Post by niecie on Nov 10, 2013 19:58:16 GMT -5
Ok, starting the second season here, and I'm switching over to the production order. The second season brought with it a new interior design for the Wanderer (including the new fireplace with its escape hatch), new fighting skills for Artie, and color, color, color! No more black&white, and the sets and costumes all but glowed off the screen.
We start inside the varnish car with what looks like an attack going on. Jim is shirtless, and the other guy is in, well, quite a suit, ain't he? We see the guy with the katana only from the back for quite a while as Jim, weaponless but for some sort cast-looking thing on his arm, handily bests his opponent.
Then we get the reverse angle and oh! it's Artie! Suddenly it's clear that this isn't an attack; it's a sparring session (and on a moving train, no less). So they start the second season right off the bat with Jim training Artie to fight. Yay, no more Artie-gets-knocked-out-in-the-first-two-seconds-and-comes-to-only-when-the-fight-is-over!
I love the way they smile and laugh together, especially how, during the hand shake, Artie suddenly acts like he's going to flip Jim over his shoulder and then they both dissolve into laughter. (I wonder if this was the first scene filmed. The actors seem to be kind of animated, like they're happy to be back at word.)
They get a message by pigeon (Henrietta) and Artie uses a set of chemicals stored in test tubes within the side of the fireplace to develop the invisible ink. And hallelujah, it's a welcome message indeed: a layover in New Orleans and a Presidential citation!
Artie holds up a board for Jim to break in celebration. Jim punches the board; it doesn't break! Try it again, and again it doesn't break. (Btw, Jim is punching the board with his left hand.) (Oh, and you can see a dent in the board, well off-center, from Jim's knuckles after the first punch. Balsa, perhaps?)
The telegraph key inside the new fake books on the (new?) desk chatters to life. This second message is far less welcome than the first. Layover cancelled, right back to work in the middle-of-nowhere Oklahoma! Grrr... And now Jim, punching right-handed and dead center, has no trouble whatsoever breaking the board in two. The men's faces as Artie flips the broken pieces to the floor!
Someone (I apologize for forgetting precisely who) has mentioned that Col Mayo's lines as he and Jim ride along together are unnecessary to Jim; he already knows who Col Mayo is. Mayo is introducing himself to us, the audience. (Mayo's horse is gorgeous!)
So who are those dudes with the lances and the fancy uniforms anyway? The music is sort of Indian-from-India already. They ride at Jim and the colonel, knocking Mayo from his horse. Jim draws his revolver and shoots down both attackers. Did they expect to be killed when they set out? Knowing what comes later, I'm sure the pair were told to put on a good show of attacking Mr West but to avoid actually hurting him. And they wind up dead. Pretty high price to play just to get Jim's attention, I should think.
We've been hearing exotic music since the lancers first showed up. Now, as Jim goes to check on Col Mayo, he hears the music too and heads off to see what's up. He finds an old man with East Indian-style clothing and an East Indian-style flute along with a really huge basket. And as Jim is staring at that sight, a cobra -- of all things, a cobra! -- bites him! Well, I know what my reaction was when I first saw that: Oh no! They've killed James West!
(But this is tv and he's the main star, so no. *whew*)
Oh, and the opening credits animation has been colored up as well, with an impression of the American flag behind the boxes of the animation. I think the red swirlies surrounding Ross' name are probably new too. Also, instead of just a kiss as in first season, now the girl gets a good solid punch and winds up in a heap on the ground. When we were kids watching the show, my brother and I always cheered if she got punched and were disappointed if she only turned away and leaned against the wall of her box smiling. But you know, we never did catch on that the punch was in the color episodes and never in the b&w ones.
Jim comes to in a maharajah's palace. Oh, the place is gorgeous! But Jim is confused. The Girl of the Week, Veda Singh, shows up and Jim is somewhat snarky with her. Jim stands and is a bit dizzy, then remembers the cobra bite and wonders he's not dead. Veda chides Jim for not thanking the old flute player for saving his life from the cobra bite; Jim points out that his life wouldn't have needed saving if the old man hadn't sicced the cobra on him in the first place.
And now Mr Singh, Veda's father, makes his first appearance -- and it's Boris Karloff! Cue the fangirling (from me, at least)! Several folks have pointed out that Karloff isn't really given much to do in this episode -- which is true; he mostly sits in a fine chair and talks, talks, talks. But for my part, he could be reading the dictionary and I'd be hanging on every word. Boris Karloff! *major squeeing*
I do wonder though if part of the germ for this episode was: we're in color now, and a maharajah's palace would be VERY colorful. So let's go for that!
So many critters in this episode! We've already met the cobra, and as Mr Singh enters, he's followed by a baby elephant (wonder if that's the same one from Gypsy Peril?) led by one bodyguard and a baby tiger led by the other bodyguard. There are also tiger pelts on the floor. (Nasty! I hope they're fake.) Later on there will be at least one full-grown tiger -- and that ape.
Jim asks Mr Singh why he's been brought there. Singh claims it's so he can savor the pleasure of West's company. And now the game of verbal sparring begins. Snark and snark riposte. Singh sends Veda to fetch her 'baby brothers.' Jim, bless him, is very concerned over the welfare of Col Mayo as he insists on leaving and taking the colonel with him. And as Jim turns to leave, here come the 'baby brothers,' each one a grown man and armed.
Singh claims that there is an explanation for why West is here and that he will give said explanation to West without further equivocation. He then equivocates by offering West a drink of Kashmir Dew.
And now Singh tells West he wants him to stay and tutor Singh's sons in the gentle art of killing.
Jim sits to pour himself some Kashmir Dew. Singh calls out an order, and his son Gupta entangles West with a whip. Singh points out that if his son had aimed higher, West's neck would have been snapped. Nice host.
Singh mentions a 'charmed circle'; Jim asks about it. The Society of the Golden Cobra, of which Singh in the temporal and spiritual head. As he says this, Singh thwacks the cobra heads that are attached to the arms of his chair. The cobra heads seem to be made of rubber. They also, to me at least, seem very cheesy. (And I wonder if Karloff thought the same.)
I don't blame Jim for declining. Why would he want to teach that villainous crew to kill?
Jim's lesson turns into a lovely fight scene, with Karloff grinning and making remarks.
Now the Rosebud bluff really should not have worked. After all, Jim's been moving around being so active, so shouldn't it have already exploded at the slightest jar? The boys' accents, by the way, aren't very Indian, are they?
'By George, you're right!' Great line.
Veda shows up upstairs, and Jim goes looking for Mayo. 'Not that door!' Oh, there's a tiger in that room! Veda leads Jim to where Mayo is hidden, and Jim blows the lock.
There's Mayo, tied in a huge ring. Veda then nails Jim with a blow dart. She looks quite upset. (By the way, Jim's eye twitch is nice.)
Meanwhile, Artie is teaching John Mountain-Top 'Parcheesi.' Which is really checkers. And John mops the floor with him *snerk* Artie slams his book shut, presumably on his thumb. The dialogue between iritated Artie and the earnest young Indian is just delightful.
And back to Jim, chained to the wall, awakening in the midst of his admiring pupils. And here comes that huge basket again! Jim asks Mudjaz not to play his music. Mudjaz nods, then plays anyway. And the basket starts rustling! But what pops out? Not a cobra, but Veda, with a knife. She cuts the ropes and sets Jim free. Their repartee is witty and full of double entendres, and ends with a kiss.
Witnessed by her grinning father.
Artie and John Mountain-Top are out riding, and Artie gives the young fellow a lecture on superstition. (I'm not sure, but I think maybe John is riding the exact same horse Col Mayo was riding earlier. Bolted for home maybe?) But as soon as Artie's not paying attention, John turns tail and is gone!
And then Artie falls off his horse. I've never quite understood why he falls off his horse, but he sure does! And finds himself confronted by a lovely young woman with a very big kitty cat.
Now check out the shot of the exterior of the castle -- it's right next to Vasquez Rocks!
I love the entertainment of the two dancers. They seem quite authentic to me. Mr Singh is wearing the same pearl necklace the prince in Two-Legged Buffalo wore. I like the baby tiger and elephant in the scene, but I'm with Mr Singh about the dancing ape; it's pretty absurd.
But it's the next entertainer that I wouldn't be exagerating if I said I love him, heh heh. The jabbering he does though -- is that supposed to be some language from India? Wouldn't the actual Indians sitting in the room know he was jabbering and not speaking any real language?
But then his invocation of the powers of the North, of the East, of the South, of the WEST! My favorite part! And one of the things I can still remember from having seen the show back when I was a kid. Always makes me grin!
Surely Veda helped Artie with the rope trick. And then the I thisi-moose, I thati-moose bit. And off he and Jim go, with Jim pelting Veda's baby brothers with a big bowl of fruit.
Oh, the tiger! Artie's face is priceless, isn't it?
Artie's line about the noble horse being Man's best friend... well, maybe second best -- that's a favorite. So is the bit where Artie pulls the gun out of his sock. (In modestly turning away from Veda, he lets the cameraman get a good view of quite a lot of thigh -- and he couldn't have worn his regular pants under the robes? Mind, I'm not complaining...)
Nothing like a Jim fight on some stairs with a pair of jolly lancers! But how does that slide lead from the back door of the castle to the trunk of a tree?
I don't like the Singh boys' version of polo. Just sayin'.
One thing about the game, though: they take turns. If they all rushed him at once, he'd have a lot more trouble handling them. Well, another thing: if they had stuck with hitting the ball at him, he wouldn't have been able to grab the mallet and yank each of the brothers, one by one, off their horses!
And back to Boris, still sitting on his fancy chair, still playing his verbal sparring games. Oh, plot twist time -- turns out that Col Mayo was one of the bad guys right from the start! I'm a bit surprised that Singh lets Mayo get away with calling the boys clowns.
Veda, at least, as her father makes clear, was not in on the plot.
And then Mayo does the obligatory monologuing, explaining what the bad guys are after, which is to get Jim to convince the Pawnees to pack up and go away, so Mayo and Singh can have the land.
I do like Jim's line about how he gained the Pawnees' trust: 'Not by swindling them.'
Mayo shows that he's taken Veda captive, and Daddy Dear goes after Mayo, only to get knocked right down. Sad.
And now Mayo shows the agents why they want the Pawnee to leave: they've found petroleum under the stately pleasure dome.
Mayo threatens to harm Veda if Jim won't cooperate. A noise on the stairs signals that Mr Singh has returned! He once again charges Mayo, who shoots this time -- but not before Singh throws his weapon at his treacherous partner, knocked Mayo into his own oil well. Exit both bad guys.
And the tag, with our Heroes receiving a very large package from Veda. As Artie reads the cover letter (ever notice how often in the show, if something needs to be read aloud, Artie is the one to read it?), Jim looks into the big box.
Oh, according to the letter, she's sent them a leopard. Artie panics! Jim reaches in and pulls out the adorable baby leopard. Jim then passes the kitty to a very chagrined Artie while he goes to get her a saucer of milk. Artie pets that beautiful baby, whispering sweet nothings to her -- until a growl announces that she's not the only leopard in the box! What amazes me is that not only does Artie/Ross react to the growl, but so does the baby leopard! She looks like she's trying to leap from Ross' arms to run away, and I'm amazed he hangs onto her.
(By the way, the actor who plays the snake charmer showed up later as Harry Holmes in Circus of Death, and as the curator of the museum in Egyptian Queen.)
We start inside the varnish car with what looks like an attack going on. Jim is shirtless, and the other guy is in, well, quite a suit, ain't he? We see the guy with the katana only from the back for quite a while as Jim, weaponless but for some sort cast-looking thing on his arm, handily bests his opponent.
Then we get the reverse angle and oh! it's Artie! Suddenly it's clear that this isn't an attack; it's a sparring session (and on a moving train, no less). So they start the second season right off the bat with Jim training Artie to fight. Yay, no more Artie-gets-knocked-out-in-the-first-two-seconds-and-comes-to-only-when-the-fight-is-over!
I love the way they smile and laugh together, especially how, during the hand shake, Artie suddenly acts like he's going to flip Jim over his shoulder and then they both dissolve into laughter. (I wonder if this was the first scene filmed. The actors seem to be kind of animated, like they're happy to be back at word.)
They get a message by pigeon (Henrietta) and Artie uses a set of chemicals stored in test tubes within the side of the fireplace to develop the invisible ink. And hallelujah, it's a welcome message indeed: a layover in New Orleans and a Presidential citation!
Artie holds up a board for Jim to break in celebration. Jim punches the board; it doesn't break! Try it again, and again it doesn't break. (Btw, Jim is punching the board with his left hand.) (Oh, and you can see a dent in the board, well off-center, from Jim's knuckles after the first punch. Balsa, perhaps?)
The telegraph key inside the new fake books on the (new?) desk chatters to life. This second message is far less welcome than the first. Layover cancelled, right back to work in the middle-of-nowhere Oklahoma! Grrr... And now Jim, punching right-handed and dead center, has no trouble whatsoever breaking the board in two. The men's faces as Artie flips the broken pieces to the floor!
Someone (I apologize for forgetting precisely who) has mentioned that Col Mayo's lines as he and Jim ride along together are unnecessary to Jim; he already knows who Col Mayo is. Mayo is introducing himself to us, the audience. (Mayo's horse is gorgeous!)
So who are those dudes with the lances and the fancy uniforms anyway? The music is sort of Indian-from-India already. They ride at Jim and the colonel, knocking Mayo from his horse. Jim draws his revolver and shoots down both attackers. Did they expect to be killed when they set out? Knowing what comes later, I'm sure the pair were told to put on a good show of attacking Mr West but to avoid actually hurting him. And they wind up dead. Pretty high price to play just to get Jim's attention, I should think.
We've been hearing exotic music since the lancers first showed up. Now, as Jim goes to check on Col Mayo, he hears the music too and heads off to see what's up. He finds an old man with East Indian-style clothing and an East Indian-style flute along with a really huge basket. And as Jim is staring at that sight, a cobra -- of all things, a cobra! -- bites him! Well, I know what my reaction was when I first saw that: Oh no! They've killed James West!
(But this is tv and he's the main star, so no. *whew*)
Oh, and the opening credits animation has been colored up as well, with an impression of the American flag behind the boxes of the animation. I think the red swirlies surrounding Ross' name are probably new too. Also, instead of just a kiss as in first season, now the girl gets a good solid punch and winds up in a heap on the ground. When we were kids watching the show, my brother and I always cheered if she got punched and were disappointed if she only turned away and leaned against the wall of her box smiling. But you know, we never did catch on that the punch was in the color episodes and never in the b&w ones.
Jim comes to in a maharajah's palace. Oh, the place is gorgeous! But Jim is confused. The Girl of the Week, Veda Singh, shows up and Jim is somewhat snarky with her. Jim stands and is a bit dizzy, then remembers the cobra bite and wonders he's not dead. Veda chides Jim for not thanking the old flute player for saving his life from the cobra bite; Jim points out that his life wouldn't have needed saving if the old man hadn't sicced the cobra on him in the first place.
And now Mr Singh, Veda's father, makes his first appearance -- and it's Boris Karloff! Cue the fangirling (from me, at least)! Several folks have pointed out that Karloff isn't really given much to do in this episode -- which is true; he mostly sits in a fine chair and talks, talks, talks. But for my part, he could be reading the dictionary and I'd be hanging on every word. Boris Karloff! *major squeeing*
I do wonder though if part of the germ for this episode was: we're in color now, and a maharajah's palace would be VERY colorful. So let's go for that!
So many critters in this episode! We've already met the cobra, and as Mr Singh enters, he's followed by a baby elephant (wonder if that's the same one from Gypsy Peril?) led by one bodyguard and a baby tiger led by the other bodyguard. There are also tiger pelts on the floor. (Nasty! I hope they're fake.) Later on there will be at least one full-grown tiger -- and that ape.
Jim asks Mr Singh why he's been brought there. Singh claims it's so he can savor the pleasure of West's company. And now the game of verbal sparring begins. Snark and snark riposte. Singh sends Veda to fetch her 'baby brothers.' Jim, bless him, is very concerned over the welfare of Col Mayo as he insists on leaving and taking the colonel with him. And as Jim turns to leave, here come the 'baby brothers,' each one a grown man and armed.
Singh claims that there is an explanation for why West is here and that he will give said explanation to West without further equivocation. He then equivocates by offering West a drink of Kashmir Dew.
And now Singh tells West he wants him to stay and tutor Singh's sons in the gentle art of killing.
Jim sits to pour himself some Kashmir Dew. Singh calls out an order, and his son Gupta entangles West with a whip. Singh points out that if his son had aimed higher, West's neck would have been snapped. Nice host.
Singh mentions a 'charmed circle'; Jim asks about it. The Society of the Golden Cobra, of which Singh in the temporal and spiritual head. As he says this, Singh thwacks the cobra heads that are attached to the arms of his chair. The cobra heads seem to be made of rubber. They also, to me at least, seem very cheesy. (And I wonder if Karloff thought the same.)
I don't blame Jim for declining. Why would he want to teach that villainous crew to kill?
Jim's lesson turns into a lovely fight scene, with Karloff grinning and making remarks.
Now the Rosebud bluff really should not have worked. After all, Jim's been moving around being so active, so shouldn't it have already exploded at the slightest jar? The boys' accents, by the way, aren't very Indian, are they?
'By George, you're right!' Great line.
Veda shows up upstairs, and Jim goes looking for Mayo. 'Not that door!' Oh, there's a tiger in that room! Veda leads Jim to where Mayo is hidden, and Jim blows the lock.
There's Mayo, tied in a huge ring. Veda then nails Jim with a blow dart. She looks quite upset. (By the way, Jim's eye twitch is nice.)
Meanwhile, Artie is teaching John Mountain-Top 'Parcheesi.' Which is really checkers. And John mops the floor with him *snerk* Artie slams his book shut, presumably on his thumb. The dialogue between iritated Artie and the earnest young Indian is just delightful.
And back to Jim, chained to the wall, awakening in the midst of his admiring pupils. And here comes that huge basket again! Jim asks Mudjaz not to play his music. Mudjaz nods, then plays anyway. And the basket starts rustling! But what pops out? Not a cobra, but Veda, with a knife. She cuts the ropes and sets Jim free. Their repartee is witty and full of double entendres, and ends with a kiss.
Witnessed by her grinning father.
Artie and John Mountain-Top are out riding, and Artie gives the young fellow a lecture on superstition. (I'm not sure, but I think maybe John is riding the exact same horse Col Mayo was riding earlier. Bolted for home maybe?) But as soon as Artie's not paying attention, John turns tail and is gone!
And then Artie falls off his horse. I've never quite understood why he falls off his horse, but he sure does! And finds himself confronted by a lovely young woman with a very big kitty cat.
Now check out the shot of the exterior of the castle -- it's right next to Vasquez Rocks!
I love the entertainment of the two dancers. They seem quite authentic to me. Mr Singh is wearing the same pearl necklace the prince in Two-Legged Buffalo wore. I like the baby tiger and elephant in the scene, but I'm with Mr Singh about the dancing ape; it's pretty absurd.
But it's the next entertainer that I wouldn't be exagerating if I said I love him, heh heh. The jabbering he does though -- is that supposed to be some language from India? Wouldn't the actual Indians sitting in the room know he was jabbering and not speaking any real language?
But then his invocation of the powers of the North, of the East, of the South, of the WEST! My favorite part! And one of the things I can still remember from having seen the show back when I was a kid. Always makes me grin!
Surely Veda helped Artie with the rope trick. And then the I thisi-moose, I thati-moose bit. And off he and Jim go, with Jim pelting Veda's baby brothers with a big bowl of fruit.
Oh, the tiger! Artie's face is priceless, isn't it?
Artie's line about the noble horse being Man's best friend... well, maybe second best -- that's a favorite. So is the bit where Artie pulls the gun out of his sock. (In modestly turning away from Veda, he lets the cameraman get a good view of quite a lot of thigh -- and he couldn't have worn his regular pants under the robes? Mind, I'm not complaining...)
Nothing like a Jim fight on some stairs with a pair of jolly lancers! But how does that slide lead from the back door of the castle to the trunk of a tree?
I don't like the Singh boys' version of polo. Just sayin'.
One thing about the game, though: they take turns. If they all rushed him at once, he'd have a lot more trouble handling them. Well, another thing: if they had stuck with hitting the ball at him, he wouldn't have been able to grab the mallet and yank each of the brothers, one by one, off their horses!
And back to Boris, still sitting on his fancy chair, still playing his verbal sparring games. Oh, plot twist time -- turns out that Col Mayo was one of the bad guys right from the start! I'm a bit surprised that Singh lets Mayo get away with calling the boys clowns.
Veda, at least, as her father makes clear, was not in on the plot.
And then Mayo does the obligatory monologuing, explaining what the bad guys are after, which is to get Jim to convince the Pawnees to pack up and go away, so Mayo and Singh can have the land.
I do like Jim's line about how he gained the Pawnees' trust: 'Not by swindling them.'
Mayo shows that he's taken Veda captive, and Daddy Dear goes after Mayo, only to get knocked right down. Sad.
And now Mayo shows the agents why they want the Pawnee to leave: they've found petroleum under the stately pleasure dome.
Mayo threatens to harm Veda if Jim won't cooperate. A noise on the stairs signals that Mr Singh has returned! He once again charges Mayo, who shoots this time -- but not before Singh throws his weapon at his treacherous partner, knocked Mayo into his own oil well. Exit both bad guys.
And the tag, with our Heroes receiving a very large package from Veda. As Artie reads the cover letter (ever notice how often in the show, if something needs to be read aloud, Artie is the one to read it?), Jim looks into the big box.
Oh, according to the letter, she's sent them a leopard. Artie panics! Jim reaches in and pulls out the adorable baby leopard. Jim then passes the kitty to a very chagrined Artie while he goes to get her a saucer of milk. Artie pets that beautiful baby, whispering sweet nothings to her -- until a growl announces that she's not the only leopard in the box! What amazes me is that not only does Artie/Ross react to the growl, but so does the baby leopard! She looks like she's trying to leap from Ross' arms to run away, and I'm amazed he hangs onto her.
(By the way, the actor who plays the snake charmer showed up later as Harry Holmes in Circus of Death, and as the curator of the museum in Egyptian Queen.)