And Even Yet Another New Slideshow

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I keep forgetting to remind that the reason the pilot's background for September and its slideshow currently feature captures from a scene between Vicki and Liz that took place in the pilot much earlier and was first showcased in the May background) is because that scene was actually a combination of a scene that takes place in the script on pages 27 through 29 and one that takes place later in the script on pages 41 through 43 (oddly, there are no scene numbers in the pilot's script) and the slideshow follows the script, not the way things were edited in the pilot. Or should I says pilots because when it comes to the version on YouTube, it's a second edit of the pilot...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another favorite exchange is yesterday's and today's quotes in the slideshow between Vicki and Liz:

"Did you really think not talking about it would make it go away?" 514X360

"No, but sometimes it's easier to live with a lie." 514X360

Ignoring problems and living with lies are such classic Collins' behaviors...

[Uncle Roger]

I hadn't noticed the physical similarities between Marley Shelton and Blair Brown quite so much before. Even the hairstyles are similar. I wonder if they were going to explore the issue of Vicki's parentage in this DS.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Mark Verheiden (head writer and exec producer along with John Wells) said that was something they definitely wanted to explore...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I'm no expert on water tables, water seepage, or old cemeteries, but one thing that I found a bit strange was that as David made his way to the place in the old cemetery where the woman's voice was luring him, he had to cross a small stream -

- or some such. Now, would there really be any sort of natural body of water in a cemetery? Wouldn't the graves be potentially in danger of damage from water seepage (and isn't that a main reason a place like New Orleans puts its graves above ground in its cemeteries)? But maybe we're not supposed to think about that. Though the interesting thing is that David crossing the water is not in the script. In fact, the scene isn't even scripted to take place in the old cemetery - it's supposed to take place in woods near the Old House. So, one might presume it was something director P.J. Hogan came up with when he was staging the scene.

Granted, it's effective - but...

[KMR]

I'm no expert on water tables, water seepage, or old cemeteries, but one thing that I found a bit strange was that as David made his way to the place in the old cemetery where the woman's voice was luring him, he had to cross a small stream -

- or some such. Now, would there really be any sort of natural body of water in a cemetery? Wouldn't the graves be potentially in danger of damage from water seepage (and isn't that a main reason a place like New Orleans puts its graves above ground in its cemeteries)? But maybe we're not supposed to think about that.

Good question, MB. I'm most certainly not an expert myself either, but I suspect there'd be quite a bit of difference between running water and standing bodies of water. For instance, there is a stream that runs through Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Tarrytown (although I don't know how close it is to any gravesites). But then as you say, there are places like New Orleans, where bodies are interred above ground, for obvious reasons...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Oops - I forgot to post the other day that I just love the way Angelique is introduced in the pilot - all flowing hair and dress, and floating over to David. it's definitely worth memorializing in an animated GIF:

[spoiler]

Angelique GIF

For people with slower connections, the first time though will likely take a while to download because the file is 38.4MB (1052 frames) - but all the better to watch the GIF load frame by frame.  [/spoiler]

(And for now I've posted the GIF as a link rather that one that will automatically begin because the Spoiler feature isn't fixed yet. And because of that, when you click the link the GIF will open and download in a new window...)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I know I may be one of the few who do, but I always find it interesting when stills are framed differently from the way a moment in the actual series/film is framed. Case in point, today's still -

- versus a screen shot -

 - not to mention how Matt Czuchry's Willie is more of a blur in the background while he's at least partly in focus in the still...

[Uncle Roger]

No, MB, you're not alone in that.

[Josette]

I assume the still is a frame of the movie - how can it be different?!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The still is a photo that was taken during the production of the pilot (it appears in the Pompress book Return to Collinwood). The screen shot is from the actual pilot.

[Josette]

Thank you!  I hadn't realized it was a separate photo.  I always assumed it came from the film itself.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Speaking of that still, I could have sworn that back in '14 I'd mentioned that I took the liberty of still using it after the action in the script and the pilot shifts to the foyer (or the Front Hall, as the script refers to it). As anyone who's seen the pilot knows, the switch in location takes place when Vicki brings up that she thought Willie worked for Roger, which was the 6th's installment in the slideshow, but I kept using the still from the scene in the hall until the 21st's installment.

And while we're on the subject of the foyer/Front Hall scene, isn't it interesting that Willie's wound on his neck has healed so much more quickly -

- than we had seen Carolyn's has -

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Is it just me or does Julia seem to become more brilliant with each iteration of DS?! After Joe asks Julia if the injection Julia is giving Carolyn is "some sort of antirabies drug," today's quote in the slideshow for the '04 pilot has Julia telling Joe:

Page 38 - Dr. Hoffman: 'No, it's a special vaccine I designed,
just for Carolyn. Her blood work's been a little off since she
was hurt and I'm hoping this will clear it up.'

In the pilot's script it doesn't seem as if too much time has passed between the time Julia begins treating Carolyn at the hospital and Carolyn goes home, which is where Julia administers the referred to injection, so apparently Julia whipped up what would seem to be a perfected vaccine awfully quickly. But then, in the pilot Julia is instantly certain there's much more to Carolyn's attack than meets the eye, so on day one she's already ahead of the game versus her previous incarnations.

Interestingly, though, the scene the quote comes from was never shot for the pilot, so had the pilot gone to series, it wouldn't have been a part of the show's canon. Well, unless they shot it once the show went into production and then it was edited in...

[Uncle Roger]

I wonder if they would have found a way to incorporate Kelly Hu's martial arts skills, making Julia even more formidable