Quote: whatkindoffoolami @ November 19 2012, 2:40 PM GMTStill some great bits in Fatal Extraction though, when Del stands in the beans, and Trigger ordering the porridge in Syd's café after seeing it's full of hairs.
It really has great bits in it...and I absolutely loved Del's remark about Right Said Fred. 
Quote: whatkindoffoolami @ November 19 2012, 2:40 PM GMTbeing from Hull myself, To Hull And Back.
That one is indeed one of the very best.
For me it's got to be The Jolly Boys' Outing, just the right mix of laughs and pathos, all the subsidiary characters are wonderfully defined, the gags are great and it introduces a new phase of the show with him meeting up with Raquel again. A close second would be To Hull and Back, which I never tire of seeing either.
Quote: Pingl @ November 19 2012, 2:53 PM GMTFor me it's got to be The Jolly Boys' Outing, just the right mix of laughs and pathos, all the subsidiary characters are wonderfully defined, the gags are great and it introduces a new phase of the show with him meeting up with Raquel again. A close second would be To Hull and Back, which I never tire of seeing either.
Yeah, forgot that one. This is maybe the "Sgt. Peppers..." of OFAH. My going on a desert island with-episode.
Quote: Pingl @ November 19 2012, 2:53 PM GMTFor me it's got to be The Jolly Boys' Outing, just the right mix of laughs and pathos, all the subsidiary characters are wonderfully defined, the gags are great and it introduces a new phase of the show with him meeting up with Raquel again. A close second would be To Hull and Back, which I never tire of seeing either.
how did I forget that?
"chuck him on the back seat? but he's the driver"
And the whole Steven episode "Ya, super...let me run this past you". And the bed scene with Rodney and Albert. So many great scenes to chose from. Great stuff.
May The Force Be With You. So much tension and so much effort invested in creating a great minor character who probably wasn't intended to reappear. And a cracking twist at the end.
Jolly Boys Outing was magnificently tight considering there were enough dramatic subplots and characters for a month of your average soap opera and it still managed to be never confusing and always funny. Chain Gang had a cracking ending.
Found the chandelier one pretty obvious; not a weak episode by any means, but you know exactly what was going to happen.
Quote: enigmatic @ November 24 2012, 2:22 PM GMTFound the chandelier one pretty obvious; not a weak episode by any means, but you know exactly what was going to happen.
This is exactly what I found about the end of May The Force Be With You. It was so obvious that Del would name himself asthe one who stole the microwave oven. Not only obvious but also unrealistic. I can't imagine you can sign a legally binding contract about such a thing. Such deals must be unofficial just between the policeman in charge and the criminal/informant.
But you named absolutely cracking episodes...including May The Force...which is a favourite of mine (minus the "twist").
You mean his immunity from prosecution? I'm not sure if they exist either. It was a bit unlikely Slater would just let him walk out of there like that, considering what he was capable of. But the thing that let it down was just how drawn out it was leading up to the "big finish". In fact a lot of the earlier episodes seem to suffer a little from Sullivan's insistence on always ending on a big laugh, some of them don't really work.
Quote: Raymond Terrific @ November 26 2012, 2:50 PM GMTIt was a bit unlikely Slater would just let him walk out of there like that, considering what he was capable of.
Yes, that too was very unlikely. Being such a bastard he could have easily shredded the "contract", at least I would have...
Quote: Raymond Terrific @ November 26 2012, 2:50 PM GMTIn fact a lot of the earlier episodes seem to suffer a little from Sullivan's insistence on always ending on a big laugh, some of them don't really work.
When I watched my Dad's Army box set I was surprised how many episodes ended without a big "twist" or climactic joke. I was so used to Sullivan's style that this irritated me. But it's better to just let the episode fade out than spoiling a great episode with a total unconvincing/implausible climax.
Yeah, I understand the importance of ending on a big joke. Some of the early OFAH endings just seem quite contrived though, you can almost see them counting down the seconds until the big finish.
Difference with the twist in May the Force is that the immunity part of the setup happens only just before the end (before that we're not quite sure how Del will cheat his way out) and the payoff happens right in front of Slater's face. In retrospect, it might have had more tension if it had been hinted he'd bought the microwave off Monkey Harris or Trigger, but it's still satisfying as it is.
In the chandelier episode there's only one thing that's going to happen to the chandelier since Del first overhears how much cleaning costs, and instead of the fall being the setup for some sort of showdown they just run away from the butler. The writing around it's funny but the actual tumble barely warrants a chuckle. Or it's one of the funniest moments ever shown on television; there's no accounting for tastes.
Quote: enigmatic @ November 27 2012, 4:42 AM GMTOr it's one of the funniest moments ever shown on television; there's no accounting for tastes.
As I wrote earlier in terms of "surprise factor" the bar fall is 100x more surprising. I just didn't see that coming. Maybe it helps that coming from outside Britain I'm not that used to bar flaps. We have Irish Pubs here in Basel and there you have such architectures but in normal Swiss bars we don't have them.
Quote: enigmatic @ November 27 2012, 4:42 AM GMTThe writing around it's funny
I love it when Grandad asks: "Was it very valuable?" and Del replies: "No, not really...IT WAS BLEEDIN' PRICLESS WHEN IT WAS HANGIN' UP THERE!!!!"
Reading this thread makes me want to watch the whole series through again.... it's been two years so I guess it's not too soon. Just finished Green Green Grass. Not sure what others think, but I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I expected. Maybe I was just missing Del Boy and Rodney.
Quote: Rose2010 @ November 27 2012, 6:48 PM GMTJust finished Green Green Grass. Not sure what others think, but I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I expected. Maybe I was just missing Del Boy and Rodney.
I watched it too...but only because of Boycie and Marlene, otherwise the show was below par imo. It's the OFAH back story what makes it interesting, and in my case the character Boycie which is my favourite of the OFAH's secondary characters. If you're a big fan of the Rolling Stones then you buy the solo albums as well...not because of the quality but because you have to have everything.
Quote: Gordon Bennett @ November 27 2012, 7:18 PM GMTI watched it too...but only because of Boycie and Marlene, otherwise the show was below par imo. It's the OFAH back story what makes it interesting, and in my case the character Boycie which is my favourite of the OFAH's secondary characters. If you're a big fan of the Rolling Stones then you buy the solo albums as well...not because of the quality but because you have to have everything.
It was awful, it reminded me of when they moved Are You Being Served? to a country hotel in Grace & Favour. Away from their familiar settings some characters just seem lost. It was also very old fashioned, not as slick or as clever as Only Fools, but then neither was that prequel thing, Something and Chips.
