Reseda Rose question

[justanotherskirt]

Hi all--

A couple questions about the episode Reseda Rose. Ralph calls Rose "Mrs. Harris," although in the pilot script and on IMDB Rhonda's name is given as Rhonda Blake. I was wondering what name was used in the Reseda Rose script. (It seems like there were a lot of name changes on this show!) It's always possible Rhonda and her mother had different names, although that would have been much less common then than it is now.

Another thing I noticed is that in the scene when Ralph and Bill are riding around looking up people via hologram, we don't see the suit at all. Of course, if the suit would work when it's covered up, Ralph would never let us see it! I wondered what the script said about Ralph wearing the suit, if anything.

To my mind, inconsistencies about how the suit worked were a big difficulty with this show. In various episodes Ralph can do things when the suit is incomplete, partly or even entirely covered. For instance, in the tag scene to "Here's Looking at You," Ralph becomes invisible when the suit is completely covered--and he's in school, too, which is a pretty stupid stunt. I know, it's just a humorous tag scene and wasn't meant to be taken seriously. But right from the beginning, there was no consistency about how the suit worked.

[Captain Marbles]

Not sure how to answer the first question, but as for the second - I think it works as long as a bit of it is showing, like under his collar is enough.

We saw this in another episode ("Here's Looking at You, Kid") at the very end where Bill congratulates Ralph on a job well done and Ralph's invisibility kicks in by accident again even though he's wearing his regular clothes out in the mostly empty school hallway. Guess it's a good thing it didn't happen in front of the class!

[HoudiniDerek]

We know that Rhonda's mom has been married and divorced. It could have happened more than once, so I could see them having different names.

I think that the suit probably has special abilities, covered or uncovered, but the inconsistencies could be explained away due to the loss of the instruction book.

[greenguy]

Jan 24, 2020 10:41:38 GMT -5 justanotherskirt said:

Hi all--

A couple questions about the episode Reseda Rose. Ralph calls Rose "Mrs. Harris," although in the pilot script and on IMDB Rhonda's name is given as Rhonda Blake. I was wondering what name was used in the Reseda Rose script. (It seems like there were a lot of name changes on this show!) It's always possible Rhonda and her mother had different names, although that would have been much less common then than it is now.

Another thing I noticed is that in the scene when Ralph and Bill are riding around looking up people via hologram, we don't see the suit at all. Of course, if the suit would work when it's covered up, Ralph would never let us see it! I wondered what the script said about Ralph wearing the suit, if anything.

Nothing in the script about Ralph wearing the suit. In fact, it doesn't even have him using the mirror to holograph on in all of those shots, he just looks at the various buildings.

To my mind, inconsistencies about how the suit worked were a big difficulty with this show. In various episodes Ralph can do things when the suit is incomplete, partly or even entirely covered. For instance, in the tag scene to "Here's Looking at You," Ralph becomes invisible when the suit is completely covered--and he's in school, too, which is a pretty stupid stunt. I know, it's just a humorous tag scene and wasn't meant to be taken seriously. But right from the beginning, there was no consistency about how the suit worked.

My copy of the script is the original draft dated March 18, 1981 (catch that date?)and the character breakdown says Rhonda Blake & Rose Harris. There's no other background given, other than a description of Rose in her first scene: Rose is thirty-six, very blonde, with a nicely rounded body which is just starting to get a little out of hand.

Nothing in the script about Ralph wearing the suit. In fact, it doesn't even have him using the mirror to holograph on in all of those shots, he just looks at the various buildings while using the power.

As for the inconsistencies, sometimes I think it was done purposely depending on the writer. Other times I feel it was a crutch used to be a bit sloppy, and not caring to be consistent with what we have seen before. The suits powers and limitations were always changing depending on the need of the story. How can Ralph get knocked out from hitting the train? Because his head isn't covered? Well, his hands aren't covered either, and he can bend bars, and crush guns...LOL.

I did notice while reading the script, several small Maxwell lines (and some Ralph in their scenes together) in the finished episode are NOT in this draft. Either a later draft included those, or they are an example of Culp coming up with some of the dialogue on his own as it's been reported by Katt himself, and others that worked on the show.

[justanotherskirt]

Thanks for looking that up, greenguy. So the different names for Rhonda and her mother are intentional. Sounds like Rose has been around the block a time or two. If the script is dated March 18 and it was broadcast less than a month later (April 15), I doubt there was time for another draft. You can feel confident that Robert Culp came up with those lines that aren't in the script himself. It was his habit throughout his career--he even rewrote Rod Serling's dialogue. He and Bill Cosby were notorious for going off-script when they were making I Spy. But I digress. 

Train of Thought is one of my favorites (even though the main plot is pretty stupid--how do you lose a train?). The question of how Ralph can have amnesia when the suit protects him from everything else is tricky, but I think I've worked out an explanation, at least one that's good enough for me. As Bill told Pam, there wasn't a mark on him physically. He was unconscious for quite a while, but I think that was psychological rather than physical. His mind simply took a hike and refused to come back. This episode is all about Ralph venting his frustration with having the suit and losing control of his life, and he expresses all the anger at Bill that he's been repressing for months. Bill is pretty hard on him, pushes Ralph and makes him feel guilty if he refuses to use his superpowers. This is Ralph's chance to get back at him, in a way. I wish the ending weren't so pat--bang, back to normal! Wish they could have taken a little more time to allow Ralph to understand why he wouldn't want to remember the past 8 months.