Review DISCUSSION- CATWEAZLE: "CASTLE SABURAC" - Episode 02

[Doctor Omega]

Catweazle runs into the farmhouse after being spooked by a welding torch and Carrot hides him away from his father, farmhand Sam ( Neil McCarthy) and the housekeeper.
Carrot gives him a bath to remove the smell of him but the housekeeper bursts in on them. Catweazle finds a place to live, an abandoned army water tank in the woods. A large metal structure accessed by a ladder, like a mini fort christened Castle Saburac.


Full Cast List....

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0537638/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

On to the next episode....

CURSE OF RAPKYN

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/catweazle-curse-of-rapkyn-episode-03.4642/


Back to the previous episode....

THE SUN IN A BOTTLE

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/this-friday-on-catweazle-s01e01-the-sun-in-a-bottle.4706/

 

[Doctor Omega]

So, on to this second episode...

The format continues to settle down.

I did - and do - worry that Catweazle's constant and abject terror and shrieks at every new thing he encounters could become old very quickly. I hope, in this regard, that the character starts to calm down a bit eventually and become a little more adapted to his new surroundings. The ending of this episode gives hope that this will be the case, with Catweazle finding a base to operate from. (Twenty six episodes of being hidden in the barn or hiding under various tables or rooms in the house could have got wearing.)

The cast continues to charm.

I did wonder if the character of Sam was going to be the running joke of being the only other person to constantly see Catweazle, with nobody believing him and Sam doubting his own sanity as the weeks went on, but this episode had Sam realising that Catweazle was very real. Not sure where they will go with this story thread.

So, still very much a "settling into the format" episode. As such, it does the job efficiently enough of giving Catweazle a "Castle" to call his new home from home, so I will give this one a solid....

Grade B

 

[Doctor Omega]

Theda is a bit of a nothing character, but as housekeeper or home help, I'm disappointed this is her only episode.

I am quite surprised to hear that myself too. The way she seemed an established part of daily life on the farm gave me the impression that she would be, at least, an occasional regular and a foil to the Sam character.

 

[Doctor Omega]

I just watched this....

It is an excellent 13 minute documentary wherein Geoffrey Bayldon and Robin Davies revisit the farm and reminisce about the show and their memories of making it, with interview clips of Richard Carpenter interspersed. (All three have now left us, sadly.)

It is spoiler free.

I can only assume it was an extra on one of the dvd releases....

 

[michaellevenson]

A TOAD:

A FROG:

 

[Doctor Omega]

Watching that short documentary, I get the impression that Touchwood was a bit of an egotistical nightmare on the set; a kind of slippery version of Shatner. He certainly sounded like a camera hog.

I also had a moment where I thought Geoffrey Bayldon was going to pull out a dead and dried Touchwood out of the pocket of his old costume.

I also found it interesting that Bayldon says he turned down the role of DOCTOR WHO, then took CATWEAZLE. I never knew that. Shades of Ron Moody, who turned down the role, then went on to play a wizard in INTO THE LABYRINTH.

 

[michaellevenson]

Didn't realise that Richard Carpenter won a " Writers Guild" award for Catweazle.

Richard Carpenter on Wikipedia

 

[Doctor Omega]

Richard Carpenter won a " Writers Guild" award for Catweazle.

Good to hear that.

I think it's certainly well-deserved.

 

[Cloister56]

Nice to see this episode picks up the next day. I did wonder how cold it would get in the little hen house but it looks like nice weather.
Some odd scenes in this episode like Carrot bathing a naked Catweazle. It's nice of him to do that but from the look of the bath afterwards I think he is going to be sent to his room with no supper again.
The episode had a nice pace to it, with the majority being Carrot and Catweazle trying to evade Sam. Carrot's farm must be heaven for hide and seek with all those abandoned buildings. Now they would need to be boarded up and sign posted and I kind of thought the 1st floor was going to collapse when Catweazle went upstairs.
I wonder if this is going to be the blueprint going forward, Sam knows Catweazles about and tries to catch him. This leads to numerous compromising encounters with his boss Mr Bennett who probably thinks Sam's going mad.
Catweazle continues to be amazed and at times scared by the modern world. I think this will begin to settle down. He already has one more piece of the electrickery puzzle as he knows the sun in a bottle must be in the lamp to work. It's just a few steps from this to him mastering turbines and electricity generators.
I like his little castle, that would be an amazing discovery as a kid. I'm not sure what exactly it was originally intended for, water storage for the army? From the sounds of it, Castle Saburac has a real damp problem and it must get boiling in there during the summer, Catweazle is going to need another bath really quickly.

A decent second episode, it all flew by quickly.
7 days before Castle Saburac becomes Castle Cholera, out of 10.

 

[Doctor Omega]

it all flew by quickly.

I do find that the episodes breeze by rather quickly, which I suppose is a good sign. I never find myself waiting for them to end.The ones I have seen so far almost abruptly run out before I know it.

 

[Doctor Omega]

I like his little castle, that would be an amazing discovery as a kid.

I was glad that gave him a base of his own.

As I was saying, hiding somewhere in the farmhouse or the barn and on the point of discovery every week would have gotten old very quickly on a weekly basis, so this was a nice, sensible set up in the format.

 

[Brimfin]

Thanks for posting this episode. I had no luck finding it on YouTube or elsewhere. One YouTube address had series 1 listed, but when I tried to play episode 2, I got a message saying it had been withdrawn. But your post played fine.

This episode picks up right where the prior one left off. Cat spent the night in a chicken coop but came back to Carrot’s house to learn more about “electricalticity” (or however he pronounced it.) Carrot persuades him to take a bath to get rid of the smell people keep noticing. When the maid walks in while Cat is emerging from the tub, covered only by the bathmat, he uses his magic not just to make her forget, but to render him invisible to her in the future. So when he has to retrieve his robe from the clothesline where she had hung it out to dry, she doesn’t see him but Sam does. With Carrot and the maid both denying Cat’s existence, Dad thinks Sam has had a nip too much of cider.

Cat finds an old abandoned house nearby that looks like a mini-castle to him. Sam sees him go in, but is unable to find him once inside. The cleverest gag of the episode shows CW on the floor above him in plain sight while Sam is facing another direction. “It’s over my head,” Sam explains, not realizing the truth of his statement. Cat now at least has a place to stay, so perhaps he won’t be breaking any more of Carrot’s windows for now.

So, let’s see. So far, Carrot has had to pay from his allowance for the window Catweazle broke. And Sam has been accused of drinking on the job even though he’s perfectly sane and sober. Not seeing any great value in keeping the wizard around just yet.

Random thought: Cat was not afraid to jump into a river last week (though admittedly he had planned to fly over it.) He emerged from under the water, not looking panicked at all. Now this week, he’s afraid to step into a tub lest he drown?

This was a filler episode, for the most part – just helping Catweazle to settle into his new surroundings. I’ll give this one 5 flush chains, which definitely do not cause the same reaction as tugging the chain on a light switch.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Cat was not afraid to jump into a river last week (though admittedly he had planned to fly over it.) He emerged from under the water, not looking panicked at all. Now this week, he’s afraid to step into a tub lest he drown?

I never notice things like that until they are pointed out, but once they have been, it's stands out!

Good point, Brimfin!

 

[Doctor Omega]

Thanks for posting this episode. I had no luck finding it on YouTube or elsewhere. One YouTube address had series 1 listed, but when I tried to play episode 2, I got a message saying it had been withdrawn. But your post played fine.

Luckily the entire series is on there, so all should be fine.

 

[michaellevenson]

I never notice things like that until they are pointed out, but once they have been, it's stands out!

Good point, Brimfin!

On the other hand, if the last time getting into water propelled you 900 years you might be fearful or anguished at the thought of another water encounter.

 

[Doctor Omega]

On the other hand, if the last time getting into water propelled you 900 years you might be fearful or anguished at the thought of another water encounter.

Another good point! I am easily swayed!

 

[Gavin]

A generally enjoyable episode although I fear the premise of the show is already starting to run a bit thin.

I did - and do - worry that Catweazle's constant and abject terror and shrieks at every new thing he encounters could become old very quickly. I hope, in this regard, that the character starts to calm down a bit eventually and become a little more adapted to his new surroundings.

It can be annoying, but given that his initial terror in the beginning of the episode appeared to be a plane I think we can forgive him this time. Someone from that era seeing something that large flying through the sky? I would imagine the only logical explanation to his mind would be a dragon or something like that.

the scene of Carrot bathing Catweazle is so non pc

That was my thought too. The idea of a young boy in the presence of a naked man would immediately give the wrong impression these days.

Carrot treats Catweazle like a child, and the fact he bathes the old man shows how little concerned he is. It's like bathing your mentally-challenged uncle, more annoying and depressing than comedic. The fact Carrot treats Catweazle like he's talking to a younger kid is a bit humiliating for this old gentleman, and I wish they would stop showing that.

I agree and I guess it's partly due to the era of the show. Catweazle (and any other non-technological people) were considered less intelligent, and it's difficult to watch now.

After all the initial excitement he realises the hopelessness of his situation. He wishes to hide from men's eyes. We sympathize with him, not laugh at him.

This, I suspect, is going to be my main challenge with this show. There are a lot of deep themes that could be explored with a man so far out of time, but due to the nature of children's television in the 70's I doubt they'll even be considered.

Random thought: Cat was not afraid to jump into a river last week (though admittedly he had planned to fly over it.) He emerged from under the water, not looking panicked at all. Now this week, he’s afraid to step into a tub lest he drown?

I don't think that's too unreasonable. In the first episode Catweazle was trying to escape the Normans and a) he thought he was going to fly away, and b) even if he didn't jumping into the water was probably his only option. In this episode, the idea of intentionally stepping into a tub of water for no reason (bathing wasn't exactly common in his time).

The episode had a nice pace to it, with the majority being Carrot and Catweazle trying to evade Sam. Carrot's farm must be heaven for hide and seek with all those abandoned buildings. Now they would need to be boarded up and sign posted and I kind of thought the 1st floor was going to collapse when Catweazle went upstairs.

It was mostly fun for an episode but I hope it's not much of an ongoing thing. Once Sam left the abandoned building they were in it was pretty silly for Carrot to send Catweazle back out while Sam was still in sight. If they'd waited another 2 minutes they'd have cut out 5 minutes of story.

Overall, not a bad episode. 6 out of 10.

 

[ant-mac]

CASTLE SABURAC is another enjoyable episode in the CATWEAZLE TV series. The lead actors certainly seem to be coming to grips with their respective characters and the TV series as a whole seems to be settling down into its natural rhythm. Catweazle now has a base of his own, somewhere to call home. So hopefully, this should give him some sense of security and independence with which to face future challenges.

As a child, I know I certainly would've loved to have had my own private cubby-hole like that. And I absolutely adore the opening credits and theme music. I think they're absolutely perfect.

4/5.

 

[Doctor Omega]

"Catweazle" Castle Saburac (TV Episode 1970) ⭐ 7.9 | Adventure, Comedy, Family

24m

www.imdb.com