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Tina · Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 328 Location: Bulgaria/Austria

I saw this Pilot Episode after I watched Season 3, about an year ago, actually. But in Stranded (I think), there was a scene (after Roxton, Malone, Challenger and Summerlee rescued Assai from the ape-man, then they went to the Zanga village) where Roxton asked Marguerite how Jacoba get the treehouse, and so on... But I don't remember if there was such a scene in the Pilot Movie. Does anybody remember that? Rolling Eyes

Roxton's Lady · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 32

Tina, you inspired me to rewatch the pilot movie and that scene wasn't in it. I have a few thoughts about that (fifth paragraph from the bottom if you don't want to read the whole thing.

The Challenger in the pilot is charismatic, driven, curious, ambitious, arrogant, condescending, and insensitive—but I liked him, even when he was insulting Summerlee. His intrigue when he learned that the lost world is a place “where living men are not meant to go” was contagious.

Roxton didn’t fare as well. He wasn’t as likeable as Challenger in the pilot. He was certainly appealing but he wasn’t as charming as he was in the rest of the series. He had some good moments, especially with Marguerite (naturally). They were obviously attracted to each other, but neither was willing to let the other get the upper hand.

He recognized that Challenger was a visionary and said he would “follow him anywhere,” but he really didn’t interact well with the rest of the explorers. He obviously shared Challenger’s distain for Summerlee—some of which carried through the first couple of episodes. He was ready to believe that Malone would save his own skin rather than help Assai. He seemed to respect Veronica, although they didn’t have any real scenes together. We saw a glimmer of the hero Roxton would become when Assai was kidnapped—there was no question that he was going to go after her (on a side note, Marguerite didn’t object, whereas she was reluctant to help others in the first season). The character just wasn’t fully fleshed out.

Although the actor did a good job, I am glad they went a different direction with Malone’s character. It is not just the first name, he was too much like Roxton would later become. In fact, it almost seems as though the producers decided to infuse the pilot Malone’s resourcefulness and heroic nature into Roxton’s character—and I think the series Malone’s inexperience, made a better contract with the rest of the characters. What really struck me was the sweetness of the pilot’s romance between Veronica and Malone—that was lost in the series. I think David Orth would have been able to play that, so it was obviously a conscious decision, but I think it was unfortunate. Malone and Veronica made a more interesting couple in the pilot.

Swinging on a vine to the rescue was certainly a dramatic introduction to Veronica. It was hard for me to accept that Veronica was so well-spoken and cultured after 11 years of being alone in the jungle. I think it would have been more interesting if she a few more rough edges as a contrast to Marguerite’s sophistication. She also should have displayed more vulnerability and loneliness—a little desperation might have made her immediate acceptance of the explorers (and her longing for her parents) more poignant. Also, the pilot Veronica was more curious about the outside world—something I wish they had explored more in the series.

I found Summerlee extremely likeable and admirable from the beginning. Someone should have explained to Challenger that skepticism is the hallmark of a good scientist. Also, someone should have explained to both Challenger and Roxton that courage is not the absence of fear. Despite his understandable unease and his age, he kept up with the explorers—including when they went after Assai. He also was the first to admit that Challenger was right.

Of course, Marguerite was easily the most interesting character in the pilot. She was mysterious, smart, sophisticated, cunning, evil, self-centered, greedy—and, even when she sold out Veronica (literally), I didn’t dislike her. Maybe because it was so contrived. First, she wasn’t ready to leave yet, so why was she so quick to make a deal with Jacoba? Why would Jacoba agree to the deal in the first place, if he had wanted to take Veronica by force, he could have earlier. Assai wasn’t stopping him. He was ready to beat Assai at one point and didn’t seem to care that she had been kidnapped by the apemen (actually no one in the village seemed to care much. I felt sorry for her). How was Marguerite planning to pay off with the other explorers around? It just didn’t make sense—so I guess I am willing to overlook Marguerite’s little lapse in judgment.

Because the pilot movie is different than the two-part episode shown at the end of the first season, it is interesting to speculate about why the producers choose to include some scenes but not others. The three scenes I can remember (I haven’t watched the two-part episode for some time) are all Marguerite scenes. In the two-part episode, which they expected most of the show’s regular fans to watch, they eliminated the scene in Challenger’s library. It was a fun scene, and it demonstrated the tension between Marguerite and Roxton, but it didn’t show the cold-bloodedness that the three scenes missing from the pilot did: Those were: Marguerite killing the hitman, Marguerite arguing with Veronica when Veronica figures out what she did, and Marguerite arguing with Roxton when Roxton figured it out.

I prefer the two-part episode--especially the shooting scene in the alley--because it hints at a different side of Marguerite. Obviously, she is tough and hard, but why did she make so many enemies. I have always imagined that her real reason for the expedition was related to her work as a spy--which was suggested throughout the first season. In my imagination, Marguerite is nobler than the explorers ever thought and was really sent by British intelligence to try and stop a rogue group of Germans from starting World War II. Of course, only the other explorers would act as though picking up a few diamonds lying on the ground was the height of greed.

A few other observations:

Although they were right, the reasons Roxton and Veronica gave when they figured out Marguerite sold Veronica made no sense. Why wouldn’t Marguerite invite Jacoba up? As I said, if he wanted to kidnap Veronica, he could have done so earlier—she would have been outnumbered by all those warriors. What was Marguerite supposed to do when Jacoba took her?

Lucky for Veronica the explorers came when they did. Obviously she couldn’t have fought off the apemen on her own—they knocked her unconscious.

The grass is always greener. All those gems on the ground and Marguerite had to try and climb up to get more.

It was a good start to the series, but I am glad they re-tooled Roxton and Malone’s characters.