 97 13:19:55 GMT
This week's episode is Break On Through to the Other Side. I'll be
away at a convention this weekend, so if you respond to the review,
don't expect to hear any replies until at least Monday.
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
Bova is getting midnight snack. He surprises Davenport. They spot
a wall with a greenish glow on one of the walls, and they hear
Thelma talking from behind the wall about a course correction, and
the fact that the crew doesn't suspect. She then walks through the
glowing green wall and goes away, ignoring them. Bova and Davenport
go inside, but while they are inside, the door becomes solid.
Davenport panics. She sits in a chair while Bova works controls,
trying to find a way out. Then she disappears.
Bova tells crew, but they can't find secret room. Goddard asks
Thelma about it, but she claims to know nothing about it.
As proof of his story, Bova notes that Davenport is missing.
Everybody searches everywhere for her, but they can't find her.
Thelma continues to deny the existence of a secret room, and insists
that her memory is fine.
Suddenly, the ship lurches, and there is a horrible noise. The ship
is out of control, on collision course with a satellite. For no
apparent reason, things straighten out just in time. They notice
there are signals coming from satellite. Goddard sends kids to bed,
and promises to run diagnostics on Thelma.
In the morning, Rosie and Catalina find Davenport in the system when
they run some diagnostics on Rosie's malfunctioning shower. The
guys find her on their compupads. Everyone rushes to the ComPost to
tell Goddard. They realize that the ship is reacting to Davenport's
emotional state, and she must remain calm.
Davenport tells the crew about the secret room, and blames her
predicament on Thelma. Goddard relieves Thelma of duty. Thelma is
clearly upset about this, and decides to leave the Christa. She
goes toward the satellite they passed. But the satellite is falling
into a black hole, and Thelma gets caught in its gravitational pull.
Meanwhile, Davenport teaches class from within computer. It helps
her keep relaxed, and keeps things from malfunctioning.
Later, Cat and Radu come up with a plan to find the secret room: Cat
bounces sonic blasts against the walls, and Radu's hearing detects
differences in sound. Using this technique, they find the room, but
they can't figure out how to get in. They can't activate the phase
through program, and even Radu can't muscle it open. Davenport is
becoming more machine-like.
The Gizbot gives Harlan a message from Thelma, explaining that she
is leaving. Harlan brings it down to Goddard. Bova uses the
message to activate the phase through program by using the words
Thelma used to phase through.
From within the computer, Davenport scans for Thelma files, and
finds out Thelma was programmed by former crew to report once a
week, but Thelma's memory of it is erased. When Davenport tries to
get more information, system crashes. They get her out just in
time.
They go to retrieve Thelma, and they find the black hole. Goddard
puts on an EVA suit to retrieve her (what does EVA stand for anyway?
We've heard them use that acronym before. Extra-Vehicular Apparel?
). But Radu accidentally rips the suit while testing the
connection. The only remaining suit is too small, suitable only for
Bova.
Bova goes after Thelma. He tells her it wasn't her fault, and
manages to retrieve her and the Christa gets away.
In the end, Thelma reflects on her reaction to this whole incident.
Did she really have feelings, or did she just emulate them? Ms.
Davenport offers to help her figure it out.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
Well, this is a very good episode, and I think I may have to
reshuffle my list again to push this one up a little higher than a
couple of the others I've reviewed. The first season was
just so good, there are so many episodes fighting for the top slots!
I think the most interesting thing about this episode is that it
seems to answer some questions about what is really going on in this
series, and yet the information it provides leaves you with more
questions than you began with! Apparently, Thelma was programmed by
the previous crew of the Christa (who were they?) to make course
corrections and report in periodically (What is her mission? Why
does she need to report in? Did they know there would be kids
piloting the Christa, who would need help to make it work properly?
Why don't they want the crew to know? Was the system designed to
crash if the crew tried to get further information?) Keep the
screws on Nick and the Sci Fi Channel, so maybe we can get the
answers to these and other burning questions!
This is the first episode that really gives Bova a chance to do
something. Even in the episode that supposedly revolved around his
birthday, he was little more than a bit player. And we have to give
Rahi a lot of credit here. I know I've busted on him a lot, because
he often falls apart when he does anything other than the trademark
Bova sarcasm (although he delivers a sarcastic remark better than
just about anybody I've ever seen). But he does a really nice job
in this episode, and it's not limited to his usual quips.
This episode fulfills one of Elmira's predictions from Spung at
Heart: Dreadful moans / down every hall / for days, your ghost / on
every wall ... Burmashave (sorry). Which leads to the obvious
question, how many of Elmira's other predictions from that episode
really represented something larger that has not yet been fulfilled?
Of course, we know that Catalina's was fulfilled in a bigger way in
On the Road to Find Out (no one can see / who's coming here / but
Catalina / disappears). Is there something more to Bova and Rosie's
predictions too?
Interesting note: the idea of having Davenport in the computer was
apparently conceived rather early in the series' development, when
the actress who was originally cast as Davenport became pregnant.
It was an excuse to keep her body hidden. (I suppose Nick wouldn't
want any kids wondering who got Ms. D pregnant!)
As always, there are a lot of great lines in this one.
Davenport: Bova What are you doing here?
Bova: Scaring you, I guess.
Davenport: You are a growing boy, and it's important to get
sufficient sleep.
Bova: Don't worry, Ms. Davenport. I can always sleep in class.
Goddard: Are you positive there's no secret room?
Thelma: Yes, I am positive, I think.
Thelma: None of my memory banks have deleted information in the past
39 hours. A new record!
Radu: Why can't we hear her?
Goddard (gleefully): I muted her.
Harlan: The Commander's been working on a plan. Right commander?
Goddard: Uh... yeah.
Davenport: Thank heavens! When will I be released from this...
cybernetic prison? When will I be normal again, commander?
Goddard: Well, that's hard to say, Ms. Davenport. There's a little
problem with the plan right now.
Davenport: And what is that?
Goddard: I have no idea how to do it.
Harlan: What do I do?
Cat: Knowing you? Take credit for it.
[later]
Harlan: I've found the secret room! ... OK! Catalina and Radu found
the secret room.
And I love Goddard's gleeful admission that he has muted Ms.
Davenport. Paul's delivery of that line is just priceless -- like a
little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar, admitting that
he's already eaten half of them. But as much as he picks on
Davenport, he does seem to have a genuine fondness for her. Catch
the look on his face when Davenport begins to talk like a computer -
he's very concerned about her.
They have a few nice, subtle bits with Radu's strength in here. As
I mentioned before, there is some nice business when the ship
lurches. On the ComPost, Bova and Goddard fall down. In the team
room, Rosie falls down. Catalina stumbles in a hallway. Cut to
Radu, standing stock still in the corridor, but covering his ears.
Also, later, when the kids first see Davenport on screen, the ship
begins to lurch, and the rest of the crew reacts to it before Radu
does (in fact, he barely reacts to it at all).
And for those of you who haven't yet gotten a clear look at Walter's
missing finger, check out the scene immediately before Bova gets a
hold of Thelma: there is a VERY clear, very long shot of Harlan's
hand on the controls. Let me say again, I'm very pleased that
they're not trying to hide this. I always thought it was odd that
Star Trek went to such great length to conceal James "Scotty"
Doohan's missing finger (ironically, the same finger -- does this
count as an Inside Joke or Reference? ).
A few little nits to pick:
At one point, we see Thelma "swimming" in space. While this was
very amusing, it defies all known laws of physics. Swimming "works"
because you have something to pull against. In the vacuum of space,
there is nothing to pull against.
Bova uses a recording of Thelma's voice to activate the phase
through program, by using the same words she used when she left the
secret room. But those words didn't activate the phase-through
program -- it was already running when she said them! (or at least,
the door was already glowing, which I assumed was the indication
that you could phase through the wall)
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
Uranusians have higher metabolisms than Earthers and need more food.
Rosie likes to take scalding showers, and considers 95 degrees to be
"freezing."
Thelma seems to have emotions. She is clearly upset when Goddard
relieves her of duty. She expresses at the end that she seemed to
feel this on an emotional level, but she isn't sure whether she
actually felt the emotions, or just emulated them.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The title of the episode is the title of a Doors song.
There's a reference to a Stockdale wrench that seems vaguely
familiar, but I can't quite place the reference.
-------------------------------------
Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
Bad kitty. No biscuit.
From: trrich@sol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: Prisoner of Luff - Review
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 97 12:48:49 GMT
This week, we'll be looking at Prisoner of Luff. Only one more to
go, then a season wrap-up... and then I have to figure out something
new to write about!
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
Inside the Satellite Prison Luff in space, Warden Opus is making his
rounds. A prisoner claims that she doesn't belong there. But the
narrow-minded warden (or is he a robot? I could never figure that
one out) insists that there are never any mistakes. As Warden Opus
moves away, we see that the prisoner is Catalina.
Catalina is panicking in her cell. In a flashback, we learn how she
came to be in the prison. The Christa was passing by the prison, a
life sentence facility, when there was a power spike. She was sent
to check it out, and was knocked out by an escaped prisoner
(Sofiana). Cat was sent back to the prison in the Sofiana's place.
Cat is trying to blast her way out of the cell. She's panicking and
talking to Suzee, who, for a change, doesn't know what to do.
Meanwhile, Sofiana hijacks the Christa. First, she threatens Thelma
with a "neural scrambler" that turns out to be nothing but a finger,
then she claims she has an explosive. Although they question
whether she's bluffing again, they reluctantly take her where she
wants to go.
Back in prison, Catalina is still arguing with the warden, who quite
logically argues that there is someone in the cell, and if someone's
in the cell, then no one has escaped. He also reveals that Catalina
is scheduled for a mindwipe.
Sofie eventually reveals her plan: she is the daughter of a
brilliant scientist who came up with a computer virus to end a war.
He was discredited, jailed and killed by one of the warring
factions. She is trying to retrieve his work, which is hidden in a
document cell in an asteroid field. She put Cat in her place so the
guards would not notice that someone was missing.
Thelma retrieves the document cell, but Harlan gets it, and decides
to trade the cell for Catalina. We also learn that Sofiana's bomb
was a fake - it just spat up some confetti.
Catalina escapes from her cell and runs loose in the prison, chased
by guards. The warden announces that her collar will be blown up to
deal with the problem. Catalina tries, but fails to remove the
collar.
The crew compels Sofiana to help them get into the prison. They try
unsuccessfully to negotiate with the warden. Harlan finds Catalina,
tries unsuccessfully to get the collar off her, then brings her to
Radu, who rips it right off in the nick of time. Harlan throws the
document cell onto the explosion, destroying it as well.
Sofiana is free. The crew understands that she was doing the wrong
thing for the right reasons, and has no hard feelings. Harlan
reveals that the document cell he blew up was a fake; he has the
real one, and gives it to Sofiana.
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
This is definitely not one of Space Cases' better efforts, although
I don't dislike it as much as many around here do. It's not as good
as most of the first season episodes, but it's better than many of
the second season episodes. I don't think it's all that much worse
than Forever Young, which was also full of plot holes and didn't
much seem to go anywhere.
There is all sorts of nonsense in this one. How did Sofiana get out
of the prison and get a ship? How did she get Catalina back into
her cell? I originally assumed that this was a standard prisoner
transport, and Sofiana just left the ship floating near the prison
with her prisoner number on it, and the warden assumed this was a
new prisoner, but clearly that doesn't make sense because the warden
clearly knows she's been there a while. Thelma retrieves a "bomb"
that was intended to blow a hole in the ship's hull, and Goddard
tells her to throw it? How is that going to help if it's really a
bomb? The Luff need information from Sofiana, so they threaten to
erase her memory? Since when does anybody need help getting INTO a
prison? Just call up the warden and let him know you've got
something he wants, and you'll trade it for Catalina! You don't
need Sofiana's help for that!
I suspect that one of the problems with this episode may simply be a
case of too many cooks. The story idea is credited to Ted Jessup (a
producer of the show, who played Rosie's father), Peter and Bill,
and it was written by Magda Liolis, who also wrote (I think it was
Truth Hurts). Whenever I see that many names on a story idea, I get
a little nervous. You know it's not going to come across smoothly.
Maybe it's just my bad experiences with the second season of TNG,
where they used to slice and dice episodes, resulting in half a
dozen writing credits.
One thing I really like about this show is the look of the prison.
They did a very good job on this one. Prisons in TV shows so often
look neat and clean and sterile, not in the least bit realistic.
This prison is dirty, disgusting, rusty, with mud everywhere, very
much the kind of place that a society would stick its least desired
members.
I just finished mentioning that I don't take enough notice of Anik's
performance, so I'll make a note of it here. I love her mechanical
thinking bits with Sofiana. I can't take you to my leader, because
I would have to move, and you told me not to. The neural scrambler
feels exactly like a finger. There's a marvelous absurdity to the
way she delivers these lines, as if they were completely logical,
and yet there's a hint in there that she almost seems aware that
something's wrong with this logic, but she's not sure what.
Somebody here once remarked that she thought she was a little slow
because she didn't notice that Radu was strong. Well, if it makes
you feel any better, I didn't notice that Suzee was invisible until
I saw this episode! I was watching rather intermittently up to this
point (I didn't start watching regularly until after seeing A Day in
the Life the second time -- that's when I started recording them).
I heard Cat talking to Suzee, but I wasn't sure if that was Rosie's
name or if there was somebody else and I just wasn't paying
attention. In this ep, where Catalina is alone in a cell talking to
Suzee, it suddenly hit me that Suzee wasn't there!
There were a handful of amusing lines in this one, although they're
really not up to the standards of the memorable lines in other
episodes.
Davenport: Just think about all of those frighteningly dangerous
criminals
Bova: They're locked up. Usually, its the ones that are free you
have to worry about.
Cat: I wonder what they did to get locked up forever.
Bova: Probably broke the law
Sofiana: Don't move or I'll scramble your entire neural net. Now
take me to your leader. [long pause] Why aren't we going anywhere?
Thelma: Because to take you to the command post, I would have to
move, and you asked me not to.
There's a scene here with Radu's strength that REALLY doesn't work:
Sofiana's trying to escape, and Radu blocks her, and eventually
picks her up off the ground and presses her against the wall. That
could have been a very interesting, tense bit if he had picked her
up quickly and forcefully, but he lifts her so slowly and so gently
that it looses all of its impact.
What's the deal with that little nose thing that Sofiana does to
knock Cat out? I suppose that Nick didn't want physical violence,
so that technique was out, and Sofiana having drugs to knock Cat out
would have just opened another plot hole, but I've never heard of
anything in the bridge of the nose that could cause this kind of
reaction.
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
None. This episode really doesn't move anything in the series
forward.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The episode title is a song title performed by many people.
The prison is frequently referred to as the Satellite Prison Luff,
presumably a reference to the Satellite of Love that Joel and later
Mike were imprisoned on in MST3K.
When Sofiana sends Catalina to take her place, she says, "You can go
directly to jail..." a reference to the game Monopoly.
As several people have already said this week, Cat's prisoner
number, 24601, is Jean Valjean's number from Les Mis.
-------------------------------------
Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
Bad kitty. No biscuit.
From: trrich@sol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: On the Road to Find Out - Review
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 97 23:54:14 GMT
The last episode review... Seems like only yesterday I
decided to get some discussion going by reviewing Truth Hurts. Next
week, I'll do a Season 1 wrap-up, and then... well, I'm open to
suggestions!
=======================================================
SUMMARY
=======================================================
The Christa suddenly lurches out of control, rushing to the rescue
of a sister ship that has been attacked by Warlord Shank and the
Spung killcruiser K'zata (sp?). The sister ship, identical to the
Christa, has destroyed the K'zata, but only at the cost of nearly
being destroyed herself. Cmdr. Goddard realizes that this other
ship may provide them with vital information about the Christa, so
he takes Harlan, Catalina and Radu to check out the other ship while
Bova, Rosie and Davenport stay behind to mind the Christa.
The sister ship is completely trashed. None of the systems are
online. Weapons are lying about, completely energy depleted. Our
heroes go in search of the ship's crew. But in the shadows, a Spung
warrior is watching them.
Radu finds Elmira in the command post. She is barely conscious,
raving that she can't "see" any more. Radu takes her back to the
Christa to treat her while the others continue to explore. Goddard
finds a ship's log and Thelma transfers it back to the Christa to be
read.
Radu never makes it back to the Christa with Elmira. He is shot
with a tranquilizer dart and knocked out. Thelma is also disabled
by a tranquilizer dart to her memory crystal.
Harlan and Catalina find a cargo hold, which is also trashed. But
in the cargo hold, they find a map of the jump tube network. Harlan
realizes that the map reveals things they have not seen on the
Christa, additional levels that they may not have found yet.
Catalina and Harlan are also tranquilized, and we finally see that
the Spung attacking our heroes is none other than Warlord Shank. As
Harlan regains consciousness, Radu tells him that it is impossible
to escape. Shank questions Harlan, threatening to torture Catalina
with his electric scepter if Harlan does not tell Shank about the
ship's weapons systems.
Back on the Christa, Rosie has cracked into the sister ship's log.
She plays back a message from a bird-like Lumanian, who reveals that
Spung are loose on the ship and it is set to explode. Ms.
Davenport, Bova and Rosie go to the sister ship to warn their
crewmates.
Harlan spouts a lot of nonsense technobabble to divert Warlord
Shank. Shank doesn't get a word of it, but pretends he understands
it all, and leaves them. Harlan and Radu realize that Shank thinks
this ship is the Christa. They have to escape quickly to prevent
Shank from getting the Christa. Harlan promptly frees himself from
the inescapable bindings.
Shank finds Goddard, but is out of tranquilizers. They battle,
electric scepter to scrap metal, but Goddard steps on Shank's foot
and gets away, Shank limping after.
Shank finds Davenport, Rosie and Bova. He uses his electric scepter
on them, but Bova just zaps it right back at him and they escape.
The crew gradually reunite. Davenport tells Goddard that the ship
is about to explode, and they head back to the Christa. Shank finds
Elmira. Furious with her for defying him, he reveals that she is
his daughter. Elmira escapes. Cat and Harlan find her and take her
back to the airlock, but Shank grabs Cat just as the sister ship
closes the airlock door. The Christa breaks away, as the sister ship
explodes with Catalina on board, while Harlan pounds on the airlock
door, screaming.
The crew mourns the loss of Catalina, when they hear a stranger
apparently talking to Catalina. The stranger says that Cat is
alive, and doesn't understand why they can't see Cat. Then it all
becomes clear: the stranger is Suzee, and Catalina is in her
dimension!
=======================================================
REVIEW
=======================================================
Wow! What a way to end a season! This episode is one of the top
four in a season with a lot of tough competition!
What really makes this episode is George Takei's performance as
Warlord Shank. His bass voice just drips evil with every syllable.
And you've got to give the man credit for taking as much abuse as
Warlord Shank does in this episode. He gets stepped on by Goddard,
zapped by Bova, bitten by Elmira, and a couple of other things I
can't recall right now, and finally blown up... but he keeps on
coming back for more! The Energizer Bunny of villains.
I wanted to say that this episode is the most action-oriented of the
season, which usually focuses on character interaction. And yet,
there really isn't all that much action in the traditional sense:
not a lot of actual fighting. The tension here is enormous, but it
evolves more from Warlord Shank's personality than from his physical
threat. There is very little physical combat.
The episode also reveals the answer to a lot of questions (some that
we didn't even realize were there!): Who built the Christa? Who is
Elmira? Does Harlan like Catalina? Is Suzee real? But it raises
many other questions: What was Shank up to, that he burned out
Elmira's precognitive abilities? Does the Christa have the weapons
that the other ship does, and the additional levels? How will Cat
get back again? Did Warlord Shank survive?
There are some beautiful performances all around here, particularly
in the scene where they are mourning Catalina. Walter really nails
it here, he really looks like he's crying and hysterical. He pulls
the full depth out of his line about what Cat really would have
wanted. Also notable: Kristian doing that trembling thing he does
so well. Rahi and Paige also do a particularly nice job with this
scene. But Paul looked more like he had indigestion.
Someone recently commented on the fact that the Spung in TSK wore
boots. Perhaps they learned their lesson from Shank's experience
with Goddard?
Some particularly memorable lines from this episode:
Shank: Oh, good. More friends to chat with.
Shank: Spung do not question Andromedans. Spung enslave
Andromedans. Besides, Earthers are easier to interrogate.
Rosie: We're not afraid of you. We laugh at threats of torture.
Don't we, Ms. Davenport?
Davenport: (laughs weakly): That's not really the point, dear.
Bova: 20,000 volts? Baby food!
Shank: I'm warning you...
Davenport: No! I am warning you! Now you have two choices either
zap me with that cattle prod, or get out of my way.
Shank: Very well. If those are my only two choices... (powers up
weapon)
Davenport: Did I say two? I meant a few. Hundred, perhaps.
Goddard: We have to be brave. She would have wanted that.
Harlan: What she would have wanted is to live. What she would have
wanted is for me to stop picking on her, to be nice to her, to know
how much ... how much I liked her.
One little nit to pick: Radu's hair is conveniently short when he's
carrying Elmira. I suppose they're using the wig that was cut short
for the jester's costume in The Impossible Dram, because it would be
difficult to carry a person and manipulate all that hair at the same
time (I speak from experience). They do a nice job of hiding its
absence with camera angles until he falls, but when he's on the
ground, you can see he has short hair.
=======================================================
ONGOING STORY DEVELOPMENTS
=======================================================
The Christa was apparently built by a bird-like race known as the
Lumanians.
Elmira is the daughter of Warlord Shank.
Harlan apparently has deeper feelings for Catalina than he had
previously revealed.
Suzee is real.
=======================================================
INSIDE JOKES AND REFERENCES
=======================================================
The episode title is the title of a Cat Stevens song. Cat Stevens
was big in the late 60s/early 70s. His better-known songs include
Wild World, Moonshadow and Peace Train.
As has been mentioned here several times, the Lumanians, the race
that built the Christa, is a gag on Bill Mumy's band, Barnes &
Barnes, best known for the song Fish Heads. The characters that
they play as members of this band are Art (Mumy) and Artie (Robert
Haimer) Barnes, the Lumanians. The Lumanian is played by Marcel
Jeannin, who appeared as Spung hunter Amirge in The Sporting Kind,
Warlord Geoff in Homeward Bound, and the Ruzzlian Official in
Trouble with Doubles, and in the original, unaired pilot.
Radu says that they have been tied up with castroginium cables. I
am informed that this made-up substance was used in the classic Trek
episode Balance of Terror.
The bit where Harlan uses technobabble on Warlord Shank was also
used on a Next Generation episode. I think it was Rascals, where
Picard and others are turned into children and Ferengi take over the
Enterprise. I haven't seen that episode in quite a while, so I'm
not sure how much of that scene was reproduced here. But I remember
the Ferengi had much the same reaction that Warlord Shank did.
As Peter recently informed us, the body of Suzee at the end of the
episode was provided by Jewel Staite, who played Catalina. The
voice was originally provided by another actress. After Rebecca
Herbst was cast, the scene was looped (redubbed) with Becky's voice.
-------------------------------------
Carla's got a boyfriend!
Carla's got a boyfriend!
From: trrich@sol.com (Tracey R Rich)
Subject: Season 1 Wrap-Up
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 97 22:11:33 GMT
As I did with Season 2, I'm going to wrap up our reviews by rating
and ranking this season's episodes. I'll be using the same 1-5 star
scale that I used last season, and I've made an effort to make the
ratings compatible - a 4-star episode in the first season is of
comparable quality to a 4-star episode of the second season. The
only difference is, you're going to see a lot more stars for Season
1!
I'd love to see what other people think of this season. But please,
don't just write a list! That's not very interesting to read. I'd
much rather hear =WHY= you think each episode was good or bad.
I'd be particularly interested in seeing PAD and Kristian's ratings
of the episodes (or any other insiders' views, if you're lurking out
there...), even if it's just a list. Sometimes, the people on the
inside see these things quite differently.
Season 1 always reminded me of that old Monty Python Spanish
Inquisition sketch... "My favorite episode of Season 1 is IMBT,Y.
IMBT,Y and SaH. My TWO favorite episodes are..."
1. It's My Birthday Too, Yeah! (*****)
In a very tight four-way tie for the best episode of the season,
this one poked slightly over the top of other episodes for me, for
personal reasons that have little to do with the quality of the
show. But even ignoring those personal considerations, this episode
is a triumph. One of my favorite things in the first season was the
evolving relationship between Radu and Harlan, and this episode
brings it all to a head. An incredibly intense emotional ride that
also provides significant character and background development for
the most interesting character in the series.
2. A Day in the Life (*****)
I'm a sucker for goofy fun, and this is it. I did not stop laughing
through this entire episode. And yet, even though the episode is
hilarious, it still manages to have a sensible plot with a credible
threat. But what really puts this over the top is a couple of
hysterical performances from Bill Mumy and Mark Hammill. If you're
trying to hook someone on the series, this is the first episode to
show. It's fun, it's well written, and (as an early episode) it
introduces all of the characters very nicely.
3. On the Road to Find Out
The highlight of this episode was George Takei's delightfully evil
performance as Warlord Shank. As Harlan so aptly put it, "That was
one spooky Spung!" George uses his remarkable bass voice to full
effect, dripping evil with every line. Not for small children, this
is a terrifying episode. Catalina's apparent death and the crew's
mourning of her are just heartbreaking. And if all that weren't
enough, we get some mind-blowing revelations at the end: Elmira is
Shank's daughter, and Suzee is real!
4. Spung at Heart (*****)
Another incredible emotionally intense episode. The episode is
driven by the wonderful chemistry between Radu and Elmira. They
make this unlikely romance work; you can see the sparks flying
between them throughout the episode. Katie McIninich's brilliant
performance as Elmira is a joy to watch. Add in an all-too-brief
appearance by George Takei that leaves you longing for my 3d place
episode, and you've got pure magic.
5. Who Goes Where (****)
Just barely off of the very high standards set by the top four
episodes this season. The episode is driven largely by Kristian's
remarkable performance, as we watch Radu's descent into paranoia and
madness. We get a chance to see a very different side of this
character: the scary alien that Harlan has always believed he is.
But the episode doesn't have quite the depth of the top four, which
is why it rates ever so slightly lower.
6. The Impossible Dram (****)
This is really a delightful little episode, but I always seem to
overlook it. It's a very small, intimate episode. Nothing really
jumps out at you. And yet it leaves me with a warm fuzzy every time
I watch it, and I'm not usually a warm fuzzy person. The show has
two very important themes running through it: one deals with the
dignity of the elderly, treating them with respect, and dying with
dignity; the other is about the need for dreams and imagination.
Jim Bradford's performance as Dram provides us with a Don Quixote
that we can somehow admire, even though we know he's a little nuts.
7. Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Court (*** 1/2)
The episode that Nickelodeon said epitomized everything wrong with
the series is, IMHO, better than two thirds of the second season
episodes, which they tampered with. This is another episode that
shows the kids struggling to work together as a team. Catalina and
Harlan struggle for leadership of the crew while Davenport and
Goddard, transformed into Spung, chase them around the ship. I
really like the fact that the kids have to think their way out of
this dilemma, rather than fight their way out.
8. Break On Through to the Other Side (*** 1/2)
The episode that answers some questions we never knew we had... and
opens up a whole new can of worms! We get some fascinating hints
here of what's really going on, but not enough to make any sense out
of. We also get a chance to see a bit more of Bova, who his really
underutilized in other episodes.
9. Desperately Seeking Suzee (***)
The episode that first shows us what a -- er -- jerk Suzee is. The
episode explores the dynamic between Suzee and Catalina at a point
when we do not even know that Suzee is real! The characterizations
are a bit rough in this one, because it was the first one filmed.
10. We Gotta Get Out of this Place (***)
The first episode aired, this one goes through the obligatory
motions of introducing the characters and the situations. In spite
of the handicap of having to set up an enormous amount of backstory,
it still manages to be quite entertaining.
11. Nowhere Man (***)
A critical point in the development of Harlan and Radu's
relationship, this is where Harlan shifts from completely
antagonistic to willing to give Radu a chance. Harlan's cruelty to
Radu at the beginning is absolutely chilling in its realism, and
makes the poetic justice of Harlan's situation all the more
interesting.
12. Forever Young (** 1/2)
Sorry, folks, but I didn't much care for this one. Some nice ideas
here, but the plot has a lot of holes in it that interfered with my
ability to suspend disbelief. The story turns into largely an
excuse for a food fight.
13. Prisoner of Luff (**)
The worst episode of this season is still better than 1/3 of the
second season's episodes. Though I know others disagree, I really
don't think it's that bad. Yes, it's got plot holes, but they
didn't interfere with my ability to suspend belief nearly as much as
Forever Young's did. The main problem with this one is that it's
just sort of boring. The plot seems to drag along, not really going
anywhere most of the time.
-------------------------------------
Carla's got a boyfriend!
Carla's got a boyfriend!
