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Post by GarbonzoBeans on Jul 21, 2005 3:33:35 GMT -5
Recently watched it for the first time. After reading some negative things about that episode I didn't expect much. If you excuse them for the cheesy Space Shuttle footage I found the rest of the episode to be quite funny. It still had some of the "how am I supposed to do this" theme like several episodes but Ralph being charged with electricity and setting everything off/burning it up was what I liked best. THe shave and a haircut horn scene would have been funnier had they not altered it. Not a bad episode in my opinion.
Anyone else agree?
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Post by Maxwell - F.B.I. on Jul 21, 2005 12:44:57 GMT -5
Personally, I really like that episode. The effects were horrible, as usual, even moreso than normal, but I loved the interplay between the 3 leads, and how they referred back to other shows, etc. Great, great stuff. The missing horn sounds really suck to me though - I'd recommend watching the version that originally aired on ABC. The picture and sound quality won't be the same, of course, but you can see how much funnier some of those scenes were the first time around!
-Frank
P.S. I love that scene in the beginning where Bill and Pam are pretty much ignoring Ralph and he gets so mad he hangs onto the end of the car and won't let them drive away.
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Post by greenguy on Jul 21, 2005 16:31:52 GMT -5
P.S. I love that scene in the beginning where Bill and Pam are pretty much ignoring Ralph and he gets so mad he hangs onto the end of the car and won't let them drive away. Love that scene...."I've got a good chance of ending up like road pizza!" LOL We also get to hear Ralph use the phrase "Works for Me.", never catching on with TGAH, but made famous in another SJC series...Hunter. |
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Post by MissDavidson on Jul 21, 2005 22:30:59 GMT -5
I liked this episode too. I think if "works for me" hadn't been overused in the episode, it would have worked. It would have been excellent in the end scene, where Ralph trips:
Bill : It's called clumsy! (door slams)
Pam: It's called technique!
Ralph: Yeah!
Now, imagine, instead of that, THIS:
Bill: It's called clumsy! (door slams)
Pam: It's called technique!
Ralph: (looks at camera) Works for me!
Sounds good, in theory, anyway. . .
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Post by MelMac on Jul 21, 2005 22:58:14 GMT -5
I liked this episode too. I think if "works for me" hadn't been overused in the episode, it would have worked. It would have been excellent in the end scene, where Ralph trips: Bill : It's called clumsy! (door slams) Pam: It's called technique! Ralph: Yeah! Now, imagine, instead of that, THIS: Bill: It's called clumsy! (door slams) Pam: It's called technique! Ralph: (looks at camera) Works for me! Sounds good, in theory, anyway. . . It does sound funny, and it would have worked well at the end. Still, my favorite romantic exchange between Pam and Ralph is still the last scene from "Plague" where Pam tells him, "Let's go watch cartoons." The look on Ralph's face is priceless.  Overall, I enjoy watching this episode. I think they used it too much so that it would be drilled into people's heads, which I guess worked since it's commonly used today. I think if it were subtile, it would have become Ralph's catchphrase instead of Hunter's. I also liked the scene where the alarms go off in the light store. You can tell Ralph is beyond annoyed, and when he gets back in the car and says "I can't take it anymore" the radio blows up. It's as though his "electric" personality caused the radio to explode. |
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Post by MissDavidson on Jul 30, 2005 18:54:29 GMT -5
Yes. In fact, when I was fourteen and GAH was being shown on FX, I recorded Plague. Then I watched it over and over again simply for his smile. Go Figure. And speaking of that point in time, I made a GAH kite in art class that year. I found out last week my mom threw it out.  It was the highest flying kite out of the whole class (naturally. . .I mean, it WAS Ralph Hinkley 1, and I got the best grade in the class, A+). I think in celebration of the third and final season, I should make a new one. . .I'll keep y'all posted. |
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Post by billswoman on Aug 9, 2005 14:45:04 GMT -5
The whole question of "How do I do this?" seemed more relevant than usual; I mean, the man's having to CATCH an out-of-control space shuttle (hell, under good circumstances, they're like landing a brick with wings) and get it safely to the ground, not knowing if the astronauts are dead or not (well, it would've been unlikely that they were alive, but still....)
What I found eerie about this ep was it was the Columbia, the first shuttle to go up and the one doomed to a bad re-entry, as we all know. Almost like foreshadowing.
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Post by MrsMaxwell on Sept 27, 2005 23:00:32 GMT -5
The great thing about DVD's? You can play in super slow mode and catch little things....  Can you see the wire used to create the illusion of Bill's watch being "magnetically" drawn to Ralph? |
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Sept 29, 2005 13:10:55 GMT -5
It worked really well...one of the better effects they did in the series I think.
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Post by Maxwell - F.B.I. on Sept 29, 2005 13:44:16 GMT -5
That episode had some really bad special effects, that you really notice now that the DVDs are available. Check when Ralph is walking back and forth and the blanket full of silverware is 'moving' around on the bed - you can clearly see the wire on each end 'pulling' it back and forth.
Also, when Ralph goes into the bathroom and closes the door, you can also clearly see the wires on each item that 'flies up' and hits the door behind him - the wires being pulled from the side of the door that Ralph's now on. Yikes!
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Sept 29, 2005 17:32:47 GMT -5
Yes, but for the time it was probably some great stuff...have to look at it from the right perspective of course. Those were top-notch if you look at shows like Hogan's Heroes you know.  |
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Post by kattwoman on Oct 17, 2005 14:02:05 GMT -5
I actually really liked "The shock will kill you" i thought it was funny  i kept yelling Ralph over and over again while he was being attacked by the space monster...lol -i'm such a freak- lol. But that's how i flow ....i also thought it was funny when after they were in the motel room and the lights go out, and Ralph says " well, don't look at me" lol, the look on his face and the way he said it was ....funny stuff. |
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Oct 17, 2005 15:19:25 GMT -5
Good call, Kattwoman. |
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Post by kattwoman on Oct 19, 2005 14:08:11 GMT -5
Personally, I really like that episode. The effects were horrible, as usual, even moreso than normal, but I loved the interplay between the 3 leads, and how they referred back to other shows, etc. Great, great stuff. The missing horn sounds really suck to me though - I'd recommend watching the version that originally aired on ABC. The picture and sound quality won't be the same, of course, but you can see how much funnier some of those scenes were the first time around! -Frank P.S. I love that scene in the beginning where Bill and Pam are pretty much ignoring Ralph and he gets so mad he hangs onto the end of the car and won't let them drive away. well, i have to disagree with you about the effects usually being horrible, i mean you gotta give credit where credit is due. Like in the pilot for instance; i think the effects with the UFO was pretty amazing stuff for 1981....i mean come on...it looked really good to me, and there's many other times where iv'e been impressed, like in "The Shock Will Kill You", which is the subject at hand; i thought the lit light bulb in Katt's hand was pretty good....granted though, on the other hand there are times when the effects suck, yes i agree, but really, it's such an awesome show that the occasional bad effects don't matter at all |
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Post by Maxwell - F.B.I. on Oct 19, 2005 14:12:45 GMT -5
Yeah, I thought the effects kinda sucked, but then again I always felt that was part of the charm of the show, so I never really minded. HOWEVER, I never meant to imply that the effects of 'The Ship' itself were cheesy in any way. I thought those looked great at the time and I still feel they do now. It must be why I still get that 'tingle' feeling whenever 'The Ship' appears in an episode. Great stuff! |
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Oct 19, 2005 17:16:40 GMT -5
I agree that the bad effects worked well with the show...they kind of mirror our inept hero. And some were awesome...I agree...the ship was great...at least on the outside. |
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Post by kattwoman on Oct 21, 2005 13:54:45 GMT -5
Yeah, I thought the effects kinda sucked, but then again I always felt that was part of the charm of the show, so I never really minded. HOWEVER, I never meant to imply that the effects of 'The Ship' itself were cheesy in any way. I thought those looked great at the time and I still feel they do now. It must be why I still get that 'tingle' feeling whenever 'The Ship' appears in an episode. Great stuff! Yeah, i get ya, i was just giving an example. Man, it's such an awesome show |
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Oct 21, 2005 19:57:44 GMT -5
True dat, Kattwoman. |
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Post by billswoman on Oct 24, 2005 23:14:19 GMT -5
I read over the entire thread before commenting, to make sure I wasn't saying the obvious, and houdiniderek, I can't believe you missed this, but... did y'all notice it was PAM that pretty much led the way in this episode?
Pam's the one who suggested to Ralph that he discharge the excess electricity on the railroad track.
Pam was the one who said the critter was going to head for the most likely source of electricity, meaning Los Angeles (which then got narrowed down to the hydro plant, of course).
I'm not saying the guys were useless, mind you, but Pam was truly a key element on the team in this episode.
Those are just two examples off the top of my head that I remember (watched a lot of GAH today, so it's all sort of blending in together).
All-in-all, I really liked this episode. Yes, the FX and the monster were cheesy, but when are they NOT in GAH? (Pilot notwithstanding... they were trying to do well to sell it, after all).
As a fan of science fiction, I actually liked the concept of this "space monster." How'd it evolve? What did it live on in outer space? Did it attain "solid" form once it was in a gravity well? I imagined it 'living' on the energies of Earth's own Van Allen belt. And this "scoop" the shuttle astronauts use, and soon after the problems begin, was a cool idea, having it capture this critter inadvertantly.
Then Ralph using the radio: when I first saw him use it, I said, It shouldn't work... he's talking into it, and sure enough there's no reply from Bill. Then, down in the tunnels toward the finale, Ralph tries it again and of course he realizes now it's not working.
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Post by Maxwell - F.B.I. on Oct 25, 2005 10:08:41 GMT -5
Good point - I never really noticed that the episode had so much of Pam's 'advice'. Now if they only would have left the original friggin' horn noises in!!!  |
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It was the highest flying kite out of the whole class (naturally. . .I mean, it WAS Ralph Hinkley 1, and I got the best grade in the class, A+).
i kept yelling Ralph over and over again while he was being attacked by the space monster...lol -i'm such a freak- lol. But that's how i flow 
"Ralph Hinkley, the walking talking lightbulb"