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Post by Maxwell - F.B.I. on Nov 21, 2005 11:51:14 GMT -5
Speaking of 'Divorce', what the hell happened to Pam's car at the end of the episode? Bill mentions getting her new tires and her car is being towed away, but what happened to it?
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Post by Ms Boku on Nov 21, 2005 12:02:34 GMT -5
I think every so often the ship overloads the cars or something. It happened to Bills in operation spoilsport.
It's the only explination I got anyway.
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Post by billswoman on Nov 21, 2005 20:42:25 GMT -5
Yeah, in O:SS all we do is see Bill slam on the brakes to keep from hitting the dead guy, then suddenly it ain't working and Ralph has to fly him back. I think MsBoku's right.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Nov 25, 2005 11:49:21 GMT -5
I think her tires were just stripped of the rubber when they drove her out to Palmdale and so she had to go and get new ones. Her car worked, but no one has four spares in their car. In SPOILSPORT, I think Ralph ruined the car when the green guys electroshocked him back to earth and that shorted out Bill's car.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Aug 7, 2006 15:47:47 GMT -5
A pretty great episode, as I am sure you all agree. Well-written by Hasburgh and directed well by Ivan Dixon again. However, some things don't add up to me and that is why I have to post. First, why was Ralph on the stakeout? If Bill was on assignment, you think they would put another agent with him for proper stakeout procedure. If Bill was not on assignment, how was he away from work for so long? Also, why not just bust the two goons across the way and have Ralph holograph them or intimidate them by flying them around? It was just not well-hashed. After all, even Bill admits that he doesn't think the partners are going to show. Why not bust them?
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Aug 7, 2006 15:49:05 GMT -5
I don't understand the Nazis in this either. They would be seen as a terrorist group, even in the 1980s. They would be under constant watch...and by more people than Maxwell. Why is it that Zedlocker only sees Bill as a threat to overcome?
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Aug 7, 2006 15:57:45 GMT -5
This episode shows how much Bill has come to depend on Ralph I think. For one thing, Bill is blind enough to think the hot dog vendor is a bad guy. Bill even says when Ralph is leaving that he has done it before the suit and could do it again. If so, why does he call Ralph back to help catch the bad guys? It doesn't make any sense. I do love the song though as Ralph leaves. I like how Ralph is shown to be torn between leaving and staying, although Bill is still staking out at the hotel. I know he is shown as remorse that Ralph left, but you can't really tell that. He just looks intense on his stakeout. The goon in the car got hit by flying glass, but doesn't notice...neither does the driver. They just keep going away...why didn't they notice Ralph until after he stopped the car? As for the Nazi shoot-out, the two guys at Bill's car are pelting him with bullets. Ralph gets shot by the caterer. Bill shoots the caterer in the HAND. WHERE THE HELL DID THIS GUY GO? He could have used his other hand or something to keep Bill from rescuing Ralph. I like the scene on the drive to the hospital where Bill is saying that they will hang the suit up...make it a hammock. Part of me wonders if THAT is not the reason why the green guys came...aside from healing Ralph. If they were going to give up, that seems reason enough. Why do the Greenguys only come at night? You think their big bright ship would be EASIER to see at night. Plus, they are big jerks. They steal people to the middle of nowhere and THEN rip off the phone company to pay for gas. Tsk, tsk. It was a funny scene but not morally sound you know. Speaking of the greenguys, I have always loved the radio communicating with the people in the cars. I loved how the phrase "bottom of the ninth" was used as Ralph is getting out of the car. It gives that feeling that time is passing quickly. VERY well done. I think Ralph's ego is getting to him here again. He tells Bill that the greenguys will send him down another partner...as GOOD as him. Thinks highly of himself doesn't he? Back to the greenguys: It was nice of them to patch AND wash Ralph's bloody shirt after they cured him...some awesome tailors on that ship. Plus, why can't we understand the little green guy with the earplugs? How come he only twitters?
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Aug 7, 2006 16:04:02 GMT -5
I have thought and come up with more questions about this episode.
What did the greenguy REALLY teach them? He told them that their planet could be destroyed if they don't work together and fix it. Okay, they were told that in the pilot, OPERATION: SPOILSPORT, etc. Why was it necessary to beam them up for THAT message?
The suit powers confused me in this one. We learn two new ones. One where Ralph can fix the ship with the hole in it. One where he shrinks with the book. Okay, those I understand, although I have more to say about the shrinking part later on. However, when the Nazis have the suit, they are shooting at it and burning it with nothing happening...because the powers are in the suit. But, if that is the case, why could the biker not wear it in HOG WILD? Would it have protected him had he been holding it front of him like a shield? This was just a little too pat for me to understand.
I like the Nazi scene, especially with Ralph taking point. He DOES look Aryan after all...and has the missing wagon. Although the timeline on this gets confusing since it is a day later, but people keep talking like it is all the same day. Did an eclipse happen to make it dark during the day or something? You think the writers could get a timeline correct.
I do like how losing the suit gave Bill more things to do as an agent, rather than as a man directing Ralph. It gave him the initiative, something the series really lacked outside of episodes like THE HIT CAR and OPERATION:SPOILSPORT. It was refreshing.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Aug 7, 2006 16:06:54 GMT -5
On the suit powers: I don't get why Ralph can't holograph the book. I know that we don't want him to have it, but I think it should be explained away. His holograph power changes a lot, so you think he COULD find it if he wanted too. I wish it had been explained.
On the shrinking bit, Billswoman always says that the 'cosmic responding' power does not mean shrinking to her. After watching the episode again, I am more inclined to agree. Bill tells Ralph to try the interface laser application. After Ralph reappears, Pam says that Bill shouldn't have told him to do the cosmic responding and Ralph agrees with her. That is confusing. WHICH power did he really input in the book? The one Bill said or the one Pam said. I think he probably did the interface laser and that is what caused him to shrink...not the cosmic responding.
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Post by herald7 on Nov 6, 2011 11:05:09 GMT -5
I do rank this as one of the best episodes for how they focused on Ralph and Bill's friendship. Bill actually looks like he's feeling Ralph's pain at one point after the shooting, very well done. And they really feel like a father/son team here, with Bill not understanding why Ralph can't enjoy a stake out the way he did as a youngster, lol.
Actually though, this episode's first couple of scenes did make me wonder if perhaps Ralph would benefit from some anger management classes, lol. I mean seriously, CHILL OUT! Lol. Still, I guess we can give him a break since he didn't hesitate to jump in the way of a bullet without his suit. I guess he was wrong back when he said he'd never have the courage to be out there unprotected. Of course it helps if you really love somebody. : )
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Post by prometheus74 on Nov 9, 2011 1:31:22 GMT -5
I totally agree. This is one of the best episodes of TGAH, and one of my personal favorites.
Any episode which includes the "little greenguys" usually gets my thumbs up, in any case. But this one has a strong script and exceptional acting. It's one of the high points of the series, without a doubt.
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Post by prometheus74 on Nov 11, 2011 16:55:07 GMT -5
And so, we are now into the third season! This has been a fun year, watching TGAH episodes and discussing them among die-hard fans.
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Post by herald7 on Nov 11, 2011 20:46:04 GMT -5
And so, we are now into the third season! This has been a fun year, watching TGAH episodes and discussing them among die-hard fans. I know, I can't believe it's the third season already! And yes it's been so great getting to discuss all the episodes with you guys, especially since it was my first time with several of them. Now it will always be very special to look back on. Oh and about this episode, one part that always cracks me up is when Ralph has to try and punch the guard without his suit, lol. Bill: Ralph, what did you do to yourself?! LOL ;D
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Post by hoosierhero on Sept 16, 2014 18:17:03 GMT -5
My biggest beef with this episode is the green guys. As a writer I don't thing we should ever see them. We as viewers should want to see them but never get to. The scene where Ralph falls out of the van should have gone like this.
Ralph falls out of the van and the ship beems him up. Bill is staring up as the ship flies off. Pam pulls up and comes screaming over to Bill and the two have a comical shouting match that melts into a reflective moment. Eventually the ship reappears and Ralph is beemed back fully recovered.
Ralph can explain about the aliens losing thier planet.
I could just hear these lines being spoken:
Bill: Those little green guys, they fixed you up? Ralph: They're not green, Bill.
Not to mention that production cost would have been a lot less without having to do the interior of the ship.
That was one of many problems I had with The Greatest American Heroine we should never see the green guys there either.
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Post by greenguy on May 10, 2017 11:59:07 GMT -5
My biggest beef with this episode is the green guys. As a writer I don't thing we should ever see them. We as viewers should want to see them but never get to. If shot as written in the first draft script for DVS we wouldn't have seen them. Originally Ralph and Bill are brought into the ship, and the alien approaches them looking like Pam so they won't be alarmed at the beings true form.
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Post by prometheus74 on May 23, 2017 3:03:12 GMT -5
I've been watching episodes lately, for the first time in a few years (still the same great show that I remembered), and I was wondering about the same thing. The "little green guys" is just something that Maxwell calls them, alluding to the cliché representation of extra-terrestrials going back to the old pulp magazines of the 30s and 40s, which is when Maxwell would have been growing up.
But then when we finally see much later on what the aliens look like, they happen to look exactly as Maxwell described them! I agree that they should never have been shown. It would've created a nice aura of mystery, sort of like the unseen aliens in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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Post by prometheus74 on Jul 28, 2017 15:51:17 GMT -5
Well, today I watched Divorce, Venusian Style. I was thinking how sort of odd it is that they waited until the 3rd season to show the aliens and give the explanation as to why they gave Ralph the magic jammies. Why did they suddenly decide to do that, I wonder? Was it an effort to appeal more to kids?
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Post by greenguy on Jul 28, 2017 16:22:36 GMT -5
That would be a good question for Patrick Hasburgh that scripted that episode. With Cannell gone now, he would probably be the best bet to maybe remember.
I've seen speculation that claimed it was probably done because of the popularity of E.T. at the time. However, I THINK E.T. was released in June or July of 1982. Filming of the 3rd season probably started in July of 82, so given that time frame I seriously doubt E.T. had much if any impact.
Now with E.T. becoming a summer blockbuster, had Divorce been filmed 4 or 5 months later and aired at the end 82 or the start of 83 I would have said maybe so...
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Post by prometheus74 on Jul 29, 2017 6:24:49 GMT -5
I had never thought of the timing of that episode, near the release of E.T.! That could explain a lot, depending on the timing of the episode. Even if E.T. had not been released yet, it's possible that the producers of TGAH had predicted that it could/would be a big hit.
I remember how huge E.T. was at the time was when it came out when I was 7 (I was the same age as Drew Barrymore's character in the movie. Hehe). The merchandising was monstrous. Ironically, I never got to see the movie until it came out on VHS when I was 14.
I know "Divorce, Venusian Style" is controversial, and not all fans like it. Personally, I do like it quite a bit. I like the fact that it's more science-fiction oriented than most TGAH episodes.
We get a few fairly good looks at the instruction manual in the episode, and I can tell that my replica which is part of my TGAH box set is quite authentically replicated. Neat!
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Post by greenguy on Jul 29, 2017 8:15:59 GMT -5
Oh sure, the "buzz" around the industry could have already been saying it was going to be a big hit.
I've still never seen E.T. LOL.
Yep, I like it also. Occasionally, I go back and forth on if we should have seen the aliens. However, that's minor to me in the whole scheme of things. I also like Vanity, Says The Preacher. Both of Culp's episodes are either love or hate with TGAH fans. The one big PRO for me with both of his episodes, is that it brings the more serious tone to the shows that we had in that first season.
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