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Post by cartoonlover on May 28, 2020 16:13:44 GMT -5
Ik that Sound of Thunder is the highest rated A-Team episode on T.V. com with a 9.5 rating but I don't entirely agree with that..? This one got better on a rewatch but I won't dispute that there are powerful moments here. Those moments did stick with me. I found it somber too because Season Five was right around the corner if you were to go in order. This is one of those episodes that would benefited either being a two-parter or three-parter even because this is a story that has scale/scope with a lot of depth in the characters. There is a sense of rushing going on in this. Again forty-five mins is too short for this. Rating: 7.5/10 I will agree that this is too short for all of the history we could have had. Also, it could have set up Season 5 better for what ended up happening. Tia Carrere couldve been one of the best guest stars but theres not a lot of screentime for her. I wish O'Herlhiey spent more time on the script for this one. Theres episodes that don't need a two-parter and theres others that do.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on May 28, 2020 19:20:42 GMT -5
I will agree that this is too short for all of the history we could have had. Also, it could have set up Season 5 better for what ended up happening. Tia Carrere couldve been one of the best guest stars but theres not a lot of screentime for her. I wish O'Herlhiey spent more time on the script for this one. Theres episodes that don't need a two-parter and theres others that do. Since she ended up not being in Season 5, I do like that they didn't spend endless time on her. However, I still think they could have set this episode up to really sell the idea of Season 5 earlier.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on May 28, 2020 23:42:34 GMT -5
If they had used it to launch into Season 5, that could have been interesting. I still wish their mission had not been all about Fulbright and his daughter but had truly been about finding Morrison.....and then they could have introduced us to Curtis if they wanted to bring him into it.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on May 29, 2020 20:02:25 GMT -5
If they had used it to launch into Season 5, that could have been interesting. I still wish their mission had not been all about Fulbright and his daughter but had truly been about finding Morrison.....and then they could have introduced us to Curtis if they wanted to bring him into it. Agreed. I am Monday Morning Quarterbacking here, but this could have been a great segue into the Season 5 trilogy. We could have even been given a more plausible storyline for Frankie to join the team and Stockwell to be in charge.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Nov 14, 2020 16:48:31 GMT -5
I rewatched this one yesterday. I think it's a really good episode, although I definitely wouldn't say it's the best ep of the series. It's an odd way to end Season 4 - I can see they were trying to set up Season 5 (even though they ended up having to change everything for Season 5 anyway), so it would have made more sense for it to have been the Season 5 opener. I noticed Murdock's t-shirt carried a slogan about things coming to an end (I can't remember exactly what it said) so it looks like it was always meant to be the Season 4 finale.
I would have loved to have seen Season 5 based on this set-up, with the team helping Tia navigate her way through her new life in America and Tia effectively joining the team, using her skills to help with cases. Instead we got Stockwell and Frankie.
There are some great moments in this ep. I loved the way Hannibal makes sure Murdock understood he would be giving up his anonymity to come on the mission and his attempts to disguise himself were hilarious! I also loved that BA agreed to fly because he believed this mission would finally clear their names (and I love that he spent most of the flight in a catatonic state anyway! ) I also love how Face takes Tia to Beverly Hills to buy her new clothes when they bring her back to America. I was confused by some of the plot, especially why Tia's mother's friend who had treated Tia as her own daughter would then turn on her. I was also confused by the final scene with Murdock asking Hannibal if he ever thought about the war - it was a very odd way to end the ep and especially the entire season. It was as if there should have been a lot more to that scene.
I was really pleased that Fulbright realised that the team were innocent and then, as he lay dying, acknowledged that they were on the same side. I would really love to have seen Decker and even Lynch finally acknowledge the same thing before the end of the series, but of course that didn't happen. They had the perfect opportunity for Decker to redeem himself during the court martial, but we didn't get that either. The court martial was a great idea, but hugely disappointing for me, not only because of the inconsistencies and continuity errors, but because it just made everything worse. There was nothing positive to come out of it at all.
I know I'm on a complete rewatch, but now I'm back up to season 5 again (which I've already seen very recently on TV) and the court martial eps in particular, I've lost a little enthusiasm. I will persevere though.
Anyway, I digress!
I'm curious about the line Murdock says about the black dials in the military aeroplane they steal. I thought it was setting something up for later in the ep, but it wasn't mentioned again - was it perhaps just a comment on the political situation at the time with the cold war and heightened awareness of international espionage etc?
The Eve of Destruction scene just makes me cry every time - especially when we see Face reminiscing (even though we don't actually see him in his own flashback, unlike the others.) Dirk has a wonderful ability to convey emotion and I don't think he really gets enough credit for his acting abilities. I don't know very much about the Vietnam war, or the politics of it all, but I know a lot of people had very strong objections to American involvement. I've seen that some people feel The A Team somehow endorsed, or glorified the war, but you can't possibly say that after watching this ep and this scene in particular.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Nov 14, 2020 20:22:24 GMT -5
I think the shirt may have said "ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END."
As much as I dislike Stockwell, I'm glad that Tia didn't join the team. To me, that would have just been trying the same things as they did with Amy and Tawnia, although I realize Tia had more fighting skills and experience than either of them. But I also think it would have been weird for this 20-something young woman to just be hanging out with these older men all the time. And although there would be, in a sense, a connection with their Vietnam experience, it would not be as though she was melded with them as a team member.
I also don't understand why Mai Lin (or whatever her name was) turned on Tia like that.
It was definitely a very unusual way to end an episode of TAT, seeing as how they uoften ended with some silly little thing, like BA getting mad at Murdock, etc. I wonder why they chose to do this ending, especially since it could have been the final ending of the entire series. I'm glad it wasn't.
I like much of the actual court martial episodes, but I don't like the outcome of them, i.e. that it just seemed to confuse me in many ways and especially hated the outcome of the team now working for Stockwell after the court martial and "execution."
I don't even really remember this...
That Eve of Destruction scene may be my favorite scene in the whole episode.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Nov 15, 2020 16:56:30 GMT -5
As much as I dislike Stockwell, I'm glad that Tia didn't join the team. To me, that would have just been trying the same things as they did with Amy and Tawnia, although I realize Tia had more fighting skills and experience than either of them. But I also think it would have been weird for this 20-something young woman to just be hanging out with these older men all the time. And although there would be, in a sense, a connection with their Vietnam experience, it would not be as though she was melded with them as a team member. Now you've said it, I suppose it may have seemed a little odd for a young woman to be spending so much time with four older men!
I think I was looking at it as an opportunity for Hannibal to play more of a fatherly role. I'm still undecided about him as a father figure to the rest of the team, mostly because I'm not sure how I want to define that term, but with Tia he would definitely be like her surrogate father. I liked the idea that Face took her to Beverly Hills and I would like to have seen more of him showing her around LA and teaching her about living in the USA. I think he could have taken on an older brother role and probably been a bit overprotective of her when it came to her dating guys and that kind of thing - he knows what guys can be like!
I see Tia being very different to Amy, because we know she can handle herself in a fight, but at the same time she is younger and had a naivety that Amy certainly didn't have. She's 20, but more childlike in many ways. I suppose there is the danger she would have become the Wesley Crusher of The A-Team, though and saved the ship day every week! (I actually like Wesley Crusher, but I think I'm very much in the minority. )
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Nov 15, 2020 20:01:02 GMT -5
I don't know....Hannibal likes those younger women.....both he and Face may have tried to romance her! But I guess since they didn't do that with Amy (although there may have been some flirting with Face and Amy), maybe they would treat Tia like they did Amy (and Tawnia, to some degree).
Oh yes, you are in the minority about Wesley Crusher! I was so glad to get rid of him from the Enterprise!
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