3/4 of the episode was stellar, 1/4 was a bit too over the top. Those parts (with Wes and Fred towards the end) needed a bit of editing. In shorter doses they would have been great, but they dragged on and on and on. The Lorne stuff, and the Spike and Angel stuff was great though. I have to admit, having yet another demon/big bad spring from one of the FG was a bit of a let down.
BTW: its was my impression, that on top of the horrible chance of infection, there never was enough time to move the container to England, before our blue haired mama popped loose.
BTW: a caveman is nothing special, and likely is malnourished and may be injured or have chronic problems (remember a lifetime of uneven food supply, a rough life in the elements and no doctors). They are just a human- a smellier, dirtier human who on average would be smaller and lighter, and without the chance to learn any real martial arts training.
But the real question is what kind of astronauts are we talking about- nerdy astro-physics payload specialists, or bad-ass former Marine pilots. I am assuming we are talking the real deal, thus they have had survival training and a decent set of martial arts skills, good nutrition and a history physical training- as well and being taller and bigger on average, so the Astronauts win pretty easily really.
The better question is equally trained Knight vs a Samurai.
It seems to me that if you’re going to pick the cream of the crop of the astronauts, you had also better pick a tribal leader from the cavemen.
If you’re going to select a pilot or mission commander, he’s probably from the Navy, and probably from the Naval Academy, which means he’s had hand-to-hand combat training. But: he’s the commander. Like you said, his crew are nerdy Ph.D.'s who happen to be able to pass a flight physical.
I think that if the astronauts from a shuttle crew came across a group of seven cavemen, and decided to settle it with B-movie-style single combat, then the cavemen would pick someone pretty solid.
And on average, I think that the astronauts’ mission commander, if he was indeed former military, would win, if only because of the guarantee of formal combat training.
Ah yes, but that’s just it: Lorne isn’t a badass. He just loves Fred enough to override his basic gentle nature. That’s what I love about the scene.
Is it just me, or did something seem sort of off about Andy Hallett’s makeup this week? Can’t put my finger on it, but something seemed not quite right there.
Could the astronauts make weapons?
Not could they take guns with them for this fight - but could they look around at the ground and make a weapon based on their current knowledge?
(This question has taken up far too much of my brain)
How can they dare cancel this show? I think somebody at the WB must be feeling like a right git now, seeing as the episodes airing right after the cancellation announcement are some of the best of the series. D’oh!
But looking on the bright side: I think we’ve finally got our catchy hook for the Save Angel campaign. We start sending the Frog loads of postcards reading only: CAVEMEN! Or: ASTRONAUTS!
I think you’re being too literal-minded here - since we’re mucking with time to even hold the challenge, I don’t think Joss meant astronauts in terms of modern shuttle crews. The whole point of selecting Astronauts as your fighter over say, Nobel Prize winners is basically to call to mind the cream of the crop of civilized human endeavor in training and fitness as well as intelligence. So when we throw astronauts into the ring, we’re not talking about the geek who got a grant from NSF to go up and study Columbian hayseeds in zero-gee, we’re talking about the original, quintessential, Atlantean astronauts. And I’m betting that if Alan Shepard and John Glenn went nose to prominent brow ridge with a coupla troglodytes with little but brute strength to recommend them, we’d discover that there’s a reason why evolution has favored the big brains.
In a similar vein, Fred says the cavemen obviously win at the end, but would the passing of the demon age and the ascendance of mankind put the lie to that argument?
Also, um, did anyone else find it funny that Angel – he of the Cro-Magnon brow that was the defining feature of his puppet - was arguing furiously against the cavemen? Joss is so mean.
One thing I’ve always loved about Joss is the way he can give a heart rending, tense episode still with wonderful snippets of humour thrown in. I thought Spike’s character really showed depth this time around; from serious and driven to save Fred to injecting trademark humour into the situation to introspective…and none of it out of place. Good work.
Some favourite moments…
Fred singing and Lorne’s look of total petrification, the spitting blood, dropping, being caught, Wes screaming for medical, prefectly done and really powerful.
Conduit Gunn saying ‘I already have yours…’ letting Gunn know just how deep in it he really is. Gunn’s exceptionally shifty look just before bringing the pain down on Knox - what was he really trying to achieve? Cover his own tracks or vengeance for Fred?
Eve reduced to a sad case hiding in Lindsays protected apartment, being slapped around by Lorne - perfect!
The signs of deep seated friendship and camaderie between Spike and Angel; only two people who have a connection deep down can bicker that much.
and many more. Sigh…why why WHY are they cancelling this?
A Spike spinoff would be cool but the chances are zero; there would have been something said about it by now somewhere. However, now I think of it, how cool would it be for Spike to go off freelance, fighting evil all over the world, teaming up with Doyle (for real this time) whos been brought back by the PTB since Angel inc. died/turned to the dark side/became an elder demon/went to ground?
Spike and Doyle would be a kickass team; how about a few slayers on board as well? Faith?!
