A true highlight is this wonderful hour-long show in which our four fave resident aliens experience their first encounter with dreams. Since they do not understand that dreaming is normal, they are planning on going back to their homeworld for "repairs". Dick (the always looney John Lithgow), fearful that he'll never see his beloved Mary (Jane Curtin) again, asks for her hand in marraige. Much to the dissapointment of Dick's family.
The show itself is razor sharp with plenty of great character moments and funny lines, but the real highlight are the four "dream" sequences that each character experiences. They were filmed after the sit-com part of the show was complete and are in "3-D".
Dick's dream reflects his paranoid nature with scenes of entrapment and torture, the best part is Jane Curtain as a Marlena Dietrich-ish dominatrix. Tommy's dream takes him from school to the big city & eventually the ocean as his favorite teacher seduces him on an island. Harry's dream is the most fun with him performaing an original Randy Nueman song (complete with the composer appearing briefly in the dream).
But Sally's dream is the true highlight, a ribald take on Fellini's movies. The music is straight from Fellini's masterpiece "La Strada" and Sally dances with her long-suffering love "Donatello" (the always hilarious Wayne Knight).
For "3rd Rock" fans, this is a must for your collection and a wonderful introduction for those who enjoy good 'ol fashioned humor delivered at top volume.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
The Season 2 finale of 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN is subtitled "A Nightmare on Dick Street." This hour-long quite funny episode includes four dream sequences shot in a marvelous 3D technology that doesn't reveal itself if you're not wearing the required glasses, which back in 1997 were sponsored by BARQ'S root beer and sold in advance of the show's broadcast at 7-11 stores at 4 for two bucks.This 3-D format works best with side-to-side motion. The overall effect is similar to peering thru a ViewMaster. What makes the 3RD ROCK 3-D scenes so memorable even sans depth gimmick is their pure artistry.
In an intro on the videotape, French Stewart (Harry) describes his Randy Newman number as "Busby Berkeley MGM," a bit overgenerous, for it contains no excesses of bodies on-screen. One noticeable thing is that the first 3/4s of this piece, which has unison dancing and several difficult position changes on a city street set, is done in a single take. This segment required 26 discarded attempts before getting it right.
The b&w Sally (Kirsten Johnson) and Officer Don (Wayne Knight) movie-ette is in Italian with subtitles. It's revealed that 'Donatello' is a white-feathered rooster. Sally declares she could never love poultry, coldly shoots a big hole in him and feathers swirl around (superb in 3-D) like crystals in a snow globe.
The Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) sequence is more basic: adolescent pubes have him on a tiny island, lusting over a favorite teacher while his three companions languish at sea, unrescued.
Dick Solomon (John Lithgow) dreams of co-worker and lover Mary Albright (Jane Curtin) as a black leather-clad bleach-blonde Marlene, who sings a few lines of "Falling in Love Again," then tortures Dick in a dentist chair from perdition.
All these creative moments validate a plot of our space travelers believing they're going insane. After contacting the Big Giant Head (via Harry the transmitter), the cliffhanger is three leave Earth and one stays behind, perhaps forever.
After the show, we are presented with a very un-PC alternate ending followed by some Bloopers. Total running time: 62 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment