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This is one of my favorite episodes.

People who claim that Season 2 lost the film noir feel of Big O haven't noticed the opening of HYDRA recently, with the pathetic, hopeless flight of the Union agent through the dark rain-drenched city, and the midnight knock on the door of the other Union agent in his dingy apartment. What will happen to the agents? What will happen to the second agent's pregnant wife? Then the scene switches with hideous contrast to Alex's sun-drenched villa.

The power is out in Smith Manor, and presumably most of the city outside the domes. They're pouring everything into Big Fau, not just the output of the hydra.

I love the Dorothy/Angel confrontation. Dorothy takes her duty as hostess seriously, for all that she's jealous and distrustful of Angel.

Angel's spirits are very low. Here she is, betraying the Union in favor of Roger, but she doesn't expect to get a warm welcome out of it -- and she's right! Angel doesn't grasp the depth of Roger's feelings for her.

Dorothy's line, "I have the ability to lie, also" is sad and touching. Angel wasn't lying; Dorothy is very much afraid that Angel will steal Roger away, and she doesn't understand that Angel is conceding defeat and leaving the field clear for Dorothy. Angel doesn't have the courage to ask for Roger's protection; she doesn't think she deserves it. But Dorothy's fear of this sad, defeated woman is such that she doesn't grasp this.

Alex's beliefs about Gordon's memories are sort of odd. He said his father "Forced himself to lose his memories before passing them on to his son." But it's clear that Gordon understands far more than Alex does.

Alex's Big Fau model is disgustingly childish. Dish covers give a nice "domed city" ambiance.

Alex imagines that he has everything all figured out, and he mocks Roger for his uncertainty about his past and his nature. "You don't know exactly what sort of being you are, do you?"

After the lunch, Roger stands alone in the rain, and so does Dorothy. Somehow, though each is very much alone, they are together, too. Angel, in the midst of a crowd of pedestrians, is truly alone.

The offer of "something special" to Alan foreshadows the next episode nicely.

I was amused by the overt Frankenstein setup of the Big Fau re-energizing scene.

The re-energizing ceased abruptly when Vera blew the hole in the pen and let the Hydra out. She also shouted things as if the Hydra gave a damn, but I doubt it did.

Believe it or not, some PCF members have believed Norman's joke about the flowers being for him. Roger actually responds, "No, they ..." and is cut off by an explosion. But the "No" was clear enough.

The flashback scene was cool, and implies, to me at least, that Roger has had many lives, not just the two or three that we can easily account for.

Poor Dorothy. She's doesn't dare believe that the flowers are for her, but she has to ask. And when she's told that they are, and she realized that she's the one that Roger has loved all along, she feels terribly guilty for her jealousy. She atones by directing Roger's attention immediately to Angel, cutting short the tender moment almost before it began.

Bravo!

I also liked how the Hydra was in a circular underground tank, reminiscent of the one in Eugene Grant's lab in "Missing Cat." This one was larger, though; I'm not sure whether it's larger than the underground cavern we see at the beginning of "Dorothy, Dorothy" or not.

In addition, I noticed the "manholes popping from the ground" as they did before Big O showed up in "Roger the Negotiator."

Pygmalion

As I re-watched this epsoide I caught on to many things that I did not see the first few times I watched it.

One of the very first things I noticed was that Angel is about 5' 10" and that she weighs only 117 lbs!! And that according to the ajent records her hair is white, I guess that this is anotehr version of platiumn blonde?

Angle Height

Well as Roger is "enjoying" a fun filled lunch with Alex there are also many hints or little thigns to notice.

The Little Model Fau runs off of 4 D? (larger) batterys.
Little Fau Batterys

As the lunch contuines on Alex sets up a series of plates around one large plate thus giving us a excellent image or simillie of the domes and his thoughts of how to rule them:

Plates = Domes

Also if you watch carefully Little Fau Model walks right through the plate/domes which can represent him and Alex crushing Paradigm. But their compelete goal is not to only over throw Paradigm City and rule but the main target is Roger and Big O which can be represented by these two pepper and salt shakers that Big Fau Crushes. The one on the right could be seen as Big O and the salt one (left) as Roger.
Big Fau Attacks Pepper and Salt Shakers
Or what I like to say as the pepper (becasue it is black (left) ) would equal Roger. And the white (salt shaker (right) ) would equal Dorothy.
Big Fau Attacks Pepper and Salt Shakers 2


Another fun thing is when Roger is paying for the flowers he hands the saleswomen his "credit card".

Roger's Credit Card Handed to sales woman
But then is called by Norman on his wtch as a explosion goes off, the next scene we see is him running off. Hey Roger! Did you forget your credit card?!?!

Called by Norman on Watch

Then the scene that follows is a pan to the domes, then to the Exploding Hydra from underground, a brief monolouge by Vera and thus Big O with Roger in Cockpit Busting up from underground!


My finial simillie for the night is that the animal 3 Headed Hydra and Big Fau are pratcially the same in many ways. The Colour markings white with redish spots are both the same. If one were to count the 2 lazors on the sides of Big Fau they could translate as too equalling two otehr heads thus the Mecha Fau would also have 3 heads! -Thanks to Pygmalion for help on this one! ^_^""

Big Fau

and the

Hydra's Colours

quote:

Originally posted by BethMcBeth Plates = Domes

I like how it looks like the reflection of the ocean off of the Paradigm Dome... Isn't there a shot like that somewhere in RD during the battle, or is that in Roger the Wanderer? I am not able to cap right at this moment, are you able to do that, Tony? It's... Roger the Wanderer, I believe. When the three foreign megadeuces are arrayed aroung Big O, the shot is just the same as the pic, I think, with the coffeepot and candlestick reflections representing the three megadeuses.

These sort of echo that shot, too:

why is it that when roger does something kind to dorothy that things never turn out the way he wants them too? all he wants to do is give flowers and a box of chocolates to miss dorothy, but stupid vera has to release the hydra, he has to go fight it, and the process he smashes the flowers and chocolates! at least he gave her a flower and put it in her head. )

quote:

Originally posted by Baby Fwuffles why is it that when roger does something kind to dorothy that things never turn out the way he wants them too? all he wants to do is give flowers and a box of chocolates to miss dorothy, but stupid vera has to release the hydra, he has to go fight it, and the process he smashes the flowers and chocolates! at least he gave her a flower and put it in her head. )

I didn't see any chocolates. Did I miss something?

Pygmalion

quote:

Originally posted by Pygmalion I didn't see any chocolates. Did I miss something? Pygmalion

I ate them when no one was looking.

I'm not sure the flowers were for Dorothy. I thought they looked like bluebells, despite not growing in the City. Who knows, maybe they were synthetic, or brought in from out of town. If they were bluebells, they might have been for Angel, which would explain Roger's start at the mention of a message for him. It'd also explain why Dorothy only got one flower out of the bunch. Sure, saving his life's important to Roger, but evidently not as much as apologizing for running off on Angel the night before. That's just the sort of thing the louse might do. After all, he doesn't have to worry about Dorothy exactly running off, now does he? Again, foreshadowing the next eisode nicely.

quote:

Originally posted by NotAsleep I'm not sure the flowers were for Dorothy. I thought they looked like bluebells, despite not growing in the City. Who knows, maybe they were synthetic, or brought in from out of town. If they were bluebells, they might have been for Angel, which would explain Roger's start at the mention of a message for him. It'd also explain why Dorothy only got one flower out of the bunch. Sure, saving his life's important to Roger, but evidently not as much as apologizing for running off on Angel the night before. That's just the sort of thing the louse might do. After all, he doesn't have to worry about Dorothy exactly running off, now does he? Again, foreshadowing the next eisode nicely.

They aren't bluebells, though:



Also, I don't think Roger has any idea where Angel lives. She always finds him, not the other way around. Nope, he bought them for Dorothy on his way home. Her words in Act 18 about him being the man she loves, and Angel's about him being in love with her, are finally sinking it. He's starting to believe it himself, sorta.

This week's virtual episode is Act 23: TWISTED MEMORIES. Watch it when you can. Discussion starts Saturday night, 11/20!

Again, although I've seen all the episodes a zillion times, I haven't watched most of them recently, and it really pays to see them again after a long break. Take the 25 minutes out of your busy schedule!

This episode rewards the viewer who hasn't seen it in a while. Some interesting things I noticed:

In Angel's dream/flashback, she hears her mother saying, "These scars prove that you're the reincarnation of a little angel." Note the use of the word "reincarnation."

Dorothy hasn't shaken her self-doubts. She still feels bad about her jealousy and of telling a lie to Norman.

Once again, Roger looks at the issue of memories. "Will memories give me no choice but to play out the role of Roger Smith on this stage we call Paradigm?" But he concludes that he still has his free will. He would have chosen this role anyway, because it's the right thing to do.

Gordon chides Alex indirectly in their last meeting, but Alex doesn't get it. Twice, Gordon tells him that everyone is in this together; it's not about playing god. The first time he says, "Harvest time is near. . . . I hope the harvest this year puts as much food on as many tables as it possibly can." (He is referring to the impending "Event" or "Reset.") The second time he says, "All of you here, you are all my beloved sons and daughters."

Gordon is trying to save the world, not rule it. Alex will be happy to be the god of whatever remnant of the world survives his attempt to seize it.

Beck is, as always, pretty much Lupin in yellow.

Vera's speech isn't any less incoherent this time than the last several times I listened to it. But then, I'm convinced that she is just as deluded as Alex Rosewater, but less well informed. Her talk about the memories buried under the city are probably a distorted memory of Big Venus, and her desire to burn the city to the ground are a combination of her hatred and yet another distorted memory of Big Venus.

Dorothy seems to know by instinct that Norman is in trouble. She says his name and rushes to help. Big O activates himself (his eyes light up) as she leaves the cockpit.

I'm convinced that the reason Beck is on the scene is so he can tell Roger that it's not really his fault. Beck is not happy with the idea of harming Dorothy. I'm certain that she has earned his respect. I am half-convinced he's fallen in love with her. (A concept I ran with in my fan-fiction Season 3).

Dorothy once again shows that she has a split personality. She can be controlled to some extent by Megadeuses -- she lists Dorothy 1, the Archetype, and Leviathan -- and seems to be partly controlled by ... something during the attempt to kidnap her. Not the scorpion bots; they seem to be lesser beings or perhaps just radio-controlled machinery. Dorothy says, "You don't have any machine emotions," which seems to dismiss them as unimportant. Perhaps Big Fau or Big Duo are calling to her.

The upshot is that she is not as decisive and well-centered as usual. She's okay when she's helping Norman, but when the focus turns to resisting the compulsion herself, she doesn't have the willpower. It leads to the saddest speech in the whole series:

"They want to capture and keep me. They want the memories inside me, the ones I am not aware of ... I am what I am. I am not like the robots or Roger."

And just as it looks like Roger can retrieve Dorothy, Big Duo shows up. Oh, the agony of waiting a whole week for Act 24, during the show's first run!

"Sons of B*****s!"

What a great episode... Norman gets lots of guns to shoot.

And the bit with Roger and Big O reaching up at the same time is one of my favorite shots from the series...

quote:

Originally posted by Big Money "Sons of B*****s!" What a great episode... Norman gets lots of guns to shoot. And the bit with Roger and Big O reaching up at the same time is one of my favorite shots from the series...

You forgot Big O smashing through the wall to save dorothy then destroying the mansion to slide out.

This episode was the begining of the end.

Boy, this was indeed the official beginning of the end, wasnt' it?

I remember how the end really got to me - not so much a nail-biting cliffhanger as "Stripes" was (Alan's drill-hand walking toward Dorothy was quite riveting!) - but in a different way,the "to be continued" really tugged at my heart, if I can be emotional for a bit.

I think it was the defeatist attitude of Dorothy as she got captured - the whole acknowledgement that she was an android with coveted "memories."

The action in the mansion was top notch! Norman with guns! Big O blasting through the outside wall (not to mention crushing that crab-robot first!).

Anywho, the appearance of Big Duo was rockin' - especially in its entrance - knocking away Roger/Big O's attempt to reach the captured Dorothy.

Man, I can't wait to get my Season II DVD's!!!! (C'mon, Mr. Postman!)

quote:

Originally posted by Pygmalion I didn't see any chocolates. Did I miss something? Pygmalion

no, i was just using it for more dramatic appeal.

3 days from now norman says SOB, you guys. will you still be surprised when he says it or not? That is the question.

quote:

Originally posted by NotAsleep I'm not sure the flowers were for Dorothy. I thought they looked like bluebells, despite not growing in the City. Who knows, maybe they were synthetic, or brought in from out of town. If they were bluebells, they might have been for Angel, which would explain Roger's start at the mention of a message for him. It'd also explain why Dorothy only got one flower out of the bunch. Sure, saving his life's important to Roger, but evidently not as much as apologizing for running off on Angel the night before. That's just the sort of thing the louse might do. After all, he doesn't have to worry about Dorothy exactly running off, now does he? Again, foreshadowing the next eisode nicely.

The flowers are definitely different:

A great Ep to lead to the end. I love Beck expression when Alan mention "a order of excution". The final 10 mins where a cliff hanger espically seeing Norman shooting the crap out of the bots. Seeing Dorothy being taken away from Roger hit me a bit. The look she was giving like save me you louse. Big-O's graphic stlye was nice in this ep espically the shot when he screams out Dorothy's name. Big-Duo-Inferno's enterance was the $h!tnz!e

Tonight's virtual episodes is Act 24 -- THE BIG FIGHT. You don't want to miss this episode. Watch it on DVD or tape or whatever and discuss starting tonight!

I think the fight should had last a bit longer, not 10 min. but it was still a great battle never the less. go rapid fire plasma ray gun!

The battle was 2nd to my list of greatest fight. No 1 goes to the Enemy Is Another Big!. But this battle had a little better grapihcs to it. Big-Dul Inferno had better hands than Big Duo. His hands actually look better. Once again public buildings are mere objects in this battle look what Big-O does to those buildings with his"Thunder Attack". Roger expression with Dorothy was a touching moment. I only wonder what was the letter that Seebach gave to Roger explains?