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Post by HoudiniDerek on Dec 7, 2020 19:22:43 GMT -5
I didn't catch that it was Major Briggs.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Jan 9, 2021 10:39:37 GMT -5
I hadn't noticed either. I suppose they must have like the name. TV writers do seem to like to select from a limited choice of their favourite 'go to' names - see 'Jenny'!
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Jan 9, 2021 22:10:56 GMT -5
Yeah, I wonder if anyone has compiled a list of how many episodes have a "Jenny" in them or a "Jennifer."
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Post by Pico Bob on Aug 9, 2021 9:20:32 GMT -5
I watched this a few days ago. Its good, but far from my favorite ep from season 1. It was a foray into international cold war politics rather than the initial and best concept of the A-Team, which was about helping ordinary people. I think the producers unfortunately turned to this ep as a template for season 5 when they decided to revamp the show.
I noticed that it is clearly Peppard's stunt double when Hannibal, Face and BA (who is being carried) leave the US military building to get the plane to Borneo. I wish I could tell what the actual filming location was for that building. It has a big logo and writing on it, but I cant make anything out. (If anyone from the LA area recognizes the building, please do say.)
During the final battle in the Borneo military compound, I spotted that some of the explosions were from CHILDREN OF JAMESTOWN.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Aug 9, 2021 15:44:22 GMT -5
This ep has some good moments, but I agree the best eps are definitely the ones where they help ordinary people. Sometimes the stunt doubles are so obvious. I think it's the terrible wigs they wore (especially Hannibal's and BA's doubles) that you can spot a mile away!
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Aug 9, 2021 18:16:02 GMT -5
I watched this a few days ago. Its good, but far from my favorite ep from season 1. It was a foray into international cold war politics rather than the initial and best concept of the A-Team, which was about helping ordinary people. I think the producers unfortunately turned to this ep as a template for season 5 when they decided to revamp the show. I noticed that it is clearly Peppard's stunt double when Hannibal, Face and BA (who is being carried) leave the US military building to get the plane to Borneo. I wish I could tell what the actual filming location was for that building. It has a big logo and writing on it, but I cant make anything out. (If anyone from the LA area recognizes the building, please do say.) During the final battle in the Borneo military compound, I spotted that some of the explosions were from CHILDREN OF JAMESTOWN. Welcome to the forum, PB! Interesting insights. I agree that this is not one of my most favorite episodes from season 1 (or any season), although it still has some great scenes. While it did foray into international politics, it still had quite a bit of silliness so to me it has a different feel than season 5. However, as you point out, it did take the team away from the best concept of helping ordinary people. Maybe they wanted to see how that would work out, and if so, then it seems that they realized (at least for the first few seasons) that it was best to have the team hired by average people (or sometimes just working for free) rather than having them work for the government. Can't help you with the building location. I'm not from the LA area, although I have visited there! I would love to hear more of your insights about this or other episodes. It is so fun to have someone new on the forum! Hope you'll stay and enjoy it.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Aug 9, 2021 18:18:59 GMT -5
This ep has some good moments, but I agree the best eps are definitely the ones where they help ordinary people. Sometimes the stunt doubles are so obvious. I think it's the terrible wigs they wore (especially Hannibal's and BA's doubles) that you can spot a mile away! The worst "stunt double" though is that horrid mannequin of Face used in this episode!!
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Post by Pico Bob on Aug 10, 2021 8:16:25 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum, PB! Interesting insights. I agree that this is not one of my most favorite episodes from season 1 (or any season), although it still has some great scenes. While it did foray into international politics, it still had quite a bit of silliness so to me it has a different feel than season 5. However, as you point out, it did take the team away from the best concept of helping ordinary people. Maybe they wanted to see how that would work out, and if so, then it seems that they realized (at least for the first few seasons) that it was best to have the team hired by average people (or sometimes just working for free) rather than having them work for the government. Can't help you with the building location. I'm not from the LA area, although I have visited there! I would love to hear more of your insights about this or other episodes. It is so fun to have someone new on the forum! Hope you'll stay and enjoy it. Thanks ever so much amyk. Its nice to be here! I fully agree with what you say say about ONE MORE TIME. It has the sense of freshness, good pacing and originality that all the season 1 shows had, but which had faded by the time season 5 came along. You are probably right that they were trying out different ideas for shows at the time. I wish they hadn't gone back to the 'working for the government' concept for season 5. Even if they wanted the A-Team to be involved in more political stories (a mistake in my view), do it like in THE A-TEAM IS COMING where at least the team retained its independence throughout. I am quite interested in filming locations. It was easy to spot the locations for the bike chase at the beginning of ONE MORE TIME. There are street signs that locates the action to the Hollywood area. You can also see the famous white sign in the hillside in at least one shot. The 'Borneo' compound at the end must be a film set and I think the A-Team filmed there several times. I reckon its the same set that was used as the convent in THE ONLY CHURCH IN TOWN, for example. Thus, I am frustrated to be stumped by the 'US military building' location! I am near the beginning of another complete watch of the A-Team in order, so I do hope to post on the other eps as I re-watch them.
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Post by Pico Bob on Aug 10, 2021 9:04:02 GMT -5
This ep has some good moments, but I agree the best eps are definitely the ones where they help ordinary people. Sometimes the stunt doubles are so obvious. I think it's the terrible wigs they wore (especially Hannibal's and BA's doubles) that you can spot a mile away! You are only too right about the quality of stunt doubles, Eclipse139! Indeed, in this ep Face's stunt double was awful. The guy's hair was nothing like Dirk's. At least they eventually got him sorted with a double who slightly resembled him, but you could usually still spot the stand-in a mile off. It looked to me like Peppard's stunt double in this ep was the same guy that they used throughout most of the show's run. What struck me about the scene I mentioned was that they were literally just calmly walking down some outside stairs, filmed from a distance. Dirk was there but apparently Peppard was not. Perhaps even by the time of this ep he had already starting to go home early etc.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Aug 10, 2021 12:58:49 GMT -5
This ep has some good moments, but I agree the best eps are definitely the ones where they help ordinary people. Sometimes the stunt doubles are so obvious. I think it's the terrible wigs they wore (especially Hannibal's and BA's doubles) that you can spot a mile away! The worst "stunt double" though is that horrid mannequin of Face used in this episode!! I still can't decide if the crew knew it looked ridiculous, but used it anyway for a laugh, or if they genuinely believed the audience would be fooled into thinking it was a real person on the back of that bike...?
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Post by Eclipse139 on Aug 10, 2021 13:03:27 GMT -5
This ep has some good moments, but I agree the best eps are definitely the ones where they help ordinary people. Sometimes the stunt doubles are so obvious. I think it's the terrible wigs they wore (especially Hannibal's and BA's doubles) that you can spot a mile away! You are only too right about the quality of stunt doubles, Eclipse139! Indeed, in this ep Face's stunt double was awful. The guy's hair was nothing like Dirk's. At least they eventually got him sorted with a double who slightly resembled him, but you could usually still spot the stand-in a mile off. It looked to me like Peppard's stunt double in this ep was the same guy that they used throughout most of the show's run. What struck me about the scene I mentioned was that they were literally just calmly walking down some outside stairs, filmed from a distance. Dirk was there but apparently Peppard was not. Perhaps even by the time of this ep he had already starting to go home early etc. There's another ep - I think it's A NICE PLACE TO VISIT, but I'm not 100% sure now - where the team are simply getting out of a vehicle (I don't think it's BA's van) and it's definitely GP, Mr T and Dwight, but very obviously not Dirk. It does make you wonder what Dirk was doing at that particular moment that he really couldn't be there to film that short scene.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Aug 11, 2021 17:57:34 GMT -5
The worst "stunt double" though is that horrid mannequin of Face used in this episode!! I still can't decide if the crew knew it looked ridiculous, but used it anyway for a laugh, or if they genuinely believed the audience would be fooled into thinking it was a real person on the back of that bike...? My theory about this and even about all the stunt doubles who only vaguely resemble the actors is that the crew is having a good laugh about the whole thing and not taking the show too seriously. I feel like they didn't really care if the mannequin and/or the stunt doubles could ever pass as the actors. With all the care that they would have to take in filming all the action scenes, I find it hard to believe that they could not also have taken the same amount of care in regards to these stunt double issues. That's why I find it easier to believe that they completely knew all along they were not fooling anyone and that they didn't care.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Aug 11, 2021 18:00:53 GMT -5
You are only too right about the quality of stunt doubles, Eclipse139! Indeed, in this ep Face's stunt double was awful. The guy's hair was nothing like Dirk's. At least they eventually got him sorted with a double who slightly resembled him, but you could usually still spot the stand-in a mile off. It looked to me like Peppard's stunt double in this ep was the same guy that they used throughout most of the show's run. What struck me about the scene I mentioned was that they were literally just calmly walking down some outside stairs, filmed from a distance. Dirk was there but apparently Peppard was not. Perhaps even by the time of this ep he had already starting to go home early etc. There's another ep - I think it's A NICE PLACE TO VISIT, but I'm not 100% sure now - where the team are simply getting out of a vehicle (I don't think it's BA's van) and it's definitely GP, Mr T and Dwight, but very obviously not Dirk. It does make you wonder what Dirk was doing at that particular moment that he really couldn't be there to film that short scene. Yes, it is A NICE PLACE TO VISIT, when they got dumped off on the side of the road after being subdued by the thugs. I'm not sure when exactly the switch in Face happens, but for sure when they get up from the road and get into the older couple's nice car (which they kindly paid them for use of), it definitely is a stunt double for Face. I think it may have been Face's stunt double also when the bad guys sort of throw them out onto the road. So maybe for that entire scene. I also have often wondered what was the deal with Dirk. Maybe he was sick or had another commitment when they wanted to film that scene. I wonder if the scene was added in after the rest of the episode was filmed. It would be fun to hear Dirk commenting on that scene. I doubt he would have any memory of why he wasn't in it, but I think it would be fun to hear him talking about his stunt double. Also to hear him talk about the dummy on the motorcycle in ONE MORE TIME!
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Katia
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Post by Katia on Mar 23, 2023 21:38:57 GMT -5
Was it because motorcycle stunts are more difficult with two people on a bike or did the show just not want to pay two stunt people ? I'm thinking the former. Might've had to soup the bike up more with twice the weight on it, probably wouldn't handle as well. And, we don't know what they used for the stunts anyway, how well it might handle two people (I know of at least one movie with motorcycle stunts where they "dressed up" a completely different Honda dual-sport for the stunts, rather than the Ducati the character is riding for most of the motorcycle scenes. Could've been a possibility here... they could've even been using some old clunker for the jumps). I thought seeing him and Amy working together was fun, especially when she insists on getting on the plane with him and when he has to get her down from the tangled parachute. And it's good to see her causing the big explosions. Yeah, this was a good one for Amy. Lynch has apparently been chasing the team for years, but in this ep the other military guy suggests no one else is really interested in them or what they allegedly did, so it sounds like it's Lynch's personal vendetta. Yes, and I didn't understand that. If that was the case, then why wouldn't the G just drop it when Lynch was gone, and be glad they didn't have to spend the money or manpower chasing around after the team anymore? This episode - and that comment in particular suggesting that recapturing the team wasn't really important to the military anymore - lessened any sense of danger that they might actually be sent back to prison one day. There would've been a wild ending to the series... the team finding out the Army wasn't really that serious about going after them and they did all that running for nothing... They portrayed Lynch as being more of an irritant to the team instead of a real threat like Decker was. You never really felt like Lynch would ever win. Maybe it was because Lynch wasn't in every episode and he was only mentioned more often than he actually appeared on screen? IMO, Lynch came across more bumbling and dorky... Decker came across more focused and badass. In the episode where they brought Decker on, it felt sort of like they were saying, "Now we're bringing in the big guns." But then in the court martial trilogy they make it seem like they are so important and notorious. Is that only because of the new charge of them murdering Morrison? But if Morrison was really a traitor, I would think even the military would not be all that upset that the team murdered him. Possibly so, but, you can't set a precedent for murdering your CO... they would have to come down on the guys hard, even if in the background the Army was secretly glad the guy was gone. I am of the belief that Stockwell knows they are innocent, but needs the leverage. Oh, I absolutely think Stockwell knows they're innocent. I thought that was supposed to be the idea, but maybe me thinking so is just a feature of me missing the first few episodes so I don't know exactly what's said between him and them. The worst "stunt double" though is that horrid mannequin of Face used in this episode!! I still can't decide if the crew knew it looked ridiculous, but used it anyway for a laugh, or if they genuinely believed the audience would be fooled into thinking it was a real person on the back of that bike...? I am not going to lie... I didn't notice until I saw it pointed out elsewhere! I thought it looked a bit funny, and I think I remember thinking the hair was bad, but didn't look closely enough to notice it was a dummy! (But I also have ADHD and "noticing things" is not my forte, so I can sometimes miss a lot of things other people see, like that they show Plane A in one shot and then a different one in a different shot...) I still can't decide if the crew knew it looked ridiculous, but used it anyway for a laugh, or if they genuinely believed the audience would be fooled into thinking it was a real person on the back of that bike...? My theory about this and even about all the stunt doubles who only vaguely resemble the actors is that the crew is having a good laugh about the whole thing and not taking the show too seriously. I feel like they didn't really care if the mannequin and/or the stunt doubles could ever pass as the actors. With all the care that they would have to take in filming all the action scenes, I find it hard to believe that they could not also have taken the same amount of care in regards to these stunt double issues. That's why I find it easier to believe that they completely knew all along they were not fooling anyone and that they didn't care. I still figure that back then, they just weren't so worried about it. These days, they really would be, but I'm not sure if either directors/crews or audiences were that worried about it in the 80s?
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