Cliffhangers!
Episode 9
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Chapter XIV
"THIRST FOR DEATH"
Written by Craig Buck
Directed by Richard Milton |
Didja Notice?
At the mission, as Dracula is about to bite Mary for the third
and final time to make her into a full vampire, her already
vampiric mother, Amanda, bursts into the room and challenges him
to save her daughter. She grabs a large cross in the room and
her hand burns and smokes as she brandishes it at him. Finally
chasing him out the window with it, it's interesting to note she
then carefully sets it down on the floor, despite the continued
burning of her hand. Possibly she was Catholic before being
turned into a vampire and still has respect for the Church and
the cross. Or her gentleness with the cross may be a sign of
respect for the symbol that is able to chase off the fearsome
Count.
As Mary thrashes around on the bed begging to avoid the holy
water treatment, we can see that she already has burn marks on
her left arm from the treatments she's already undergone.
Mary's reactions to the decontamination procedures from
vampirism are similar to a person undergoing withdrawal from
drug addiction.
The cliffhanger ending this week: Amanda begs Mary to kill her
while Dracula implores her to stop!
Don't miss Chapter XV: PLEAS OF THE DAMNED
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Chapter 11
"RETURN TO CHIMERA"
Written by
Renee and Harry Longstreet
Directed by Alan Crosland |
Didja Notice?
We meet the former ruler of Chimera, Demeter (formerly thought
to be dead), for the first time in this chapter. He is played by
Jay Robinson, probably best known to Generation Xers as Dr.
Shrinker on the Krofft Supershow in 1976.
Donner tells Billy to notify Fort Kearny about Keller's upcoming
attempt to steal the large gold shipment consigned to the Denver
Mint. Fort Kearny was a real U.S. Army fort in Nebraska built in
1848 and abandoned in 1871 after its usefulness came to an end;
unfortunately this makes Donner's mention of it here an
anachronism, as Episode 1
establishes that The Secret Empire takes place in 1880,
9 years after the fort was abandoned! There is a state park at
the location now. The Denver Mint, of course, still exists and
was established in 1862.
For some reason the laser guns used in battle in this episode
have a different ray effect and sound than those seen
previously. They produce a continuous green beam and
high-pitched sound instead of the white light blasts and
Battlestar Galactica
laser sounds heard in previous (and later) chapters. Later,
during a shadow guard practice session, the guns are referred to
as neutronic weapons, suggesting the emitted beam is a stream of
neutrons. Here we see different settings used on the weapon: 1.
blast mode: a green beam which rips through the object it
strikes, 2. freeze mode: a white beam which freezes the target,
3. burn mode: a red beam which causes the target to erupt in
flame.
At Chimera's target range, we see again that the Chimerans use
Roman numerals (as seen in Episode 7).
The cliffhanger ending this week: hiding behind two shooting
range targets, Maya and Demeter are about to be blasted by
Chimeran neutronic weapons!
Don't miss Chapter 12: POWERHOUSE |
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Chapter Ten
"TERROR FROM THE SKY"
Written by Andrew Schneider
Directed by Dick Harwood |
Didja Know?
The director of this chapter, Dick Harwood, is the same as
Richard S. Harwood who directed the previous chapter. He went by
both names.
Didja Notice?
Picking up from the previous chapter's literal cliffhanger,
Susan's motorcycle sidecar flies over a cliff. She falls out of
the sidecar in midair and plummets down, right into a
horse-drawn wagon full of hay on the road below, saving her
life. But the sidecar never seems to land!
The Presidential assistant makes a comment about the
journalists, "You'd think they have their hands full with Peace
Week." This is a reference to the world peace conference in
Episode 5.
Jack mentions the Constantine. This is the ship they
boarded in an earlier chapter (which I can't recall at the
moment!)
Susan reads about the gathering of world leaders at Camp David
in the Washington Register. This is a fictional
newspaper.
At 43:53 in the episode, we see that Susan, Jack, and Bobby are
at Dulles Airport (now known as Washington Dulles International
Airport) in Dulles, VA, 25 miles west of central Washington D.C.
When the announcer asks the viewers the lingering questions of
the chapter's end, we get a clue to a startling revelation to
occur in the next chapter when he asks "Who has betrayed them?"
while showing a flashback scene of Bobby, Jennifer, and their
driver at the airport.
This week's cliffhanger: Susan, Jack, and Nicolai appear
to have been blown up in their car!
Don't miss Chapter Eleven: THE VILLAIN REVEALED |
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