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Hello, welcome to another episode of Retrospection. The podcast where we take an old movie or TV show and decide whether it deserves to be early lifted to safety or just blown to smillerings. My name's Paul and do you mind if I ask a personal question? How do you get to be subdram big?
And I'm Dave and come on, are you Jack sleeping or what? I usually am, to be honest with you. Well, I know, I know. We know what you're like.
Sorry. So as you could probably hear, my usual co-host Colin is enjoying some well-deserved R&R this week. Well deserved. Well, he would say well, I'm not.
Yeah. We'll debate that another time. You'll listen to this. But luckily I'm joined by a special guest host.
Welcome back to Retrospection. Dave. Hello. So you're not a stranger to the show, as well as being one of our longest supporters.
You also guessed it on our lockdown computer games episode back in April 2020. I did. And I turned Retrospection a little bit swear, he didn't I? Apparently.
You know what? We didn't notice. So I don't know. That's scary thing.
You'll fit right in, though. So it's fine. Do you remember those heady days of lockdown? Oh, my word.
Do you know what? I think I've blocked the last sort of couple of years out of my life. I think a lot of people do that was the only way to get through it, wasn't it? That was grim, wasn't it?
I think that you actually, you went for a small few, but it must have been bad for you, because you went for a small phase of watching some Marvel movies, if I remember. I did. I did. And I made the stupid mistake in watching them in chronological order as well.
Oh. You hit some rough ones, er, didn't you? Yeah, you shouldn't do that, should you? Well, didn't you enjoy, I'm getting off topic.
You're talking about Marvel. Colin's going to be absolutely stupid. I'm never leaving the podcast again if this is what happens when I'm not here. You enjoyed, was it Captain Marvel?
You enjoyed that one, didn't you? You want everyone to hate him? Captain Marvel was, yeah, he was all right. Did you get out of hate then?
Yeah, a lot of people don't like that one. Really? Yeah. I think a lot of the hate's directed at certain actor or actress that's in.
OK. I thought it was all right, but clearly I don't have taste, which is, bodes well for this, didn't it? Well, we'll see. We'll see in a minute.
So, but thank you for taking over Colin's seat this week. I hope it's not too damn for you, at least. No, it's a pleasure. So, on this episode, we'll be discussing episode one of the TV series, Two of Duty, which ran for three seasons between 1987 and 1990.
I didn't realise it was that old. I, yeah, I must admit, actually, when I saw that, because I've written down the same notes. And yeah, 87, I didn't have it down as 80s. I think that the ITV regions that were shown in over here in the UK, I think that they only started showing it once it was already done in America, which would have been the early night.
That was explained then. And they only showed it at about midnight as well. Yeah, it was one of those late night TV shows, wasn't it? It was, yeah.
I remember watching it with my dad. And because it was on so late, he would record it on good old VHS. Nice. And we'd get up early on a Sunday morning and watch it.
Yeah, I think I used to do that as well, to be honest with you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
In fact, I would go so far as to say, when he recorded it, I reckon he might have done video plus. Wow. I do remember video plus. Yeah.
Well, you didn't set a time. You actually just typed in a code from the TV guide, and it magically recorded the program. I could never get that damn thing to work. But then again, I could never figure out how to set the video either, to record something just normally.
I bet you could. You're good at that. Of course I can get it. Yeah, you're good at this stuff.
I know you are. It's all about. Yeah. So the series stars, Terrence Knox as Sergeant Clayton Anderson, Stephen Caffrey as Lieutenant Myron Goldman, Tony Becker as Corporal Danny Purcell, Eric Brusk.
Is it Brusk Otter? Brusk Otter? Something like that. I'm glad you're saying it because I wasn't sure myself.
As Private Scott Baker, Ramon, I think it's Ramon Franco, as Private Alberto Ruiz. That's a comparison. Right? And, and, big, well, a Nunes Jr.
as Private Marcus Taylor, and the one that took me by surprise, because I used to watch the show back in the days we just said, and I never realized that he was in it. He's the voice of Batman himself, Kevin Conrad, as Captain Rusty Wallace. Is he the voice of Batman? Yeah, in all the Arkham games and the animated show.
I didn't know that. He looks completely different in this. He doesn't look like the Kevin Conrad, I remember. Okay.
Right, he, he, yeah. Of course, he passed away not too long ago. Yeah, I heard that, yeah. But he was, for lots and lots of people, he is still the voice of Batman.
A lot of people think he's the best Batman ever, of all the people that have ever played Batman. I must admit, actually, because I played the Arkham game, so I tend to look at lots of gaming sites and things like that, and I remember the news story of, of impressing away, but I must admit, I didn't know it was this guy. Well, if you just show me a picture of what he looks like in this episode, I would never have put Kevin Conrad into that face. Really?
Okay. But it was weird because, because I knew it was him, and I'm watching the episode. Well, little moments where he was speaking, where I could hear Batman's voice. Yeah.
It's really strange. So the pilot episode was written by Steve Duncan and L Travis Clark, and it was directed by Bill Norton. And Tiro Jui was set between 1967 and 1969. The show was heavily inspired by the movie platoon, but to be honest, Vietnam movies were everywhere in the 80s, weren't they?
Oh, they were, yeah. But it makes sense that it was inspired by the platoon. Definitely, definitely. They range from platoon to Hamburg, Hill, Full Metal Jacket, and then the film, the Hamburg Hill, Full Metal Jacket, and then you've even got the more outlandish ones, like missing an action with a bit of Chuck Norris in there.
Yeah. Do you know what's really weird, right? Because I've watched this with my dad, so I watched it all the way through many, many years ago. Yeah, I've never seen platoon.
That is a weird one, because that's... I don't know how that's happened. I would have thought platoon would have been right up your street, Dave. I imagine it is.
I've really ought to do it. Which ones have those, have you seen any of those kind of movies then? I've seen Full Metal Jacket. Yeah.
That's it. Wow. Yeah. And to be honest with you, I mean, platoon is a big budget Hollywood movie, and not just by anything of what we think of this show, but I personally feel that on a TV budget, what they pull off, just in this episode alone, is excellent, really.
Well, this is the thing. This is what's interesting about it, right? Because I was looking at a couple of facts on this, and it's an interesting one. Because I think if I remember rightly, I think you told me that when you mentioned the column, what were you going to be doing, didn't he say to you, oh, is that that cheap Vietnam show?
That's right. Yeah. That's right. Which is really interesting, because when you look back at it, apparently the budget per episode was about $1.25 million.
That's not cheap. Especially in 87. And this pilot that we're about to talk about was $3 million. It's all on the screen.
You can see it, can't you? You can see it. Well, we'll get to it. But yeah, yeah, they really did go for it.
I wonder whether Colin's misremembering it, because I think one of the things that might have helped to make it look cheaper than it actually was, is do you remember there was that time in the 80s and 90s where everything seemed to be shot on videotape? Yeah. And this does have a bit of that about it. Oh, it definitely does.
Yeah. I mean, I must admit, the copy that I watched. Which was off the internet. I don't know how much of it was a dodgy copy on the internet.
And how much of it was actually just cheap film. Yeah, I would imagine that it didn't look great back then. I mean, if I remember what TV shows looked like back in that period, there was a lot of, everything was washed out. That's what plasticity video take to look about.
You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. And to be honest with you, now I imagine it's made even worse by sort of modern, you know, flat screens and all that sort of thing.
HDTV. I think when you were looking at the old fat CRT things, it didn't look quite as bad. But now it looks pretty atrocious. Well, I would imagine, with modern TV's, we're going to try and upscare there.
It's not going to make it any better, is it? It's going to make it as you say. No, it's not. It's not, though.
So music was a big part of this show. But apparently, I was reading that due to difficulties in obtaining licensing for the continued use of copyright music, subsequent reruns of the show, they had to replace a lot of the well-known songs that were used. Well, that's interesting because watching this pilot, there are no licensed songs that I saw. Yeah.
And I don't know if it was because the pilot, because it was a pilot, they just hadn't got any licenses at that point, you know, they didn't have an audience. Or if it was just the copy I watched was one of the reruns, because there's absolutely nothing in there. There's a load of faux copies of music, but nothing genuine, because the original, I mean, I was looking at apparently they released five official soundtracks for this series over the three seasons. Yeah, it was a bit like how Miami Vise used to release soundtracks, wasn't it?
They'd put a lot of music in it, and then you'd have only one, two, three, four, five, whatever that thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I admit I skipped forward a couple of episodes just to check.
And I'm sure that painting black was the music that they played over the open credits of every episode. Again, I don't know if it did at the beginning or whether that came in later on. I don't know. But I was dutted because that's the thing that got me in the mood for watching the program.
It's me and my dad sitting there, some day morning, paint it black, get psyched up. There was none of that here. I was gutted. Yeah, I missed it as well.
Yeah, I was waiting for it. I mean, just looking at, I made a note of some of the artists that they used in this show, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence, Cleo, Cleo, Cleo was a revival. As you say, Rolling Stones, and none of it's there anymore. So, go on.
No, gutted. It is a big loss. It is a big loss. It is.
So Eric Brusks Otter's private baker left after season one, and we didn't get an explanation as to why he went until season three when the actor came back as a guest star. Now, the interesting thing when we talked about that to your duty, just us, is I don't think I ever saw Beyond season one. You watched it all as you said, didn't you? And in my head, he was in there the entire time.
It was a long time ago. I mean, when was the last time you saw this 30 years ago? Oh, something like that. Your emergency is the one big thing I would imagine.
Yeah. The show, as we said, was shown in lots of ITV regions in the UK. What was on it you watched it on? At the time, that probably would have been Thames, I think.
I remember a good old Thames logo. Ah, no, no. It would have been at the weekends where it turned into LWT. Why did it change?
I don't know. There was something about it. It was Thames during the week, and then from Friday evening, six o'clock, it turned into London weekends television. You know what?
I always wondered, I never realised what LWT stuff was. You've got to go up at the North. I watched it on Granada. Oh, good old Granada.
I used to see these other logos on these other shows, LWT and Thames. But I'd never knew what LWT stuff was like. There you go. Probably disgusting when he was telling you no.
It was interesting. I was looking at the information about season one, which was filmed on location in Hawaii. And apparently from season two onwards, they took it to Hollywood and they filmed it on the old set of mash. That makes sense, doesn't it?
It does make sense. It was probably a lot easier and cheaper than filming it in Hawaii. Oh, I imagine it must have been. Especially if they're blowing $1.25 million on every episode, every penny counts, I suppose.
It was also, when they first aired it, apparently, it got commercial success, but it didn't get the ratings. It's not critical success, so it didn't get the rate, but it didn't get the viewers it was supposed to get. But part of the problem was the fact that it always clashed with family ties and a Cosby show. You've got no chance there, then.
That's it. So on season three, they decided to move it, only they managed to make it clash with a golden girl. That is brilliant. That is some brilliant behind the scenes work, over the way.
Incredible, isn't it? One could cynically say that it's almost like they were trying to kill it, so they don't have to make it anymore. That's it. Exactly.
But then on season three, they tried to get some sort of bigger names into the mix to try and grab more viewers, and they started getting people like Carl Wevers and Lee Majors to star in it. Really? Well, again, it was a sign. It was season three.
Season three was different, wasn't it? No, no. Well, no, they started to make changes from season two. They started to bring in some female characters and things like that in an attempt to sort of broaden their audience a little bit.
But yeah, but season two was a lot shorter than the season one and three, but it was due to writer strikes and things like that. Something they were going through again now, in Hollywood? The right strike? It goes through stages of doing that, doesn't it?
Seems to be. I think the current one's all about streaming rights and people just not being paid for reruns on stream. You can't quantify it, can you? Whereas in the old days, you would get royalties every time something was rerun, but you can't quantify it.
Yeah. But the premise of season three was completely different, isn't it? I'm not sure. What's the premise of season three?
It's a long time since I saw it. They go home in season three, don't they? They do. It's not from the beginning of season three, I think it was part way forward.
I didn't know that happened. No, no. I mean, in my head, it's about halfway through season three, and then they showed them back home and struggling to adapt back to their home life and what sort of their... Which is a bold move.
Yeah, I suppose did it feel... I don't know whether it got a proper finale of this show, but at least if they get home, then it feels like there is some kind of closure to some of these characters, I suppose. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
I mean, I don't remember ever being disappointed with how it ended, so I assume. I mean, I'm going to have to find somewhere to watch all this, aren't I? Or just buy copies of it somewhere. It's really hard to find that.
I think there are DVDs set that you can buy on eBay. That's the region where you're going to think. I think it's not very expensive, I don't think it's like a ten or something. I am intrigued.
Yeah, it's not to give anything away. I quite quite quite to see more of this. But we'll talk about that as we go on. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. Okay, so let's go. So the first thing I want to say is I did like the 80s pan-pipes using the open credits, but I do prefer painted black. Paint black, I think from what I remember, the thing they were playing over the start, they were also, they also played over the end credits, and I think it was always the end credit theme.
I think it was just painted black. I think you're right, because I did remember it. But yeah, it's quite moving up. It does.
It is also a little bit 80s easy listening, but you can't have that, can you? I suppose. It is a little... It's pan-pipes, isn't it?
I used to get those male or the music catalogs in the end of the pan-pike moods. Oh, yeah. It was a thing for a while, that, wasn't it? It really was.
Like my adverts were admitted with it. Yeah, they were always by like, what was that? Tell style, was it? They can't, they're used to making those.
I remember those. Pan-pike moods, my turn star. Only advertised on TV. Yeah.
There's a razor for that, because it's shite. We get some text on the screen that tells us the 12 month period American soldiers were required to serve in Vietnam was known as the tour of duty. Nice to get the title of the show in there. I always appreciate that.
Well, they did. And I think we should play a drinking game where I take a shot every time I accidentally say cool the duty for the tour of duty, because it's going to happen. I'll try and be on the look track for that. And if you do it, I'll give you the nod.
Alright. I might do it. You know. So we see a US Army camp, and a sub-tidal tells us that it's Firebase Ladybird Vietnam, 1967.
And we see Sergeant Anderson and two others in a foxhole clearly tense that something's going on somewhere. I also saw the Sergeant Anderson was cool. He only ever was a helmet in the show. Apparently that was because his head was too big and couldn't find one to it.
It was. Apparently so. I thought it was. I honestly thought it was just because I was trying to make it cool.
That's it. Even where it works, doesn't it? Oh, it does. But they keep calling it in Zeke.
And I don't know why they called him Zeke. That's his middle name apparently. Apparently so. Well, on IMDB it's listed in his middle name.
No, OK. So, a fler goes up into the night sky and Anderson discovers that some of the guards on duty have been killed. I think one of them has got his throat cut, hasn't he? One of them has got his throat cut.
Yeah. And he then makes his way back, doesn't he? But he's one of the two of the other members in a foxhole, but he has to crouch down in a long grass while the Vietcong walk past him. I was wondering.
It is terrible. I always wondered whether that would work. I mean, I'd like to think that if someone crouched down in my garden, even if the grass was a bit long, I'd still see him. Even if he was wearing like, comeback gear, you know.
They literally have a standing on his face. Yeah. It's very, it's a male gear solid level of AI. Isn't it?
It is a little bit. Do you feel like that little exclamation marks pop up above their heads? Look for that code of sight that's moving around, you know? You know, what was that noise?
The worst one was um, it was a game. It was a ninja game I can't think what it was called and whatever whatever they would kind of hear you They would just go every time they only had one voice I think I'm not gonna do the accent. All right, but you know, why not? We both know why And the base is then attacked and under cover of darkness and a fire fire erupts and it's really well put together That's not It's pretty violent as well, isn't it?
Yeah, people get shot and blown up their frying center and I think in I know that 80 TV was more violent than today But come on, I didn't think they could get away with this. Yeah, I know. Yeah, it was really impressive and I was like looking at it I thought yeah, I mean, I'm invested already Lots of your soldiers get killed including the lieutenant the currently tenant we should say yes, that's right. Yeah and counting while he's Causing an airstrike and when the first right happens I'd say that this is this is one part that I did think looked a bit small Scaly didn't the explosion just didn't quite Didn't work for me.
Oh really? Didn't see it like that. I thought it was quite good I thought it was a bit there's an explosion at the end of the episode which they did better But this one looks a bit sort of small skirt But I don't know whether it was because they use that crappy slow-motion effect that used to seal up back in the 80s Oh, I know yes That never does anything any favors when that gets used I don't think no, that's true You know the kind of me that kind of jerky slow-motion effect that used to seal up. Yeah.
Yeah low frames. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, everything just look a bit shit, you know No, I do know what you mean I suppose But yeah, I was I was actually quite impressed with this opening scene. I thought it was yeah It was quite a spectacular thing and yeah, I think it's I think it was them signaling sort of you know where they thought it was Well, I thought it was they were signaling where they thought they you know where it was gonna go they um it was really really good Yeah, I stumbled over that a little bit there tonight We all do what you say David was fine It doesn't look like a TV show.
It looks it looks like a movie Yes, yes, it does. Yeah. Yeah, so in the aftermath they're dealing with all the casualties and private Johnson He breaks down at the body of his best friend who's been killed and it's interesting. He's interesting how private Taylor He's just kind of urgent Johnson to be finding me irritating to you.
He's just kind of He's just he's just okay. Oh here we go First rock in the road. I did kind of like how he's just kind of making he's kind of urgent Johnson to just accept what's happened to move on I suppose that was the only way that they could get through it really I Mean there's ways of dealing with that, you know, I think rolling your eyes Because I love it. Come on.
Come on It's the G-85 year celebration event 85 years of daring to ask what if like what if we didn't sacrifice capabilities for comfort Or what if nothing on the road ahead and hold us back for decades We've chased every what if why not who where and how and the answer because we can right now gets a percent financing for up to 84 months So like models plus eligible customers get $1,850 in Jeep anniversary bonus cash on all Jeep models You dealer for details. He is probably I would say probably one of the most unlikeable characters Yeah, he isn't it's weird. I remember him being one of my favorite characters and in this he is a complete asshole It's early days though. I suppose that maybe they give him more to do you know bring his character out a little bit more As a series.
Yeah, they must have mellowed him must have mellowed him. Yes. Yeah, I don't remember him being anything like this But yeah, he was yeah, I mean fair enough You've got to move on get on with it. You're in the middle of Vietnam.
That's fine But give him give him more than five seconds to grieve for his best mate That's playing him the one thing that I remember this guy from more than anything isn't to do I do remember the character. I just remember him getting killed in an outside toilet in one of the Friday the 13th movies Yeah, do you remember him doing a major role in anything or was he always a sort of side character and other stuff? I've only ever seen a beside characters and I can't even think what I've seen of a side characters in he's one of those actors isn't he that? Yeah, I don't think you ever did a leading role, but he used to turn up a lot There was a period where he turned up a lot and things, you know, but he was I just a bit part player off the back of this I see I would imagine so yeah, yeah, yeah Which by the way actually can I just say shout out to Captain Wallace in this opening sequence when he shouts no part I need no part now in his best Batman voice Yeah, he's very good in it actually Kevin Conroy Yeah, I like him speaking of Captain Wallace he tells Anderson that this shouldn't be happening that they should be winning this wall I thought that was a good line.
It was yeah Yeah, I like that and you can tell when they're speaking to each other there's a mutual respect there Yeah, absolutely because it would have been easy to make Captain Wallace a bit of a dick, wouldn't it? Yeah, but that's kind of it's a bit root one, isn't it? Yeah, yeah I didn't like when later in the episode when you seem smoking a polyp I thought that was a bit of a cliche, you know I didn't notice that one point when he started to understand in one of the tenses smoking a polyp, you know I can't believe it. It's a cliche of the thoughtful captain, you know, he's the brain It turns out that the attacking army were no Vietnam experts.
I'm gonna wing this they were special North Vietnamese army regulars Something that they haven't encountered. I thought you were a military guy. Come on. I'm a military guy Where'd you get that from?
I thought you're well into your military. No, that's calling you miss taking me with Colin Thanks for Though there's so many possibilities there for double entendres. I'm not gonna do any of them I'm gonna make any comments about barrels or anything like that or you know, this isn't carry on come on carry on to Yeah, I know Barbara Windsor would be doing it She could play obviously I was gonna say that she could play she could play captain Wallace female version. Oh, yeah Wallace tells Anderson that we've got a whole new war out of us and that's a cell for the show right there Isn't it that one line it is because it was apparently the VC that they founds were They're normally up in the north of the country They were down in the south right and they had whole new weaponry and and things like that So it was a bit of a bit of a discovery One thing I will say about that.
I get okay. I get it. I know I know we're dealing with a limited budget When we get to the end of the episode they do deal with them rather easily don't they? Yeah, yeah, I don't you babe?
So what this wants Anderson to go and check the enemy bodies for any intel and then take it over to division HQ And while he's there Anderson says that he'll go on a bit of a fresh recruitment drive to beef up the platoon And then we get to my real footage and this is incredible isn't it the shots inside the he was just as incredible as the shots outside I don't think they are I think they Is it this bit where they used a lot of stock footage? I don't think it was I think that there's there's a scene later on isn't there where they're in the chopper and I think they use a lot of stock footage, but Yeah, I don't think it's this one actually thinking about it But the way that this stuff is shot it kind of looks documentary style doesn't it so when they do use the stock footage I think it integrated with it really really well. It was really good. Oh, yeah, it didn't stand out at all You see that it's the actors inside these helicopters as well That they're actually in these helicopters flying very sort of apocalypse narrow looking you know the shots from inside as it's flying over And you can see the actors perched on the edge of the helicopters.
That's it. Yeah, but there's a nice there's a nice thing When they're when they're flying to the division HQ And it turns out Anderson is trying to learn the harmonica and he pulls it out and he starts to play it and One of the injured guys are next to him sort of stops him and says hey partner. I'm already dying. Don't kill me no more That was a good line.
Yeah, I like that. I'm on his side. Oh, he's rubbish for me I'm on a good best design. I know it's a little bit like Backpipes.
Yeah, I think of a dying donkey Yeah, it is it is nobody likes harmonica Come on. Why are you paying your money? Why do you put your effort into that? Get real instrument?
Unless of course you're a respected listener and you're into how my cousin backpipes and you know we love it Bloody love because I've always said I really love how I love a flip-flop. I love a bagpipe So Anderson arrives at we get a little sub-title again true lie HQ 23rd infantry division And he tells a brass about the attack and they're disturbed at the lack of intel wishing that they could take they could have taken one of the enemy soldiers Anderson tells him that he's more concerned with keeping himself alive than worried about them I thought that was good. It's good and it's a it's a line that uses more than once. Oh, right I think he says I get any layer Yeah, well, he says something similar I think when I mean we'll get to it but when you get the new lieutenant comes with him and the lieutenant is trying to sort of boss his way around and Anderson doesn't bite because come on my priorities keep ourselves alive Oh, yeah, and we get and a bliggatory military volleyball.
Don't we we maybe laugh? Jungle rules volleyball in the mud in the mud Anything looks more man Not that we saw No, that's true But they're playing this some jungle rules volleyball aren't they in the mud and there's a radio station playing in the background and this is the The first bit of faux rock It's basically I think it's basically meant to be all day in order tonight by the kinks But it's just a knock-off version of it with no Would bet money that in the original versions when these when it probably had that song instead it must have must have had it It's ridiculously close to it But it's just what a terrible job that must have been for somebody to go through these episodes and just replace all those songs So destroyed Anderson lines up some soldiers that have been playing volleyball and he tries to get a few volunteers He tells me that he doesn't want dopers or dummies. Well, he tries to tempt them doesn't he with some good Vietnamese dope Yeah, but it's a ruse, isn't it? It's definitely ruse is going.
I've got some good Vietnamese dope anybody Nobody nobody It's like when the teachers you say all right, oh, no up and you aren't getting trouble And we meet corporate first cell who it turns out volunteered for this war he did he did and When when Anderson said, you know, if you're if you're stupid, then let's take a step back And press L didn't nobody found out that for salad volunteer. He said why didn't you step back? He's got a really good line doesn't he tarot locks in this episode? Yes.
Yeah, and he picks out a couple more soldiers and one of them is also um private rumors Who's from the Bronx? So he's used to blood apparently. I mean, it's the 80s. It's the Bronx.
Come on. Yeah, I wonder a collie would have something to say about that Who knows? Um, you said he was made in the 80s, I suppose, but he's set in the 60s. So was it even worse back then?
I guess so Oh, yeah, yeah Yeah, I didn't think any of this was Bronx one of those no what it was like in the 60s I mean, because it's probably our age demographic that listens to us. So, you know, that's it. That's it Just email retrospection. What's the Bronx a shit?
I'll in the 60s. Yeah, the level you email with that as well. Lead with that. You know, okay It's the top of the parland.
Um He then he has someone else playing the harmonica Or I would just say my minute because this guy this actor can't play the harmonica. He's definitely mine in this Yeah, he did he did have his hands copying that harmonica very very Topiously, didn't he? But Anderson instantly Well, he likes a guy doesn't he and a guy's name's horn. Yes until he learns that he's a war protester who refuses to fight But he takes him anyway.
Mm-hmm. He wants to prove something to him. But he wants to learn harmonica. That is true That's only because of his point.
That is that is that is good a reason. He's anybody to take anybody into your platoon Anderson strikes me as that kind of guy that tries to find the best in any situation, you know, yeah Probably why his character is because it gets revealed doesn't it though? And it's probably why you can get through it because he's attitude Really? Mm.
I need to say actually. Sorry. I need to say that Um, it was when he was recruiting here. We this is where we also saw Baker for the first time Where where we asked him how did you get so big?
That's right. Yeah, and then and then Baker goes on a big rambling thing about his exercise and his diet and lots of protein and Vitamins and minerals and he goes on this big rambling thing. I thought that was nice. That maybe laugh Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because I didn't write that one down.
I forgot his name. That's why I didn't write today So then we meet Lieutenant Goldman and it's clear from the outset that he and Anderson are completely different personalities Oh, yeah, there's a there's an immediate clash, isn't it? Yeah, and It's almost like because Goldman is fresh out of well, he's not at West Point He says he's not from West Point, but it's it's of that kind of thing. Isn't it?
He's he's an officer who's probably not seen too much at this point Yeah, well, I think Anderson's a little bit more freeform whereas whereas lieutenant is Yeah, he's a bit more rich. He's a by the book person because he doesn't know any different He's a yeah, he's a by the booker. That's exactly what it is. Yeah, that's exactly what he is I don't think that as it goes on we see that Anderson steps on Goldman a little bit But I don't think he's doing it out of trying to prove anything to him He's just doing it because he's trying to protect his men and he's the one who knows that you can do it Yeah, yeah, yeah, and he's been in that situation as he points out.
He's been there for three tours He knows how this works. Yeah, definitely I think it's gonna be interesting if I watch more of this to see how these two characters the relationship plays out Because I would imagine that they're both gonna it's gonna be one of those situations isn't it where They're both completely different points of view, but they'll learn something from each other as the show goes on That play very well. I think in the TV. Yeah, so on the drive back one of the soldiers pulls what he calls an initiation ceremony by fire He's right if I was his rifle into the air and screams VC VC think this guy just kicked over the edge of that truck wouldn't he?
That's all well this is it the Goldman's like ready to lynch him, which you know, I don't blame him to be honest with you Anderson's like cool again. That's an initiation ceremony come on I thought we'd bang out of all the day. I thought it was bang out of order and they're giving their position away. What the hell are they doing?
That is true. They are giving the position. I didn't think of it in those terms. You know, you see always thinking You're the one that I'd want in my platoon.
I feel you know, I suppose though that in in Vietnam or in any kind of these situations And before I say this, I'm conscious of the fact that I'm coming at this from I'm a white middle-aged Englishman whose idea of combat is fighting over that last bag of doughnuts in Azda So I'm not exactly qualified to make statements like this But I would imagine that gallows human must have been a thing in any kind of war situation. Oh, I guess so yeah Yeah, and that's probably why they take this prank or I'm just excited. I mean he's a bit irritated But he doesn't really do anything to the guy. He doesn't show so that guy doesn't really just tell him to don't do it again kind of thing Yeah, I guess so but I think Anderson talked him down a little bit.
That was a thing I think I think he would have taken it further if Anderson hadn't stepped in and stopped him Yeah, yeah, I think he would as well. Yeah, it would be straight in that time. What did they call it? The cooler or whatever they call it.
That's great. That's great. That's great. That's great.
See, I'm not gonna write really few data. Don't know what you get these ideas I'm having from. Anyway, Anderson Goldman, they have a chat. Anderson reveals that this is his third tour as we said and And this is where we find out that Goldman is pretty much as green as they can be, isn't he?
And I'm gonna get a bit more harmonica, which is always lovely So we reach Firebase and Goldman introduces himself to Wallace And it turns out that Goldman, he had a famous father that fought in World War II and he wants to Goldman This Goldman wants to surpass his achievements. Apparently so. And he's also not too happy about having Anderson as his sergeant. He can see that he thinks that he's gonna be undermined by him, doesn't he?
He thinks that Anderson is a little bit unorthodox. Yeah, a bit loose. Slightly laid back with his troops. Yeah, the new recruits meet the rest of the squad and it's hardly a friendly welcome, isn't it?
No, this is true. In fact, this is Taylor again being dickish Because they're coming in. They're looking for their new beds and Taylor's telling them that they're the beds of our dead mates, basically, is what he's saying and making it pretty much impossible for them to pick any kind of bed whatsoever So I can't remember who was, one of them said, I think it was Baker, he said, I'm just gonna sleep on the floor. Yeah, they just avoid any arguments or anything.
I gotta say that when Ru is entered, he's instantly got attention with Taylor. And it does take you a bit by surprise when you hear the kind of racial slurs being slugger owned in the show. Yeah. Well, essentially it was a mainstream TV show.
It wasn't like it was gonna be on cable or anything. It was a proper mainstream show. Do you think he got away with it because he was saying that racial slur about himself? Because he was saying, what's the matter?
Haven't you seen her? I won't say it because I want to get cancelled on my first time out. Yeah, he says that he does. Yeah, don't.
I'll cut it out. All right. But he does say that by himself, but he also uses the other word as well in reference to Taylor. The other word.
Did he? Oh, I didn't notice that. That was the one that really stood out to me because you kind of hear it and whenever you hear that in anything, don't you kind of go, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's always an element of wincing going on there.
I think it's good though that there's no gloss over it. I mean, this is how these people would talk to each other. And I'm sure it's still a thing today in some circles, you know? I imagine so.
I mean, I wouldn't know. But we're not in our lives, but we live in very different circles. We do. Well, we don't even am for a start.
I don't know. I don't know. You've seen where I live. It's almost like now.
I nearly said the day of the time, but I won't. It's very nice. I always think it's one of the worst things you can do is ignore stuff like that, like the language at the time and pretend it never happened. So it's good.
It's good that they're doing that. I think in the show. Yeah. Yeah.
I'll cover that. Suddenly, the bass comes under attack from artillery and the squad run into these bunkers. And it's revealed that this happens pretty much every night. They don't want to say they fire at us.
We fire back pretty much every night. And then we get like a weird comedy moment where Ruis starts freaking out over a rat and everyone just unloads all their guns at it. Yeah. It's really strange.
It's almost out of nowhere. And they all shoot the rat and then didn't manage to kill him. It's a weird moment though. Because it's a big tonal shift.
It's almost like they thought, you know, it's quite a heavy show. We need at least one little line moment. And then anything they could think of was a rat. Well, he said it because he went, oh, get me out of it.
He ran out. And then there was an explosion. So he ran back in the bunker, but then ran into a big sheet. So now he's covered in the sheet and everybody goes, oh, go see.
It did work. I have to say, it was kind of funny. Because it's all right. So up to this point, he's acting like a hard man, isn't he?
Yeah. I mean, that's the gag really, isn't it? That's okay. It was just a weird tonal shift all of a sudden.
It was. Yeah. Yeah. So next morning, and while he sends the squad out to locate and bring out into the opener group of the enemy, because there's a camp they think is nearby.
Yes, using him as bait. That's right. Yeah. And some of them are not too happy about this.
No, we're talking understand. I wouldn't want to be using this bait. I mean, address it up a little bit. Even if that's what you're doing.
Just dress it up a little bit. Don't actually say it. What would it take then, Dave, to use you as bait? What would you need?
Just ask him. If you reference him a couple of beers. Oh, that's hard. I'm quite cheap.
I'll make a note of that. Quite cheap. So, Juan reiterates Anderson that he won't fight because he's a pacifist. And Anson puts him in charge of the radio instead and orders him to stay close.
And this is where we get some more great helicopter aerial footage. And I think this is where they use a bit more of that stock footage that you mentioned earlier. They use a lot of stock footage and some faux Jimmy Hendrix. Yes, it was.
Playing over the top. Yeah. And is it just me, or did this scene last a long time? Yeah, because there's a lot of, I actually thought it worked really well because there's a lot of people nervously glancing around at each other.
And a couple of them are actually finding it all quite amusing as well. This is it? Were they trying to build the tension or was it padding? I think it was probably a bit of both.
It was probably padding that worked well in the end. Yeah, it felt like it overstayed as well. Do you feel like it slowed down a little bit in this bit? Yeah, I can see it.
Yeah, it definitely did. Yeah, it didn't bother me as much as that, but I can see what you're saying. So they landed and they're instantly caught up in a firefight. And again, it's another action.
He was as well shot and well staged. Yeah, it was. It was. And while they're under fire, it shows Horn leaving his gun in the chopper because he's still protesting.
You take it at this point. Passivism would go out the window, wouldn't it? I mean, fair play to infer, stick your body's beliefs, but come on now. Yeah, he did get back up guns.
They're shooting that. Yeah, don't leave it. Even if you can fire over your head out, I mean, at least do something. Yeah.
Yeah. The Goldman wants the squad to move up and take out the enemy, but Anderson plays it smart. And he orders in an airstrike. Yeah, he didn't like that.
No, didn't like being overruled. The airstrike comes in and Goldman actually does say to both, to both Horn and Anderson that once they get back, both of them are going to be caught, Marshall. Yes, yes. Yeah, he was particularly happy about about Horn leaving his gun in the chopper.
But the squad then found a blood trail. And I've got to say at this point, you've got like 10 minutes left of the episode. It moves really fast, doesn't it? It does.
It packs a lot in there in the 45 minutes that it's not going to be like. It never felt in, I know you said there was that moment in the chopper where it slowed down, but for me, flew by. It never felt. Well, it did.
It did. But in reality that that that slow down was about two minutes out of a 45 minute episode, which isn't bad going. It's not at all. It was a massive dip.
It's, yeah, it moves on a fairly brisk pace all the way through. It does. It does. So I said they find a blood trail and they follow it and Goldman's really irritated Anderson seems to be making all the decisions for him at this point.
And in many ways, the Goldman, Goldman character, it's the top of performance for an actor to do, isn't it? Because, and I think this guy plays it really well because you never, any point think to yourself, oh, this guy's a dick. You just think he's inexperienced and he needs to learn. But in other hands, he could come across as really annoying.
But he never does. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, I'd agree with that.
It's a fairly fine line and he manages to stay on the right side of it. He does. He does. He does.
Following the blood trail, it's obvious that it's got a less than impressed by the newly tenant. They all, they all, they're rumbling about him, don't they? Yeah. And as we, yeah, well, they've been split up because they were two companies.
That's right. Yeah. There was Bravo company and Charlie company and they've been split from Charlie company. So they feel like they've been sort of brought out and they're vulnerable on their own now.
They're always Bravo and Charlie, aren't they? Can you not ever think of any other other names? Oh, no. There's never Delta.
Well, we said Delta. I've just said that. I've just said that. And that's probably not true whatsoever.
Delta and Gary company. What about Gary? You know, Gary? So as a walking, we get these little interactions between the men and it kind of showcases their personalities a little bit a little bit and it gives us as an audience more of an idea as to how the dynamics of these characters in the show might start to play out as it goes along.
It's really nice little collection scenes as they're walking and talking, I thought. Yes. Yeah. It's, yeah, it was quite good.
But they got Baker and Reese, Louise, Reese. They start having an argument out of nowhere about the benefits of cars versus the subway, which I thought was a little bit strange. But I guess if they're just trying to show that the new recruits in a platoon haven't gelled yet, you know, with the more experienced. Yeah, I think that's what they're going for.
I guess. But yeah, it was a strange argument to have. It made me think it was kind of almost Tarantino-type dialogue, but quite a few years before Tarantino started doing it. You know, Tarantino's characters have conversations about stuff that has nothing to do with the plot sometimes.
Like the famous Burger King thing. That's 90% of every Tarantino film. Exactly. And I know what it is.
It's supposed to give realism. It's supposed to make you feel like these are real characters talking. Yeah. And again, it doesn't really, really well.
You didn't see that a lot in ATTV shows because everything was plot driven. You think about, and I'm not comparing two of duty to the show, but you think about something like Nardide or the A-Team. Everything was plot driven. It was very little room for conversations like this.
Every conversation in those shows, the plot forwards in some shape or form. True. But then Vietnam, the nature of the surroundings, you know, there's a lot of time spent walking in single file in long grass. You know, you can't avoid that really in a program like this.
So you've got to fill it with something. So it's a perfect time to get that kind of dialogue. Absolutely. Yeah.
I hope that if I watch more of it, there's a lot more of this kind of thing in it. I would imagine there is. I think there will be plenty of that. Yeah.
So they find some C4 planted in the ground, Goldman Goldsman, Audous Anderson to disarm it, which he does. And then Ruiz stumbles upon some enemy soldiers that leads them to their base. Well, he stumbles on these enemy soldiers because he found a lizard from somewhere. And he was still having an argument with Baker.
So Baker slapped the lizard out of his hands and he went, oh, my lizard. And then he went off the beaten path to come and fetch it. And happened to stumble upon these souls. So it wasn't for this lizard.
They never would have found this base, would they? Well, this is it. Exactly. That lizard's like, that lizard's like, well, they say the gunner on the Death Star and Star Wars.
They need to shot the, you don't know what I'm talking about. Oh, you have just gone way over my head. People listening, don't know. Oh, I don't know.
I'm the only person on the planet that doesn't know. One day, mate, you're watching. So, yeah, they find this enemy base in Goldman Radio's location to Wallace and he orders some artillery to be fine. But in the meantime, another soldier, Lawrence, he steps on a mine, doesn't he?
Or some sort of C4 thing? He does. He hits a trip wire, doesn't he? And he explodes.
That was quite a good scene. I think that was well acted as well. He did look genuinely terrified. Yeah, he did.