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Post by FileneNGottlin on Jul 13, 2020 17:34:21 GMT -5
(Based on online reactions, most people never got that, for example, Lemony at the end of 105 is supposed to be standing on the cliff where Aunt Josephine's house used to be.) I remember thinking that when I watched the episode, but discredited it because of the Beatrice gravestone. Regardless of when she died, it didn’t make sense to me why she would be buried/have some sort of monument there.
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Post by catastrophist on Jul 13, 2020 18:15:01 GMT -5
(Based on online reactions, most people never got that, for example, Lemony at the end of 105 is supposed to be standing on the cliff where Aunt Josephine's house used to be.) I remember thinking that when I watched the episode, but discredited it because of the Beatrice gravestone. Regardless of when she died, it didn’t make sense to me why she would be buried/have some sort of monument there. Ha, a very fair deduction, given how it appears onscreen. Daniel's script mentioned the name BEATRICE carved in a stone, the way someone might carve the named of a loved one into a tree; I believe his intention was for it to be the kind of subtle detail only eagle-eyed fans would notice. But sometimes TV production is like a giant game of telephone, where things get misunderstood as they move from department to department, and in this case, by the time the set was built, the small easter egg had become something huge that resembled a grave. This sort of thing happened a few times during production: it's why, for example, the conceit of a few familiar names hidden in the tunnels became dozens of subway-style signs (with names that didn't always make narrative sense), and why, instead of a few well-hidden VFD logos, the eye insignia got to be so prevalent that it's hard to believe this secret organization is secret at all. It's just the reality of production, where lots of talented passionate people are working incredibly fast on an incredibly huge number of things.
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Jul 13, 2020 18:27:25 GMT -5
Still it was very good. As Dante explained to me recently, VFD in the past was not so secret. I compare the old VFD with the masonry. We see massons symbols everywhere massons symbols (including eyes), including here in Brazil. But that does not mean that masonry is not a secret organization. So, I think that the VFD symbols scattered everywhere are glimpses of a glorious past. It didn't bother me at all. Not even the detail about Beatrice's grave. Although it caused me problems in a certain group at the time due to the nature of my theories at the time. If it weren't for that scene, maybe I wouldn't have been so involved in Dark Avennue, so I'm grateful for that scene.
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Jul 16, 2020 17:26:59 GMT -5
Here's an updated version of the rewatch schedule. It will not only take us to just over the 2 year anniversary of the final season but also, hopefully, to the start of the year in which Poison for Breakfast will finally be released. TWW: 7/20/20 - 8/2/20 LSASOUE: 8/3/20 - 8/17/20 TMM: 8/17/20 - 8/30/20 TAA: 8/31/20 - 9/13/20 TEE: 9/14/20 - 9/27/20 TVV: 9/28/20 - 10/11/20 THH: 10/12/20 - 10/25/20 TCC: 10/26/20 - 11/8/20 TSS: 11/9/20 - 11/22/20 TGG: 11/23/20 - 12/6/20 TPP: 12/7/20 - 12/21/20 TE: 12/28/20 - 1/4/21
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Jul 16, 2020 18:13:59 GMT -5
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Post by Dante on Jul 17, 2020 3:27:36 GMT -5
Perhaps a bit late in the day to be thinking about this, but on my rewatch I was more aware of and impressed by the decisions taken with the structure of Monty's house; that being the reproportioning such that the house itself is (relatively!) small, and the "Reptile Room" is bigger than the entire rest of the house combined. It's a powerful visual image, and a strong expression of the enthusiasm of its creator, building an extension to the building dedicated to his reptiles that's larger than the part dedicated to himself. It's not quite the sense expressed in the book, but the visual imagination of the very early books is somewhat restrained, and the TV adaptation has both the right and arguably the obligation to sell us something more striking on a visual level. Of course, it's also something of a practical necessity to make the set a comfortable place to film and act in, and the reptile room has always been roomy in all versions of the story, but I don't remember the movie providing such a distinctive outside image and contrast. (Looking back over some footage, I think I'd perhaps characterise the movie's interpretation as "lush", with the Netflix adaptation feeling freer to be outright weird.)
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Jul 17, 2020 15:04:00 GMT -5
One of the bigger mysteries I've seen discussed on this board is the "lost scene": the photo of Lemony standing in front of Monty's house, now boarded-up and overgrown with vines. This was the original opening to 103, which showed Lemony investigating the events of TRR years later. We would have first seen the ruined house, then the camera would move up and then down to reveal its Baudelaire-era glory. This was one of the things we really tried to do in the first season: establish that Lemony is telling the Baudelaires' story from a point in the distant future. However, making this clear turned out to be a lot harder than we thought. The notion that all these locations had since fallen into ruin was exciting on the page. But in practice, it was hard to convey. If the building was too ruined, it looked like an entirely different location. (Based on online reactions, most people never got that, for example, Lemony at the end of 105 is supposed to be standing on the cliff where Aunt Josephine's house used to be.) But if the set wasn't ruined enough, it was hard to tell that any time had passed. Thank you so much for finally solving this mystery, I've been wondering about it ever since I first saw the photo on IMDB. Are there any other major deleted sequences like that from the show, and if so would there ever be a way to get them released?
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Jul 18, 2020 10:25:20 GMT -5
Excerpts from the Reptile Room section of The Incomplete History of Secret Organizations BO WELCH (Production Designer): I looked at Brett Helquist’s illustrations in the books when I started. You always want to do something new, but at the same time, I wanted to see if there were clues I could integrate into the design. So there are similarities in the architecture, especially the way the glass conservatory overwhelms and dominates the house. The visual concept is that the guy is so passionate about reptiles that the ratio of his love of reptiles to where he lives as a human is probably four to one, which is the opposite of most hobbyists who just keep their hobby in a corner in the basement. This flips it so the priority is the reptiles, and his own living space is sort of diminutive.
(From Season 1's Art Director Dan Hermansen)
AASIF MANDVI (Uncle Monty): I created a backstory about Monty perhaps wanting to have a child and never being able to. It was this idea of somebody who is middle-aged and feels this longing to be a father that resonated with me on a personal level. So that scene when he comes out to meet them with the coconut cake is Monty at his fullest and best. And in “The Reptile Room,” he’s delighted to share his world with these kids.
(From Season 1's Art Director Dan Hermansen) JOE TRACZ (Story Editor): At first the Baudelaires are suspicious. Monty lives in the middle of nowhere, they’ve never heard of him, and their last guardian tried to marry and/or kill them. So the first episode was about Monty winning the Baudelaires’s trust. And because the series operates in tragedy, that same night when Klaus finally calls him “Uncle Monty,” and they realize that even though their parents are gone, they still have this person who cares about them ... that’s when Count Olaf shows up to take all that away.BO WELCH: The idea is that you have a glimmer of hope for these kids: “Oh my god, this is going to work out.” You walk in that conservatory and there are these living creatures, and this man who’s so passionate, and it gives you a happy positive feeling.(From Season 1's Art Director Dan Hermansen) K. TODD FREEMAN (Mr. Poe): You always hear “Don’t work with kids and animals.” But on the episode with Uncle Monty, we had both.AASIF MANDVI: Not only did I have to pick up the iguana like I love him, but I had to walk him on a leash. Iguanas do not care about being actors. They’re not interested.(From Season 1's Art Director Dan Hermansen)
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Jul 18, 2020 12:29:50 GMT -5
I can say that without shadows of doubt my favorite episode of the first season was the episode 3. The episode is very beautiful, it is intriguing, the relationship between Uncle Monty and the kids is beautiful to see, Stephano is scary with that knife, there is a magnification of the amusement of the Asoue mythology, the reptiles are incredible and favric at the same time (what is a difficult combination). The personality of Uncle Monty is very well worked and I have been diving there similarly and even better than in the book. When I remember the third season, I really remember the episode 3.
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Post by gothicarchiesfan on Jul 19, 2020 0:00:23 GMT -5
Perhaps a bit late in the day to be thinking about this, but on my rewatch I was more aware of and impressed by the decisions taken with the structure of Monty's house; that being the reproportioning such that the house itself is (relatively!) small, and the "Reptile Room" is bigger than the entire rest of the house combined. It's a powerful visual image, and a strong expression of the enthusiasm of its creator, building an extension to the building dedicated to his reptiles that's larger than the part dedicated to himself. It's not quite the sense expressed in the book, but the visual imagination of the very early books is somewhat restrained, and the TV adaptation has both the right and arguably the obligation to sell us something more striking on a visual level. Of course, it's also something of a practical necessity to make the set a comfortable place to film and act in, and the reptile room has always been roomy in all versions of the story, but I don't remember the movie providing such a distinctive outside image and contrast. (Looking back over some footage, I think I'd perhaps characterise the movie's interpretation as "lush", with the Netflix adaptation feeling freer to be outright weird.) One of the problems I do have with the movie is that it doesn't do a great job of establishing the internal geography of a location and how certain areas in it exist in relation to each other. Part of me wants to believe its deliberate like when you can't tell how Olaf's house is actually laid out, but then you get to Monty's house and realize that not once do they ever actually show the outside of the Reptile Room or how it connects to the house. It also doesn't help that there is also an overabundance of pretty terrible (even for the time) CGI used for the wide establishing shots which often don't even match the actual sets and Monty's House is a prime example. CGI Establishing Shot
Actual Set
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edressa
Bewildered Beginner
Posts: 7
Likes: 11
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Post by edressa on Aug 22, 2020 22:09:19 GMT -5
I have to say, the rewatch is rather timely since I just finished binge-watching the series and that it's fresh in my memory...
This probably has been discussed before, but after my recent viewing of TRR, am I the only one who's not convinced that Monty didn't recognize Olaf as Stefano? Book Monty is definitely more on the well-meaning but gullible side of things, but Netflix Monty definitely comes off as a lot... sharper, and he's definitely way more involved in VFD than in the book. I thought it was a 50/50 at my first viewing a few years ago, but now, I'm thinking he pretended to think Stefano was a spy from the Herpetologists Agency (seriously, why would Stefano be a threat to the Baudelaires, in that scenario?). Unmasking Olaf straight away would have been dangerous, just to buy himself enough time for him to leave with the kids the next day or at the very least for Olaf to not just kidnap the kids straight after killing him. This said, poor Monty probably got a little too confident and that ended up leading to his death...
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Post by Optimism is my Phil-osophy on Aug 22, 2020 22:40:29 GMT -5
This is a great theory. Uncle Monty was pretending to be an idiot (on the show). Strangely, it makes sense. We have the advantage of having one of the writers with us to confirm or deny this. But I prefer not to use this advantage. This takes away the fun of making theories. Furthermore, I believe that any large text ends up taking on a life of its own at some point, so to speak, and the author's opinion is no longer the priority.
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