tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post7725300657231265495..comments2024-03-13T23:42:41.022-07:00Comments on We Are Controlling Transmission: SPOTLIGHT ON: “THE PROBE”John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15830334036783163702noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-90481468455778430552011-03-15T00:32:30.588-07:002011-03-15T00:32:30.588-07:00Dave, you look like you're being sold a used c...Dave, you look like you're being sold a used car -- or a severed life raft -- that's already causing buyers remorse.<br /><br />I'm as fond of The Probe as I am all of the other less-than-steller S2 eps (everything not called Demon, Soldier, Inheritors, Duplicate Man). I appreciate them for what they are (honest stabs at SF . . . pulpy, grade-B SF . . . but SF nonetheless). I don't dismiss them for what they're not (Stefano-Hall-Oswald classics). I'm the anti-David Holcomb when it comes to nostalgia: I'm up for almost anything that brings back the Tom Swift Tomorrowland of my (imagined) youth.<br /><br />And, since I mentioned Hall (in an admittedly knee-jerk genuflection to the troika), I'm going to throw out a nagging question: Why do we revere him so much? Are we putting him on a pedestal after-the-fact because he got a raft of Oscar noms & wins in the 40 years that OL has been percolating through our brains? Or are we (actually, the more cinema-savvy WACT readers) really seeing things in his specific shots that only Hall could do?<br /><br />I'm looking at John Nicholaus' OL resume . . . <br /><br /><br />The Galaxy Being<br />The Sixth Finger<br />Nightmare<br />The Borderland<br />Tourist Attraction<br />The Zanti Misfits <br />Controlled Experiment<br />Moonstone<br />A Feasibility Study<br /><br /> <br />. . . and I count 5 classics I would have guessed were Hall contributions. Are we committing the Fallacy of Appeal to Authority?hockey24hrshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17665339445715581362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-71421197213779663482011-03-14T19:57:59.097-07:002011-03-14T19:57:59.097-07:00You had mentioned before knowing Boyett and I thou...You had mentioned before knowing Boyett and I thought that very cool--as cool as it was to see him in THE HIDDEN in a fantastic role, since I was already well familiar with his many cops and cowboys over the years.<br /><br />Good on ya for mentioning him.Larry Blamirenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-9351397570996673662011-03-14T14:09:41.806-07:002011-03-14T14:09:41.806-07:00Well, we're TRYING to ring down the curtain an...Well, we're TRYING to ring down the curtain and dim the lights with dignity and grace. Good show, David J. Thanks for the perk-up with the Bill Boyett "Probe"/HIDDEN connection. I couldn't have recalled his name from memory, and the difference the years made obscured the fact that he was in both films. But Boyett sure does pull off one of the most memorable alien-possession characterizations in SF film with THE HIDDEN.<br /><br />Has there ever been a beloved show that was so lustily defended against its own ignominious end? As has been said many times before, THE OUTER LIMITS was like two different series. It's like marrying into an instant family and feeling compelled to overcompensate in celebrating the finer qualities of a stepchild you don't particularly care for, for the sake of the spouse you love dearly.Ted Rypelnoreply@blogger.com