TNOT Amnesiac --- Missing a scene or more?

[rielle]

Inspired by CG's latest share of pics from Artie from 'Amnesiac', I went back to my DVDs and suffered through the ep twice now... Ah, Jim in that blue shirt, looking so confused, poor baby!

Well, I may get in trouble for saying this but this ep doesn't hold up to my fond memories of it from years gone by... sigh. There are a couple places where I'm just plain scratchin my head and wondering what went wrong.

For one thing: Artie's missing through a large chunk of the middle of the ep. He arrives in the town as the Magician, enters the Bath House... walks into the room Crotty was just in, and in a very unlike Artemus moment, seems to give up searching and just stand there frustrated.

His partner's missing, could be dead, could have been exposed to smallpox, and Artie doesn't [ or rather we don't see him] making any more of a search for James?

Does anyone besides me think a scene might have been cut at that juncture?

And then after a few more scenes and a lot more frustration, there's the big moment when Artie finds Jim and finds out his partner doesn't know him from Adam...

And frankly, compared to similar scenes in other eps, like Big Blast, or Murderous Spring, or Pistoleros, it falls flatter than a flitter. or maybe because of the time period I should say a fritter. Sigh. I don't know why, so I'm going to blame poor writing and worse directing. It just seems like ... .oh, well, guess what, Artie showing up in danger brought Jim's memory back...just another day at the box factory... I mean... dull, flat... not even typically Westian impassive. just ... flat.

sigh.

the remaining portions of the ep are fine. The boys back together, even though Jim doesn't want Artie to go after him, he's got a score to settle for himself with Crotty... The guys figuring out what to do about the wagon scale... Chloris being delirious. wait, isn't she pretty much delirious throughout? LOL

Am I being too picky? Probly. So, go ahead tell me where I'm off the mark. Ghu knows I love W3, but sometimes ...

[California gal]

I agree with the part where you say Artie goes looking for Crotty and then just looks confused. I am always confused too. It made no sense for Crotty to go into the bathhouse and disappear. That's where a scene might be missing. Were we supposed to see him enter the theater through a secret passage? Nothing was followed up with that scene.

But as for whether Artie is still looking for Jim, I think he is. But he also has to follow through on the vaccine ransom. He goes to the "poor box" and finds the ransom note. There's no reason for him to believe Jim is in this town, is there? He's following Crotty and the vaccine. He may even believe Jim is dead after what Crotty said about watching for vultures. Once he finds Jim's gun belt (and gun?) in the pawn shop he follows through.

As for the scene in the theater when Jim regains his memory, it is a bit awkward and corny. Both men (and actors) seem a bit embarrassed by it. Not too sure what they could have done about it, given this was the 1960s.

It's still one of my favorite episodes regardless of the flaws. Jim in the blue shirt... Jim on the purple satin pillow... And Artie looks rather nice as the magician as well. Love the tag--the interaction between the two men and then the great scene of them riding off (whether it really is them or not, it's a great scene).

[Paradox Eyes]

I've always thought it was missing things too rielle. But it was always one of my favorites so I didn't look at it too hard. Funny thing though...I only saw it twice as a child and not ever again until I finally got the last set of DVD's. In my mind all those years I carried a scene where Artie goes to look for Jim's body. He is standing in the prairie near the trees looking up at the sky for the buzzards. I even have a clear memory of the distressed look on his face. That memory is as clear as day in my mind and yet it does not exist. So even as a child I must have thought something was missing and "filled in" the blanks. LOL! It was really a shock to find out that scene wasn't there...I kept looking for it the first time I watched the DVD and kept mumbling..."no, this isn't right...where is the scene with Artie in the prairie looking for Jim???"
Apparently my imagination just took over!!

[Apple]

Whoa Paradox! That's pretty cool that you made that up. Does anyone else remember something like that about Amnesiac?

I remember seeing the part with Arte in danger when I was small and not understanding the slowing down of the scene and the music. My aunt trying to tell me that Jim had amnesia (Yet ANOTHER part of my education through WWW!) and didn't recognize Artemus.

Now as for Artemus looking for Jim, I agree with Cal Gal. He is an agent first, and must do his duty. Jim is his partner and if he finds him in the process of doing his duty, all the better. Here is my peeve...Arte drives right by Jim in the street, when he hasn't seen him for days, weeks, whatever. And Jim hasn't changed his appearance at all!! It makes no sense, unless Arte is keeping his eye on the prize, Crotty. I dunno, seems that Arte should have better periferal vision than that!

[California gal]

My thought about Artie not recognizing Jim is this. First of all, he didn't expect to see Jim in this town. Second (similar to Death Masks), Jim wasn't "in uniform." He was just a guy in a great blue shirt standing on the street corner with a beautiful saloon gal. And as you say Apple, Artie was intent on following Crotty. He was doing his job as an agent.

[Double Take]

May 30, 2009 10:51:35 GMT -8 Apple said:

Here is my peeve...Arte drives right by Jim in the street, when he hasn't seen him for days, weeks, whatever. And Jim hasn't changed his appearance at all!! It makes no sense, unless Arte is keeping his eye on the prize, Crotty. I dunno, seems that Arte should have better periferal vision than that!

Now if Jim had been kissing Cloris, I am sure Artie would have recognized him immediately! But no, she was wiping the blood from his mouth by spitting on a hanky. Artie would never have expected his partner to let someone treat him like a schoolboy.

[California gal]

Good point, DT! ;D

[SpottedPony]

Also Jim had his back to Artie and therefore was just part of the scenery. Artie was undoubtly concentrating on finding the bad guy and maybe just gave him a quick once over, 'is this guy a threat, not likely, looks like he's been hurt' and went about his business.

Spotted Pony