ladybug_archive: (tony)
Lucky_Ladybug ([personal profile] ladybug_archive) wrote2011-04-01 09:36 am

And here we go again....

I took 123 screengrabs from Jimmy's guest spot on the Daniel Boone episode The Spanish Horse. And I saw the episode two times (Jimmy's scenes, three times, since I watched them while taking pictures).

The first time I watched it, I had no intention of writing anything about his character. I also determined that his character was really quite a jerk! ... However, by the second viewing both opinions changed.

The main thing I thought was jerky was his character, Whipper, snapping at the guest-starring protagonist, a boy who was his opponent in a race. But during the second viewing I realized I felt I could understand his behavior. Here he is, a professional jockey who spent years in training to become successful. And then here comes some upstart teenager, who has never seen a horse race and his horse isn't even trained, and the kid's claiming his horse can beat any other horse. You know, in Whipper's position, I think I'd be mad too!

I especially think this is likely the explanation because part of what he said when he snapped was, "It's time you learned a few things." In other words, "I've been at this a lot longer than you. Just because your horse is fast doesn't mean you know everything you need to know."

It's really interesting how a show will always try to throw things in favor of the protagonist, whether regular or guest-starring, and sometimes if you look at things from the other person's point of view, suddenly they don't seem as bad as they might be colored to seem.

That being said, I do think Whipper was involved in his boss's scheme to subtly get the kid tricked into racing and placing a wager of all his money on the outcome. A lot of his dialogue and facial expressions during the tricking scene strongly point to that. But he could have easily been all for it/not really giving it a second thought at the time and then got mad later on, thinking about how cocky the kid was being. (Of course, he and his boss probably only made the kid more cocky with their subtle pushing.)

Anyway ... now I have a plunnie for this. And I haven't got to the Knight Rider one yet! Somebody stop me; I'm preposterous. I doubt this series has much of a fandom. If there is one, who the **blip** would care about a oneshot character, and one who isn't even the main oneshot character?

In spite of Whipper's probable knowing involvement in the con, I don't think he's really a bad guy. He possibly (probably) may have been involved in other, similar cons, however. And that thought provides the basis of the plunnie.

I have this idea of something taking place a bit after the events of the episode, and someone else who was conned and realizes it is furious. He comes with a couple of his men and threatens Whipper late at night, telling him if he races the next day, he'll be sorry. Whipper isn't about to be scared off and races anyway, but the guy wasn't bluffing. He had his men do something to the horse (what, I don't know; probably some kind of drug, if that sort of thing was going on that long ago) and it behaves erratically. Whipper is eventually thrown and injured. And I suppose Daniel Boone is in town and gets involved in what's happening and has to bring the guys who tampered with the horse and nearly killed Whipper to justice. Leastwise, if the main character is involved, there's a better chance of getting an audience! But the plot would be better if he's in it too anyway.

Off-topic, but one other thing I noticed was that in this guest spot, Jimmy tried to speak without an accent. He slipped up a few times, though. And I am still going mad wondering exactly what kind of accent it's supposed to be.
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[identity profile] insaneladybug.livejournal.com 2011-04-01 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
That's how it is with me, too! I was fairly indifferent at first, but according to an old LJ entry it was around the fourth or fifth viewing of Alias Micky Dolenz that made me really take notice of Jimmy Murphy's character, due to his hilarious reactions to things. After a couple more viewings, I found I liked him so much that I wanted to see Jimmy in other things. I also found that I'd seen him in a couple of things before without knowing it.

Yes, you should watch some of his stuff! I'd love to be blabbing about him knowing that someone else has also watched a lot of these appearances. Then I could bounce some of these odd fanfic ideas around in in-depth conversations.
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[identity profile] insaneladybug.livejournal.com 2011-04-01 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay! Oh, another of my favorite of his appearances is in the season 6 episode of Cheyenne called Retaliation.

I definitely want to try some of your shows too. You like a lot of really interesting-sounding ones!

What's Emergency! like? I've always been curious about it.
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[identity profile] insaneladybug.livejournal.com 2011-04-01 06:40 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a great one to start with! Jimmy's role is very large. He plays the telegraph operator.

I'll be sure to let you know! I am highly enjoying Daniel Boone, from the few episodes I've seen so far. But the timeline inaccuracies I read about definitely make me headdesk. One episode it's after the Revolutionary War, the next, it's still going on?! LOL, that show didn't care one bit about going chronologically. I guess the writers kept coming up with neat stories that didn't fit a strictly chronological timeline?

I'm intrigued. I'll have to look up the theme song tonight. LOL.

It's awesome when people you like move to another show and have a major role in that, too!

The humorous cases sound hilarious. Especially the guy getting his foot in the wall. What episode is that?
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[identity profile] insaneladybug.livejournal.com 2011-04-02 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
Nostalgia shows are always fun.

I still haven't seen Mingo, other than in the cast. He's been absent from the three season 4 episodes I've watched!

Wow. That is pretty painful. I like one little burst around the middle, but other than that ... yeah, ouch.

Neat! Man, Tim Matheson gets around.

Thanks!
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[identity profile] insaneladybug.livejournal.com 2011-04-02 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
That's awesome!

Ugh, it's awful when they start getting rid of good characters. And it was so weird about how Jemima vanished without a trace. Friend characters disappearing are bad enough, but family?!