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autolenaphilia · 4 years ago

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Granada Holmes (series review)

The 1984-1994 Granada series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes are regarded by fans as a milestone among the many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes that were made. Brett is said to be “the definitive Holmes”. And I would largely agree with that, despite it not being my favourite version, and it having some flaws and weak episodes, especially as the series went on.

The first thing that set this show apart is that it went back to the original stories and adapted those. Now, it isn’t the first version to do so, as some people (including Brett, apparently) claim. The 1920s silent film series with Eille Norwood was fairly canon accurate, and the 1960s BBC tv series with Douglas Wilmer and Peter Cushing also followed the canon. There is also the 1979-1986 Soviet Russian series with Vasily Livanov. And on radio you have more canonical dramatizations, such as the British John Gielgud 1950s series and the BBC Carleton Hobbs series from the 50s and 60s. People have an unfortunate tendency to ignore radio in favour of screen adaptations.

Still, it must be granted that Granada at its best is probably the supreme screen adaptation of the canon. The production values and acting are far superior to what the 60s BBC tv series had.

Jeremy Brett was a revolution in Holmes performances. The previous era defining Holmes, Basil Rathbone, as great as he was, made Holmes into too much of a straightforward hero. Brett brought back the eccentricities (including the drug use), the nervous energy and the character’s general moodiness and emotionality that was there in the text.

Holmes in the Granada series was ultimately on the side of good and a benevolent figure (if occasionally rude), but fictional justice perhaps had never an odder champion. He did everything from sitting weirdly, jumping over couches to taking drugs. Holmes felt neurodiverse, and indeed Brett used his own experiences with bipolar disorder in the performance. And it was true to canon, in a way we seldom had seen on screen before.

Jeremy Brett’s performance as Holmes is extremely influential and often imitated by later screen adaptations, but has never been surpassed. The portrayal of Holmes in BBC Sherlock and the movies with Robert Downey Jr. is clearly inspired by Brett’s nervy eccentric genius Holmes, but ends up a bad parody. Holmes in the Granada series can like his canon counterpart occasionally be rude or careless towards other, but it was lapses, not a general trend. They seemed to be caused by an eccentric brain on another wavelength from the people around him, rather than any malevolence. Holmes in BBC Sherlock is a male nerd wish-fulfilment fantasy, where the character’s eccentric genius are allowed to excuse any crimes.

At its height, Brett’s Holmes is an awe-inspiring performance, with the actor pouring everything of his skill and energy into it. You could criticize it as melodramatic over-acting, but it makes for great viewing and fits the man who said “I never can resist a touch of the dramatic”.

The Granada series gets much credit for rehabilitating the role of Watson. Both of the actors playing him depicted as very much intelligent and capable. It is somewhat overstated of course, the turning away from the comedic figure Nigel Bruce portrayed started already with Andre Morell’s Watson in the 1959 Hammer Hound of the Baskervilles. Still, the Watson depicted by the Granada series is still one of the show’s chief draws.

The series had a switch in the actors playing Watson, with David Burke portraying him in the first two seasons of 13 episodes and The Empty House featuring Holmes return to a Watson portrayed by Edward Hardwicke. And honestly it is hard to choose between them, because they are both great and there is a consistency in the writing that makes them feel like the same basic character.

Burke’s Watson comes across as younger and more energetic of the two actors and has perhaps the better comedic dynamic with Holmes. He is perhaps my pick, as despite his actual age while playing the part, he feels closer to the young Watson of the canon.

But that is no serious slight against Hardwicke’s performance, which is still first-rate. Hardwicke’s Watson feels older, despite the difference in age between the actors being but a few years. The performance is also defined by an effortless charm and warmth, giving Watson an avuncular aura. But Watson is not at all infirm and is still an intelligent medical man and an experienced soldier, ever ready with his revolver.

An interesting change from the Canonical stories is that Watson never gets married and moves out of Baker Street. The Sign of the Four features Mary Morstan, but at the end she walks out of the story without any romance between her and Doctor Watson. The reason this was done, is that it simplifies the set-up of the stories. With Watson in 221B, he is always on hand to join Holmes. No need for a scene at the beginning of Holmes taking Watson away from wife and practice. Also it saves them keeping track of when Watson was married or not, something that Conan Doyle himself got into a serious continuity tangle about.

As producer Michael Cox (quoted in David Stuart Davies’s book Starring Sherlock Holmes) noted, Conan Doyle himself probably regretted marrying off Watson, considering The Empty House has Watson suffering from a “sad bereavement” and then moving back in with Holmes. So it is a very much acceptable deviation from canon.

It also frees the writers to focus on the most important relationship in the canon: the friendship between Holmes and Watson. The canon has been called “a textbook of friendship” by Christopher Morley, and the chemistry and relationship between Holmes and Watson is vitally important to any adaptation. And that aspect of the stories is wonderfully conveyed here, with both actors playing Watson working together with Brett as Holmes well to convey the odd but close friendship between the two men.

Rosalie Williams plays Mrs. Hudson, and she is excellent in the role. The Granada series has a lot of little scenes of Mrs. Hudson added into the canonical cases, and they work excellently, giving her more of a presence. Many of them are comedic, making jokes about how a difficult and eccentric lodger Holmes is, but there is a clear undercurrent of affection throughout their interactions.

The recurring cast members include Charles Gray as Mycroft Holmes and Colin Jeavons as Inspector Lestrade.

Gray as Mycroft is close to ideal, fitting the character of the overweight, lazy and intelligent canon character perfectly. He was such a good fit for the role that he had actually earlier played the part in the film adaptation of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.

Jeavons fit the part of Lestrade and his acting is superb, capable of showing the full extent of Lestrade’s character, having both smug over-confidence at times, yet also having genuine respect and affection for Holmes.

The acting skills of the actors playing characters who only appear in one episode is also generally very high. And that is part of the general high quality of execution the show had for most of its run. The period sets and the directing was of a similar high standard. The music by Patrick Gowers is excellent, and I suggest any fan take a listen to this Youtube playlist of his soundtrack.

The scripts are quite excellent, for the most part sticking close to the Conan Doyle stories. Of course there are always infidelities here and there, and sometimes the episode would go on non-canonical tangents.

Usually it was to make the story work better on screen. For example, the villains in The Greek Interpreter escape from Holmes and Watson, ending up being killed “off-screen” as it were. So the Granada version of the same tale has a non-canonical ending of Holmes, Watson and Mycroft confronting the villains on a train, something that works rather well. Another example is The Musgrave Ritual which entirely ditches the original story’s framing device of Holmes telling Watson the story of an early case of his. In the Granada version Watson is with Holmes on this case, and it works better that way.

And with all of these elements working together, for most of its run, the Granada series is perhaps the definitive screen adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. The first four seasons of 50 minute episodes, which were broadcast under the titles of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Return of Sherlock Holmes from 1984-1988 plus the feature length adaptation of The Sign of Four are pretty much all great. It went from strength to strength, consistently making very well-made adaptations of the canon.

The Sign of Four is probably a good pick for Granada’s peak, due to its epic nature. And it is definitely the best of the five feature-length films they did. Outside of leaving out any romance between John and Mary, the film is faithful to the book, although it goes too far in that direction in keeping in the racism of the story. But it also has all of the book’s virtues as a story too, and fine acting from Brett, Hardwicke, and John Thaw as Jonathan Small make for an enjoyable viewing experience.

There was however a decline in the series later years. The lynchpin of the series was Jeremy Brett, and his health began to seriously fail him by 1987, leading to his death in 199 (my source of information on Brett’s health decline and general behind the scenes things is mostly Davies’s book Starring Sherlock Holmes) Once lean and looking remarkably like the Sidney Paget illustrations of Holmes, his conflicting medications for his heart problems and bipolar disorder caused him to retain water and bloat, causing him to no longer look like the lean figure he once was. His looks wasn’t really the problem, what was however was that his health problems drained him of the energy that he once was able to put it into his performance, creating through no fault of his own a more lethargic and weaker Holmes.

There was also a growing lack of care shown towards the series by Granada itself. The budgets began to shrink by 1988, and while the series looked good for the most part, it did impact the show.

Probably the first disappointing episode is the double-length adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles from 1988. You would expect the Granada series, with their excellent leads and excellent track record up to this point, to create the definitive version of this often-filmed story, but it just isn’t. It isn’t bad, but it is ultimately mediocre in a way that is hard to pinpoint. My guess is that the direction and cinematography doesn’t manage to create the suspense the story needs, resulting in a slow-paced and slightly boring experience.

It also ends up show-casing the problems the show would now begin to have, with the production crew not having the money to do location shooting on Dartmoor and Brett obviously showing the signs of his failing health.

The Hound film was followed by a season of six 50-minute length episodes, called The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes. And these were mostly fine, considering the circumstances. The budget had been reduced compared to earlier seasons and you could tell the writers sometimes lacked a first-rate canonical story to adapt.

There were one or two weaker episodes, but those were due to the original story being weak. For example, the season ended with a faithful adaptation of The Creeping Man and it is as good and well-made a tv adaptation you could ever hope to make with such a bizarre plot. The result is of course pure camp, but so is the original story. When the show had a good Conan Doyle story to adapt, like The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Problem of Thor Bridge or The Illustrious Client, the results are indeed up to the standards of its past.

The real nadir of the series came later, however, when in 1992-93 the series decided to do three double-length episodes. Granada wanted the Holmes series to copy the success of Inspector Morse and its 100 minute tv film format. The problem was the show would still adapt Conan Doyle’s short stories into a format that was far too long for them. So the scriptwriters had to pad the stories out with their own inventions.

This sort of worked for the first film of these three films, The Master Blackmailer. It was based on Charles Augustus Milverton, which is one of the shortest stories in the canon, but one of the most rich in dramatic potential. Writer Jeremy Paul’s script decided to show in detail what is merely mentioned in the story, such as Milverton blackmailing people and Holmes courting Milverton’s maid in order to gain access to his home. The end result works, it is somewhat slow-paced but is ultimately coherent and at its best feels like you are watching the backstory to the canonical events.

The same can’t be said for the second and third of these films, The Last Vampyre and The Eligible Bachelor. The Last Vampyre is an almost completely incoherent non-adaptation of The Sussex Vampire, where elements from the canonical story probably make up less than 5% of the resulting film. There is an attempt to create intrigue and suspense around the original character Stockton, but the film is so vague about what he is and what threat he poses that the resulting film makes no sense.

The Eligible Bachelor is a similar adaptation of The Noble Bachelor, where the canonical story elements that remain is entirely subsided by a new bizarre plot where Lord St. Simon is now a ruthless Bluebeard-like villain. It is slightly better than The Last Vampyre, simply because the villain here poses an identifiable and somewhat coherent threat. Still, the film has to pad things out with bizarre subplots, like Holmes having prophetic dreams, which ultimately doesn’t lead anywhere.

Wisely, the series returned to the 50 minute format for the last season of six episodes, which aired in 1994, under the name of “he Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It was with this season Jeremy Brett’s health problems and the lower budgets really began to seriously affect the show. Brett was in a bad state at this point, and the description of the production in Davies’s book makes for sad reading.

During the filming of one episode in this season, The Three Gables, he had to use a wheelchair between takes and supplementary oxygen to ease his breathing. His performance is naturally lacking in the energy he once had, but the fact it is a performance at all is testament to his commitment. The Three Gables is actually one of the better episodes of this season, as it actually manages to improve on one of the weakest stories in the canon.

Edward Hardwicke was unavailable to film The Golden Pince-nez, and they couldn’t re-schedule the shooting dates (which I suspect was a budget issue). So the writer wrote out Watson and replaced him in the role of Sherlock’s assistant with Mycroft, since Charles Gray was available. The result is well-made otherwise, with guest stars Frank Finlay and Anna Carteret giving great performances, but the lack of Watson is sorely felt. It is fun to see Charles Gray’s Mycroft again, but it feels contrary to his character to accompany his brother like this.

And before he could film The Mazarin Stone, Brett’s health gave out on him and he was hospitalized. Again Charles Gray was called in by the producer to play Mycroft as a substitute. It is nice to see Mycroft for a fourth time, but Mycroft doing this doesn’t feel true to his character. And this episode is one of the weakest in the series, due to the script. Not that I blame the scriptwriter too much, The Mazarin Stone is one of the worst stories in the canon. The efforts to improve on the story by combining it with another weak story The Three Garridebs don’t at all manage to rescue it.

However, there are still some rather good episodes in this season . The Red Circle is good and The last ever episode of the series, The Cardboard box manages to close out the series on a good if dark note.

Jeremy Brett died in 1995 due to heart failure, ending all hope of any future series.

I might have delved too much on the series failures in this essay. Because all of that is outweighed by the consistent high quality the series managed to achieve in the first four seasons, and with a few failures, still managed to sometimes achieve again in the later ones. Those adaptations are perhaps the peak of Holmes on screen.

It is not my favourite adaptation, that is the BBC radio drama versions made starring Clive Merrison as Holmes from 1989 to 2010. Those were just as consistently good, with Merrison and Williams/Sachs as Holmes and Watson being on the same general level as Brett and Burke/Hardwicke as performances. In fact, the BBC version is more consistent, never going off the rails as the Granada version sometimes, and it actually managed to achieve the goal Brett had hoped for: adapting every canonical story.

Still that doesn’t take away from Granada’s great achievement in adapting the Holmes stories with such quality. It is an achievement that later movie and tv adaptations haven’t been able to surpass.

#granada holmes #review #sherlock holmes

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indecisive-v · 4 years ago

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NINJAMUFFIN DOING ANOTHER AMA ON TWITTER, HERE'S MORE SHIT FOR YA! keep in mind i'm just sharing the funkin related stuff, though i am including WAAAAY more than what i shared before 👍 go check out ninja's twitter profile for questions about stuff like ritz! questions in blue, answers in orange. if yall don't wanna read everything i MIGHT make a version of this post where i replace the answers with my own summaries of em (and if the questions are long, those too)

and here's a link to the ama tweet itself! dunno if it's still goin

Q: I figure the answer will be yes but do you have more plans to implement more guest appearances from people in the newgrounds community into FNF? Or are you all gunna focus on OG lore and stuff going forward

A: for guest appearances, I think we have always seen it as getting a healthy mix of both. PERSONALLY I'd like to lean towards having more OG stuff than guest stuff, BUT it's all a matter of what other boys think of that as well. I'm not the sole person working on game!

Q: Are you gonna release the full FNF game or are you gonna be releasing week after week? Like, are you gonna release week 8 or are we gonna wait some years until The Full Ass Game comes out?

A: Release plan for FNF right now is a few more updates or whatev to the 'demo' we have out right now, and then a long silence of probably no updates whatsoever until the full game is done (which will likely be a few years). That's partly why we made kickstarter for game.

Q: Hey so like, how much will Fnf cost after it's finished? And when will you ask the supporters what they want the game on?

A: It's all subject to change, but right now it prob gonna be standard 15-25$ lil steam indie game.

We will ask Kickstarter pledgers and whatnot what they want the game on SUPER close to when its released, to keep options open if we get onto anything like a console people want.

Q: 1. how was your day

2. are you releasing a week 8 song early like week 7, or are you goin full lockdown

A: I am doing GOOD today, and I think recently I've been good in general.

up to the mood, but so far we doing good about not having anything leak or whatev, so I think it'd be fun to have update come out with people not knowing what to expect at all. Build dat intrigue

Q: Will fnf ever get official plushies?? Seems like an untapped market

A: FNF plushies will prob happen some point, we have a lot of current merch stuff on our plates already though! (Mostly kickstarter type stuff, shirts, pins, posters, and all the physical OST stuff) Its a lot to sort out, but in time more and more stuff will happen. We r jus 4 boys!

Q: did you ever expect your game to blow up as it did? what was your first reaction to seeing it become super popular

A: FNF never had a humble moment, literally day 1 before the prototype even came out, the vid on twitter had like 5K likes overnight. Then when ludum dare version came out, it got 5K likes again, like it wasnt just a fluke. Was crazy, and def felt like somethin was different wit FNF

Q: Do you plan on getting other people to come in to help with the music? That seems like a lot of work to dump on one person, what with the erect mode and whatnot.

I guess the question could apply to all aspects of development. Will you be bringing on more people to help?

A: We definitely are getting help from other people. We are always keeping an eye on people for various different things. In terms of programming, already I've gotten 2 people (MtH and Geokureli) to help with certain Week 7 stuff (charting/polish, and loading stuff). Shit like dat

Q: Oh, also, will the Steam version be Workshop compatible? That'd really help streamline the process of downloading mods.

A: Steam version of FNF will likely NOT be Steam workshop compatible, because we want all the mods to NOT be spread out through different places. There WILL be modding support that is as streamlined as Steam workshop though. Mainly for non-steam versions of the game!

Q: Are there any chances that the game will have a physical release? Also any updates on a switch port? I remember one of you guys talking/joking about it.

A: Not impossible for FNF to get a physical release. We would want to see how far we could go with it though. I think it'd be super easy to do something wit people like LimitedRun games or whatev, but I think stuff like that can only go so far. I wanna see Funkin in mf Walmart!!!!!!

not that LimitedRun isn't going to be an option! Just we consider and pursue many different things! FNF release is years away, so we have time to think about everything. Whole mindset can be different just a few months from now.

Q: Out of curiosity, how are you dealing with all the popularity? It blew up so fast id barely be able to handle it if I was in your shoes.

A: The only way I've been able to handle it is having the other boys on the crew and being able to talk to them about all the overwhelmingness.

Part of it feels very lonesome, feels like NO ONE can come close to comprehending exactly how I'm feeling, except them. also other PALS!!!

Q: Do you own any of the bootleg FNF merchandise? Like any bootleg plushies or anything?

A: i dont, i genuinely think they r a waste of money, and I know any bootleg shit that gets made, we can prob go about and make it, and make it 100x cooler because we actually put effort into shit. bootleg shit just in it for the coin, so they aint gettin that from me

Q: How did you go about getting in contact with sr pelo for skid and pumps vocals?

A: Pelo i think was familiar and pals wit PhantomArcade a bit thru various Newgrounds things and collabs and whatnot.

pelo retweeted the first OG FNF posts first ever, and brought a LOT of attention to it. to pay him back, we put skid and pump in game! ask dave for more info prob

Q: what's the plan for having the full ass game open source if it's gonna cost money? couldn't people just download the source and compile the game for free?

A: when FNF is fully released, the full source code will be released as well.

the game will be DRM free so it will be way easier for people to redistribute the released/offical .exe instead of compiling it, so that's not the issue anyways. people will pay for things if they like it

Q: What are the chances of it getting on consoles like switch or Playstation, ps5 would definitely be my preferred way to play

A: it'd be a matter of hiring someone to build out backend stuff for those specific consoles. someone who knows their way around all the wacky code stuff, AND knows console hardware stuff. Then its just a matter of hittin up those console manufacturers (Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo)

the CLOSEST one is SWITCH. pretty much all of that backend is already made, so it just a matter of gettin all that access and shit.

i think in any case though, there's a lot of NDA stuff required, i dunno how much we'd be able to talk about it even IF we get that stuf sorted

Q: any ideas of releasing it on epic store or another platform?

A: Right now, the only thing that is 100% confirmed and WILL happen is a Steam version, itchio version, and mobile versions on respective app stores. Other storefronts aren't out of the picture though, but we don't want to spread ourselves too thin with it.

Q: Will you continue using HaxeFlixel to make the rest of FNF?

A: yes, because it is what I'm the most technically proficient in, and generally is VERY flexible. just a matter of ME becoming a better coder. It's ALL open source, so if I need something done a certain way, either I can do it, or we can hire someone to do it.

Q: have you seen game theory's videos on your game yet and if so, what do you think about them? (not talking about his predictions because i dont want spoilers. i like mystery)

A: it is always good silly fun to watch the Game Theory vids about Funkin with some pals, and see what matpat thinks of the game. i lov the vids, but wish he used my face less! Or at least used a cuter pic of me like this one!!

Q: Ok so: What does the future of FNF look like to you?

A: future of FNF is a rhythm game that not only exceeds every expectation that people have of it, but subverts most expectations and conventions as well.

Q: Do you plan on retouching on older weeks once the game is fully out? Like reanimating sprites, redoing some charting, updating the background, etc

A: retouching and probably overhauling certain aspects is almost definitely gonna happen. Everything is fluid and can be changed (and should be changed when necessary). i dont think anything should be too attached to, especially this early on in development

Q: I honestly do not care if the answer to this is vague as hell to keep surprises and shit lol but… Since Week 7 was the closest we’ll get to a playable girlfriend (still bf controlling tho), do you have plans to make girlfriend playable in spin-off things or just freeplay?

A: wouldnt be out of the picture for a playable GF, i don't think we've had some hard thing AGAINST it. just a matter of what we want out of the game, and what sort of story or whatev we could do with that concept

Q: How do BF and GF manage to meet famous newgrounds characters (such as pico, tankman and the others to come) like is this all in one universe/ timeline or are they being brought in?

A: i think they are all just there existing. i think there's a lot of wacky things in other media that try to justify crossovers, like MULTIVERSE bullshit or TIMELINE shit, but i dunno, its like subspace emissary. Captain Falcon and Olimar from Pikmin just hang out. Shit like dat

disclaimer that all lore shit is in phantomarcade head pretty much and maybe there is wacky dimensions or somethin

Q: Will the game have dlc?

A: its not too unlikely that we'd have expansions of some sort, but i mean right now we plan on packing in as much as we can into base game, and trying to make that as pure as possible.

if there is ANY dlc, i would personally want it to be 100% free updates

Q: How did you meet Phantom Arcade, Kawai Sprite, and EvilSker? And what do you think about the community and its controversies?

A: me and phantomarcade been fukin around NG for years so years and years ago we naturally crossed paths and became pals

about 2 years ago i found kawaisprites music on NG, and started talkin wit him, made Ritz wit him and we fell in lov

and evilsk8r i met cuz of FNF!!!

quik elaborate on evilsk8r, wanted artist for gamejam FNF was for (ludum dare), and OG person i asked wasnt available, so he referred me to evilsk8r, who I have never met or talked to before ever.

#friday night funkin #fnf #fridaynightfunkin

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twdmusicboxmystery · 6 years ago

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FTWD 5x01: Details and Movies

Okay, details. Sorry it's taken a week to get this finished. Let's just dive right in.

First I want to talk about a couple of things I forgot to mention in my previous post. We saw some familiar walkers. One female walker that was cut in half when our crew in the plane fired toward the ground.

It reminded me of bicycle girl from 1x01. After that, the two boys pass a tree and saw a blonde walker (very Beth-ish) leaning against it.

We’ve seen walkers sitting against trees several times before. We saw it in S1 with Jim. We later saw it in 4x03 in conjunction with heavily Beth symbolism. (Details here). So, I wanted to point that out.

@wdway were also found something really interesting.

She thought the three circles Al found on papers carried by the masked walker—which they confirmed on TTD was the same symbol on the helicopter. Jadis and Rick left on—looked a lot like a hazardous materials symbol. So, she looked that up, and check these out:

Notice some familiar symbols? Diamonds are a big one. Beth has always been the queen of diamonds. (X). As confirmation, remember we saw diamonds around Beth in Alone

and also in Coda, on the floor of the hospital right before she was shot:

This is important because, if the three circles can be symbolically linked to a hazardous materials sign, it may be linked to the hazardous material in S8, which we always found suspicious. We only ever tied it to Beth symbolically, though.

Remember, that hazardous material (through walker guts) blinded Father Gabriel. Now, with his one eye, he's a walking embodiment of the Sirius symbolism.

(Sirius = Beth’s return. Therefore, hazardous material = Beth’s return). In the same sequence in S8 where Gabriel lost his sight, we saw a replay of Still and Coda at the cabin where Dr. Carson died. (Details here). So, I just wanted to point out how we can connect some of the symbols.

We also noticed an example of the ABCD theory. In this episode, FTWD 5x01, when Logan talked to them on the radio, he used ABCs to make his points.

“A: You’re killing me over taking back a place where I am the legal owner of the deed? B: It seems to me you already have a more pressing quandary. And C: that attitude is exactly why I just wanted to move you people along and not get into any kind of standoff…”

Then, when Al snooped around the walker with the mask, she found some clear past plastic films that might have been from an overhead projector of some kind. They had letters written on the corners. The one we saw prominently was an A, so we can connect that to the A theme and also to the ABCD theory.

Logan also calls Morgan “Kemosabe.” That’s a reference to the Lone Ranger. So remember when I talked about the Outlaw theme HERE. This is another reference to it.

The main thing I wanted to talk about today is the list of films written on the clipboard at the denim factory. I knew right away this this was important because the camera focused on it for several seconds. So, I wrote down each title and researched it. Most of these very old films, some of them classics. I’ve only seen a handful of them myself, but many of the ones I haven't seen, I’m still familiar with the plots.

First, Bridadoon. This is a musical based around a romance. (Sound like a Beth And Daryl thing?")

This is a story about a town called Brigadoon that is magical and only appears once every hundred years or so. This is done to protect it so will never change. Two young men who are friends on a trip together stumble onto it and one of them falls in love with a girl from the town. A couple pf things that struck me about the story that we could relate to Beth and Daryl.

One is the fact that the main character basically runs into his true love by chance while on a trip. It reminded me of the story David told Michonne back in 6x03.

His wife was named Betsy and we connected their names symbolically to Beth And Daryl. Betsy and David. He talked about how he had been on a supply mission and on the way back, had found the woman who would end up being his wife. If you look back to my S6 posts, I predicted that could be Beth and Daryl thing. Obviously, we haven't seen that yet, but my point is that Brigadoon follows the same structure.

The other thing that struck me about Brigadoon is that it's about town the disappears and reappears only once every 100 years. Kind of like the Sirius constellation, no? Disappearing and reappearing?

Five Easy Pieces: this is about a pianist. So again, a musical character is involved. The five in the title could be a significant number, as in S5.

This is a story about a man who is a musician from a family of wealthy musicians, but he’s estranged from his family. He’s wealthy and educated but has disavowed his family to live a humbler lifestyle. He officially doesn't play music anymore, but several times throughout the film will just suddenly start to play in random places and circumstances. Basically, it's about him needing to return and confront his family eventually. So, we have musician separated from their family (kinda like Beth) and who must eventually return to them. It also occurred to me that the line, "I still sing," (maybe “I still play”) could be a tagline for this movie.

Tender Mercies: this is about a country singer. Again, pretty on the nose as a parallel to Beth. In this case, it’s a man. Somewhat interestingly, he's a recovering alcoholic. We can definitely tie that to Still. This is basically about him finding and falling in love with the woman who helps him. He changes his life and this film has heavy Christian themes including baptism, spiritual resurrection, and salvation. Again, the symbolism is definitely there.

It Happened One Night. I won’t say much about this one because they basically told us the symbolism of it on TTD. Last season, when we saw John and June fell in love at the cabin (which was extremely Still-ish) there is a part where John put up a blanket between where the two of them slept for privacy. That scene was directly influenced by It Happened One Night, which has a similar scene. So, this was mostly a nod to John in June. That said, because they’re obviously Beth and Daryl proxies, it wouldn't surprise me if something similar to this happens with Beth and Daryl eventually. But of course, that remains to be seen.

Waterloo Bridge: When I first read the synopsis for this, I was confused. I needed to read some outside-the-plot stuff before I understood what the point of including this film was. First of all, bridge! (Bridge theory). This is basically about a woman who, living in a big city during World War I, resorts to prostitution to feed herself. She meets a young, handsome soldier who naïvely doesn't understand that she's a prostitute. He falls in love with her and she hides her true profession from him. Eventually he finds out what she is, but he loves her anyway and asked her to marry him. At the end of the original film, she finally agrees to be his fiancé and he heads off to war. Before he can return, she's killed in a bombing raid. So basically, it's a pretty depressing film. Not much of a happy ending. I could only really connect that plot with the first part of Beth and Daryl’s story, ending in Coda, where Beth was shot.

Then I read another section on Wikipedia called Censorship, Remakes and Re-Release. It stated that the film was remade check 10 years later, in 1940, and the again in 1956. In the 1956 version, they advanced the time line to be World War II instead of World War I, and they gave it a happy ending. That's when I finally got it. Basically, we have two tellings of the same story. At the end of the first, the woman dies and they are unable to be together. At the end of the second, they finally get their happy ending. Basically, the exact structure we predict with Beth and Daryl.

Casablanca: this is a classic romance film. I only saw it once, years ago. I won’t go into tons of details. What I found that works is simply that it's a classic, epic romance (Damn romance novel.) Plot-wise, i's about two people who come together, fall in love, but then separate due to outside circumstances. It’s really the woman who leaves the man (in this film, she doesn’t die but physically leaves him) breaking his heart and making him bitter. (Sound like Daryl?) At a much later time, they come back together and confirm their love for one another. Admittedly, this one doesn't have a very happy ending, but I think the parallels are still there.

The Goonies. This is another classic, though I have to admit, I've never actually seen this one. The name ‘goonies’ comes from a place where the characters live called the Goon Docks. I couldn't help but think that sounded like boondocks, which reminded me of the Boondocks Saints. I don't know if that's purposeful or not, but I thought I'd mention it.

In terms of the story, let's just say it's a story where this band of friends get together and look for treasurer. That reminded me of the "what is hidden," theme we’ve seen a lot around Beth. There's also a pirate ship called the Inferno. Given that we've seen a lot of symbolism from Dante's Inferno in the show (both in Still with the Nine Circles of Hell at the golf club and 8x0?? When Rick and Negan face off in that basement that reads “Abandon all hope ye who enter here,” I think that could be a strong link to symbolism we’ve seen in the show. This ship sails away at the end of the film, and we’ve seen a lot of ship and ocean symbolism around Beth. A country club also plays a part in the plot. Granted, it's an incidental part, but still.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The first thing I want to say about this one is it's a perfect example of why these films simply must be symbolic. No one in their right mind would want to watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in the middle of the apocalypse. The romances, I understand. Because even if they don’t end completely happy, they do still tend to give people warm fuzzies. But I would think people would be mostly watching romances and comedies during the apocalypse. Anything hopeful or that would lighten the mood.

I don’t remember who it was, but someone on TTD mentioned this. They said our group should look for happy shows to watch. Like seasons of FRIENDS or Seinfeld. Something lighthearted. During the apocalypse, no one would want to watch super heavy tragic stories. Life is too heavy for that already. So, I don't see why anybody would want to watch this film.

Now, I've seen bits and pieces of this movie, but haven’t seen it beginning to end. I read through the plot synopsis to re-familiarize myself with it. And guess what? We could compare this heavily with Grady. Grady was actually the first thing I thought of when I saw this on the list. I knew this entire film takes place in a hospital setting. Reading the plot only confirmed that for me.

The main character, played by Jack Nicholson, is imprisoned there. He came out of prison because he was serving time, but is being allowed to spend the rest of his sentence in the somewhat more relaxed environment of the mental hospital. (Kinda like Beth left the prison where she live and was then taken as a prisoner to Grady.) The nurse who takes care of his ward is named Nurse Ratched. She's considered one of the greatest villains of all time, specifically because she's very manipulative and our MC ends up engaging in a battle of which wits with her. He also meets another man there whom he befriends, named Chief.

Think of it this way. If Jack Nicholson's character equals Beth, then the nurse she matches wits with is Dawn. The friend she meets there is Noah. In the end, Jack Nicholson's character dies (Beth is shot) while Chief (Noah) manages to escape. In the middle of the story, an inmate even commits suicide (Joan at Grady), which Jack Nicholson's character is livid about because he sees it as Nurse Ratched’s fault. That's exactly what happened Grady. Beth accused Dawn of knowing what was happening, and letting it happen. So, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is pretty much a straight across allegory for Slabtown. And we see it on this clipboard. Yea!

Of Mice and Men. This is another one that I just don't see how anyone in their right mind would want to watch it during the apocalypse. It's extremely dark and extremely heavy. I read the book in high school and saw the film version which has Gary Sinise in it. I’m really not a Steinbeck fan at all. His stories are just too dark and tragic (and NOT in a good way) which is saying a lot given that you guys know how often I like to bask in tragedy. ;D The only real parallel I'm seeing as it is that at the end, the main character’s best friend, whom he takes care of, is shot in the head. So, kinda like Beth. The circumstances are very different than Grady. In this case, the MC/best friend actually does the shooting, but again, we’re talking about head injury and that is pretty much the biggest thing you need to remember about the story.

Finally, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Lots of things we can compare here. Once again, overlooking for hidden treasure, so it's the “what is hidden” theme. Of course there are plenty of biblical themes in this film because the Ark of the Covenant figures heavily in Christian mythology, especially that of the Old Testament.

One plot point that really makes me happy, though, is the fact that in the middle of the film, Harrison Ford's character has a girlfriend who apparently dies. He sees the truck she’s in blow up. He's very sad and mourns her. Then, three quarters of the way through the film, she reappears. As it turned out, she got out in time to avoid death. So, we have a situation much like Beth and Daryl. We did see a body, he assumed she was dead, and was a good assumption, but actually she wasn't. And she shows up later.

I’ve actually talked about this film before because they used it as a TWD movie poster prior to S8. (Details HERE).

Overall, we’re seeing a lot of themes and plot points in these films that have to do with Beth’s arc. And that makes me super happy!

Okay, I think that’s all the details I have for now. I’ll talk about this more as the week progresses, but if Beth does turn out to be with this group that wears the masks, then it becomes obvious why they’re throwing these films with these themes in right now. Because we’re on a track that's leading to her. Thoughts?

#beth greene #beth greene lives #beth is alive #beth is coming #td theory #td theories #team delusional #team defiance #beth is almost here #bethyl

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