HIGHLA-L Digest - 29 Mar 2004 to 30 Mar 2004 (#2004-60)
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Tue, 30 Mar 2004 22:00:03 -0500
There are 5 messages totalling 193 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Courage (was: [HL] Seasons Three dvds) (3)
2. Season Three dvds: The Lamb (2)
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 05:36:57 -0500
From: SenseiRob@aol.com
Subject: Re: Courage (was: [HL] Seasons Three dvds)
kageorge (Sure we read 'em, that's why we're here) posts:
>> Don Paonessa describes the difficulty of creating a special effect for when
>> Cullen hits a bus head-on with his car. He wanted something that created a
>> sense of impact, a visual that would connect with a moment of death. What
>> they wanted to do was something special, but because of budget limitations,
>> what they ended up with was something a lot of people considered "cheesy".
>> [They showed the effect, and he's right. It's this cartoon rainbow
>> explosion that's really juvenile.
Helva responds: (Welcome aboard, Helva!)
> Yes, it's cheesy, but when I first saw it I took it as part of Cullen's
> drugged-out hallucination. As such it was jarring on two levels.
>
> Visually, it made me think "What the heck was _that_?" which may also have
> been Cullen's reaction to actually hitting the bus -- he was not taking the
> build-up to it very seriously.
>
> Technically (I usually have one compartment of my mind operating on that
> level) I thought it could have been done better. Maybe they deliberately did
> it badly so it would be jarring -- which it was.
>
> But Don P. says otherwise, and he should know.
Sacrilege! It doesn't matter at all what Don P., the actors, directors, scriptwriters, or any of the production staff says!
It's only the interpretation of fans/viewers like us that matters!
I LIKE SALADS!
-Rob (::ghostly neigh::)
SenseiRob@aol.com
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 10:03:42 -0500
From: Wendy Tillis <immortals_incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: Re: Season Three dvds: The Lamb
MacGeorge says:
> After a confrontation with Duncan, when
>Duncan easily defeats him and demands to know why
> he's after Kenny, Ross tells him that Kenny murdered
> his wife. Duncan lets Ross go, telling him to
>leave Kenny alone. A few minutes later, Kenny sneaks
> up behind Ross and takes his head.
And just *how* does he do that, I've always wondered. You *can't* sneak up on an Immortal - not if you are Immortal yourself. Even if Ross thought it was Duncan coming back, wouldn't he have been a little bit suspicious? Just enough to look around? We've seen Immortals react to the "Buzz" when the other Immortal was a block or more away... and yet Kenny gets right behind Ross and is able to behead him without a fight. And, we know that Immortals can sense if there are more than one Immortal about- so that, even if Ross was still sensing Duncan, he should have sensed a second Immortal when Kenny got within "range".
>As for Anne, she came across as anxious, over-eager, and a bit of a
>controlling busybody. I honestly don't know whether it was the actress or
>the way the character was written, but even though we've only seen her in a
>few episodes so far, and she and Duncan are just barely into a
>'relationship; it already seems doomed. <g>
<sigh>
I continue to think that Anne (as opposed to Lisa) gets a bad rap. I've always thought she reacted in a very realistic manner. Confronted with strange occurrences and improbable explanations from Duncan, she tries to make events "fit" within normal expectations. Her boyfriend (Duncan) suddenly has a 10 year old boy living with him. Duncan does a horrible job of explaining who Kenny is and why he is there. ( The man is 400 years old, has spent 365 years dealing with the need to hide his immortality from mortals, and he *still* comes up with the lamest excuses ever heard. ) The boy is obviously angry/troubled/out-of-control. Duncan acts as if nothing is happening. Anne offers real-world solutions (therapy) and Duncan blows her off. Kenny then tries to kill Anne..and she is suppose to just let it go? *Not* question Duncan about the kid? Not wonder what the hell was going on?
As a doctor, her first response to someone like Kenny *would* be to suggest he needed professional help. Faced with what appeared to be Duncan's refusal to see that a problem existed, she might well "push" a little bit, trying to get Duncan to see the problem. She might have thought that Duncan, a single childless male, might not have understood that Kenny's behavior was out of line. She might have thought that Duncan, unused to taking care of of a child, might have needed and even wanted some advise. She might have even thought that Duncan, a man, would appreciate some (even expect) "womanly" advise on children- especially when that woman is a doctor.
Apparently, however, she was suppose to just keep her mouth shut....even as Kenny ran her over.
Wendy(Kid or no kid, they should have whacked Kenny on screen)
Immortals Inc.
immortals_incorporated@cox.net
"Weasels for Eternity"
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 10:08:37 -0500
From: Wendy Tillis <immortals_incorporated@cox.net>
Subject: Re: Courage (was: [HL] Seasons Three dvds)
Helva said:
>> But Don P. says otherwise, and he should know.
rob replies:
>Sacrilege! It doesn't matter at all what Don P., the actors, directors,
>scriptwriters, or any of the production staff says!
>
>It's only the interpretation of fans/viewers like us that matters!
Be nice, you'll scare the newbies <eg>. They're as rare as hen's teeth and should be given a few weeks to settle in before having to face the Sensei.
>I LIKE SALADS!
Perhaps, but I LICKED SILAS!!!!
Wendy (I noticed that SpikeTV is now close-captioning HL, even the early episodes.)(What we wouldn't have given for CC back in the day.)(Then again, we never would have known about moat foam.)
Immortals Inc.
immortals_incorporated@cox.net
"Weasels for Eternity"
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 13:31:48 -0500
From: kageorge <kageorge@erols.com>
Subject: Re: Season Three dvds: The Lamb
From: "Wendy Tillis" <immortals_incorporated@cox.net>
> MacGeorge says:
>
> > After a confrontation with Duncan, when
> >Duncan easily defeats him and demands to know why
> > he's after Kenny, Ross tells him that Kenny murdered
> > his wife. Duncan lets Ross go, telling him to
> >leave Kenny alone. A few minutes later, Kenny sneaks
> > up behind Ross and takes his head.
>
> And just *how* does he do that, I've always wondered. You *can't* sneak up
on an Immortal - not if you are Immortal yourself. Even if Ross thought it
was Duncan coming back, wouldn't he have been a little bit suspicious? Just
enough to look around? We've seen Immortals react to the "Buzz" when the
other Immortal was a block or more away... and yet Kenny gets right behind
Ross and is able to behead him without a fight. And, we know that Immortals
can sense if there are more than one Immortal about- so that, even if Ross
was still sensing Duncan, he should have sensed a second Immortal when Kenny
got within "range".
Yeah, my suspenders of disbelief got stretched out of shape on that one,
too. They attempted to mitigate the damage by having him think it was
Duncan (and I think there was only one Immortal in "range" at a time, that
Duncan had left by the time Kenny came along.)
>
> >As for Anne, she came across as anxious, over-eager, and a bit of a
> >controlling busybody. I honestly don't know whether it was the actress or
> >the way the character was written, but even though we've only seen her in
a
> >few episodes so far, and she and Duncan are just barely into a
> >'relationship; it already seems doomed. <g>
>
> <sigh>
>
(snipping some excellent observations about how Anne's reactions were
completely within reasonable boundaries of the character and the
circumstances)
I don't disagree with any of your statements. What I really guess I'm
trying to convey is that, despite being a "good" character, she had this
hard edge of "I'm a doctor and I know best" attitude that affected my
reactions to her. That may be personal prejudices coming into play since I
seem to have encountered a disproportionate number of arrogant doctors who
make proclamations rather than have discussions, and that's how Anne's
responses sometimes came across. Judging from general fan reaction to Dr.
Anne, I don't think I'm the only one that picked up on that. It was a
subtle thing, but when combined with the no-win situation that the character
was put in (pushing to get close to and understand Duncan, but always closed
out by him), it ended up making her, on the whole, a somewhat unsympathetic
character. Was that reaction entirely justified based on her actual
actions? No. In that, I think you are entirely correct.
MacG
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Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 17:43:45 -0800
From: Parisrose <parisrose@prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: Courage (was: [HL] Seasons Three dvds)
kageorge (Sure we read 'em, that's why we're here) posts:
>> Don Paonessa describes the difficulty of creating a special effect for when
>> Cullen hits a bus head-on with his car. He wanted something that created a
>> sense of impact, a visual that would connect with a moment of death.
I saw this effect, and the odd visual that it came across as, and wondered, "was this there before?" For most of the eps i have never seen the Euro-minutes, and so i was wondering if this was even in the shorter US versions? Of course the station that carried HL here has lots of transmissions problems so perhaps it got lost. There were many things the production and post production people did well, but special effects were not it.
I read every one of these posts, and have enjoyed them all. Please keep going. I very much enjoy your perspective and insights.
Parisrose
Parisrose@yahoo.com
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End of HIGHLA-L Digest - 29 Mar 2004 to 30 Mar 2004 (#2004-60)
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