amyk
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Post by amyk on Feb 1, 2019 22:40:37 GMT -5
Just finished this one. One of my least favorite episodes of the entire series, I give it a 2 on the Sidney scale ("bottom of the barrel"), but I still think there are episodes worse than this one, so I'll reserve a 1 on the scale for probably my very least favorite episode(s). This episode makes no sense to me, for one thing. Why on earth does BA's old high school football team just happen to be in the Langley area (or perhaps Washington, D.C.?) Or did BA and Murdock go back to Chicago to recruit them? And why doesn't anyone on the team seem shocked that BA is coming to them? Do they not know he is wanted for murder or are they just so loyal to him that they don't care or what? And why is BA's name being broadcast so that anyone in the whole US can know he's over there playing a football game in East Germany?? Has the military given up on trying to get the team captured? Does Stockwell have enough power to just make everyone fine and dandy that the team (supposedly) committed murder, escaped a firing squad, and is now running around in East Germany with the US football team? Also, I don't quite understand what exactly TJ did, other than throw away BA's scholarship form. He apparently was also accused of throwing a game back in high school? I also don't like Murdock's underwear obsession in this episode.
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amyk
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A-Team Fan Extraordinaire
Posts: 19,471
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Post by amyk on Feb 3, 2019 18:26:09 GMT -5
One other thing that always bugs me a lot about this episode is why on earth Frankie is the one to try to effect the blackout when B.A. is right there with him. B.A. knows how to do that, so why didn't he just do it instead of letting Frankie try it? Is BA trying to mentor him or something? But it didn't seem like that.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Feb 4, 2019 16:37:29 GMT -5
I always have to suffer through this one as well. Not one of my favorites for a lot of reasons, most of which you mentioned.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Feb 4, 2019 23:11:11 GMT -5
I sort of feel like this was one of those episodes which somehow didn't come together quite like it should have. Maybe there were parts of it cut out that would have helped pull it all together. I really would like to know if BA and Murdock just rounded up all the football players in the Washington, D.C. area or went back to Chicago. But if they had gone back to Chicago, I think there would have been some mention of it. So it's really weird that so many of BA's former classmates have apparently settled down in the Washington, D.C. area and also that they don't seem all that surprised to see BA. And also kind of weird that they are all so willing to join up to head over to East Germany. In addition, the East German intelligence is so bad that they don't know that this is the A-Team which they are involved with?
I feel like it is just very sloppy writing and way too big of plot holes....and yes, I do know it is The A-Team which isn't always exactly the most concerned about plot holes, but this one just seems to go too far for me.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Dec 27, 2019 13:58:44 GMT -5
Joe Namath advertises something (maybe life insurance) on TV. He looks nice. Of course he looks older than in QUARTERBACK SNEAK, but I'm glad he does not appear to have had plastic surgery to try to "stay young." Has anyone else here seen the commercial I'm talking about? He's a spokesman I think for whatever it is they are trying to sell.
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Dec 27, 2019 14:24:22 GMT -5
I have not seen it, but I got rid of regular TV ages ago. I only have Netflix and Amazon Prime now in addition to my extensive (and growing) TV on DVD collection.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Dec 27, 2019 14:35:53 GMT -5
I don't have cable, so I watch a lot of ME-TV and Antenna TV. I think that's where I've seen him, on one or both of those channels.
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Post by quartermaster22 on Jan 8, 2020 1:10:53 GMT -5
I think this episode was a leftover script from Season 4. It just feels so out of place in S5, but it's right at home in S4.
Season 4 had a lot of "gimmick" episodes (race cars, rock stars, Wheel of Fortune, pro wrestling), and a lot of guest stars (Isaac Hayes, Hulk Hogan, Boy George). This episode has a football game as the gimmick, with guest stars (Joe Namath, Jim Brown, John Matuszak).
If this script was left over from S4, they saved money (and time) by using an existing script, but was it really worth it? This episode is really bad... not "Crystal Skull" bad, but bad nevertheless. Obviously they still had to do some rewrites to accommodate Stockwell and Frankie... which is maybe why Frankie feels so tacked-on in his scenes in this ep. "Theory of Revolution" is a perfect follow-up to the Court-Martial Trilogy (starting with them having a party and showing that Stockwell doesn't really control them), and a perfect episode for their first mission. So shoehorning "Quarterback Sneak" in between the trilogy and "Revolution" is a real let-down, as S5 started so strong.
BTW did you guys know that Jim Brown was one of the original "Dirty Dozen" (the movie)? And John Matuszak played "Sloth" in "The Goonies."
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Jan 8, 2020 9:19:22 GMT -5
I agree with you now that you bring it to light, quartermaster. It does feel like it could be in Season 4.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Jan 8, 2020 21:53:41 GMT -5
Hmmm....I had not thought about this possibly having been re-tooled for season 5 but written during season 4. However, you may be right about that quartermaster. I don't even know who Jim Brown and John Matuszak are in this episode, let alone in the other things you mentioned!
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Post by Eclipse139 on Dec 14, 2020 17:25:00 GMT -5
I rewatched this one today. Like you've said before in this thread, it's not a strong episode and there are too many issues with the plot.
I have no idea of any of the rules of American football, so I struggle with all of those scenes. I also have no idea who the famous football players are - I assumed they were famous players because the acting wasn't the best! I thought it was odd that the game is set up against the East German side in the first place, because they're clearly a football/soccer team which is very different to American football.
As you've mentioned, it didn't make any sense that BA was able to gather his old school team so quickly, nor that no one was bothered about identifying BA, or the rest of the team. BA even says "I've been hanging around with The A-Team" like it's perfectly normal, when one of his old chums asks what he's been up to since school - and then later another player casually references them being The A-Team like it's no big deal.
Face trying to convince the baddies that he was German was quite fun, although his scams are usually better than that. And Murdock's job as an underwear inspector wasn't as funny as I think the writers thought it might be!
I liked Face and Frankie double dating - to me it made more sense than the idea of Face and Murdock double dating - but I didn't like that no one realised the girls were Stockwell's agents.
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amyk
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Post by amyk on Dec 15, 2020 18:21:45 GMT -5
I don't think the type of body that is best suited for soccer is going to be the type that can stand up to 250 or 300 pounds running into them, and if they don't even play American football normally, I think that it is pretty silly to think they would be able to take on the American team. The whole matchup was just dumb, and I don't think that someone from East Germany in whatever position that guy was in would have been stupid enough to agree to it, even if he just wanted to try to make the Americans look bad. It would have been funnier to see these hulked up football players trying to play soccer against some soccer professionals!
If the whole reason the team had to stay in hiding in Langley was because they are now more wanted than ever, it is really idiotic that Stockwell would let them gather up BA's old buddies.
Hannibal should have known the girls were Stockwell's agents. Or maybe he did but just didn't care?
Anyway, this is definitely one of my least favorite episodes, and I wish they had not wasted precious time of the final season on it but had instead had a really excellent episode.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Dec 21, 2020 17:16:51 GMT -5
I don't think the type of body that is best suited for soccer is going to be the type that can stand up to 250 or 300 pounds running into them, and if they don't even play American football normally, I think that it is pretty silly to think they would be able to take on the American team. The whole matchup was just dumb, and I don't think that someone from East Germany in whatever position that guy was in would have been stupid enough to agree to it, even if he just wanted to try to make the Americans look bad. It would have been funnier to see these hulked up football players trying to play soccer against some soccer professionals! Yes! That would have been much better - especially if, when BA first rounded up his old teammates, he accidentally 'forgot' to mention that the game he needed them to play was actually football of the soccer variety!
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Post by HoudiniDerek on Dec 21, 2020 20:17:41 GMT -5
I don't think the type of body that is best suited for soccer is going to be the type that can stand up to 250 or 300 pounds running into them, and if they don't even play American football normally, I think that it is pretty silly to think they would be able to take on the American team. The whole matchup was just dumb, and I don't think that someone from East Germany in whatever position that guy was in would have been stupid enough to agree to it, even if he just wanted to try to make the Americans look bad. It would have been funnier to see these hulked up football players trying to play soccer against some soccer professionals! Yes! That would have been much better - especially if, when BA first rounded up his old teammates, he accidentally 'forgot' to mention that the game he needed them to play was actually football of the soccer variety! But B.A.'s part of the plan always work, remember? I don't see him making a mistake like that.
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Post by Eclipse139 on Dec 22, 2020 16:23:17 GMT -5
Yes! That would have been much better - especially if, when BA first rounded up his old teammates, he accidentally 'forgot' to mention that the game he needed them to play was actually football of the soccer variety! But B.A.'s part of the plan always work, remember? I don't see him making a mistake like that. That's true! Maybe he leaves it to Face to gather the old team and it's Face who decides it's best not to mention they won't actually be playing their usual game.
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