#considered good enough at reading dialogue? who knows. certainly not me (and Pixley don't write a bible about this stupid show‚ your work | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mariocki · 1 year ago

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John Levene pops up as Gene Bradley's co-pilot on his private jet, called Tony, (John Levene's character, not the jet) in The Adventurer: I'll Get There Sometime (1.15, ITC, 1973)

#fave spotting #john levene #sergeant benton #doctor who #classic doctor who #the adventurer #I'll get there sometime #1973 #itc #classic tv #Gene's private jet crops up a couple of times in the series‚ yet another example of how he's the greatest everything that ever did anything #it had a copilot in the other eps but not played by John; this ep requires a few lines from the copilot so perhaps that other actor wasn't #considered good enough at reading dialogue? who knows. certainly not me (and Pixley don't write a bible about this stupid show‚ your work #is needed on better things!). little for John to do here except sit in a cockpit and trade worried glances with Gene about bad weather and #plane problems; this was a holiday episode for Gene Barry‚ with just these few token scenes to include him (presumably coming as a blessed #relief to the crew who‚ by most accounts‚ couldn't stand him). it also allowed Catherine Schell (who Barry had had fired) to quickly return #and shoot enough scenes for a couple more episodes; despite Gene B's meddlings‚ the American backers liked her and wanted more of the #character. so we get this episode in which Gene is waylaid in his plane for the whole ep and it's up to his helpers (Schell‚ Garrick Hagon #as the longest lasting Stuart Damon replacement‚ and Barry Morse's Mr Parminter) to do all the adventuring and save the day without Mr #Amazing. Parminter is a curious character; he starts the series as a sort of semi mysterious spy master who calls on Gene for favours and #often knows more than he's telling. abruptly his character shifts completely about half way thru the series and becomes a buffoonish #ministry type who stumbles through cases and fights and has to be shepherded by his long suffering subordinates Hagon and Schell #it's most dramatic here‚ where he's positively idiotic. you'd be tempted to think Morse was simply giving up or playing with the part now #the series was well underway (and Gene wasn't around to shout) but in interviews he actually complained about how the character was #lobotomised by the scripts‚ so this isn't coming from him. who knows? maybe the writers themselves were trying to tank the show #certainly nobody seems to have had a very good time making it (Gene B flatly refused to be interviewed by network for their dvd release..)

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