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Post by The J-Man on Apr 2, 2007 11:43:16 GMT -5
At the end of the episode, when Ralph flies the van over the city, he and Bill have the badguys throw their weapons out the windows. While that successfully disarms said badguys, wouldn't the falling weapons be a hazard to the people and property they landed on?
Also, Bill tells Ralph to set the van down because Johnny has "hydrophobia". But hydrophobia is the fear of water, not heights; it's not "high-drophobia".
I actually have a theory about this, but want to know what others think.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Apr 2, 2007 12:00:53 GMT -5
At the end of the episode, when Ralph flies the van over the city, he and Bill have the badguys throw their weapons out the windows. While that successfully disarms said badguys, wouldn't the falling weapons be a hazard to the people and property they landed on? Also, Bill tells Ralph to set the van down because Johnny has "hydrophobia". But hydrophobia is the fear of water, not heights; it's not "high-drophobia". I actually have a theory about this, but want to know what others think. The first one is touched on a lot by other people in other DREAMS threads and I agree that this is not the smartest Bill moment. Why kill people below? As for hydrophobia, I hate that too. I am wondering if Bill mentioned it because Ralph WOULD have dropped them in the water and let him drown if necessary. I just presumed that Bill DIDN'T know the real term for what he was talking about and just made it up. |
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Post by MelMac on Apr 2, 2007 12:02:37 GMT -5
Given that a bullet shot straight up in the air can fall back down at the pace and do the damage of a brick falling about 10-20 stories up, yes, it could definitely hurt someone on the ground. Not the best idea Bill had at the moment, for civilian's safety. He could've had them hand over the weapons to him and Pam and taken out the bullets. Easy enough threat: Ralph'd drop them, and if they balked saying they had Pam as an ace, Bill could claim that Ralph is fast enough to get the two of them out and fly them to safety.
As far as Hydrophobia, I think Bill had a double meaning there: The bad guy was 'rabid' (as he was after Ralph to prove he wore the suit afterall), and he's erred and thinks there is such a thing as high-drophobia.
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Post by The J-Man on Apr 2, 2007 15:03:22 GMT -5
I am wondering if Bill mentioned it because Ralph WOULD have dropped them in the water and let him drown if necessary. But they weren't over any body of water, they were clearly over the city. My best guess is: that as originally written and filmed (with a blue screen, not really in the sky), they probably had flown out over the water. But, for some reason, it wasn't composited that way in post production. Whether it was carelessness on the part of an editing intern, or some network suit with the bright idea that it would look cooler over the city...I have no way of knowing. Additionally, this episode has several logistical problems that they try to "fix" in post production with the addition of the "Saturday Morning 7:00am" ( I think) title card at the beginning, and the looped in lines about Ralph's sport jacket being borrowed and needing to be returned (as he loses it and unloses it and loses it again). It seems that between script, filming, and editing, something wonky was happening. |
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Post by herald7 on Sept 24, 2011 5:54:45 GMT -5
OK I'm going to be away this weekend so I wanted to get my two cents in early, hehe. I liked this episode mainly for the scene in the teacher's lounge when Ralph's trying to test his joke on the other teachers. You can imagine what it's like for these guys having to live with Ralph's never ceasing optimism, lol. Btw I saw the original promo for this one on YouTube; I love how it has pretty much NOTHING to do with the actual episode, lol: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWOVpVi9A_YI've seen this before with other shows. Sometimes it's because the actual plot is too complicated to fit into one catchy sentence. Or other times it's because they're using an earlier version of the story. |
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Post by greenguy on Sept 24, 2011 12:35:51 GMT -5
Btw I saw the original promo for this one on YouTube; I love how it has pretty much NOTHING to do with the actual episode, lol: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWOVpVi9A_YI've seen this before with other shows. Sometimes it's because the actual plot is too complicated to fit into one catchy sentence. Or other times it's because they're using an earlier version of the story. Actually that promo was for the summer rerun of the episode, and in those days the networks used to outright LIE in some cases on the rebroadcast promos. Why? I don't know. Maybe to try and fool viewers into thinking they were going to watch something they had not seen before. I have several examples of promos recorded from those days of the rerun broadcasts,(even for other series: The A-Team, Riptide, Knight Rider, etc) and almost ALL distort the truth (=LIE) of what the episode was about. I have the rerun promo for Captain Bellybuster which says: "Someone's posing as The Greatest American Hero" shown over clips over the Captain...then it says "But the imposter is in big trouble" and the biggest lie: "The mob is looking for the secret of the suit" I miss 80's television...LOL |
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Post by herald7 on Sept 25, 2011 11:16:49 GMT -5
Actually that promo was for the summer rerun of the episode, and in those days the networks used to outright LIE in some cases on the rebroadcast promos. Why? I don't know. Maybe to try and fool viewers into thinking they were going to watch something they had not seen before. Ah thank you, that does explain it a bit more. Pretty sneaky if true, lol.  I saw something similar when The Muppet Show was on Time Life DVDs. Brian Henson would come on before the episode and give a brief summary, but sometimes you'd think, "Wait, what episode was HE watching?" Lol I know, you could argue everything's a little too perfect now, lol. |
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Post by prometheus74 on Sept 25, 2011 15:21:04 GMT -5
Actually that promo was for the summer rerun of the episode, and in those days the networks used to outright LIE in some cases on the rebroadcast promos. Why? I don't know. Maybe to try and fool viewers into thinking they were going to watch something they had not seen before. That's hilarious! ;D I wasn't aware of that! Anyway, "Dreams" is a very good episode. I like the idea of Ralph using the suit on his own terms, for reasons that HE considers important, rather than for reasons BILL considers important. Good stuff! ( I, too, like that scene where Ralph is testing a joke on the other teachers. ) |
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Post by herald7 on Sept 26, 2011 12:04:02 GMT -5
Anyway, "Dreams" is a very good episode. I like the idea of Ralph using the suit on his own terms, for reasons that HE considers important, rather than for reasons BILL considers important. Good stuff! Yeah finally taking a well deserved break from the commie plots, lol. Those were always pretty straight forward: have to save the world, the end, lol. But stories like "Dreams" were more ambiguous. Ralph, because of who he is as a person, has to help people. He can't just pass someone by in the street if he thinks he can do something about it. But it's not always that clear cut because even the good you do has consequences. And sometimes you can help someone by letting them fail rather than "saving" them. Something you honestly don't hear a lot in Super hero stories! I mean when was the last time Superman said, "You know, it's best I don't save you today."? LOL. But such a thing is possible, and even right, on Greatest American Hero. ;D Btw I also like how it's clearly a foregone conclusion that Bill is the wrong one to talk at the lecture on saving kids, lol. |
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Post by prometheus74 on Sept 27, 2011 20:28:50 GMT -5
Ralph, because of who he is as a person, has to help people. He can't just pass someone by in the street if he thinks he can do something about it. Very true. It's just the kind of good-natured human being he is. And that's why the little Greenguys-----out of the billions of people on Earth to choose from-----picked Ralph to wear the Jammies.  |
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Post by greenguy on Oct 16, 2011 11:03:23 GMT -5
Oh and I forgot to mention Culp's ad-lib in the tag: "If it hadn't been for the ball, uh, courage of..." Awesome that the line made it past the ABC censors even if he didn't say the complete word. That sneaky Fed!  |
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Post by herald7 on Oct 17, 2011 18:50:48 GMT -5
Oh and I forgot to mention Culp's ad-lib in the tag: "If it hadn't been for the ball, uh, courage of..." Awesome that the line made it past the ABC censors even if he didn't say the complete word. That sneaky Fed! Ha! Hadn't caught that before. ;D |
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