Comments from The I Spy Forum continued
Scotty's verbal abuse of Mrs. Richardson when she kills Thorsten is interesting. It shows that Scotty was angry at himself for letting the situation develop to the point where Thorsten had to be killed, and not really anger at the woman who saved his life.
The climax scene where they tow the dead body and swim to shore is full of tension and suspense, and also is highly imaginative, and Kelly's gallows humor before attempting it, then another protective gesture to reassure his friend`s wife make a great scene.
And the final tag line when looked at in light of the basic plot-line says something about changes made in the world. Consider. The story is about getting back the pilot of a spy plane which had been brought down over China. Just 4 months ago this very circumstance happened in real life, as we all remember the spy plane in China back in April. After 36 years, the same global problems and the same political situation between China and the USA still exist, and the story from No Exchange could very well have happened this year. However, at the end of the episode, a comic situation was made about the fact that they needed to type up a whole new copy of the report because they had only made two carbon copies, and needed another. In the 1980`s, they would simply run to the nearest copy machine, and today, they would have been using a laptop wordprocessor and probably emailing the report with no need for actual hard copies, but 1965 was in the pre-Xerox, pre-internet days, and so the joke situation existed in the world of 1965. In 36 years we have changed our technology and solved all these little problems of daily life, but we still can`t solve our major political issues between countries. Does this say something about the human race?
Author: Tatia Loring
Date: 8/1/01 12:53:55 AM
So enjoyed the Colonel's commentaries also ... very well done - yes, Gary Powers` U-2 spy plane years ago and the more recent events in China ... guess we've only "progressed" in certain departments - and even though technology is one of them - the U.S. government hasn`t changed all that much. I bet Kelly would still have to send in his requests in "quadruplicate" to lots of offices (OK perhaps by e-mail or fax this time) ... and then he would still have to wait forever to get reimbursed ... trust me on this one, Washington is still Washington -- as Scotty once said - "they need to get off their Foggy Bottoms!"
Yes, "No Exchange" is one of my favorites also! This one had such a beautiful mix of everything!!! SAM brought out the wonderful ending scene so poignantly and how well put by the Colonel ... yes, this one was a "sampler" of the best of what I SPY had to offer - everything worked so well in this one and though it`s sum total was delightful - what I loved is the individual parts of the stories ... so many "wonderful" individual moments in this one to savor and enjoy ...
There was:
- the great `dead" puppet ... I "loved" the whole puppet scene then and 30 years later when they used it so charmingly in the I SPY Cosby Reunion show... the "Pay him!!" line was used again, but this time switching which of our heroes had to pay the puppet!
- the fabulous dragon parades ... and the magnificent local color in this one ...
- Leo Pincus, Leo Pincus!!!
- ALL the characters they ran into in the stores and stalls of Hong Kong when on their "pink" search ... from the guy offering to show them his photos to the kite man running out of the toy store and Mr. Pinks` suit man ... (and yes, the voice-overs - both Scotty's and Kelly's worked wonderfully in this episode!)
- Thorston`s line about "What can they pay you that makes this moment so worthwhile?" as he is about to kill off our heroes!
- and both Scotty and Kelly pointing at each other when asked who is going to get shot first!
- even that dancer in the "Pink" Bar ... hitting the xylophone pipes with her unique tap dancing routine - now that`s not something you see every day ...
- Scotty's literary endeavors about finding the proper pink "with no pre-knowledge of what pink, or who pink, or how pink we were looking for" ...
- and Kelly's line about telling Nancy "I was breathed her name at the end" (just so happens that Nancy was the current Mrs. Culp at the time ...)
- the absolutely adorable little skippy dance Kelly performs as he finishes typing his masterpiece and gets it ready to send off to Washington ...
- the entire premise of typing out the story as it unfolds worked so well in this one - and, of course, Kelly`s dogged determination for truth, justice, and the American way - and getting his money back for his damaged watch!
- Mr. Hagen`s great music - a wonderful mix that kept the pace alive ... especially all the different short Asian morsels as Kelly and Scotty go from place to place searching for the girl - some light and lively music, some action-packed, some tension-building, and some very poignant touching moments as well ...
- and the repartee between Culp and Cosby was so smooth and shining by this episode ... and I enjoyed seeing the guys not on assignment - winding down as it were ... (so that's what Scotty and Kelly did in their free time.) By this episode, we are beginning to get to know them more as fully developed characters - drawing us in - caring about them ... (compare that to the more cardboard Mission: Impossible crew or the "men" from UNCLE) I SPY always included such a wonderful touch of warmth and humanity between the 2 men ...
and MAKO... besides being in the "Loser, " he was also the bad guy "health inspector" in "Court of the Lions" ... SAM sent me "Sand Pebbles" - which I am viewing now and had not seen in umpteen years. I forgot what a large role Mako had in it - he was nominated for an Oscar in a Supporting role for this performance ... like James Hong - I loved seeing him pop up in different roles in the Asian episodes.
and did anyone else catch that Mako`s dad was the mayor of T`sein Cha??
and one more little known Tatia Trivia Tidbit ... Byron Morrow who played Bentley Reed - the man who gave the guys their assignment - was in a Greatest American Hero where he played Bill Maxwell's counterpart in an earlier teaming of another pair who had the red suit. Small world isn`t it :-)
and this is from a TV Guide article "The Ptomaine in Spain Came Mainly on the Plane" 3/25/67 by Dick Hobson about incidents that delayed "I SPY's" production all over the world.
"Then there's the dialog that had to be dubbed in back in Hollywood, because the Chinese can`t pronounce the English word "iceberg"; for inscrutable Oriental resasons it always comes out "raspberry." Co-producer David Friedkin was directing a scene on the Hong Kong ferry in which Culp was to walk into the wheelhouse and playfully yank the whistle cord several times. The Chinese actor playing the captain was supposed to say: "Oh, that`s very funny. You've just signaled: `Four icebergs in Hong Kong Harbor." On the 10th take he was still saying: "Ho, that berry funny. You sinna for raspberry in Hong Kong Harbor." On the 11th take they gave up."
High marks from me too for "Damaged Merchandise" with or without raspberries!
As ever, Tatia
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