Tuesday, November 19, 2013

"For me, one of the most curious things about this piece

is it's wonderful... a-functionalism."




“Yes, I see what you mean. Divorced from its function and seen solely as a piece of art, its structure, line and color are curiously counterpointed by the redundant vestiges of its function.”
“And since it has no call to be here, the art lies in the fact that it is here!”

"X-kvizit. ibsol lutely x-kvizit. "

Indeed. In my humble opinion the funniest most x-kvizit comedy in all Dr Who 50 years history. And that is saying something too because there is some funny stuff in there. In fact, somebody else picked another scene from this same episode, City of Death, as their all time funniest moment.  Maybe you will agree him and not me. Or maybe you have another. 

His choice is where the perkiest smart-assiest companion, Romana, picks up a puzzle box and solves it immediately, removes a bracelet hidden in there by the woman blaming the doctor and Romana of stealing the bracelet, and telling Romana to put the box down she'll never figure it out, bang, figured out and the lie is exposed in seconds. That and all Dr Who's Groucho Marx antics and arcane antiques knowledge.  Comedy. Both actors had to learn the intricacies of the puzzle box for the joke to work. You can imagine them practicing for the scene. 

It is supposed to take place in le Louvre but this looks like an ordinary office in this scene. BBC did not give the program its due in production in those years. They got away with a lot of really cheap stuff, costumes and sets and effects, a lot of running around all the time, all over the place, any place, all places, through shale fields, empty fields, copts, campuses, quarries, mines, moors, and buildings. A lot of running. No fat actors allowed.

Dialogue text found here. The author relates a story about his own dad who would take him to the art museum and walk up to a fire extinguisher, stroke his chin and mutter, "Genius!" 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The redundant vestiges of its function. R we talking about msnbc again?

deborah said...

Love it.