November 7, 2004 - 781006 - The Captain of the Polestar

[Fizzlestix]

This week's Show of the Week is generously presented for us by Texas:

[color=orange:6abcfd22c4]781006 - The Captain of the Polestar[/color:6abcfd22c4]
[color=gray:6abcfd22c4]Original story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by Murray Burnett; starring Paul Hecht[/color:6abcfd22c4]

Enjoy the show!

[Texas]

Brian1984, I'll wait to post my comments on this episode until later, but:

- Interestingly, I think this was Court Benson's best performance (when he was "Captain Cragie" on the RMT. However, you've said Benson had a good voice when he was being a leading man, but his "other voices" left some to be desired.

He's also the voice of "Mr. Manson", and it's amusing that around the 25:01 mark he , or rather his voice, almost breaks character when he says "I didn't think I should move him". As "Captain Cragie", at the mark he almost breaks it again at the 13:51 mark when he hoarsely says "You have your orders, Mr. Walker."

- Errrrrr, what were the captain and his woman, er, ghost, er, hallucination [i:06395c775c]doing[/i:06395c775c] in the captain's cabin?

[brian1984_2001]

This one had a great atmosphere. The setting is a creaky old ship cruising the lonliest place on earth. It's storming and the crew isn't certain they're going to make it back.

Add to that a captain who is driven by seeming hallucinations and madness and it's not hard to discern why the crew is increasingly concerned for their own welfare.

I gave it a five! It was a spectacular episode.

Court Benson wasn't bad. I can't stand when he tries to do that old man voice. It sound very fake and of all the voices any of them do, that's the worst. Dryden, Raeburn, Shea, and Juster did good voices. But others did just fine with the same voice week after week. Janny, DaSilva, and Gwynne played a large variety of roles without varying their voice.

[Texas]

Brian, yep. For instance, I've always respected Lloyd Battista's talent, and I remember an episode ("Search for Eden", I think) where he gave a good if not convincing spanish accent. But, while I hate putting down any actor's work, I've talked here before about his "hoarse Irish cop" accent which he's done several times. When he made that voice he didn't sound as if he was acting, but rather [i:389c890694]play[/i:389c890694] acting.

Also,

- The RMT was very good, often, when they were doing episodes taking place on a boat of some sort. "The laughing maiden" and "The great white shark" come to mind. In this case, the sound effects were tremendously done...when Dr. Ray and Mr. Manson see "the Polar bear" you hear two ship's bells, ostensibly chiming one o'clock in the morning (as Dr. Ray said it was in the darkest part of the night). (http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/questions/bells.html) (Then again, they were near the pole so who knows what time of the day it was.)

- I loved how Dr. Ray attacked the problem as a true physician would, trying to rule out one cause after another as he would diagnose a disease.

- "The captain of the Polestar" was the title of a collection of short stories (http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Arthur_Conan_Doyle/The_Captain_of_the_Polestar/) by Conan Doyle. The man was certainly a gifted writer.

- The closest (and only other, frankly) comparable RMT tale to this one was "Sea Fever", which took place on a "blackbirding" slave ship, in warm waters (as I recall), with a captain who didn't give a rat's rear end about his crew. "Captain of the Polestar" (apart from having a possibly deranged captain) was the anti-Sea Fever.

Interestingly, with the genuine care he seemed to have for his men, Captain Craigie of the [i:389c890694]Polestar[/i:389c890694] reminded me of another misunderstood but driven commander of a ship, William Bligh (http://www.plantexplorers.com/Explorers/Biographies/Captain/Bligh.htm). Good thing no one got flogged on this ship, though.

[Fizzlestix]

There were many things I enjoyed about this program. Mainly, the storyline. It was very slow, which I usually don't care for, but most sea-faring tales I can recall seem to take their time in leaving port, so to speak.

Conan Doyle creates another mythic landscape with this tale - one I had not been aware of prior. I am so used to the whole Sherlock Holmes settings, that this was in such contrast to Hound of the Baskervilles, and the rest.

Among the other things that struck me well with this tale was the consideration of sound editing. I just love when you tap into one of these programs to discover that someone, whether it was H.Brown or someone else, had paid the mind to put special attention on what was going on behind the main characters. In most cases, this tale allowed me the opportunity to feel as though I were on that boat. Wonderful escapism!

Lastly, the acting, as is typical, was superb, though the Captain's voice did often make me frown.

On the down side, it was again, quite slow moving. I had the patience, so it didn't cause me annoyance or anything, but it was noticeable. The only other thing that got me to "snap" out of my immersion was the sound of the spectral woman. In part because I didn't expect it and in part also because the teaser at the start of the show suggested a polar bear, the effect of the moaning woman struck me peculiar. I wasn't sold on it immediately. Once it was in there, it became elemental; but upon introduction, it sounded odd... out of place.

Anyhow, a great pick and thanks for choosing it! I ranked it a 4.7 and will certainly listen to it again. A very unique episode for sure!