The Emergency movies--thoughts?

Finally!! What is (and was, back then) the last of the movies to air... Thank. Heavens. After this, seeing a ‘regular’ episode will seem very odd. And very wonderful.

Aside from some ‘preview’ type scenes, our story begins with some set-up on some sort of clipper ship (oops, sorry; guess it’s a schooner), and an ornery sail. No, wait, it’s not the sail... it’s the pulley, the old salt’s shoe appears to be caught in it and it looks like he kicks at it to free himself. No, wait, that’s not it, either, as by the time the rescue team gets there, his foot’s not stuck in the pulley at all; instead the lines are wrapped around the man’s lower leg. And he’s inexplicably unconscious. (Hey, does that sound familiar: an unconscious man tangled in a schooner’s rigging? Publicity Hound, anyone??)

But this is San Francisco, not LA, and Captain Pete is on the scene. Is it odd that he, the captain, is the one doing the ‘heavy lifting’ on these rescues? I know Captain Stanley does his part by getting ‘hands-on’ at a scene from time to time, but the reason he’s a captain is so he can direct others, not do everything himself. Or am I misreading things?

When Pete cut the halyard line, I wonder if it was supposed to hit that cross-beam on the schooner, and land there. Guess it doesn’t matter either way.

Okay, what am I missing? Why is Laurie such a dude-magnet? I can see why Johnny was drawn to her (once he found out Gail was married; and when Laurie purposely introduced him to Ellen, he jumped on that like a flea from a scrawny cat to a Doberman), but why does Dr. Future-Q persist in pursuing her? Through two movies, at the very least.

So we finally see Roy and Johnny, at a café of some sort, where Johnny is unsuccessfully trying to flag down a waitress... and all Roy does is literally lift a finger and one appears. They’re joined by Gail and after a minute of small talk, suddenly we have a choking victim. A few exertions with the Heimlich and that problem is solved... only to be replaced with the fact that the man goes into cardiac arrest. Luckily there are some highly-trained paramedics on the scene, and more are called to the scene. (When they get the call, I noticed that Laurie and Joe don’t give any type of acknowledgement to the call-out; wonder if that’s typical or just an omission?)

At the scene, Johnny agrees to go with the ambulance rather than attend a boring convention lecture. I wonder how he would have liked it if Laurie got in the driver’s seat and Joe got in the back of the ambulance with him. Lol

More set-up: Scuzz-bucket Marvin is being kicked out of his flea-bag apartment after four years. “What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna go?” he asks the landlord. The (predictable) reply: “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Okay, so we know something bad is going to happen as Marvin Plots Revenge. We know this because not only do we hear very ominous music (always a tip-off), but also because Marvin helpfully uncovers his own personal arsenal.

So now the two women will be working a shift together for the first time. At the risk of sounding sexist or severely hypocritical, I can see how, in this particular case, these two “more petite than average” women might have an issue handling a very large victim, getting the stretcher into the ambulance, etc. I know, I know, maybe I should turn in my “Modern Woman” card, right? But I stand by my assertion that these two women barely look like they weigh 200 pounds between them, and while I don’t think their job is particularly dangerous, having two women of their stature work together might conceivably present some very real challenges. I’m just sayin’.

Meanwhile, Marvin is definitely justifying that ominous music. In the downstairs office we hear the landlord plead with the dude, and while the camera doesn’t show us anything, the man’s pleas are suddenly cut off by the sound of a gunshot. Yes, very ominous, indeed. And surprisingly dark for this show.*

Luckily, the women’s first victim on their shift is a pregnant female inmate, apparently able to get on the gurney on her own, and probably not weighing all that much herself; she’s in the early stages of labor. I don’t like the scene in which it looks like the paramedics gave the deciding vote to respond to the shooting to the pregnant woman. I can see the reasoning: if she’s okay with the plan, they can feel free to be first responders at the scene; but it comes across as a little flighty. To me, at least. Especially since the woman is, you know, a convict and all. (And do jails/prisons really allow their inmates outside the walls without any sort of guard? Misdemeanor or felony, a prisoner is still a prisoner.)

I do like how the paramedics identify themselves to the hospital. “Unit 87, paramedic 187,” etc. However, it does seem a little wordy that the hospital repeats it to them every time. I know it’s to avoid confusion, but it seems just a bit time-consuming. I’d think that “Unit 87” would be sufficient, just like Rampart does with “Squad 51;” I wouldn’t think they’d need to include the paramedic number every single time.

Wait, I’m confused. (That didn’t take long, did it? Lol) Future-Q prescribes “Lidocaine and transport” for the gunshot victim. Two seconds later the cop comes to the paramedics and says “We need to evacuate the building; can you move him?” Reply: “If we have to.” Um, what am I missing? You were about to move him anyway, as soon as he gets the lidocaine, right? So why are you now saying you can move him only if necessary? I mean, it’s not like the PMs were planning to sit around and just watch the guy, waiting for... something. Right? 

Okay, so now Mad Marvin is going nuts and hearing things, which does not bode well for anyone. And as police and fire reinforcements approach the scene, you’d think they would maybe kill their sirens a block or so away... no need to inflame any violent tendencies an armed person might have, y’know?

So, Credibility Strainer #1: Pregnant Polly takes this very inopportune opportunity to go into labor. Credibility Strainer #2: Roy and Johnny go to check it out, because they’re, you know, handy. And not busy. And apparently Roy knows where the OB kit is kept in these ambulances that he’s barely ever been in before. (Lucky, huh?) Credibility Strainer #3: They heard Preggo Polly say “the girls said they’d be right back.” Also, the guys must have seen that it’s Ambulance (Unit) 87. Yet they don’t even remark to each other that Laurie and Gail might be the paramedics in question. On one hand I know it would be unprofessional of them to let Captain Pete know this information, but on the other hand, you’d think they would anyway.

Funny how when Mad Marvin starts shooting up the street, Johnny says of the pregnant woman, “You wanna try to move her?” And Roy replies, very calmly and matter-of-factly, “No way we can move her.” Then he simply stands up and moves to stand between her legs.  (Can I be her??) 

I’m sorry, but CP-1, the police lieutenant in charge, seems to be doing a crappy job. Those five guys he has with them, are they all the police officers at the scene? You’d think there’d be officers (SWAT, even) entering surrounding buildings via backdoors and getting in position in windows, on roofs, etc. Sloppy, sloppy work!

In any case, Mad Marvin soon becomes Missile Marvin, as pieces of him surely go flying once those grenades go off. Or, better yet, maybe he gets blown to the next planet and becomes Marvin the Martian. (Complete with an Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator. )

Credibility Strainer #4: Clueless husband Gordon could not possibly be that clueless. Gail herself says that he’s usually so “out to lunch” that “sometimes it’s kind of irritating.” Sometimes? Kind of? Gail, ditch the moron and make a play for Fireman DeSoto... I have a feeling that if you come on strong enough he’d probably crumble like Aunt Ruth’s dry poundcake.

And the kids.... How many times have we noted that this show has child actors who really seem to be whatever it is they’re supposed to be: drunk, or in pain, or scared, or even lie still and let someone poke and prod them without moving a muscle. And yet Gail’s two kids are terrible. Maybe some producer’s kids, who were promised the minor role?

I really wish my mother was around, to tell me if that’s real Polish being spoken in the infamous “art film.” For all we know, they could have someone reading a Betty Crocker cookbook in Polish.

My favorite scene(s)!! Too funny, from the minute Johnny sits down in the chair in the hotel room to the next morning at breakfast. And if I have to explain why.... 

And Roy is seen once again with bare feet.

So, Captain Pete is a John Gage clone in yet another way: claims not to be hungry, yet shovels any food in front of him directly into his mouth, lol.

Set-up: Poly-Tech Chemical Corp. Did ‘research parks’ of the day really look like that? Like old summer camp dorms or military barracks?

By the way, in that scene I love, in the café at breakfast, anyone notice how Roy never really says anything much about the movie? His only comment was, “If you understand anything about sex at all, you’d understand that movie.” Then Johnny makes a face and says, “You mean that was a dirty movie?” Roy simply looks at him, but never confirms or denies. For all we know it could have been a really boring film about... nothing... and Roy simply says what he says to throw Johnny off his game and give him a thrill. (But nah, not really.)

Laurie and Pete: What to make of their relationship? On one hand, we know he’s kind of a macho guy, at least slightly chauvinistic about Laurie’s job. But on the other hand, when they’re painting at her apartment, their quasi-bickering was sort of cute and at least somewhat realistic. I appreciate that she’s portrayed as a “big girl” who can live on her own, have the career of her choice, make her own decisions, etc. That’s probably an improvement of a lot of the female characters we’ve seen on E! over the years. (And I haven’t missed the fact that it’s pointedly shown that they do not live together, and Pete does not spend the night with Laurie.)

Back at Poly-Tech, the plot thickens, with one group of scientists anxious to complete their never-specified research, and a manager who’s concerned about safety of all materials. Meanwhile, in another ‘barracks’ lab, another couple of scientists are working on some equally-dangerous stuff. Of course, neither group has a clue what the other is working on; they don’t really care, and it doesn’t occur to them that what’s in one building might be a “really bad neighbor” for whatever’s right next door.

At the barbecue, did everyone see Roy’s at the ‘kids’ table’? A cute shot. And Captain Pete seems to be rubbing it in with Future-Q that he has Laurie, and the doctor doesn’t. *inhales* Yes, I can smell the testosterone from here.

Okay, I can do without Joe’s singing and guitar-playing. At least, unless he plays something less cheesy. Johnny seems to be enjoying it, though, especially being surrounded by women as he is (the first time we see Joe). Meanwhile Roy’s discussing mysticism with Ed Begley, Jr. (Not really, just kidding! About the Ed Begley part, that is; it’s not him. Roy really is having a deep philosophical discussion, though.) And I have to say, while Gail really does look great with her hair down (I think the actress is pretty, anyway), I don’t like Laurie’s hair in this movie with it being swept up and back from her forehead. She needs to trim those bangs.

Flashing back to Poly-Tech, there’s a power outage and Barney in the Generator Building says they ran out of fuel (brilliant!) and he and his buddy appear to be real careless klutzes.

Johnny’s kind of sweet with Kathy the physical therapist. At least, right up until he mentions the other therapist he knows—the hydrotherapist—and her tub. But then he makes a recovery and we seem to be on our way to our first diverse relationship on this show when—whammo!—E.E. shows up. And boy, was she loaded for bear with that makeup job.  By the way, wish I could have understood what Kathy was saying about the Polish art film. Is it just my hearing going bad, or was she pretty much whispering? (I think I heard something that sounded like ‘abstruse existentialism.’ More philosophy?)

Okay, Poly-Tech finally blows, but good. Careless Carl and his smoldering cigarette get the party started (R.I.P. Barney and your idiot assistant), but the single-minded scientists don’t help matters much, either. Regardless, the Novato station requests “mutual aid” and move-ups, by which I assume they mean reciprocal helping hands from nearby jurisdictions. Which is where the San Francisco units come in, apparently. (I did wonder why, in the preview clip, they mentioned Nevada, but they’re actually saying Novato. Which makes perfect sense, as Nevada would be a little too far out of their jurisdiction, lol.)

So Captain Pete’s not really supposed to be at the scene himself, much less John and Roy. Anyone find that a little, um, unrealistic?

Okay, did anyone else wonder, if you were that one scientist lady, whose partner was injured and found herself trapped inside the lab, what you would do? I would hope I’d be able to stay calm enough to think logically and come up with a plan, but you never know how you’ll react under stress like that. I like to think I’d be smart, but who knows, I could end up curled up in a ball, rocking from side to side and blubbering like a baby.

Have to laugh a little... There are FFs aiming hoses into second-floor windows with flames coming out of them. Between these windows is another window, no flames, which suddenly breaks open from the inside and a man climbs out, engulfed in fire. He gets out onto the ledge below, staggers, and falls to the ground. Writhes there for a few seconds. And only then comes a FF with a hose on him. Pretty unobservant firefighters, I’d say!

And what about the FF who fell off the roof once he ventilated it and it blew up?

When Pete and the guys get to the scene, the Battalion Chief tells them, “Get on some turnout gear, and stand by to run like hell.” Do fire departments regularly carry extra turnout gear t disasters like this? Hmmmm. (I can see volunteer departments carrying them around, for the guys who arrive on scene from their ‘real’ lives.) And they pick up the gear from a FD van; maybe smaller jurisdictions do this regularly? Anyway, once they get geared up and are asked to look for two chemists (who may or may not be in the dangerously-burning lab), Pete says, “That’s what we get paid for.” Ummm, NO, Pete. No, you don’t get paid for it. At least, not in this case. Which leads me to Credibility Strainer #5: three unauthorized, volunteer personnel, who aren’t even supposed to be there, being sent on an extremely dangerous task. Don’t tell me that there aren’t any ‘official’ rescue personnel on site who can go in after those chemists. In real life, the BC would have assigned these three guys to do something much less risky, like manning hoses to wet down nearby buildings, or any one of a dozen other tasks, while the authorized personnel would do the searching. But hey, I get it, this is TV and we have to get drama wherever we can find it.

So the chemists that the guys find, those are the man and woman from earlier? I thought those two were already rescued after the woman broke a window and a ladder was brought up to them. Hmm, guess that was someone else? In any case, the three guys have to evacuate the scientists, but the windows have bars on them, so that complicates matters. Roy works with the victims, giving them air, while Johnny and Captain Pete hack away at the walls to make a hole. Lucky we saw them carrying axes and hooks after they pick up turnouts from the convenient turnout coat pile, eh?

Meanwhile, at the triage site, Gail and Laurie are doing their thing. I notice a number of other paramedics there look like LACoFD guys? I guess their jurisdictions probably have similar uniforms, but it’s a little disconcerting at first glance.

We do get a number of extended scenes of various departments fighting the fire, spread out as it is. It’s important footage of a job being done well, including the unexciting but necessary role of “mopping up” afterward, and it helps tell the larger story of how incidents like this are handled. Unfortunately most viewers probably don’t care about this activity that doesn’t include any characters that we’ve seen in the movie. E! fans might not like it because it doesn’t feature ‘our’ guys doing any of that firefighting, but I can at least appreciate the hard work and professionalism that’s shown in these scenes.

The movie ends with a very awkward scene. On one hand it’s very thoughtful of Gordon to bring leftover burgers and hot dogs to the site for the people working there. On the other hand, it’s just lame; he didn’t do it because he was worried about his wife, because he realized the (somewhat) dangerous situation she was in. So he’s still as clueless as ever. And of course the only people who gather around for a cold burger are the people we already know. (Obviously if the scene continued, other FFs would have arrived as well, I’m sure!) But there’s no resolution, no tying up of loose ends. I’m sure the three guys at the Generator Building all got smoked. And we know Johnny couldn’t run from Eager Ellen quickly enough, even if it meant running into a burning building. (In fact, now that I think of it, Johnny might prefer running into burning buildings to chatting with women he actually likes; once a firefighter....) But the lack of any type of resolution bothers me. Honestly, I just don’t see the point of this movie. Nothing happens with the Gail/Pete relationship, even from the previous movie. Similarly, nothing changes with the Gail/Gordon marriage. Future-Q (who seems to be the only doctor at Harbor Hospital) remains a pretty one-dimensional, one-note character. And we don’t even see all that much of Roy and Johnny, at least, not of them actually doing much, until the very end. Honestly, I cannot wait to actually go back to watching the show.

All in all, for this movie, I can’t in good conscience give it more than... 3.3.


* Talking about dark subject matter.... I vaguely remember watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. when I was a kid, but nothing specific. But I know it was popular (and I rembember Ilya Kuryakin). Anyway, I happened to see, over the weekend, that TCM was airing a movie that was sort of an extended version of the show’s pilot, that was later turned into a feature film. Needless to say, I never saw the move before—it was oddly and awkwardly titled To Trap a Spy. (Yeah, I know, horrible title, isn’t it??) Anyway, there’s a female character who we know is a ‘bad guy,’ and she and Napoleon Solo meet at a secluded house. Next thing, we see a rumpled bed, Solo is finishing getting dressed, and the woman is en dishabille, if you know what I mean. So the implication is VERY obvious, even though we don’t actually see anything. I was quite surprised, as I know nothing like that would ever be seen on broadcast TV back in the mid-‘60s, but the movies, apparently, were able to get away with darker (or in this case, more adult) situations. All this is to say that the shooting of the apartment manager is treated the same: I doubt we would have seen (or even heard) what was shown in this movie in a regular episode of E, but perhaps the fact that it was a movie gave the producers license to push the envelope a little further,

I know I've reviewed this before (since it's included in the episode guide) but I can't find it at the moment. So I thought I'd add this to the E! Movies thread. It DOES belong here because, well, movie, but then it DOESN'T belong here because it's a pilot for the show (and more like an episode), rather than unrelated movie. I think it actually already exists in one of the regular threads, since MeTV tends to throw the pilot movie in to the middle of the rotation, but I can't remember where. In any case it'll be here, easily findable (?) for anyone who wants to read about it. (Pardon any typos or strangeness, as I'm just cutting-and-pasting form elsewhere.)

Pilot Movie - The Wedsworth-Townsend Act, Part One

Whenever I watch this, I’m always surprised at the fact that the movie opens like… well, a real movie. With the studio name and everything. The Universal logo appears at the beginning, just like cinematic movies, rather than at the very end like on TV shows, when nobody actually sees it. The movie itself begins with a drawn-out view of Fire Station 8, which is crowded with a surprising number of vehicles. I guess those Chiefs’ cars can’t roll out on their own; they’re too hemmed in by engines and other vehicles. The camera then pans up the legendary fire pole and the scene switches to the dorm, where all the good little firemen are asleep in their beds, bunker gear right next to them at the ready. Then the quiet scene is disturbed by the tones of an alarm and everyone jumps into action. Well, first they jump into their bunker boots and pants, and then they jump into action.

That’s when we see all the equipment roll out of the station. Seriously, it was like watching a clown car with all those vehicles spilling out of that small station. And when they get to the huge fire the Battalion Chief (who’s based out of that station, apparently) calls for a second alarm, directs all the engines and trucks, etc. Then the two rescue men have to put their gear on and get a FF who passed out in the building. As soon as they come out with him, the fire seems to be out, all the firemen turn off their hoses, and the chief declares it under control. Funny, it was raging wildly just ten minutes earlier.

Couple things to note about this fire: 1) I saw a number of scenes which we will see again in the series, used as stock footage. 2) Note the funky light systems for the chief’s car and even the squad. Some sort of cloverleaf of lights on top of them, rather than the light-bar we’ll see on squad 51 and other vehicles later on. 3) As we’re watching the action, in the background the chief is talking to the dispatcher (Sam). Sam asks about a statement for the press, and the chief requests additional air bottles be sent out.

No sooner does a sooty (and young!) John Gage get back to the station than the chief reminds him about the paramedic program; of course, Johnny is not impressed, and even less interested. Then they go off on a rescue call: an electrocution. John and his partner race out there (his partner was played by the same actor who played Gil, just the other day), and Johnny takes an air tank in the snorkel to retrieve the victim. Other than the air and some chest compressions, the ‘rescue men’ don’t do a heck of a lot more than any other fireman, I don’t think. Anyway, the guy dies despite all of Brackett’s efforts (and Morton’s--er, I mean Dr. Gray’s). This leads to both Brackett and Johnny using four-letter words: Doc says “d@mn it,” and Johnny says “rescue, hell.”

At Rampart, we’re introduced to the kindly Dr. Joe Early who’s dealing with a tricky patient--yes, you guessed it, it’s a little boy. (Have we ever seen him treat a little girl? They always seem to be boys. Girls can be just as rambunctious and get into as much trouble as boys, you know!) Anyway, he extricates the quarter the boy had ingested.... and then he picks it up and handles it! Ewwww!! But we learn that Joe is the “best neurosurgeon in town,” and in another early episode (or maybe this movie) it’s noted that he volunteers his time at Rampart. Obviously that storyline fades away into oblivion and Early is just another staff physician.

Anyway, now Johnny goes to headquarters to see about the paramedic program, including a “hand-written” note showing that Roy DeSoto, FM, writes with red crayon and makes funny-looking capital Qs. If you watch this scene, Roy does the same thing that Officer Pete Malloy does in the pilot of Adam-12: an informative and somewhat complicated speech full of gravitas and Important Information. (He does another mini-speech like that later on, when he first shows Johnny the new squad.) Another thing I noticed about this scene (in addition to Johnny’s funky watch and the spartan office, very Dragnet-ish) is that Johnny really hardly looks at Roy at all. Usually if you ask someone questions, and they’re explaining something to you, you look at the person who’s doing the explaining. I just thought that was kind of odd. And it sort of looked like the pen Johnny borrowed to sign the form was sort of green, but I think it was actually more grey. Too bad, right?

So Johnny takes the paramedic course with Marco, and an African-American guy who could grow up to be the second Brice. Or maybe it’s Stoney?? Anyway once they graduate and Roy and John are assigned to the “new” station 51 they get to go on some runs. And who do they take with them? Dixie. In a pantsuit, no less. Did she change clothes from her dress to the pants before leaving the hospital? She sure never wore pants at Rampart during the first three seasons. (Or was it two? can’t recall.)

The car crash they respond to.... that girl looked for all the world like Linda Kelsey, the woman who would later play Drew’s wife (and she’d go on to be in Lou Grant). I’d swear it’s her, but I can’t find confirmation anywhere. Also, what about the driver of the 2nd car?

At Rampart, a young woman is brought after her arm is severed at a boatyard. Roy and Johnny are dispatched to find it, resulting in one of the most awkward bits of dialogue of the whole hour, when Dixie asks how far the boatyard is and Roy says “What’s the difference? We’ll make it closer.” Ugh.

Oh, when they were treating the electrocution guy at the hospital and Brackett used the defibrillator on him, he asked Dixie, “Give me a reading,” and she said “400 watt seconds.” We get a close-up of the machine, and the dial clearly goes only up to 200 watt seconds. Am I missing something with that?

Well, part 2 tomorrow. The good news is, no Kel and Dixie kissing in that one. The bad news: the awkward party she throws, and that awful Joanne.



Pilot Movie – The Wedsworth-Townsend Act, Part Two

The second half picks up immediately after the surgery to replace the girl’s arm. By the way, I forgot to mention in the other comments that at the boatyard, the guys start looking around for the missing limb (ugh!) and when Roy finds it he calls for Johnny to get the sterile sheet and saline solution, quick! My question is, why didn’t they get those things out of the squad to take with them when they started the search? Time was of the essence, and every minute counted. Having to run to the squad for those things could take a full minute, at least. Anyway, we hear that the “re-attaching” surgery went better than expected and Brackett sat down for a civil cup of coffee with the guys before being called away to a “challenging” situation. Turns out that situation for which Dr. Early sought a second opinion involved yet another little kid (yes, another boy). And a French horn. And a bunny. So, just virtual minutes after Johnny refers to Brackett as a hard-a$$--er, I mean hard-nose--we see that same Dr. Brackett be very kind and gentle to a little boy.

We also see a woman stuck to her toilet seat. Yeah, business as usual at Rampart Emergency.

Dixie gets an idea all of a sudden and tells Brackett she’s going to have a “wine and spaghetti get-together” for John Gage’s birthday and wants Kel to be there. This is odd for a number of reasons. 1) in Part 1, my boyfriend Pete Malloy offered to buy Dixie a plate of spaghetti, for some odd reason; what if she’d wanted soup instead?? Anyway, this makes two mentions of spaghetti in the space of an hour. 2) I’ve never heard of a wine-and-spaghetti party before. Sounds messy, for one thing; much easier to go with cheese and crackers. 3) Dixie decided to have a party for Johnny’s birthday... without checking to see if Johnny was available, much less get invites out to everyone else. I know, I know, it’s just a TV show and I’m overthinking it, as usual. (By the way, I had the impression Johnny met Delores at the party; I didn’t think she was his date.....??)

Speaking of the party, it was great to hear Dr. Early tickle the ivories and make up a little ditty about Dr. Brackett on the spot. (Supposedly.) Most of the rest of this scene is not great, including Roy’s movie-wife, who is obviously not the same as his series-wife, even though we never see her. Anyway, I didn’t like this version of her. Also, Johnny may have been a year older on his birthday, but here he acts like a surly eleven-year-old. Bad Johnny! And Brackett feels like he was being ganged-up on. He’s still perfectly polite but he makes his exit only ten minutes after his entrance, and Dixie can’t talk him into staying. This doesn’t bode well for their personal relationship.

Next we see the guys and Dixie on the way to a car off the road in some remote area. I have no idea who called this in, and why there aren’t any cops there. Chances are a deputy would have been closer than the paramedics and able to get there ahead of them. Anyway, a man has been thrown clear and a woman is still in the car, which is on its roof and teetering near the edge of a cliff. Dixie helps the guys extricate the woman, but before she can get out, the car rocks, and Dixie hits her head and gets knocked out. Roy and Johnny try to hold the car in place, each grabbing on as best they can, but then watch in horror as the car slips off the edge and turns into an only-on-TV fireball. But wait! As Roy said, the car must have pivoted around her as it fell. (What I want to know is, instead of trying to hold the car in place, why didn’t the guys just grab Dixie’s legs and pull her out? She was on the ground, for heaven’s sake, all they had to do was yank her out from under.)

Anyway, now Dixie is victim #3, and Roy dials up Rampart “so they’ll know we’re going to [treat these patients].” After all, it’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Brackett argues, Johnny says “hell,” and the paramedics do their thing. (I do think it was childish--not to mention dangerous--for Johnny to turn off the link to base.) Also, when Roy asked Johnny how his victims were doing, Johnny says both are “in acute pain.” How did he know that?? They were unconscious.

Boy, Dixie sure looks beautiful when she’s in the hospital, doesn’t she? Hair like a halo, attractive make-up... wishes I looked that good when I get all spiffed up for something. Kel isn’t going to “blow the whistle” on the paramedics who went against his orders, and I admit I do like their little exchange at the end of the scene, when she says he’s special and he replies “No, I’m not. But I’m glad you think so.” I don’t know why, but that just seems nice and sweet and, yes, sort of humble.

Then he goes and reams out those same paramedics that he’s not blowing the whistle on. Roy stands his (their) ground and tells him they did their best in the time-critical circumstances. I know some may disagree, but I do believe that Brackett was just as correct as Roy was on most points: they did gamble by treating the patients, and if things had gone wrong, they would have set back emergency medicine by 10 years in LA County, and derailed the paramedic program for good. On the other hand, I hear Future Brackett telling Roy to “ask yourself if you’re the best person available to give help, and if you are, pick up the ball and run with it.” As it turns out, that’s exactly what they did. (I still think Johnny was wrong to shut down the biophone, and this is where he should have acknowledged that, if not to Brackett, then at least to Roy.)

Unbeknownst to the paramedics (and even to Dixie) Brackett then goes to Sacramento to speak in front of the legislative committee in support of the Wedsworth-Townsend Act. I wonder if it was normal to have nobody else at the meeting; I guess it must be a closed committee? Anyway, it’s another sad reflection of the times that Kel began his speech with “Gentlemen,.....” Nope, no “ladies” in sight, except for the stenographer. But I thought his speech was eloquent and made the point about as well as it could be made.
Next comes the big mine rescue. My first question: WHY isn’t there a nurse with them on this run? After having it beaten into our heads for over an hour, we know the paramedics aren’t authorized to do anything more than give oxygen and apply bandages. They aren’t there functioning as firefighters, they were brought in to assist with the wounded. And they carry in all their paramedic-y stuff, including the biophone and scope, etc. But I had to laugh at the melodramatic guy who said “It’s terrible--terrible, dear God almighty!” Good heavens, how overblown and Webb-ish can you get?? And at the end, when they were getting ready to zap the victim with the bad heart.... was it just me or did it look like Johnny was taking his sweet time with the defibrillator? Time is of the essence, man, don’t dawdle!!

One thing that kind of makes me frown is that everyone seems to change opinions at least once. Roy is all gung-ho about following the rules... until he isn’t and he’s ready to act on his own. Johnny’s all het-up about having his hands tied and having to have a nurse do all the ‘big’ stuff... until he has to talk Roy down off the ledge and urge caution. Even Brackett, who all along has been opposed to the program, then grudgingly approving of it until something better comes along... now he’s telling lies and tricking the guys into treating the patient. Man, I needed a scorecard to tell who was on which side of this issue at any given time.

We see that Johnny and Roy learn of Brackett’s role in getting the bill passed, but Kel doesn’t want to acknowledge that and says “la-la-la, I can’t hear you” when they reference it. Roy calls Johnny “junior” and they get in the squad to go “back to the barn.”

As the end credits roll, the viewer gets the feeling we may be seeing more of these two boys in the future.

Those movies just finished airing on MeTV (again), and my problem with them was, well, they just weren't in the spirit of the first 6 seasons! They were involving enough, I suppose. I just thought they should have been more about wrapping things up, and fleshing out the guys personal lives a little bit more, than introducing new characters we'd never seen before! The last 2 movies were a little bit better; I have great respect for Patty MaCormack and John de Lancie. It also had a few more scenes to showcase Randy and Kevin's chemistry with each other. I just really thought that at first the show was really focusing on realistic elements of the job, not letting it lapse into soap opera. Then these movies come along, and they are nothing but a soap opera! Not a fitting close to a really good show! And I know I've touched on it in another thread, but those are my thoughts!

bump

The movies all pretty much sucked except for Greatest Rescues.

Charter #220 it seemed they tried to find the most annoying actors around, particularly the little girl. Couldn't stand it. Friend watching with me said it was the cheesiest ending she'd ever seen on anything. I was impressed on how much money they must have spent flying the planes and the crash. Very sad seeing the squad destroyed (even though it was really an older squad standing in.)

For the most part they seem like attempts at creating spinoffs of the original show.

I’m not a big fan of TV movies but I do enjoy seeing Patty McCormack.