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Post by alpha128 on Sept 18, 2020 3:26:53 GMT
"The Night of the Gruesome Games"After the previous episode's old-school horror, this one has a go at Agatha Christie ("one of you in this room is a murderer"), with limited success. It's not a bad episode per se, but IMO it's the weakest of Season 4 so far. It's definitely not as good/memorable as it could be. Going in, I remembered very little, mainly that William Schallert guest starred. I misremembered that this episode included a "Dance of Death" (a corpse that stands or kneels motionless for a few seconds before toppling over). And I completely forgot this episode guest starred the lovely Sherry Jackson! I assure you that this can't be my fault, and the only possible reason is this episode must be deficient in some way! Nonetheless, the two actors who played Dr. Theobald Raker and Rufus Kraus, Robert Ellenstein and William Schallert respectively, seem to have impressed the powers that be with this outing. They both returned later in the season (playing different characters) for the two-part "The Night of the Winged Terror". Some thoughts: - If you look closely, you can see the "thrown" knife at 8:43 actually rode down a wire.
- I did remember the punch at 25:55 that literally makes Jim roll over on his head.
- The cage we first see at 28:28 looks like the same one from "The Night of the Simian Terror", but now outfitted with steam pipes.
- At 40:51 violence against armor!
- Artie did an excellent impersonation of Kraus.
- I suspect that William Schallert's performance as Kraus was instrumental in landing him the role of guest agent Frank Harper. In the previous season's "The Night of the Bubbling Death" Schallert used his normal appearance and voice.
But in this episode he wears a wig, fake beard, and changes his voice, effectively "disguising" himself as Kraus.
- Speaking of wigs and fake beards, made up as Dr. Raker,
Robert Ellenstein is unrecognizable from his normal appearance, cf. North by Northwest (1959). Ellenstein is on the left in the photo below.
- When the door to Kraus' room opened, I did remember who the confederate was before his face was revealed.
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vrkalak
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Post by vrkalak on Sept 18, 2020 9:06:17 GMT
i enjoyed Gruesome.
Fun fact, Jacquelyn Hyde, as Marquesa Bellini, was one of the few actors that also appeared in one of the post Wild Wild West movies. She was also in The Wild Wild West Revisited.
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Post by Prime etc. on Sept 27, 2020 8:30:48 GMT
Sort of WWW related. I watched the 1971 tv movie Escape starring Christopher George. He is an escape artist--private investigator. His partner is Avery Schreiber and I got a West-Gordon vibe from their relationship. George does the action and requisite womanizing and Schreiber does the investigative work (George mentions his partner is a clown, artist, etc...so it sounded like they were setting up the disguise element).
Pilot for a tv series. I would have liked to see where they would have gone with it.
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vrkalak
Sophomore
@vrkalak
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Post by vrkalak on Sept 27, 2020 15:34:45 GMT
I can feel another Alpha episode review coming...
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Post by alpha128 on Sept 27, 2020 16:42:51 GMT
I can feel another Alpha episode review coming... Sorry for the delay. Last week, I had a choice between rewatching the next TWWW episode, or rewatching the movie that will be the subject of my next quote thread on the Movie Quotes board. I chose the movie. But I only got about 75% through the film. So I first have to watch the remaining 25% of the movie, and then I'll be able to review "The Night of the Kraken". That's an episode I don't remember much about, other than Ted Knight guest stars. I'm looking forward to seeing it again.
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vrkalak
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Post by vrkalak on Oct 3, 2020 20:45:38 GMT
Yes, I noticed that! How's that definitive count coming? September release date. October?
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Post by alpha128 on Oct 3, 2020 21:01:08 GMT
Well to be fair, you didn't specify September 2020.
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vrkalak
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@vrkalak
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Post by vrkalak on Oct 3, 2020 22:11:55 GMT
Well to be fair, you didn't specify September 2020. 2020 is the longest two years of my life. 😎
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Post by alpha128 on Oct 3, 2020 23:05:30 GMT
Well to be fair, you didn't specify September 2020. 2020 is the longest two years of my life. 😎 If I were to respond in Morse Code to your private rail car, I would send: - .-. ..- . .-. / .-- --- .-. -.. ... / .-- . .-. . / -. . ...- . .-. / ... .--. --- -.- . -. -.-.-- which means: Truer words were never spoken!
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Post by alpha128 on Oct 8, 2020 0:23:35 GMT
"The Night of the Kraken"It's been almost three weeks since my last review, so I figured I'd better get Kraken on this! I had mentioned earlier that I didn't remember much about this episode, other than Ted Knight guest stars. Having just rewatched it, I think I understand why. It's an episode that doesn't have much of its own identity, but instead plays like a "greatest hits" album, featuring plot points from earlier shows. For example, "The Night of the Kraken" features: - The seemingly harmless "drunken preacher" is revealed to be one of the villains cf. "The Night of the Flying Pie Plate".
- The seemingly "dutiful wife" of a government official is revealed to be a co-conspirator cf. "The Night of the Circus of Death".
- An advanced torpedo/mine threatens a ship with Admiral Farragut aboard, also there is an artificial sea monster cf. "The Night of the Watery Death".
- There is an underwater base cf. "The Night of the Deadly Bubble".
- Artie reviews a model of the base he and Jim have to enter cf. "The Night of the Bubbling Death".
- Jim goes into underwater action and infiltrates the secret base through an intake pipe cf. "The Night of the Turncoat".
I will say however that this episode has great atmosphere. This is one West that truly earns its prefix "The Night of". And despite the deja vu, this is an entertaining, action packed hour. Some thoughts: - For a moment, at 5:13, the wire holding up the tentacle catches the light and is visible.
- This is a gastastic episode with Gas! at 16:50 and 40:43.
- The brief underwater scenes before the second act break, e.g., from 21:38 to 21:48, are much brighter than they should be given these scenes take place at night.
- Artie pulls out a slide rule at 30:29. However, this is not an anachronism as it was invented around 1622.
- At 48:44 Jim refers to a millionaire playboy who is a namesake of prolific TWWW director Irving J. Moore.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 10, 2020 5:38:37 GMT
The Night of the Red-Eyed Madmen
"Colonel Cross!"
The ending--such an abrupt change of personality for the sergeant!
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vrkalak
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Post by vrkalak on Oct 10, 2020 13:45:11 GMT
The Night of the Red-Eyed Madmen "Colonel Cross!" The ending--such an abrupt change of personality for the sergeant! Truth! The power of West.
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Post by alpha128 on Oct 10, 2020 14:04:32 GMT
The Night of the Red-Eyed Madmen "Colonel Cross!" The ending--such an abrupt change of personality for the sergeant! Now I know what show you decided to watch on Friday! I've got 18 episodes left to watch in the series, and you've got 17 left to watch in Season 1 alone. EDIT: And I have a new appreciation for Mike Quigley and his Hawaii Five-O Home Page. He has been re-watching and reviewing all 273 episodes of classic Hawaii Five-O, and currently has 64 episodes left to do.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 10, 2020 17:30:11 GMT
And he didn't put the silly hat on when he was a private. He knew it would look bad. In some scenes he had it tucked under his arm.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 10, 2020 17:32:19 GMT
Now I know what show you decided to watch on Friday! I've got 18 episodes left to watch in the series, and you've got 17 left to watch in Season 1 alone. EDIT: And I have a new appreciation for Mike Quigley and his Hawaii Five-O Home Page. He has been re-watching and reviewing all 273 episodes of classic Hawaii Five-O, and currently has 64 episodes left to do. I am amazed the reboot series has lasted 10 years! Technically still shorter than the old one--just by the episode running times I bet. Each episode must be around 35 minutes compared to 50 something.
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Post by alpha128 on Oct 10, 2020 20:36:24 GMT
I have a new appreciation for Mike Quigley and his Hawaii Five-O Home Page. He has been re-watching and reviewing all 273 episodes of classic Hawaii Five-O, and currently has 64 episodes left to do. I am amazed the reboot series has lasted 10 years! Technically still shorter than the old one--just by the episode running times I bet. Each episode must be around 35 minutes compared to 50 something.
I am also amazed that the reboot series lasted 10 years. I bailed on it after a season and a half!
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 10, 2020 21:14:40 GMT
I guess that while the show probably has much less viewership than the original had, they make up for it internationally, or are just greasing the machinery by keeping the show... going through the motions.
Curious about Hawaiian Eye. I didn't know there had already been a show set in Hawaii until I read about it in the RC obit.
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Post by alpha128 on Oct 10, 2020 21:52:50 GMT
I guess that while the show probably has much less viewership than the original had, they make up for it internationally, or are just greasing the machinery by keeping the show... going through the motions. Curious about Hawaiian Eye. I didn't know there had already been a show set in Hawaii until I read about it in the RC obit. I read that CBS owned the "Hawaii Five-0" reboot series outright, so it was a very profitable show for them. This is unlike other shows, where the TV network has to split the proceeds with the studio that made it. I've never seen "Hawaiian Eye", so I can't comment on that.
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Post by alpha128 on Oct 16, 2020 1:14:09 GMT
"The Night of the Fugitives"This episode is overshadowed by what happened during its production. As Sue Kesler explained her book The Wild Wild West, the Series: Although this episode was held over from the previous season, it isn't obvious, apart from a very traditional Western street shootout that starts about 31:45. This episode does feature lots of Jim's gadgets, as well as automatic bars over the windows and doors of Rhoda's room, which she describes as "a little precaution". Some thoughts: - They make a big deal that the pages of the ledger
were blank. But if you look closely you'll see at 47:16 that one of the pages has some kind of writing on it. - Diamond Dave Desmond's watch must be of very poor quality. Desmond gives Jim 60 seconds to save Artie's life, while first looking at his watch at 45:35. Then at 46:03 (28 seconds in, 32 seconds to go), Desmond says that 20 seconds remain. And Desmond's final countdown would reach zero at 46:46 (71 seconds in).
- The finale includes an argument over a little book containing women's names and addresses - exactly like the previous episode.
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vrkalak
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Post by vrkalak on Oct 16, 2020 1:18:15 GMT
I love when West crashes through the window and exclaims, “I AM BACK!”
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