Review DISCUSSION- CATWEAZLE: THE TRICKERY LANTERN - Episode 13

[Doctor Omega]

Your thoughts on this episode....

Last episode of series 1.
Catweazle has reasoned that water propelled him from the past, and so it can return him home. After stealing a lantern that Carrot had bought for a birthday present for his father, thinking the Normans will fear it Catweazle wades into the lake for the journey home.
A tremendously poignant ending as Carrot realises his friendship with Catweazle is coming to an end. Surely it was all rubbish? Catweazle can't just vanish.
Carrot ? " it's impossible"
Catweazle" a foolish word thy doubter, thy disbelieving dreg!"

On to the next episode....

THE MAGIC RIDDLE

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/catweazle-the-magic-riddle-episode-14.4628/


Back to the previous episode....

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/catweazle-the-wisdom-of-solomon-episode-12.4626/

 

[Doctor Omega]

So, the final episode of Series One.

Part One:

Carrot's Aunt makes an appearance and shows herself to be a bit dotty.

This reference to the Hexwood Ghost intrigues me. I wonder if she saw Catweazle making a future visit, but many years before his current visit, somehow. Of course if this were being made now by the likes of Moffat the writer would be wanting to show how devastatingly clever he was by making a huge point of how this is exactly what is happening. Timey Wimey and all that overplayed rubbish. I would prefer to speculate, but not know. Let me imagine that this might be the case. I don't need to be hammered over the head with it by any "genius" writer.

I have a pretty good idea of how this episode will play out, but am definitely intrigued by how the second series will pick up, to the point where I will watch it almost immediately after this one. Will the second series lose it's footing? Or have too contrived or coincidental a set up?

I am both slightly annoyed that Catweazle continues to disrespect Carrot after all that the lad has done for him, but this annoyance evaporated when Carrot berated him precisely for his ingratitude, but clearly remains affectionate towards the mad wizard. The chemistry between the two actors works and is strong. And it will be interesting to see how series two plays out in this regard, for I already know that changes are looming.

Anyway, onto part two.....


Part Two:

Well, I had pretty much guessed that that was going to happen, but it was still nicely done and rather a poignant ending. Perhaps it could have done with an additional scene back at the farm afterwards with a happy remembrance of all the adventures plus a realisation that life had to go on. But what there was was an acceptable capper to the 13 week run.

But where from here?

I can't wait - and am going to press on with Series Two, Episode One! I need to know how the programme makers continued and just how sweeping the changes - bar the obvious one - will be.

Grade A

 

[michaellevenson]

I'm a bit behind you on Catweazle but ahead on Motley which I'm enjoying , so I'll catch up here in due course. I've been busy doing my Ferryman reviews. Anyway here are the reason for changes to Catweazle in series 2.
Series 1 was a huge success, in many countries that traditionally purchase British shows, Australia Canada, New Zealand etc. But America hadn't been cracked. It was decided that Americans love Royalty and British nobility so the idea was for Catweazle to get a new setting, a new cast, a new boy to be companion. Richard Carpenter didn't exactly think this was a good idea, but on the other hand he was chuffed to get a second series and got to work.
An overall thirteen episode story arc was cleverly devised .
Personally I think the changes were good, it gave a new feel and opened up new adventures. I'm not sure another thirteen episodes on the farm were going to be fresh enough. The new boy, Garry Warren was a talented actor for his age, previously well known for The Railway Children movie. Moray Watson and Elspeth Gray were amusingly dotty as his parents, and Peter Butterworth as a regular was inspired..So the setting - an English stately home, and Catweazle found a lovely new home in episode 2 for himself that rivalled castle saburac for ingenuity.
The sad thing is that we lost the first series cast, particularly Robin Davies, who being of youthful years assumed he was not asked back because he didn't do a good job. Sad.
The biggest loss though was director Quentin Lawrence who had created the whole feel of the show. Two new directors came in, David Lane from Thunderbirds, and David Reid who went on to produce Sapphire and Steel. So good guys, but new to Catweazle.
Carpenter and indeed Bayldon's view was it took about six episodes to find it's feet again, and the last seven are excellent. Carpenter also thought Bayldon was as terrific in this as he was in series 1, and saved the series.
Watson, Gray, and Warren were all top quality actors, but maybe saw this as just a job. Butterworth was also great as His Lordship's retainer Groome, who was a "Sam" type character, friend to Cedric but also suspected that something was going on.
The differences between the two series were stark, like Space 1999, it is just a case of take your choice, and enjoy both....differently

 

[michaellevenson]

So the first series ends with Carrot finally realising that all Catweazle's talk of The Normans and travelling through time was true. But he found this out as Catweazle disappeared in front of him.
Very poignant as Carrot realises his wonderful adventure is over. Perhaps for a day or two he'll return to the lake just in case Catweazle turns up. But for Carrot it's over and for Robin Davies sadly.
I like the sideplot involving George's sister and the Hexwood ghost , Catweazle mistakenly thought to be the ghost by Flo, played by Hilda Braid, who played this type of character a lot. She was a regular in Robert Lindsay's Citizen Smith.
So an excellent end to series 1, before we embark on series 2 with Catweazle facing new adventures and a new setting. Very charming and warming that Catweazle for the only time, just before vanishing calls Edward by his preferred nickname.
Carrot. " can you stay a bit longer?"
CW " nay, Carrot"
9/10

 

[Brimfin]

The first season of Catweazle ends surprisingly in this rather well done episode.

First we meet Mr. Bennett’s sister Flo and she is a delight: sweet, friendly, helpful, and with a really good memory too. Oh, and she’s seen something called the Hexwood ghost as well – several times in fact since she was a child. So naturally, she is bound to see Catweazle and mistake him for the ghost, right? And she does. The good news is that she knows he’s out of place and actually wants to help him move on to the right astral plane. So when he hides from her after she fetches Sam, it isn’t too disappointing for her. He had told her he wasn’t planning to stay long after all.

Of course, Cat is planning to move on back to his own time, now that he knows the element of water can help him. But first he must find a weapon to fight the Normans with – like that delightful Trickery Lantern he sees Carrot planning to give to his Dad for his birthday. A device that throws light will surely scare off those pesky Normans. So he sneaks into the house to steal it, which is when he runs into Flo and then eludes her, but only after securing the lantern. When Carrot hears she saw the Hexwood ghost, he knows what really happens and goes to the loft to snatch back all the things CW stole. “Go jump in the lake,” he tells him angrily, not realizing that’s just what Cat is planning to do.

Catweazle manages to sneak in one more time and steal back his bag of tricks. So when Dad is celebrating his 45th birthday, he opens the gift from Edward to discover that Cat has replaced it with his crystal ball, which he stole from the fortune teller. But Mr. Bennet is delighted, thinking it’s a great present that he can use to forecast the weather for the farm. At least Cat was kind enough to exchange something nice for his theft of the lantern (even if it was just something else he had stolen.)

Edward is not amused and heads down to the lake to find Cat walking away into the water with his bag. I think he ended up dropping the lantern in the lake, so that was for naught. But as he walks away from Carrot, he begins to fade away. Carrot realizes for the first time that all Catweazle had told him was true – he really was from another time and place and trying to return. He begs his friend to stay, but it is too late for that and CW bids him farewell and vanishes. “Will you come back some day?” asks Carrot hopefully but there is no answer. He sadly heads back home, free of the burden of trying to hide his wizard friend from the rest of his family and friends – and now wishing that he wasn’t.

I hereby award this my highest rating of the season – 9 welding masks that make Catweazle look like the Hexwood ghost to Aunty Flo.

One question to everyone – did anyone ever call Mr. Bennett by his first name? Or was he just always called Dad, or Mr. Bennet or Boss?

 

[michaellevenson]

A number of people called Bennett by his name George, including Colonel Upshaw and Miss Bonnington in episodes 9and 4 respectively.
So on to series 2 , and yes this last episode of series 1 was outstanding, a very moving end, very difficult to follow this up, so I'm glad they didn't try, and decided to go for a fresh start for Catweazle's second helping of adventures. To find out what I mean.....the next episode awaits.

 

[Cloister56]

Mr Bennett has a foot injury this week. I like his pajamas and the fact he has a little folder handkerchief in the top pocket.
He gets a visit from the new Doctor who turns out to be an attractive young woman, he seems quite happy with this turn of events.
I really like his reaction to Carrot's present. He clearly doesn't know what to make of it but then see's the positive. I think it's highly likely it's because it is from his son and for it to be so unusual he appreciates the thought that he guesses (wrongly as we know) that has gone into it.
I've really warmed to Mr Bennett throughout this series. He can be a little harsh of Carrot but never excessively so and when he needs to come through as a dad he has done each time.

Not sure if the Doctor is going to recur as she didn't seem to have much purpose in the plot.

Catweazle seems to be getting a little bit careless moving round the farm. He only misses Sam by a few seconds when he is marching round with his welding mask on. He then gets spotted by Flo who fortunately has another explanation for what she sees.
She comes face to face with Catweazle and her delight is brilliant. I did wonder if the show might have Catweazle travel back in time to Flo's childhood and turn out to really be the phantom she has been seeing all her life.
She does seem genuinely upset that he might be gone for good but wants to help him.

Catweazle and Carrot have a bit of a blow out when Carrot discovers all the stolen stuff. He has done a lot for Catweazle and in return has had mostly grief. But a nice friendship has still developed between them. Catweazle last week seemed very upset that Carrot hadn't been by in some time and also when Carrot tells him to get lost.

Then the final scene, Carrot watches Catweazle take his lamp out into the lake. Initially he thinks this is just another of Catweazle's japes and then he realises the whole truth. It is nice to see this whole time he never truly believed Catweazle's story as any sane person wouldn't.
It a sad final scene, his quirky friend is now gone.

I didn't expect the season to end that way knowing there is another to come. It was very well played on both sides.

I do wonder where we will go in Season 2. Will Catweazle have gone no further than the next lake? Will there be a time shift, perhaps further in Carrot's life? I am intrigued to see where we go next.

8 items stolen from Carrots room and re-gifted, out of 10.

 

[Brimfin]

And now for the dreaded words no one ever wants to hear – “We have to talk.”

There’s an old cliché of a person looking over his house, or his garage, or his workspace and sighing, “I’ve got to get organized.” Well, that time has come for me. For years, I’ve been letting the clutter build up in my house, promising over and over that “Someday, I’ll go through all this and get rid of the junk and keep only the good stuff.” A short time ago, I tried to copy one of my old camcorder tapes, only to find to my horror that it was full of static when I played it back. I only have one recorder. I’ve bought a cleaner/demagnetizer but I’m afraid to try it. If it works – great. If not, have I lost all that irreplaceable footage from neglect? That was a wake-up call for me. It’s time for me to do what I’ve been promising for years and go through all my stuff, save the good stuff and toss the junk. To do that, I have to get rid of all my distractions and unfortunately, this is one of them. I’ve enjoyed being a part of this group for almost exactly five years now, but I have to go now. I’m posting this in all the series I was reviewing lately, so I’ll briefly cover each.

Blake’s 7 – Before I decided on this major change, I was just going to drop out of this one show. I politely waited until the first season was over to do it. It’s an interesting show, but to finish it would require a whole year of my life and that wasn’t what I signed up for when I joined the group. Plus as I know, Blake will be gone at the end of season 2 and then Avon will be in charge which seems beyond comprehension. Maybe someday, I’ll go back and finish it without the reviewing but it’s not that big a deal to me. At least I know now what it was all about.

Catweazle – I was hoping I could finish this one up, especially since it’s only a half-hour show. But since season 1 ended on a finale-like episode, it seemed a good place to stop – especially since I was almost done with Welcome to Paradox. Catweazle had its moments and was beginning to improve but I never got into it the way some of the others obviously did. I’m more likely to try to go back and finish this someday, especially since it’s shorter. I am curious how the show changed in the second season. Someone already spilled the beans about who won’t be in the second season, so at least I know he doesn’t go back where he was before.

Welcome to Paradox – I’m glad to have made it to the end of this show. I hung in there since it was only for 13 weeks. For the most part it was interesting and most of the stories were at least good – only a couple were bad to me. I’ll still run the numbers for you before I go.

Overall, it’s been a wonderful experience these past five years. I’ve seen lots of shows I’d never have seen otherwise. I ended up getting NETFLIX partly because of this group. I finally had an excuse to finish EARTH 2. Watching CAPRICA made me curious about BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA and I finally managed to get through that on my own. I enjoy watching Brit Morgan guest starring on any show now because I remember her from THE MIDDLEMAN. And so on.

It was always fun to debate whether an episode was good or bad. Everyone was able to give their opinions without being rude. No one ever called another reviewer stupid. The closest thing to a real fight I got into was when someone insisted I couldn’t use the phrase “tontine story” if the story didn’t involve an actual tontine. I’d thought of doing a paragraph full of phrases like “Shaggy dog story”, “fish story” and other such phrases to disprove the point. But by then we’d moved on to the next episode and it was all forgotten.

People came and went as we travelled along. We still hear from some like dtmuller, but not from others. I’ll try to check in on you guys occasionally in the future just to see how you’re doing. I hope there are enough group members to keep the Sages going. If not, it was a noble effort. And our reviews are still out there for others to read – even the IMDB ones which thankfully some sites like “filmboards,com” have managed to preserve. I wish everyone the best of luck in whatever journeys life still holds for you. And may all your decisions be wise ones.

 

[Doctor Omega]

"Catweazle" The Trickery Lantern (TV Episode 1970) ⭐ 8.0 | Adventure, Comedy, Family

24m

www.imdb.com