Spung at Heart - Review

[Padguy]

Actually, the business of Elmira kissing Radu was not in the original
shooting script. Bill and I came up with it while the episode was
shooting, feeling that her departure needed a bit more of an emotional
punch.

I'll never forget (rather sadistically) walking over to Kristian during
lunch and saying, "Kristian...just curious...you ever kissed anyone on
screen?"

"Uh...no," he said.

"Okay. Well, we've rewritten Elmira's departure so that she kisses you
before she leaves. Just thought you should know." And then I grinned and
walked away as his jaw dropped (because under the make-up Katie is *quite*
good looking, a fact not lost on Kristian.)

Ah, the joys of being a writer.

PAD

[Tracey R Rich]

tcur...@aol.com (TCurryFan) wrote:
>>There's definitely been some sparks between Goddard and Ms. D,
>>but I think ultimately they'd drive each other crazy.
>
>By the time they're back from their 6 year trip, it probably won't be a
>long trip for either of them...

They'd drive each other crazy, but it's close enough to walk?

>>I think it makes more sense in light of NP,NF. I think Elmira knew
>>all along that, to coin a phrase, this would be the start of a beautiful
>>friendship.
>
>Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow; but soon, and for the rest of their
>lives....

The problems of a Spung and an Andromedan don't add up to a hill of
beans in this crazy universe...

You know, I think we're onto something here... Christablanca...

>>>>And how can we forget George Takei’s all-too-brief performance as
>>>>Warlord Shank.
>>>
>>>Yeah- I'm glad they've brought him back for return visits.
>>
>>...even if he only did one ep in the 2d season, and that one didn't
>>give him much to do...
>
>Well, I was also referring to "On the Road..."

<SIGH!> What an amazing performance. That's another one I'm
looking forward to reviewing.

>...Granted,
>actors SHOULD be cast based on only talent, anyway, but...

Yup. We're talking about doing 1776 next year with a black guy as
Ned Rutledge. Now won't that be entertaining... I want to be John
Adams. I'm short, I'm a lawyer, and I'm obnoxious and disliked.
I'm perfect for the part.

>><SIGH!> I agree. I don't have any problem with Suzee not saying
>>"Cat says..." like Cat did, because Suzee's just so full of herself that
>>I can't picture her soliciting Cat's opinion. But OTOH, it would be nice
>>to catch Suzee every now and then having a chit-chat with Cat while
>>nobody else was around.
>
>Or have one of the kids ask HER how Cat's doing... Even the other kids
>don't mention.

That's a good point. Although I suppose that's the sort of thing
thta would happen "off-screen," if you know what I mean. Doesn't
really contribute to episodes, so we don't see it, but I suppose
it's probably happening when we're not looking.

-------------------------------------
Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
Bad kitty. No biscuit.

[TRRICH]

tali...@aol.com (TaliaKaty) writes:
>Well, the entire first season probably had the twelve best eps of the
>series, nearly back-to-back...of course, I'm leaving out Prisoner of
Love.
> (For a good reason...)

I didn't think PoL was that bad.

>>...conflict between Radu and
>>Harlan, who hates Radu because of what Andromedans did to his father
>>but who does not blame Elmira for what the Spung did to the
>>Andromedans.
>
>Now, that was just plain unreasonable. I literally stood up and cheered
>when Harlan said "She didn't do it, Radu," and Radu replies "And neither
>did I." (Sorry if I got it wrong - haven't seen this ep in a while, so
>I'm writing from memory.

Close enough. Yes, it's nice to see that Radu is not a doormat. He
stands up for himself when he is unfairly criticized, and this is not the
only time we see it.

>>Elmira makes predictions for
>>several members of the crew, and some of them are pretty grim.
>
>Is it just me, or did anybody else get kinda sick of Elmira's rhyming?

<shrug> It didn't do anything for me, but it didn't bother me either.

>>Later, Elmira is alone with Radu. She predicts that he will be a
>>great hero.
>
>This scene vaugely confused me...she went on for too long, and the
>prophrecy has never been fulfilled. All the others seemed to have their
>predictions come true in this episode.

I think the other projections were intended to be short-term things. They
were given for fun, so the kids could watch them get fulfilled. But the
one for Radu I think was intended to be a long-term projection, a look at
the man he will someday become.

>>The killcruiser begins firing on the Christa, when the white circle
>>appears. Elmira tells the Christa to dive for it while she
>>distracts the killcruiser.
>
>Another scene that confused me...I know that we would have soon grown
sick
>of her, but going with the Christa when you're in a damaged one-person
>ship (not to mention under attack by a Spung Killcruiser) seems just
plain
>common sense.

She explained this fairly clearly. Shank was not really interested in the
Christa. He was interested in Elmira. If she had gone with them, Shank
would have done everything in his power to get her back. Also, although
we the audience didn't know it at the time, Elmira knew that she wasn't in
danger from the Spung. She is Shank's daughter, and apparently someone of
importance in the Empire.

>>This is the second of my "top four" episodes of the series, a
>>four-way tie for best episode of the season.
>
>Ahh...that's the Space Cases we all know and love...when I watched 'All
>You Can Eaty', I realized just *how* far the series had slid. Made me
>sad, frankly. :'-(

ACK! You mentioned that episode!

>>The chemistry between Radu and Elmira is incredible. There are
>>times when you can almost feel the electricity between them.
>
>Which gives you an idea of how *fantastic* both are at acting - I was
>under the impression that the actress who plays Elmira was a lot younger
>than Kristan. It's *hard* to create that kind of attraction when you're
>acting with somebody your own age, let alone somebody who's a lot younger
>(or older) than you.

I have no idea what Katie's age is, but I don't think they're all that far
apart, given what PAD told us about the kissing scene...

>I have this completely bizarre and groundless theory that Spung hold some
>kind of dangerous attraction for Andromedans...kind of the way moths are
>drawn to a flame, and this attraction led in part to the enslavement of
>the Andromedan race. Odd, but untill I came online and found out the
>truth, that's what I thought.

Celia and I had a theory like that too. It all came from trying to figure
out how the Spung could enslave people as strong as the Andromedans. And
one theory we proposed was that the Spung stole Andromedan eggs and had
the Andromedans imprint on the Spung (many egg-laying species imprint on
the first thing they see after birth, and obey it as a mother). This
would create a powerful instinctive obedience. In fact, we were toying
with a story idea in which Spung gained control of the Christa, and it was
very difficult for Radu to fight them, or even disobey them, because of
this instinct.

But of course, we know now that this does not fit.

>>Katie McIninich’s performance as Elmira is brilliant. I love the
>>way she works with her body language.
>
>Oh, she's *REALLY* good at this... I wonder if she's done any other
acting
>I'd love to see how she handles another character...

I've never heard the name before. Anybody know anything about her acting
history?

>>Watch his hands: you can see the
>>knuckles turning white as he clenches his fists.
>
>I didn't realize he had his gloves off in this ep...I'll have to watch it
>again.

I was speaking figuratively. He is wearing the gloves, but you can see
how tightly his fists are clenched, and you can imagine the knuckles
turning white as he does it.

>> Just wonderful stuff (I told you I need some new adjectives for
>>this guy!).
>
>Marvy? Neato-completo? Far out? Groovy? (As far as I know, those
>aren't real words...I'm only 15, and as far as I'm concerned, the 70's
>didn't exist.

Apparently not, since the slang you used is from the 60s. ;^}

>>And how can we forget George Takei’s all-too-brief performance as
>>Warlord Shank.
>

>One question...Why didn't he have a backround when he was on the
Christa's
>viewscreen? It was just black behind him...kinda took away from his
>scene.

Cheaper to produce? Honestly, I didn't notice.

<RE: Jewel's performance as "Suzee">
>I just love LOVE *LOVE* that little laugh she does when Miss Davenport
>passes out. You can tell that she's amused by the crew, and by the time
>Bova gets to his "What other kind of ghost is there?" line, she's just
>lying there, grinning. I thought it was hysterical.

Yeah, that was great stuff. Not at all like Catalina.

<RE: Was Cat really Suzee?>
>Hmmm...I just suspect that they (meaning the writers) wanted Suzee to be
>sort of giggly, but when Nick (die, die, DIE!!! And no, thank you, I am
>NOT tense) requested that stupid 'love triangle' they changed Suzee's
>personality to be more... mature. Domineering.

Hmn... I'm not sure about that. Look at the way Suzee behaves in
Desperately Seeking Suzee (or at least, what we see of her behavior from
Cat's perspective), which was the first ep filmed. I can VERY easily see
the arrogant Suzee we all know now on the other side of that conversation,
but I cannot see the goofy, giggly Suzee we see here on the other side of
that.

>>...And the look on Goddard’s face when Harlan says
>>"You are never gonna let me live that down, are you?", a look that
>>seems to say, "No, I’m enjoying making you suffer."
>
>One thing about this...I realized in this ep how much Harlan looks up to
>Goddard. When I realized this, and then saw that scene when Thelma is
>repeating to Harlan that he is "good for nothing, good at making excuses,
>etc." (in A Day In The Life - I watched them out of order) I was kind
of
>shocked. I mean, Harlan probably sees Goddard as a 'father-figure', and
>Miss Davenport, who is a teacher and is supposed to *care* for her
>students, is bad-mouthing him to this same father-figure. It must have
>been so humiliating and shaming for Harlan, and I can kind of understand
>all his pranks now.

Well, we're not really sure who Ms. D was saying that stuff to. She could
have been saying it to Thelma, or even to Harlan himself. Thelma doesn't
seem to be revealing any new information here. The gag is that she is
trying to make Harlan feel "good" at something, when the only thing he's
"good" at is being bad.

>> And we see the beginning of the camaraderie
>>that will ultimately develop between them when they interact on the
>>bridge in the teaser. They are alone, and they are being reasonably
>>friendly. I love their little bickering over titles. "You can be
>>co-captain." (Radu gives him a look) "Vice captain?" "First
>>officer." "Whatever."
>
><achem> Just to let you know, I *think* the first one was assistant
>captain - watch me be wrong. If I am, I hope I'm wearing a tasty pair of
>shoes... (foot-in-mouth, tasty shoes, get it? Huh? Get it?)

I do a lot of my quotes from memory. I have a very good memory for words,
so I usually get it right, but I think you may have caught me this time.

>Also, I thought Davenport's theory of 'moaning into a futeristic
camcorder
>and putting it up on the walls' was pushing it a bit...I didn't think of
>BOTOS. Silly me! :-)

There was an episode of Taxi where something like this happened. Reverend
Jim was having dreams that came true. And in one of them, a whole series
of strange things happened, then Alex was dancing the can can while
wearing a green shirt, right before something horrible happened to Louie.
Alex said it was ridiculous. All of the predictions building up to this
came true, and Louie was in a panic. Alex, trying to prove that the whole
thing was ridiculous, put on a green shirt and danced the can can.

>>Wow. What a scene.
>
>Is it just me, or do you say that a lot?

Well, I say that a lot about the first season... <grin>

>>There is one oddity in this ep: there is a scene where we see the
>>exterior of the Christa navigating through what appears to be an
>>asteroid belt. Where did that come from? PAD, was something cut
>>here?
>
>I don't really see a reason to clarify this...I just took it for granted
>that asteroid fields were all over space.

Not really. Space is incredibly vast, and most of it is basically empty.
Even if you did come across an asteriod field, I'm sure you would go
around it if you could. SF usually portrays asteroid fields as very
dangerous and hard to navigate. So it seemed peculiar to have them going
through one with no mention made.

>>This episode is our introduction to the Spung.
>
>There are times when I wish that we weren't - they became sort of
>all-purpose villans in the second season...

How many eps were they in 2d season? I can only think of three: The
Sporting Kind, Homeward Bound, and Friend in Need.

>>Harlan tells Shank that if he attacks the Christa, the hull of the
>>ship will explode and destroy the killcruiser. This trick was used
>>successfully in an episode of Classic Trek (I think it was The
>>Corbomite Maneuver, but I’m not sure). It is particularly funny
>>that Shank (who is played by former Enterprise helmsman George
>>Takei) didn’t buy this for a minute.
>
>Why would anybody in their right mind build the hull out of a highly
>explosive material? One wrong asteroid and - KABLOOIEEE!!!

Well, I guess that's why Shank didn't fall for it <grin>.

>>Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
>>Bad kitty. No biscuit.
>

>Hmmm.. sounds like a cute cat. ;-)

He is the Cutest Cat in the Galaxy. For proof, see
http://members.aol.com/trrich/ergo.gif or
http://members.aol.com/trrich/ergo2.gif
--------------------
They used to say that an infinite number of monkeys working on an infinite number of keyboards would eventually write the complete works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.

[Billdecat9]

In article <19970606223...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, pad...@aol.com
(Padguy) writes:

>Karen writes: "Remind me NEVER to have you write any scripts for me."
>
>So you wouldn't want a script wherein you kiss Radu.
>
>Got it.
>
>PAD

ooooo, ooooo, if Karen doesn't want it, I'll take it :) ;)

Lisa
President of The Unofficial Kristian Ayre Online Fan Club
www.andromeda5.com -- The Unofficial Kristian Ayre web site!!!!!

[Karen12885]

No, you misunderstood... I would love to kiss Radu... it's the other weird
ones I don't want to kiss, and if you do let me kiss Radu, don't make it
unexpected and don't tell me like to you told poor Kristian with...

Karen
Me: "Get lost."
Other dude, if I say his name I may die: "On the Christa? It's gonna be easy."
My website broke, no link today.

[INIT M]

LOL Pad!

[INIT M]

Hey, can I have one where I slap Harlan Band across the face? That spooty
earth-eediot...

[TCurryFan]

"trr...@aol.com (TRRICH)" said:

>tcur...@aol.com (TCurryFan) wrote:
>>>There's definitely been some sparks between Goddard and Ms. D,
>>>but I think ultimately they'd drive each other crazy.
>>
>>By the time they're back from their 6 year trip, it probably won't be a
>>long trip for either of them...
>
>They'd drive each other crazy, but it's close enough to walk?

Heck, they can SEE it from where they're standing... They don't even have
to squint.

>>>I think it makes more sense in light of NP,NF. I think Elmira knew
>>>all along that, to coin a phrase, this would be the start of a
beautiful
>>>friendship.
>>
>>Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow; but soon, and for the rest of
>>their lives....
>
>The problems of a Spung and an Andromedan don't add up to a hill of
>beans in this crazy universe...

Of all the ships in all the universe, she had to land on mine...

>You know, I think we're onto something here... Christablanca...

Yep! (-:

>>>>>And how can we forget George Takei’s all-too-brief performance as
>>>>>Warlord Shank.
>>>>

>>>>Yeah- I'm glad they've brought him back for return visits.
>>>
>>>...even if he only did one ep in the 2d season, and that one didn't
>>>give him much to do...
>>
>>Well, I was also referring to "On the Road..."
>
><SIGH!> What an amazing performance. That's another one I'm
>looking forward to reviewing.

Woo-hoo!

>>...Granted,
>>actors SHOULD be cast based on only talent, anyway, but...
>
>Yup. We're talking about doing 1776 next year with a black guy as
>Ned Rutledge. Now won't that be entertaining... I want to be John
>Adams. I'm short, I'm a lawyer, and I'm obnoxious and disliked.
>I'm perfect for the part.

Heheh... I read about the furor caused by casting Robert Guillme (I KNOW
I misspelled that; sorry Bob...) as the Phantom in "Phantom of the Opera"
onstage in LA, because it amounted to a Black man who's in love/obsessed
with a White woman. My reposnse, of course, is- so? But apparently some
poeple had a problem with it. d-:

>>><SIGH!> I agree. I don't have any problem with Suzee not saying
>>>"Cat says..." like Cat did, because Suzee's just so full of herself
that
>>>I can't picture her soliciting Cat's opinion. But OTOH, it would be
>>nice to catch Suzee every now and then having a chit-chat with Cat while

>>>nobody else was around.
>>
>>Or have one of the kids ask HER how Cat's doing... Even the other kids
>>don't mention.
>
>That's a good point. Although I suppose that's the sort of thing

>that would happen "off-screen," if you know what I mean. Doesn't

>really contribute to episodes, so we don't see it, but I suppose
>it's probably happening when we're not looking.

Yeah... But it would still be nice to mention her... <sihg>

>--------------------
>Overheard at the office:
>I've given up on trying to hire programmers who speak English.
>I'm just going to teach our Product Manager Russian and Chinese.

Ya kaneegoo memnogo parusksi!

Gosh, that looks bad in Arabic text...

"Hey, the moon looks just like Arizona, you guys!"
-Joel Robinson, _MST3K:_The_Robot_Vs._The_Aztec_Mummy_
Catherine Johnson ---------- MiSTie #75,125 ---------- TCur...@aol.com

[TRRICH]

pad...@aol.com (Padguy) writes:

>Karen writes: "Remind me NEVER to have you write any scripts for me."
>
>So you wouldn't want a script wherein you kiss Radu.
>
>Got it.

Congratulations, Peter. Catherine and I have officially designated
you an Evil person, entitled to all perks and benefits appertaining
thereto.

[Tracey R Rich]

tcur...@aol.com (TCurryFan) wrote:
>>>>I think Elmira knew
>>>>all along that, to coin a phrase, this would be the start of a
>>>>beautiful friendship.
>>>
>>>Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow; but soon, and for the rest of
>>>their lives....
>>
>>The problems of a Spung and an Andromedan don't add up to a hill of
>>beans in this crazy universe...
>
>Of all the ships in all the universe, she had to land on mine...

I remember every detail: the Spung wore grey; you wore blue.

-------------------------------------

[Tracey R Rich]

in...@aol.com (INIT M) wrote:
>Hey, can I have one where I slap Harlan Band across the face? That spooty
>earth-eediot...

Hey... I'd pay good money to see that. ;^}

[Robert Rhodes]

It's good to know that Bogey lives on. :D

,Shark

In article <5ne9nj$2e0...@news.pond.com>, trr...@aol.com says...

>
>tcur...@aol.com (TCurryFan) wrote:
>>>>>I think Elmira knew
>>>>>all along that, to coin a phrase, this would be the start of a
>>>>>beautiful friendship.
>>>>
>>>>Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow; but soon, and for the rest of
>>>>their lives....
>>>
>>>The problems of a Spung and an Andromedan don't add up to a hill of
>>>beans in this crazy universe...
>>
>>Of all the ships in all the universe, she had to land on mine...
>
>I remember every detail: the Spung wore grey; you wore blue.
>

>-------------------------------------
>Ergo, don't step on my keybaskldjasd;a
>Bad kitty. No biscuit.

--
-Robert "Shark" Rhodes
rrh...@airmail.net
http://web2.airmail.net/rrhodes/sc/