Howdy folks -
Well, I'm a little late with this installment of the EF, but I figure that
prolonging the inevitable is exactly what we all need right about now. Anything
we can possibly do to take away the mind-numb fact that yes, we only have three
more episodes to go. I'll say it again, man this sucks.
But one thing that didn't suck was this episode. Hats off to Steve Binder for
coming back and really making his last eppie count. You need an episode like
this for these kinds of shows. Our hero loses his powers and discovers how much
he really needed them. I'm just surprised we got this far without it. All in
all, this episode really shaped up to be a good one. But you're not here to hear
what I think of the finished product! You want the backstory, what went on
behind the scenes. So, let¹s take a gander...
* I thought it was odd that Michael G. directed this one and the next one.
According to my script, MM is supposed to be episode 18. I believe that they
were switched because their underlying themes were more compatible with the last
episode's...but I've said too much.
* Adieu France! According to my French contacts, I-Man has wrapped already in
France. I couldn't understand why they were telling me how much they like the
shoe-shine sequence since it hadn't aired. Then I remembered that Sci-fi wisely
breaks up the rhythm of the season and scatters it over the course of the year
(22 episodes over 52 weeks?).
* Speaking of French, bone up on yours and purchase the thus-far only official
merchandise of I-man, the French DVD. You can get it at Amazon.fr, pay for it in
dollars and they ship it here! I was amazed at the care and attention they put
into the dvd. The menu selection is all CGI and has all sorts of little goodies.
The downside (Warning!) Is that it will not play on American DVD players. Set
your computer's DVD player to the European region (My Mac G4 did it
automatically) and Viola, you can see what I'm talking about. Watch the show in
French, then enjoy it in English with the French subtitles (oh crap=merde!)
* The “Babes of Baywatch” was an obvious poke of fun at Brandy¹s former job. I
was wrong when I thought that she wasn't in any more episodes, but this one is
her last one. Funny, after all the controversy, she really seemed to be finding
the niche in this show.
* '222 Eberts road' was an ad-lib by Paul.
* The Hotel St. James is located in downtown San Diego.
* In the script, I¹m giving the Official a manicure. None of us like that, so
Michael came up with the shining of the shoe. Eddie suggested that he be
stretched out, naked on the desk with only a towel covering him and I¹m giving
him a back massage. He was joking, of course.
* The blah, blah, blah scenes. I always remember how the cast of Star Trek: The
Next Generation would complain about having to recite all that mindless
technobabble. I couldn¹t believe how jaded they were; they were on a hit TV show
and yet they were complaining. This episode made both Shannon and I retract that
thought. Hitchcock called it the “Mcguffin”, the thing that drives the plot. It
really didn't matter what it was, stolen diamonds, dangerous virus, plans for
the death star, all that mattered is that it put our heroes into harms way and
made it cool to watch. Well, Shannon and I were responsible for various
“Mcguffins” on the show over the last two seasons, and this one kind of did us
in. Mind you, it wasn¹t that it was stupid or anything, far from it. Rather, it
was a wordy, complicated scene that we weren¹t entirely ready for. Shannon had
the brunt of the pain, her remedy was her clip-board with a strategically placed
script. I paraphrased to save myself, taking full credit for introducing the
word “Oshimmy” into the I-Man lexicon. While it¹s true that this episode broke
us, we will both miss those scenes.
* Steve was so happy to finally get one of his story ideas accepted so that he
could finally write me in. If you'll recall
(I certainly did!) both of Steve's first season scripts were sans Eberts. He
explained that out of the eight pitches he gave to the producers, the only two
they bought didn't have Eberts in them. I had remained sceptical until I got
this script. When Steve was on set he made a point of honestly asking if I had
enough to do in the script. He felt bad about the previous scripts and wanted to
make up for it.
* Steve wrote me in so many scenes that I actually voluntarily left one. When
the Official, Hobbes and Alex are talking about getting Darien back, I was
supposed to be there. Well, we had been shooting a lot of stuff that day and I
was dead tired. Michael G's camera work called for a three person scene and then
a shot of me somewhere. We both just looked at each other and decided that since
I had no lines, maybe I could just go home. I suppose you can chalk that up to
being jaded too, because I would have killed to be in any extra scene in the
first year.
* The miniature golf place has an arcade that was seen in “Exposed”.
* The coolest shot this show or any in SD has ever had: the Coronado Bridge
connects downtown San Diego to the island of Coronado (actually, they created a
strait in the early 20th century to connect the island with SSD, but that¹s
another story.). Over 2 miles long and 200 feet above water, the bungie jump
took place here. The only bad thing was that the actor who played the bungie
instructor had 66% of his lines cut (“..2...1!”). Of course Vinny did not
perform that jump and his scene actually took place on Stu's backlot. But it was
cool.
As you have noticed by now, I did indeed decide to do the chat. After laying
into the publicist about how poorly I was treated by the network on this show I
realized that I would only be doing a disservice to you guys by not chatting one
last official time. I tried to get Sci-fi to pay for a wrap party for us, but
that had predictable results. Vinny is aware of the time difference problem with
his Friday chat and will try to instruct the moderator not to let any spoiling
questions happen.
So I guess that's it. I'm so behind that I'm already due for a “Possessed” file.
As always, thanks for tuning in!
Mike
