Post by niecie on Jul 15, 2013 19:42:24 GMT -5
Over at Fanfiction.net, Deana started a WWW forum a while back. In the hope of generating some talk over there, I started posting -- well, not exactly reviews of the episodes, but more like my stream-of-consciousness reactions to the episodes. I thought I would repost them here as well.
This was the very first episode and will always have a special place in my heart for that reason. While it shares many many aspects with the rest of the series that followed -- the train, the megalomaniacal villain, the pretty girl, Jim's smart black horse -- there were some things unique to this episode only, such as the actor playing Pres Grant (James Gregory here, but Roy Engels for the rest of the series), and the one and only time the middle slot of the animation screen was used for a freeze-frame.
Ah, the freeze frames! I particularly like the style used in Inferno, especially for Jim riding his horse and Lydia wielding her seven-shooter.
Another difference between this episode and the later ones is that later Artie is the gadgeteer, but here he is surprised by the various gadgets.
Artie (and Ross Martin) gets to show off his disguise skills right from the start as the scruffy drunken soldier, cackling and demanding Jim's boots. And for that matter, Jim (and Robert Conrad) gets to show off peeks of his nice chest right from the start too.
We also get treated to the roomful of Jim's special weapons as he loads up with them: the sleeve-gun, the lock pick in the lapel, and the knife in the back of the collar -- not to mention our first view of Henry and Henrietta, two of the homing pigeons.
Quemada is a sad place, burned out by the bad guys. Jim quickly takes note of the fact that the general store run by Wing Fat has not been destroyed when so much of the rest of the town was and figures the owner must be friends with the bad guy for his store to be spared. And so we meet Victor Buono as Wing Fat. Buono was one of my favorite character actors and does a great job with the role. He throws in a cute touch of setting two chairs side by side so he can sit on them (this occurs again in one of his turns as Count Manzeppi) -- but I always wonder why the writers chose to name his character Wing Fat? I also can't help wondering if the character wouldn't have been terribly hot wearing that quilted robe in the New Mexico heat -- not to mention, the actor being equally hot wearing it in the heat of the spotlights on the sound stage.
In the ongoing game of Who Can Spot Artie in Disguise First that my brother and I played as children, I don't know which of us realized first that the Mexican peasant who opens the carriage door for Wing Fat was Artie. Watching the show more recently, I think I didn't catch on until he shoots Jim a wink.
Ah, and then there is Lydia Monteran, spunkily played by Suzanne Pleshette. She's another favorite of mine, and she lights up the screen with sizzling banter between her and Jim. Jim, as will be usual, gets to kiss the girl -- in fact, he and Lydia play a rather extended game of smoochy-face.
And then she smiles and pulls a gun on him.
I still don't understand why Col Shear shows up in Quemada as well. Why does he come and give Jim the chance to bail out because it's so dangerous?
Someone once pointed out to me [Nydiva, I think that was you!] the business Artie does with the bucket and water at the pump, picking bugs and whatever out of the water, starting to take a drink, then pitching it all and never drinking. Just a lovely bit of business!
And then there's the cemetery, and Jim's little trick of sneaking up behind Artie. And now we get some of that great banter between Our Heroes -- as well as Artie stopping Jim from walking into the snake pit, and Jim saving Artie from falling into it. :-) Also Jim gets to show off his athleticism in how he crosses the pit. A favorite scene!
Some cute little bits as Jim & Artie explore the storage rooms full of munitions include Artie leaning on a cannon, then jumping as he realizes what it is, and him discovering a cache of wine and smilingly examining the bottles.
You can tell the show was filmed in the 60's by the fact that the Hero gets to stand around smoking while he waits for Lydia to show up. I get a little grumpy with Jim for kicking Lydia in the tush, but I do understand that at that point, he still thought she was in on the bad guy's scheme.
Now Nehemiah Persoff shows up in person. He played several bad guys on WWW and this is the first of them. Smacking Jim with that wine skin! When Persoff's character says that Jim has a friend in this pueblo, I really thought it was going to be Artie they had captured, and I was so glad I was wrong!
Ah, and another thing making its first appearance: stuff hidden in Jim's boot heels! He has the break-away derringer this time, half in each heel, with the bullets hidden in his belt buckle. He also has a smoke bomb hidden in the bottom of his holster. Which leads us straight into a great Jim fight scene! Artie darts into the fray as well and gets grazed by a bullet, but Jim handles the baddies -- I lost count, at least four or five guys.
This leads straight into a scene of improvising an explosion, with Lydia saying one of my favorite lines in the episode, that every time she meets Jim, she loses something, in this case the only house she'd ever had.
And at last we discover the real bad guy of the story, the real Juan Manolo. Buono is as smooth and smarmy as ever, a truly quality villain. The scene between 'Wing Fat' and Jim is intense, with Jim showing that he's more than just a pretty guy who can hit people. He also has the ability to talk fast and think on his feet.
There's also the neat trick by which sliding the counters for the billiards table turns off the lights at the end of the varnish car to signal Artie that something is wrong. I don't know why one of the minions decided to climb on top of the car and walk up and down up there -- that's him just asking to be picked off!
And then Buono pulls a derringer on Jim and things really move fast! The exploding string of counters, the exploding billiard ball, and the sword-in-the-cue stick that Jim spears Buono with, all accomplished faster than I can type this and possibly faster than you just read it! Meanwhile, not only do Artie and Lydia take on the bad guys outside the train, but the engine crew gets into the act too, venting some steam to take out a minion. Yay, team!
I like how Buono says a line in Spanish, saying that now West knows the truth about him. It's funny to me, when Jim is yanking the disguise off Buono, that he rips off his mustache to reveal a smaller mustache underneath. Buono gets in a fine death scene, and Jim gets to show the quality of our Hero, buying a stake in the future for a lot of people and not caring that no one will know he was the Hero.
Tag: a bit of bubbly to celebrate, the 'best $1.98 gown made in Chicago' for Lydia -- with, of course, Jim and Lydia's special brand of alterations. I like how Lydia's eyes light up and she asks the name of the friend Artie says owns the train. The friend, of course, is Sam -- as in either Uncle Sam, or U S 'Sam' Grant.
And Jim winds up in a clinch with the girl, while Artie smirks and pulls down the window shade. The end! (of the beginning, that is) ;-)
So... what did I miss? Let's talk!
This was the very first episode and will always have a special place in my heart for that reason. While it shares many many aspects with the rest of the series that followed -- the train, the megalomaniacal villain, the pretty girl, Jim's smart black horse -- there were some things unique to this episode only, such as the actor playing Pres Grant (James Gregory here, but Roy Engels for the rest of the series), and the one and only time the middle slot of the animation screen was used for a freeze-frame.
Ah, the freeze frames! I particularly like the style used in Inferno, especially for Jim riding his horse and Lydia wielding her seven-shooter.
Another difference between this episode and the later ones is that later Artie is the gadgeteer, but here he is surprised by the various gadgets.
Artie (and Ross Martin) gets to show off his disguise skills right from the start as the scruffy drunken soldier, cackling and demanding Jim's boots. And for that matter, Jim (and Robert Conrad) gets to show off peeks of his nice chest right from the start too.
We also get treated to the roomful of Jim's special weapons as he loads up with them: the sleeve-gun, the lock pick in the lapel, and the knife in the back of the collar -- not to mention our first view of Henry and Henrietta, two of the homing pigeons.
Quemada is a sad place, burned out by the bad guys. Jim quickly takes note of the fact that the general store run by Wing Fat has not been destroyed when so much of the rest of the town was and figures the owner must be friends with the bad guy for his store to be spared. And so we meet Victor Buono as Wing Fat. Buono was one of my favorite character actors and does a great job with the role. He throws in a cute touch of setting two chairs side by side so he can sit on them (this occurs again in one of his turns as Count Manzeppi) -- but I always wonder why the writers chose to name his character Wing Fat? I also can't help wondering if the character wouldn't have been terribly hot wearing that quilted robe in the New Mexico heat -- not to mention, the actor being equally hot wearing it in the heat of the spotlights on the sound stage.
In the ongoing game of Who Can Spot Artie in Disguise First that my brother and I played as children, I don't know which of us realized first that the Mexican peasant who opens the carriage door for Wing Fat was Artie. Watching the show more recently, I think I didn't catch on until he shoots Jim a wink.
Ah, and then there is Lydia Monteran, spunkily played by Suzanne Pleshette. She's another favorite of mine, and she lights up the screen with sizzling banter between her and Jim. Jim, as will be usual, gets to kiss the girl -- in fact, he and Lydia play a rather extended game of smoochy-face.
And then she smiles and pulls a gun on him.
I still don't understand why Col Shear shows up in Quemada as well. Why does he come and give Jim the chance to bail out because it's so dangerous?
Someone once pointed out to me [Nydiva, I think that was you!] the business Artie does with the bucket and water at the pump, picking bugs and whatever out of the water, starting to take a drink, then pitching it all and never drinking. Just a lovely bit of business!
And then there's the cemetery, and Jim's little trick of sneaking up behind Artie. And now we get some of that great banter between Our Heroes -- as well as Artie stopping Jim from walking into the snake pit, and Jim saving Artie from falling into it. :-) Also Jim gets to show off his athleticism in how he crosses the pit. A favorite scene!
Some cute little bits as Jim & Artie explore the storage rooms full of munitions include Artie leaning on a cannon, then jumping as he realizes what it is, and him discovering a cache of wine and smilingly examining the bottles.
You can tell the show was filmed in the 60's by the fact that the Hero gets to stand around smoking while he waits for Lydia to show up. I get a little grumpy with Jim for kicking Lydia in the tush, but I do understand that at that point, he still thought she was in on the bad guy's scheme.
Now Nehemiah Persoff shows up in person. He played several bad guys on WWW and this is the first of them. Smacking Jim with that wine skin! When Persoff's character says that Jim has a friend in this pueblo, I really thought it was going to be Artie they had captured, and I was so glad I was wrong!
Ah, and another thing making its first appearance: stuff hidden in Jim's boot heels! He has the break-away derringer this time, half in each heel, with the bullets hidden in his belt buckle. He also has a smoke bomb hidden in the bottom of his holster. Which leads us straight into a great Jim fight scene! Artie darts into the fray as well and gets grazed by a bullet, but Jim handles the baddies -- I lost count, at least four or five guys.
This leads straight into a scene of improvising an explosion, with Lydia saying one of my favorite lines in the episode, that every time she meets Jim, she loses something, in this case the only house she'd ever had.
And at last we discover the real bad guy of the story, the real Juan Manolo. Buono is as smooth and smarmy as ever, a truly quality villain. The scene between 'Wing Fat' and Jim is intense, with Jim showing that he's more than just a pretty guy who can hit people. He also has the ability to talk fast and think on his feet.
There's also the neat trick by which sliding the counters for the billiards table turns off the lights at the end of the varnish car to signal Artie that something is wrong. I don't know why one of the minions decided to climb on top of the car and walk up and down up there -- that's him just asking to be picked off!
And then Buono pulls a derringer on Jim and things really move fast! The exploding string of counters, the exploding billiard ball, and the sword-in-the-cue stick that Jim spears Buono with, all accomplished faster than I can type this and possibly faster than you just read it! Meanwhile, not only do Artie and Lydia take on the bad guys outside the train, but the engine crew gets into the act too, venting some steam to take out a minion. Yay, team!
I like how Buono says a line in Spanish, saying that now West knows the truth about him. It's funny to me, when Jim is yanking the disguise off Buono, that he rips off his mustache to reveal a smaller mustache underneath. Buono gets in a fine death scene, and Jim gets to show the quality of our Hero, buying a stake in the future for a lot of people and not caring that no one will know he was the Hero.
Tag: a bit of bubbly to celebrate, the 'best $1.98 gown made in Chicago' for Lydia -- with, of course, Jim and Lydia's special brand of alterations. I like how Lydia's eyes light up and she asks the name of the friend Artie says owns the train. The friend, of course, is Sam -- as in either Uncle Sam, or U S 'Sam' Grant.
And Jim winds up in a clinch with the girl, while Artie smirks and pulls down the window shade. The end! (of the beginning, that is) ;-)
So... what did I miss? Let's talk!