Legend Blog

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KateR
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by KateR »

I probably should also include in the "Notes" section that all of the episode titles are plays on words of either movie titles or common expressions.

Some are obvious and silly, like "Clueless in San Francisco" = "Sleepless in Seattle."

I'm not positive what the pilot episode was based on. I'm assuming that "Birth of a Legend" = "Birth of a Nation." Is there a more obvious choice I'm missing?

Oh, and I don't know if this should be a "Note" or not, but you know that leather cap and goggles that Pratt usually wears in the quadrovelocipede? The crew used to call that RDA's "Rocket J. Squirrel" hat. Every time I think of that, it makes me laugh. They said he loved that hat and they had a hard time getting it off of him.

For anyone not familiar with that expression - google "Rocky and Bullwinkle" - and have a laugh. :lol:

The more I go through these, the more little tidbits come back to mind. :)

Kate
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frenchwriter
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by frenchwriter »

KateR wrote:I probably should also include in the "Notes" section that all of the episode titles are plays on words of either movie titles or common expressions.

Some are obvious and silly, like "Clueless in San Francisco" = "Sleepless in Seattle."

I'm not positive what the pilot episode was based on. I'm assuming that "Birth of a Legend" = "Birth of a Nation." Is there a more obvious choice I'm missing?

Oh, and I don't know if this should be a "Note" or not, but you know that leather cap and goggles that Pratt usually wears in the quadrovelocipede? The crew used to call that RDA's "Rocket J. Squirrel" hat. Every time I think of that, it makes me laugh. They said he loved that hat and they had a hard time getting it off of him.

For anyone not familiar with that expression - google "Rocky and Bullwinkle" - and have a laugh. :lol:

The more I go through these, the more little tidbits come back to mind. :)

Kate
Great work as always Kate!!! Thank you.
It's a good idea to help us to understand plays on words (mainly for non-Americans ;) or especially for all people, as me, who don't speak English very well).
Your chapter with all notes from the first episode from "Legend" is totaly fantastic.
With the awesome work from "themacgyverproject", it's a really pleasure to following!! :D
And great pictures too!!
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by themacgyverproject »

KateR wrote:
Nicholas also wondered why Legend was running away from the horse at the end. It may not be completely clear in the beginning of the episode, but Pratt has a "thing" about horses. He doesn't like them, and avoids them. In the scene at Mr. Fat's restaurant, his explanation is "You know how horses feel about me," but it seems, both in that scene and at the end, that horses like HIM just fine. This is a running gag through the series, especially since Legend doesn't share the aversion to horses. That's why, when "Legend" appeared to the farmers and moved the river, Pratt remarks later, "Ah, riding a horse, was I?"

Kate
Very interesting, thanks for sharing! I totally missed some of those lines involving the horses. And great work on the lexicon - very cool!
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by themacgyverproject »

Just posted on Episode 2, Mr. Pratt Goes to Sheridan. :)

http://themacgyverproject.blogspot.com/ ... ridan.html
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KateR
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by KateR »

themacgyverproject wrote:Just posted on Episode 2, Mr. Pratt Goes to Sheridan. :)

http://themacgyverproject.blogspot.com/ ... ridan.html
I enjoy your summaries, Nick. And believe it or not, this week I actually managed to get done early, so my episode #2 is now up on the Legend page as well. :)

http://rdanderson.com/legend/link-legend.htm

I hope it's okay to continue the discussion about your review here. For example...
It's a Robert Donner sighting!
There will be a lot of MacGyver sightings. I was going to add that in my "Notes" section, but then I'd have to do the reverse for MacGyver and Stargate. So I'm going to leave those to you!
After the first few minutes we get our first look at the Legend theme song. I like it, and I like theme song openings in general for television shows -- sadly they're not as common as they once were.
I agree, I miss theme songs. And I like the Legend one. I have to refresh my memory as I make it to the later episodes, but I think the theme gets a different arrangement a little later.
Not sure why Legend and Bartok are still having the conversation about Pratt not wanting to be Legend -- I thought they settled that at the end of the last episode.
That will continue throughout the series. Pratt never really does fully accept "becoming" Legend, although he does learn to have a bit more fun with it, as long as he can still drink "tea" and spend time with the ladies. ;)
I like how Legend cleverly tells Siringo to take him as a hostage so that they can escape together, but earlier in the bank Roscoe told his partner that they would kill Legend if he got in the way, so why don't they just shoot Legend and Siringo?
I'm hoping it's because they originally intended for the surrender to be less "public." But when Siringo rides into town, welcomed as a hero by the townsfolk, and is greeted by Legend, who is a hero everywhere, I guess it was just too many witnesses for a double homicide. ;)
Yikes, Mrs. Yancey is just shooting first and asking questions later!
Gotta love the Old West. ;)
I'm starting to enjoy RDA and his character more by this point. He still overacts, but I'm getting used to it. It reminds me a bit of Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies where it's an over the top performance but once you accept it, it becomes more enjoyable.
I suspect the more he got away with it, the more over-the-top he became. You do start to get used to it, but there are times later in the series his portrayal is almost cartoonish. Even RDA himself has admitted more recently at conventions, that he was having way too much fun and "somebody should have stopped me!" :lol:
It's not clear to me what was in the safe at the end -- was it records of the embezzlement?
Yes, it's the "other set of books."
Be sure to check out the Legend page on the Richard Dean Anderson website where Kate Ritter is creating an episode lexicon complete with photos and trivia. So far she's done the first episode, and she said she's trying to keep up with me!
Thanks for the link! :) So far, I'm keeping up with the notes and images and episode pages, but I don't know how long that will last. And heaven knows how long it will take me to go back and complete all the Lexicon entries! But it's good for me to have a "joint deadline" with you!

Anyone else want to join in?

Kate
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by bftlovesRDA »

Am enjoying the ongoing discussion of you two re:Legend. I am still watching MacGyver start to finish - so have a few more episodes of Mac before I go back to watching Legend and then hopefully can join the discussion somewhat.

Mainly, wanted to thank you, Kate, for the episodes you have completed in the Legend lexicon so far and for the ones yet to complete. I am enjoying very much reviewing these episodes there. How do you do the Memorable Remarks or is that a trade secret? :D :D They are so good. (All of the Lexicon entries are good but I especially enjoy the remarks).

Overall impression of Legend - very lighthearted for the most part. One or two of the later episodes show a sign of being more "serious" - will comment on that later - but as a whole - as we know - this was simply a "fun" endeavor for RDA and John deLancie. It took a LOT of creativity on the part of the writers and producers/directors/actors to put this together with all the inventions and twists in the plot. Bringing in the characters from the real Old West was neat....like Wild Bill Hickok. Also, overall, I do not like Legend as much as I like MacGyver or Stargate SG1. A similarity with MacGyver is that Legend/Pratt does not use a gun and the writers go to great lengths for him to NOT use a gun - but instead to use Bartok's inventions for offensive weapons. Sometimes, I find these lengths that they go to a bit extreme, but that's just me. I would like more "shooting" as in traditional westerns, I guess - but that would take away from the whole point of the series, I know....... As Kate talked about in the review of the first episode, the relationship of Pratt to horses was amusing indeed. More later as I get back to watching Legend again. Thanks for the ongoing discussion.
B
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by themacgyverproject »

Great stuff, thanks Kate and BFT! Kate, that's interesting what you said about RDA speaking out on this at the conventions and noting that he was having fun in his over the top performance. Even though I don't love the show so far, I like it enough where I'm looking forward to watching more episodes and seeing where it goes.
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KateR
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Re: Legend Blog

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themacgyverproject wrote:Great stuff, thanks Kate and BFT! Kate, that's interesting what you said about RDA speaking out on this at the conventions and noting that he was having fun in his over the top performance. Even though I don't love the show so far, I like it enough where I'm looking forward to watching more episodes and seeing where it goes.
It's interesting hearing the perspective of someone like Nick who is discovering the show for the first time, and others who are reliving the series with a certain nostalgia. :)

I agree, I don't believe that Legend is the best reflection of RDA's true acting ability, but the show is meant to be lighthearted and not taken too seriously. When it first aired, I was very new to the internet, having just come online a few months before, and so it was a new experience finding other RDA fans around the world, and sharing in the anticipation and the promos for the show, and recording the series on VHS (remember VHS??) to mail to fans in other countries who couldn't see the show. There was no such thing as streaming or watching videos online in those days. The only kind of moving image you could get online was an animated GIF! So there was a certain excitement and feeling of "community" as the episodes began to air. The producers were also new to the internet, and when we (mostly on the "MacList") discussed and critiqued each new episode, the producers were listening in and responding. And when the series was canceled, the fans offered their support and shared in the disappointment. (Have you seen the ad that we fans took out in Variety?)

So when I watch the show now, it brings back all those memories, and I'm enjoying reliving the episodes and discussing them the way we used to then. I know RDA considers it his "favorite" series because he was "having fun," but I think for me, MacGyver is still the favorite, followed by the early seasons of Stargate. To me, Legend is what it is - an enjoyable diversion. But that being said, it did get off to a slower start, and toward the end they tried to test the waters of being "topical," so my favorite episodes are the middle ones. I'm REALLY looking forward to revisiting Knee-High Noon and Revenge of the Herd. :lol: :lol:

Kate
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by Caty »

KateR wrote:I'm REALLY looking forward to revisiting Knee-High Noon and Revenge of the Herd. :lol: :lol:

Kate
I've watched "Revenge of the Herd" yesterday and couldn't stop laughing. :lol: :lol:
I say only raindance, traditional raindance! :lol: :lol:

Sadly the series never played in Germany and I watched it on youtube 2 years ago for the first time.
Although he ist sometimes overacting, it's always funny and I love to see his expressions. You can read so much out of his face, I can imagine how much fun he had, acting as Legend.
I'm so glad, I bought the DVD, it's much better to watch than the tiny little pictures in miserable quality on youtube. :D
"No matter how hard the past,
you can always begin again.
"

(Buddha)
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Re: Legend Blog

Post by bftlovesRDA »

The discussion on the other thread about Legend has gone to the quality of the new Legend DVD's. My Legend DVD's came in excellent packaging and quality - I have zero complaints about this. Evidently others (who have written reviews - there are 2 negative reviews out of 13 reviews) found the DVD's not good quality. And something about the theme music being changed.

Maybe some more of us who have purchased Legend through Amazon should write reviews there. I want as many people as possible to purchase the DVD's....so more positive reviews should help.
B
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