Posted by Sealgirl
on 9/15/2008, 3:19 am, in reply to "Re: 25th Anniversary - Episode Rewatch - "Night Of No Tomorrow""
:
: First off - Was this really the first ever episode?
I think so - the main hint would be that the kids are still in the same vicinity they were when they arrived - the cool floating mountains are in the intro sequence. So you'd have to assume they hadn't gone very far.
That being said, there was a hint of familiarity with what was going on, as if they *had* been there for a while already.
: because we are straight into the action here, a little character
: background - Eric's Dad's Limousine - but nothing much else to
: establish how these characters relate to one another, where they
: come from etc. I'm quite surprised by this, I think, because so
: much has been written outside of these episodes in our fandom
: concerning their previous, real world lives, both past and
: future, that it's difficult to remember a time when I didn't
: have a sense of exactly who these people were and what made up
: their characters.
: At the moment the girls seem quite the most positive of the
: group.
That's true - but there is still a fair old bit of subtext going on with the script that we are so used to, but even people seeing it for the first time would be able to infer a lot (pretty accurate as well) from the first episode.
Eg -
- Hank is the leader - he has the authority, and no one questions him. That would make him likely the oldest too.
- The girls are probably BBF - no sniping, no b###hing lots of smiles, etc.
- Bobby and Sheila are siblings, and clearly have the usual older sister, younger brother thing going on... but again, they seem to *like* each other, which isn't usually the case with siblings.
- Insecure Presto is nevertheless very important to the group - did you see Diana's face when Presto said he was staying!!
Only thing that was missing in this episode was any hint of anything romantic going on between any of them. Well, I didn't, anyway.
The Tiamat encounter is quite nice - good use of a few of the
: other characters' special abilities - rather than the stock
: reliance on Hank's bow-of-all-trades - is this a trait that
: developed over the series? Did they get lazy and start using
: Hank's bow as a quick get out of any situation.
And they are also trying to introduce the characters and their powers, so everyone gets a turn, except Eric, strangely!!
In the last episode, Hank makes a pane of "glass" with his Bow to slow people down - weird!
(reminds me why
: they destroyed Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver during the
: mid-eightees...) or am I misremembering that?
The Doctor still has his little toy, but they seem to have put some sort of limitations on it now - and he has a tendency to drop it, too 
: Ha! Of course, this is the "Beware of the white hair"
: episode, isn't it? Classic gag, and actually really well handled
: - DM sets the misdirection up nicely by mentioning the 'faces'
: of Venger - it's precluded by Merlin when he removes his hat to
: reveal that he's bald, and I think it's natural to see his pet
: as a rabbit - proper riddle, that.
Why does Merlin have a pet hare in the first place? I've always wondered about that.It make him look like a Bond baddie with his white cat!
: Diane is quite a leader in this ep - useful at the drawbridge,
: taking charge when Tiamat attacks for the second time. She's
: second in charge?
I think that's likely for most of the series - except, of course, in Winds of Darkness when it's Eric.
*checks time*
... to be continued...
*vanishes, for fish*
Sealgirl