Post by niecie on Jul 31, 2013 20:06:32 GMT -5
(Except that at the time I originally wrote this, I didn't have time to watch the episode and wrote from memory! )
This episode more than any other, I think, makes me wonder if someone got confused and thought the show was a comedy.
Now, it has Burgess Meredith as the villain, Prof Orkney Cadwallader, so that's an extra special double-plus for me, since Burgess was probably my third-favorite actor when I was a kid. (Numbers one and two were -- and still are -- Ross Martin and Michael Dunn, so is it any wonder WWW is my all-time favorite show?) Burgess obviously has great fun with this role, what with tapping the magnifier glass against his face, making his teeth look huge, and getting everyone's name wrong: he confuses his sons constantly, confuses the minions' names, calls Jim Mr South, and though he has but one daughter and can't possible confuse her name with any other female character, he simply calls her 'Daughter'!
Oh, his children... The sons are not the brightest, a fact which he bewails, as he himself is a self-confessed superhuman in brain power. He seems to think his daughter is super intelligent like he is, but that's not how she comes across. She's scattered-brained and man-hungry, and fixates quickly on Jim. At least this leads her to help him and Artie toward the end, but she certainly has no clue about the signals Jim is giving her. The only girl more clueless than Faith in the canon of WWW (in my opinion, at least) is the ultra-vapid Priscilla from TNOT Whirring Death.
The earthquake scene is silly (fun silly in my opinion, but still very silly), mostly accomplished by massive camera-shaking and tossing of dust and debris into the shot. Curiously, the drunken piano player's bottle stays right where it is on top of the piano throughout the whole earthquake.
The scene between Jim and Faith in the hotel room is kind of puzzling. Why does he give the gun back to her? Why does she go to take a bath? (And for that matter, why does he go to take a bath?) Why do the brothers lock shoulders trying to get in the door? So many things that I watch and go 'Why?'
For that matter, when J&A are tracking the Cadwallader siblings a scene or two later, why does Artie tip his hat all the way forward? I don't understand!
During the tracking scenes, it seems to me that they played one section twice, of Artie backing his horse up a little from a cliff edge, then riding on.
True to the spirit of Season One, just when a fight is about to begin -- the Cadwallader brothers ambushing Jim -- Artie must be gotten rid of, so he goes off to find some water. Then Jim gets to show how fast he is on the draw by taking on both Cadwalladers at once.
Prof Cadwallader's torturing of our favorite agents is something of a fun scene, with his threat of tickling Artie. He has a perfectly good rant about the pay for teachers. Artie's joke about tennis is cute. And the guys figuring out the bluff is lovely, since I'd had the feeling something was off all along -- after all, if the prof had really rigged them up with nitroglycerin, why on earth would he stay anywhere near them?
The business with J&A being in the rock cart going into the mine was pure silliness. As a great many people have pointed out, why didn't they just stand up and hop out? Their arms were tied, but not tied to the cart. Also their cart was different from the others, not a specially made tipping cart, which made it look less likely (to me, at least) that they were in any actual danger from the crusher. Of course, the scene did show Our Heroes working together to escape, so that was nice.
Cadwallader's minions are a lily-livered lot, aren't they? They see a flaming arrow and instantly jump to the conclusion that Indians are attacking. And the giant bear trap was just goofy. If the trap was real at all, it would have done horrendous damage to Jim when it snapped closed on him.
Meanwhile, Artie meets up with two utterly pig-headed officials when he goes to warn the town. I guess this is supposed to be funny, but on repeated viewings, the two old people have become to me simply annoying. Well, the old lady's first assumption that Artie has come to report a birth is cute at least.
And so to the title scene -- the Human Trigger. Cadwallader tells Jim that when the pendulum balanced on Jim's chest swings far enough to either side to touch one of the contacts, that will set off the nitro and trigger the earthquake. And yet all through the scene the pendulum swings against a contact, especially when Artie shows up in the background in disguise, and in crossing to speak to the 'Austrian scientist,' Cadwallader trips on the wires! He (Burgess) turns around and looks straight at the camera, asking the director with his eyes if he's spoiled the take. The director must have waved him on, because he continues the scene.
Artie's Austrian scientist cracks me up. When he tries to give Cadwallader his name, he stammers and stumbles and can't seem to spit it out, as if he was caught flatfooted for the name. And yet it would have been so easy to correct that, because the camera is on Jim escaping from the trigger device the whole time Artie is babbling the name; they could have simply had him rerecord it and put it in, which leaves me wondering why they didn't. But my favorite part of the scene is when Cadwallader admits to the 'Austrian' that he has been creating the earthquakes. Instantly Artie drops the German accent and starts peeling off his whiskers -- and suddenly becomes half a foot taller than he was in disguise! I love that!
Ok, another favorite part of this scene comes in the next few seconds. Cadwallader looks around and sees Jim free and coming for him. So the little professor shrieks and points off to one side -- and Jim and Artie fall for it! They look, and the professor runs! That shouldn't have worked! Makes me laugh every time.
Now Cadwallader has the wires for the trigger and is holding them up, threatening to start the earthquake -- and his daughter comes up behind him and announces she is rebelling against him. And in jumping in reaction, the professor clicks the wires together, which should blow up the nitro but doesn't. (Well, no one cued the prop man.)
And then at the real cue, the earthquake starts and the camera shakes like crazy! Because that's what an earthquake looks like.
The final section is cute, with Cadwallader in the jail cell, and Artie telling him that 'E=MC2' is wrong, then giving him a couple of sticks of chalk. The last we see of Burgess is a crafty look on his face as he clicks his chalk together, thinking, thinking, thinking.
And then Faith pops up, expecting Jim to take her away with him! Uh-uh -- he and Artie disappear, and she stands there screeching out, 'I hate you!' The End.
(Well, almost the end. Cal Gal pointed out to me the final sequence of the train coming toward the camera, then heading away. Beautiful shot of the train! I made a gif and posted it on the gifs thread in this section.)
This episode more than any other, I think, makes me wonder if someone got confused and thought the show was a comedy.
Now, it has Burgess Meredith as the villain, Prof Orkney Cadwallader, so that's an extra special double-plus for me, since Burgess was probably my third-favorite actor when I was a kid. (Numbers one and two were -- and still are -- Ross Martin and Michael Dunn, so is it any wonder WWW is my all-time favorite show?) Burgess obviously has great fun with this role, what with tapping the magnifier glass against his face, making his teeth look huge, and getting everyone's name wrong: he confuses his sons constantly, confuses the minions' names, calls Jim Mr South, and though he has but one daughter and can't possible confuse her name with any other female character, he simply calls her 'Daughter'!
Oh, his children... The sons are not the brightest, a fact which he bewails, as he himself is a self-confessed superhuman in brain power. He seems to think his daughter is super intelligent like he is, but that's not how she comes across. She's scattered-brained and man-hungry, and fixates quickly on Jim. At least this leads her to help him and Artie toward the end, but she certainly has no clue about the signals Jim is giving her. The only girl more clueless than Faith in the canon of WWW (in my opinion, at least) is the ultra-vapid Priscilla from TNOT Whirring Death.
The earthquake scene is silly (fun silly in my opinion, but still very silly), mostly accomplished by massive camera-shaking and tossing of dust and debris into the shot. Curiously, the drunken piano player's bottle stays right where it is on top of the piano throughout the whole earthquake.
The scene between Jim and Faith in the hotel room is kind of puzzling. Why does he give the gun back to her? Why does she go to take a bath? (And for that matter, why does he go to take a bath?) Why do the brothers lock shoulders trying to get in the door? So many things that I watch and go 'Why?'
For that matter, when J&A are tracking the Cadwallader siblings a scene or two later, why does Artie tip his hat all the way forward? I don't understand!
During the tracking scenes, it seems to me that they played one section twice, of Artie backing his horse up a little from a cliff edge, then riding on.
True to the spirit of Season One, just when a fight is about to begin -- the Cadwallader brothers ambushing Jim -- Artie must be gotten rid of, so he goes off to find some water. Then Jim gets to show how fast he is on the draw by taking on both Cadwalladers at once.
Prof Cadwallader's torturing of our favorite agents is something of a fun scene, with his threat of tickling Artie. He has a perfectly good rant about the pay for teachers. Artie's joke about tennis is cute. And the guys figuring out the bluff is lovely, since I'd had the feeling something was off all along -- after all, if the prof had really rigged them up with nitroglycerin, why on earth would he stay anywhere near them?
The business with J&A being in the rock cart going into the mine was pure silliness. As a great many people have pointed out, why didn't they just stand up and hop out? Their arms were tied, but not tied to the cart. Also their cart was different from the others, not a specially made tipping cart, which made it look less likely (to me, at least) that they were in any actual danger from the crusher. Of course, the scene did show Our Heroes working together to escape, so that was nice.
Cadwallader's minions are a lily-livered lot, aren't they? They see a flaming arrow and instantly jump to the conclusion that Indians are attacking. And the giant bear trap was just goofy. If the trap was real at all, it would have done horrendous damage to Jim when it snapped closed on him.
Meanwhile, Artie meets up with two utterly pig-headed officials when he goes to warn the town. I guess this is supposed to be funny, but on repeated viewings, the two old people have become to me simply annoying. Well, the old lady's first assumption that Artie has come to report a birth is cute at least.
And so to the title scene -- the Human Trigger. Cadwallader tells Jim that when the pendulum balanced on Jim's chest swings far enough to either side to touch one of the contacts, that will set off the nitro and trigger the earthquake. And yet all through the scene the pendulum swings against a contact, especially when Artie shows up in the background in disguise, and in crossing to speak to the 'Austrian scientist,' Cadwallader trips on the wires! He (Burgess) turns around and looks straight at the camera, asking the director with his eyes if he's spoiled the take. The director must have waved him on, because he continues the scene.
Artie's Austrian scientist cracks me up. When he tries to give Cadwallader his name, he stammers and stumbles and can't seem to spit it out, as if he was caught flatfooted for the name. And yet it would have been so easy to correct that, because the camera is on Jim escaping from the trigger device the whole time Artie is babbling the name; they could have simply had him rerecord it and put it in, which leaves me wondering why they didn't. But my favorite part of the scene is when Cadwallader admits to the 'Austrian' that he has been creating the earthquakes. Instantly Artie drops the German accent and starts peeling off his whiskers -- and suddenly becomes half a foot taller than he was in disguise! I love that!
Ok, another favorite part of this scene comes in the next few seconds. Cadwallader looks around and sees Jim free and coming for him. So the little professor shrieks and points off to one side -- and Jim and Artie fall for it! They look, and the professor runs! That shouldn't have worked! Makes me laugh every time.
Now Cadwallader has the wires for the trigger and is holding them up, threatening to start the earthquake -- and his daughter comes up behind him and announces she is rebelling against him. And in jumping in reaction, the professor clicks the wires together, which should blow up the nitro but doesn't. (Well, no one cued the prop man.)
And then at the real cue, the earthquake starts and the camera shakes like crazy! Because that's what an earthquake looks like.
The final section is cute, with Cadwallader in the jail cell, and Artie telling him that 'E=MC2' is wrong, then giving him a couple of sticks of chalk. The last we see of Burgess is a crafty look on his face as he clicks his chalk together, thinking, thinking, thinking.
And then Faith pops up, expecting Jim to take her away with him! Uh-uh -- he and Artie disappear, and she stands there screeching out, 'I hate you!' The End.
(Well, almost the end. Cal Gal pointed out to me the final sequence of the train coming toward the camera, then heading away. Beautiful shot of the train! I made a gif and posted it on the gifs thread in this section.)