Post by zimmerman on Jul 2, 2013 17:16:59 GMT -5
TNOT Human Trigger is one of the few WWW episodes ever made that borders into comedy territory--probably only TNOT Infernal Machine is the other episode that has a consistently light tone. Like many people on the board already have commented, it is an episode that has to be taken with just a slight grain of salt ;D and simply enjoys the performances from the stellar cast assembled for this particular episode.
Burgess Meredith, perhaps better known as the Penguin on the "Batman" TV series, is perfect for the role of Orikney Cadwaller, BA, MA, PHD, LLD, a former Harvard-educated professor who is determined to blow up the entire territory of Wyoming so that he can turn it into an "Independent country"
because the town he plans to explode has "Enough gold to create a community in which the arts and sciences shall flourish enough so that even the lowliest man can carry his dignity, and no taxes of course." and wants his darling daughter to coordinate the Grand Gala celebration. The historical inaccuracies abound in this particular episode, referring to Wyoming as a state, when it did not become an official state of the union in 1890 .
Some father Orkney Cadwaller is! He really comes off as the proud papa when his daughter Faith enters in the room, but he is practically ashamed of his sons, Hercules and Thaddeus , because they did not acheive the same level of intellegence as he did, and hardly has a shred of compassion for them, being that he would rather watch our heroes die than go to his own sons' funeral!! As Cadwaller said to Faith in the program, "I am surrounded by hostiles--sometimes I think your mother--oh, bless her memory, was too indulgent with them." Yeah, Right !!
Burgess Meredith really makes Cadwaller, Absent-minded professor, very believable, and also makes for some very funny moments in the program. He gets James' name right for the first half of the program, but gets it wrong toward the end of the episode.
Oh, and Cadwaller, if you would have one of your sons have a beard and one not have one, you would have been able to identify them more accurately! ;D
To answer a question that CalGal posted three years ago on the other board, Jim does not call his partner Artie even once in this whole episode, every time it is the more formal "Artemus"
http:www.wildwildwest.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2987
Speaking of our favorite duo, this particular episode has Jim and Artie together in a lot of scenes, from the opening earthquake, to the map scene in James' dressing room (this was early in the series so they did not have the big pull-down map in the Varnish Car). to the scenes where they examine the territory, to the time they rock the dump truck so that they can avoid be crushed by that rock-crushing machine ;D. Also, the tongue-in-cheek humor is everywhere in this episode--love Artie's reference to the pop song "Fools Rush In" (which was not even written during the time that WWW takes place ;D) in the opening scene, plus the quote from Artie when he explains to dear old Aunt Martha what a fault is--"A bad serve in tennis." A subtle reference to Ross' favorite sport .
Speaking of Aunt Martha, Virginia Sale does a great job portraying the county record clerk who "Had six children, buried two, and killed twelve Indians." I also enjoy the scene when Artie arrives and she asks him what the name of the "New Arrival" was . In many ways, she is a somewhat more intellegent version of Irene Ryan's Granny from "The Beverly Hillbillies."
What a mixed-up girl Faith was! She could not decide which side of the law she wanted to be on, but it was fairly obvious that she was very upset at what her Father was doing. At least she was generous enough to give James a pillow when he was about to be dettinated!! (BTW, James looks a lot like a robot with the dettinator on top of him ;D) Of course, the tag, wherein James loves and leaves her, is one of the funniest in the entire series.
A lot has been said about how hokey the earthquake scene in the opening scene was, but the closing explosion was just as cheesy, looking like something out of a Grade-B Movie
Only one disguise from Artie in this particular episode--one brief disguse, mind you, as "Dr. Ninekindoff" but he really makes Cadwaller squirm when he approaches him! ;D
Cadwaller's henchmen were so fearful, they thought that James' flaming arrows were actually Indians .
Just like in TNOT Inferno, Cadwaller has a quote in this episode that could apply to our modern day and age: "I warn you citizens, If you don't raise the salary for teachers very soon, there will be trouble--mark my words."
Oh, and Cadwaller was so absent-minded, he decided he wanted to crush our heroes instead of exploding them with his more complicated vial of Glyceritryhitrate ;D!!
Oveall, a refreshingly good, change of pace episode from the spooky, strange and Western plots that were the majority of "Our favorite Programme"s Bread and Butter.
I will give TNOT Human Trigger a guilty pleasure rating of 9 out of 10 ;D
Burgess Meredith, perhaps better known as the Penguin on the "Batman" TV series, is perfect for the role of Orikney Cadwaller, BA, MA, PHD, LLD, a former Harvard-educated professor who is determined to blow up the entire territory of Wyoming so that he can turn it into an "Independent country"
because the town he plans to explode has "Enough gold to create a community in which the arts and sciences shall flourish enough so that even the lowliest man can carry his dignity, and no taxes of course." and wants his darling daughter to coordinate the Grand Gala celebration. The historical inaccuracies abound in this particular episode, referring to Wyoming as a state, when it did not become an official state of the union in 1890 .
Some father Orkney Cadwaller is! He really comes off as the proud papa when his daughter Faith enters in the room, but he is practically ashamed of his sons, Hercules and Thaddeus , because they did not acheive the same level of intellegence as he did, and hardly has a shred of compassion for them, being that he would rather watch our heroes die than go to his own sons' funeral!! As Cadwaller said to Faith in the program, "I am surrounded by hostiles--sometimes I think your mother--oh, bless her memory, was too indulgent with them." Yeah, Right !!
Burgess Meredith really makes Cadwaller, Absent-minded professor, very believable, and also makes for some very funny moments in the program. He gets James' name right for the first half of the program, but gets it wrong toward the end of the episode.
Oh, and Cadwaller, if you would have one of your sons have a beard and one not have one, you would have been able to identify them more accurately! ;D
To answer a question that CalGal posted three years ago on the other board, Jim does not call his partner Artie even once in this whole episode, every time it is the more formal "Artemus"
http:www.wildwildwest.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2987
Speaking of our favorite duo, this particular episode has Jim and Artie together in a lot of scenes, from the opening earthquake, to the map scene in James' dressing room (this was early in the series so they did not have the big pull-down map in the Varnish Car). to the scenes where they examine the territory, to the time they rock the dump truck so that they can avoid be crushed by that rock-crushing machine ;D. Also, the tongue-in-cheek humor is everywhere in this episode--love Artie's reference to the pop song "Fools Rush In" (which was not even written during the time that WWW takes place ;D) in the opening scene, plus the quote from Artie when he explains to dear old Aunt Martha what a fault is--"A bad serve in tennis." A subtle reference to Ross' favorite sport .
Speaking of Aunt Martha, Virginia Sale does a great job portraying the county record clerk who "Had six children, buried two, and killed twelve Indians." I also enjoy the scene when Artie arrives and she asks him what the name of the "New Arrival" was . In many ways, she is a somewhat more intellegent version of Irene Ryan's Granny from "The Beverly Hillbillies."
What a mixed-up girl Faith was! She could not decide which side of the law she wanted to be on, but it was fairly obvious that she was very upset at what her Father was doing. At least she was generous enough to give James a pillow when he was about to be dettinated!! (BTW, James looks a lot like a robot with the dettinator on top of him ;D) Of course, the tag, wherein James loves and leaves her, is one of the funniest in the entire series.
A lot has been said about how hokey the earthquake scene in the opening scene was, but the closing explosion was just as cheesy, looking like something out of a Grade-B Movie
Only one disguise from Artie in this particular episode--one brief disguse, mind you, as "Dr. Ninekindoff" but he really makes Cadwaller squirm when he approaches him! ;D
Cadwaller's henchmen were so fearful, they thought that James' flaming arrows were actually Indians .
Just like in TNOT Inferno, Cadwaller has a quote in this episode that could apply to our modern day and age: "I warn you citizens, If you don't raise the salary for teachers very soon, there will be trouble--mark my words."
Oh, and Cadwaller was so absent-minded, he decided he wanted to crush our heroes instead of exploding them with his more complicated vial of Glyceritryhitrate ;D!!
Oveall, a refreshingly good, change of pace episode from the spooky, strange and Western plots that were the majority of "Our favorite Programme"s Bread and Butter.
I will give TNOT Human Trigger a guilty pleasure rating of 9 out of 10 ;D