Review DISCUSSION- CATWEAZLE: THE DEMI DEVIL - Episode 09

Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
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Your thoughts on this episode....

A pet monkey is missing from a local Colonel's house.,and Catweazle falls out with Carrot and threatens to blast him with his magic, and casts a spell. When the missing monkey turns up in Catweazle's Castle Saburac ,the obvious misunderstanding occurs. Catweazle pleads with the Colonel to end the monkey's misery and turn him back into Carrot!






On to the next episode....



HOUSE OF THE SORCERER

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/catweazle-the-house-of-the-sorcerer-episode-10.4623/


Back to the previous episode....

THE POWER OF ADAMCOS

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/catweazle-the-power-of-adamcos-episode-08.4618/
 
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Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
This is, actually, my favourite episode so far.

I was uncertain if that was the Meddling Monk from THE TIME MEDDLER, or Josh Fiddler from CARRY ON CAMPING walking through the woods with a shotgun at first. I don't think it was either, so will not try to shoehorn this into any other continuities for once!

It was very lucky, for the sake of the episode, that the monkey just happened to have very similar clothing to Carrot, speaking of whom, Carrot really is lazy, chucking crumbs from the tablecloth onto the kitchen floor, rather than just shake the cloth outside.

I have just noticed that Catweazle, so far as I have observed, has never called Carrot by his name, usually saying "brother" instead. Or a variety of insults!

With Catweazle and his cricket jumper, shades of the Doctor came through, I thought.

I think they missed getting some humour when they could have had Carrot doing a double-take upon spying the sloshed Catweazle. Instead he barely reacts. Bit of a lost opportunity there.

I liked this episode because it breezed along nicely. It had an amusing premise - and a great guest star in the form of Peter Butterworth. Equally importantly, it did not fizzle out, but resolved properly and ended with a charming final scene.

8 out of 10
 

Brimfin

Member: Rank 3
Well, once again Carrot has abandoned his chores to go be with Catweazle, leaving the kitchen such a mess it looks like six people or more had dined there. In his defense, though, he was out telling Cat to stop stealing chickens from his Dad’s farm. (They were thinking a fox had gotten them, not a "weazle".) CW is a little cantankerous and threatens to put a spell on his young friend. Carrot is unimpressed and leaves, so the wizard cooks up a spell and changes his good friend into a monkey – and then can’t change him back.

Well, not really, of course, but there’s a lot of deliberate mistaken identity confusion in this week’s story. There’s the neighbor Colonel Upshaw visiting from Africa who has a small monkey that got loose – one that he dresses like a little boy and that he even calls Boy. And the outfit is identical to the one Carrot was wearing. So when he wanders into Castle Saburac, Catweazle thinks he’s his little friend and then when he tries to reverse the spell, he can’t.

He goes to Col. Upshaw for help thinking that, because he saw him fire a shotgun, he can work magic too. Upshaw meanwhile mistakes him for a writer friend he was supposed to meet and ends up giving him fancy clothes to wear and plying him with booze. Unlike last week, CW scoffs it down merrily, and gets quite drunk. By the time he tries to pick a fight with the Colonel, he collapses onto the couch muttering, “I’ve been bewitched.”

Meanwhile, Carrot does return home and Dad makes him clean up the mess. When Carrot learns that one of his favorite writers is going to be visiting he begs to come along. He shows Dad his collection of the author’s books. A subtle joke: he tells him one of the books is about the author walking across the Gobi Desert on foot. The title is “Going in Circles.” The two of them and Sam go to meet with the Colonel. He’s delightfully eccentric and so is his patient maid Miss Coote to whom he’s always shouting, even once when she is standing right behind him.

Nice bit of dialogue between Col. Upshaw and Mr. Bennet. I’m paraphrasing:

Upshaw: Surprised the two of us never crossed paths, but then Africa is a big place.
Bennet: Yes, it is big.
Upshaw: What is?
Bennet: Africa.
Upshaw: Good Lord, man, you don’t have to tell me that!

Eventually, Miss Coote accidentally lets the monkey out of his big cage. Carrot goes in looking for him. CW wakes up and sees him and thinks that Upshaw has turned him back into a real boy. Cat’s clothes are taken back and he escapes before having to explain himself to Bennet, or Upshaw who found out his friend was actually lost somewhere in this continent as well. Sam fortunately finds Boy outside and returns him to the Colonel. Furthermore, back at Castle Saburac, a grateful Catweazle agrees to stop stealing chickens and never to try to put a spell on his friend. And good old Carrot in the last scene is wrapping up the fancy clothes the Colonel gave to Cat so he can return them.

So, lots of good stuff in this. Catweazle learns a lesson, and even helps the poor Colonel by returning his monkey to him. Sam gets to be the hero by finding Boy the second time, and his car even seems to be working again (unless this was shown out of sequence, but I’m hoping the poor guy's car actually works again.) And the Colonel and Miss Coote were delightful characters. Some broad and subtle humor in there as well. I’m giving this one 8 adventure books by Carrot’s favorite author.
 

michaellevenson

Moderator
Staff member
Peter Butterworth was excellent as Upshaw, and obviously impressed as he returns as a regular in series 2, but as another character.
There's a lot of coincidence going on to make this work but it's very enjoyable.
Catweazle in a tuxedo scoffing wine was the highlight, and repeating the toast " châteaux Margo '59" thinking it's a spell was funny. We see Catweazle really does value Carrot's friendship and desperately tries to undo the damage he thinks he's done.
Pity the writer Wheeler never turned up because he sounded a colourful character, but he was lost in Guildford which I found quite funny.
8/10
 
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Cloister56

Member: Rank 3
A very enjoyable episode.
I do think it might have been better if we didn't see Carrot until the very end when he turns up with his dad at Upshaw's house. This would have kept some mystery over whether the spell had worked or not. We then would see Carrot arrive while Catweazle was inebriated thus revealing the truth before he climbs into the cage and so it maintains Catweazle's belief the spell worked.

The way it is portrayed is still good from Catweazle's side as he realises the mistake he has made and tries to fix it to bring back his friend. His look at the end when he promises not to seek other magic or steal the chickens seems to suggest the great relief at having Carrot back.
It did make me wonder how the series will ultimately end as I imagine Catweazle will like Dr Sam Beckett make the leap home and that will be a sad moment.

We also get confirmation that the reason Carrot is around so much is because he is on holiday. As there are 2 seasons of this show I wonder whether season 2 may involve Carrot back at school and thus open up to more location for Catweazle related mischief.

Upshaw is a great guest character, stereo typically full of bluster and very loud. Very entertaining throughout the whole episode. I do hope when his guns don't work he doesn't check them like he does his hose.

Again we see Carrot's dad being nice to Carrot and showing interest in his favourite writer which was good to see.

Good episode enjoyable throughout.

8 hours it probably would have take Catweazle to get into his outfit given that he doesn't know about buttons, out of 10.
 
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