I think that a very funny final episode is let down somewhat by the fact that Basil, when we see him in the biscuit tin at the end is represented by a very unconvincing sock puppet. Surely there could have been some way of using a real trained rat in this scene.
shareAbsolutely agree with you, on that. I've always thought that it broke up the feel of the entire episode. After all, we'd already seen the REAL rat a few times; how hard would it have been to make it look like Basil (Fawlty) took the lid off of the biscuit tin to reveal Basil (the rat) sitting inside of it?
- Oh, SOMEbody asides me is gonna RUE this here particular day...
and what was the rat doing when we saw the real one? running around, eating. it is practically impossible to get a rodent to 'act' when and how you need him to. he can not take direction.
Heck, we just had professional family photos done and my 1 year old niece spent all her time trying to eat the stuff she found on the grass or crawling away. It takes too much time to wait to get a good shot of a rat sitting up nicely in a metal box.
and if you want to see a good example of bad editing... try seeing a close up of Malcolm in the Middle's Lois feeding 'baby jamie' in a high chair that is actually a doll! close up!
Oh God. Fortune vomits on my eiderdown once more.
It was the 70's. A sitcom filmed in front of a studio audience and you expect them to use a real rat in the biscuit tin that just sits there staring at the health inspector while the audience laughs for several moments?
Yes, the stupidest moment of the show.
They could have shown him looking at the tin and then a close-up of the rat in the tin. You don't even need a trained rat for that, just have him look in the right direction by dangling food or something.
The show's Jump the Shark moment? Could be, it was the last episode in the whole series, and the hotel was closed at the end anyway. Do you really think the health inspector would let his encounter with the rat go?