The Gunfighters episode 2 discussion:
Our review of this of episode is broken up in two parts: Photobug and Altair couldn’t make it for the original viewing. So later Ronelyn and I watched it again with Photobug and Altair, and thus the odd discussion. – Ketina
—
GROUP ONE:
H = Historian
K = Ketina
R = Ronelyn
Cz = Cz
M = Mister Mother
Sc = Schmallturm
(no Spoo either week)
Cz: Noooo…
H: Would you care to elaborate?
Cz: No.
M: I’ve never seen a seven actor accent pile up before. It was just spectacular all over the map where those accents were.
H: I loved the fact that the singer has suddenly become May West because that voice is easier to do. I swear that wasn’t the case last week.
M: No, she sounded like a Welsh folk singer, or something.
H: Funny that.
Sc: You guys are just being snarky. I liked this episode. It was fun, and pretty well written. And kept up the standard of the last one which was enjoyable. And I’m curious to see what comes next and how he’s going to get out of this.
H: I did enjoy it. I’m not just being snarky. There were just some aspects that were… there were a lot of aspects that were intentionally funny and others that were unintentionally funny.
M: But it was all done with full enthusiasm. The actors were engaged even when it was awful. Awful is a strong word, but some of it was awful. It was just beyond their ability and they made the best of it. Obviously the actors weren’t trained to speak with an American accent, which made it harder for them. But they did the best they could.
H: And the British audience may not have had as much of a problem with the accents as we Americans do.
M: Undoubtedly that’s true. But that doesn’t change my response. And there were a lot of lines that missed their mark, but they just kept going with it. It was still good despite it’s flaws. In fact, the flaws may be a part of it’s charm. From our early 21st Century perspective, we expect everything to be so polished and perfect, we might have a different standard, or be coming from a different expectation. What I’m trying to say is, it’s great!
H: Something that I wanted to say was that the actor who played Doc Holiday was great. Full stop.
M: Concur.
Sc: He had the best role.
H: I was impressed with his delivery.
K: Except for the one line he flubbed.
H: True. But he had this dry wit. And his accent was great.
K: Unlike most of the Clantons.
M: It didn’t help for me that it was very distracting that one of them sounded exactly like the comedian Eddie Izzard, when Eddie does his American accent.
H: I think this story continues to be a lot stronger that I remember it being. I remember it being awful, but it’s just funny, which is what it’s meant to be. Which is nice after a lot of the doom and gloom we’ve had earlier in this season. And, once again we are treated to how DUMB Dodo is at the beginning of the episode. “Oh, yes, I want to continue playing the piano. I don’t want to go up in the room where’s it’s safe! I forgot they’re pointing guns at me.” Charitably she could have been wanting to stay to help protect Steven, but that’s not the impression that I got.
Sc: So I think that it’s not that’s she’s stupid, it’s that she has no fear of death. Similar to Vicki.
H: So, she’s like a stereotypical teenager who doesn’t have a concept of her own mortality?
Sc: Yes.
M: I offer up two things. One, her name. And two, she walked into the TARDIS and still thought it was a phone booth.
H: That is true.
M: I think she’s just oblivious of anything that is… it doesn’t bother her that things aren’t the way they should be.
H: She’s not observant. I think that you do have a point though. She’s meant to be the impulsive teenager. Which the show has wanted to have since the beginning. She’s just more impulsive that any of the ones we’ve had so far.
Sc: Well, she hasn’t twisted her ankle yet. Maybe she’ll develop some caution after that traumatic event.
H: So, we got a lot more of that dang ballad this week. Which is one of my main memories of this story are so painful.
M: It’s nice that in story they made fun of that very fact. Steven was like “oh, god, not that song again.”
H: Final thoughts?
<at least for this group>
Cz: What?
H: Okay.
Sc: I think I said everything that I want to say.
M: <beard scratch> Doc Holiday shot that guy down in cold blood!
Sc: No, that guy was going for his gun.
M: You’re right. “Holiday shot first!”
K: Matches my shirt.
<actually wearing a “Han Shot First” t-shirt today>
Cz: Haniday shot first.
Sc: That shows that he’s a good guy, because he waited for the guy to go for his gun.
H: And he acknowledged who he was too.
M: It was exciting because there was so much talk about people shooting and then FINALLY someone got shot. You can’t have a Western without somebody getting shot. It’s a nice contrast between Doc Holiday being competent and being sure enough of himself to let the guy go for his gun before he shot him, and the Clantons being all bluster and getting drunk and waving their guns around, but not getting the job done when they though they had Holiday right there.
H: Doc Holiday is cool and suave.
K: I’m gonna wait until next week, because I get a whole ‘nother week to think. Hee.
H: My final thought is that I’m continuing to enjoy this story a lot more than I was expecting. While the ballad and most of the accents are still painful, it’s a lot more fun than I remembered it being.
GROUP TWO:
P = Photobug
A = Altair
K = Ketina
R = Ronelyn
Photobug and Altair joined Ketina and Ronelyn the following week after watching part 2 as well. Here is our additional feedback:
P: Doc Holiday is doing a lot of far shooting with, what is essentially not a far aiming gun.
A: Well, British people don’t necessarily know from guns.
P: What he’s got there is basically an easily hidden gun. A derringer. What he’s got, essentially is just two shots. The other thing is, a gun fighter giving up his gun… I realize that’s a plot point, but I find that unlikely.
K: I double the gun he gave the Doctor was his only gun.
P: They recognized the Doctor when they saw Doc Holiday’s symbol on the gun.
R: “Yeah, but it’s a crap gun. I keep my good gun between my butt cheeks.”
P: The next thing is, I have to totally agree that Dodo does not learn when her life is being threatened to actually leave. I disagree that she was trying to save Steven. I think it was poorly written, not poorly acted.
K: The thought that Dodo was trying to protect Steven was certainly an unlikely stretch.
P: And along that same line, she’s taken hostage by Doc, and then Doc leaves the room. And then she’s a hostage to the singer who never draws her gun.
R: Then Dodo is just being polite.
P: Polite as you’re being captures. Dodo has her back to them and they are playing cards, and they’re not even paying attention to her. To me it doesn’t seem like she’s trying to escape at all. Next thought…; during the hanging scene, the Doc says they brought out his dentist chair. And I’m thinking, “really, why?” If they didn’t think the dentist was Doc Holiday, why did they get his chair.
K: To put Steven on to hang him from it? No, that’s too much of a stretch.
R: Because they’re morons with more thumbs than teeth.
P: And, lastly, the shooting scene in the bar. Not very impressive.
A: I liked the camera angle.
P: The camera angle I agree. But they put all their guns on a table in front of the people within easy reach of them.
K: Yeah. At first I thought you meant the Doc Holiday draw, but you’re just talking the scramble scene.
P: The everybody against the wall scene, yes. At least they lead to a good cliff hanger, subjectively.
A: I think it’s probably it’s just the accents were so bad, but occasionally I thought I was watching a high school play. It’s fun story, and I’m enjoying it, but the accents really are terrible.
K: Let’s see. I think everybody pretty much covered what I have to say.
—
