Comments from the I Spy Forum continued
also agree with SAM that this was visually a very, very lovely episode - Tiger Balm Gardens, the gardens at the hotel, the beautiful stroll Kelly and Rachel took past the flooded rice paddies, by the pagoda - very charming indeed.
BUT ....
it was obvious that the chemistry between Scotty and Kelly had not developed as yet - both were pleasant enough - it was just that the magic between them was not fully in place ... especially since we have the gift of hind-sight and know what an amazing and delightful relationship evolved very soon after this ....
And all those comments we have read - that the NBC execs thought Cosby`s acting was too stiff in this pilot episode and wanted to drop him, and that the show was so bad that they pushed it way back into the season .... WELL, I truly don`t think Cosby was all that stiff - it was just that Scotty`s character was not very well developed at all in this episode ... he was sort of the tacked on side-kick here, not an equal partner ....
OK, Tatia (totally loyal Culpophile that she is - can not believe she is letting these words pass her lips - or rather her typing fingers) but I have to say that I thought "the Big Guy" was a bit stiff himself - he was still feeling his way around this Kelly character .... Kelly was almost too smooth, too debonair, and a tad too suave (as if Culp could ever be too smooth, too debonair, or too suave :-) :-) :-) but actually he was ... with the mix of that voice-over business (which they never used again), that slightly polished James Bondish veneer, and that ascot of his .... well, I much prefer him when he loosened up more and became the Kelly we all know and love in later episodes ... and it didn`t take him very long to establish his "Kelly" after this episode, but it did take Cosby longer to turn Scotty into Scotty.
And in these first episodes, they did rely on some "spy" trappings in regards to code words and completed message phrases (in Dragon`s Teeth and Carry Me Back) and ciphers (in A Cup of Kindness), and in "Affair in T'sein Cha" on that grid sheet business .... they didn`t keep those in there for long ...
As a pilot - "Affair in T'sein Cha" did not do a bad job in establishing the characters and their relationship .... but "So Long Patrick Henry" carried so much more power and was so finely written by Culp - that I agree it was a much, much better choice for their introduction.
As ever, Tatia
Author: Alexander Scott
Date: 6/20/01 2:55:23 PM
To start with I`ll repost my original review of this episode from July of `99 back when "Kelly" and I first launched this site.
"For a network pilot this episode is not bad. It sets up character well and gives the flavor of the series to come. But as a mid-season story it`s only slightly above par. The plot`s interesting but it`s a bit thin for 50 minutes. Culp and Cosby have some great moments and the magnificent location work is by far best of the Hong Kong episodes. Beyond the fastly developed Vera Miles romance and the fact that Scotty is given little to do for most of acts III and IV, this one is still fun to watch."
For the most part I`ve found that this pilot plays better than it did to me two years ago. I give it a big E for effort. Sheldon Leanord spent a lot of time getting this produciton to look fairly slick with foreign locales (which would be half the selling point of the series- thus why the pilot had to be shot in Hong Kong rather than a backlot)
I for one, loved Culp`s Voice over. However, I`m glad we didn`t see it in later episodes because it would have gotten tired and well-worn. But here it was sparse and just a *nice touch. That opening teaser with the music, the VO, and probably the shortest (but sweetest) teasers in the show`s history does still grabs me. There`s not much to it, but simply seeing a guy with a rifle aimed at Kelly (playing tennis on camera for once) was a pretty cool.
Earle Hagen`s music compliments things here nicely. I especially like his "traveling music" when the music hits those nice fast tempos. I think while throughout the series the music is standout- Hagen hit his high watermark early with these Hong Kong episodes.
Granted you can tell things are a bit rough between Culp and Cos.... well maybe not rough but stiff. I don`t feel this was Cosby, but just the two of them trying to work out thier relationship. I agree that Scotty is second tier here like a Tonto or a Robin to Kelly. He really doens`t have much to do in the last half ot the episode. But they were obviously learning.
I actually liked the character moment when the child tries to rub Scotty's face. I think in our overdosed PC era, modern audiences may have a kneejerk cringe reaction to this. But It wasn't terribly offensive and it was a good moment for Scotty.
The moments that you can see glimmers of what was to come is not only in thier introductory sequence which has some nice dialogue and sets up the tennis Bum and Rhodes Scholar bit well... but on the train tracks when they have to walk to the village and Scotty asks Kelly to carry him. It was a nice moment that started to show thier banter which obviously wasn`t developed yet.
BTW when viewing this episode it does become appallingy clear that *this is how Kelly and Scotty should have been acting in the flashback scenes of "Anyplace I Hang myself is home." but this discussion probably belongs under that epsiode.
I think that while it`s not the best- it`s not the worst either. I think they pulled off a decent pilot all around which did what it had to do: sell the series. Granted So Long Patrick Henry was much stronger- the kinks were ironed out, the script was more complex (why is it a lot of us I Spy fans seem to relish these complicated storylines?), and it was all around a slicker product.
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