My Review/Observations Of Hollywood Babylon

[raloria]

I went a bit cap crazy again, so there's lots of pictures in this review. I kept them small to make it easier on me and my fellow dialup users. There are 3 sizes: the full size, and then two sizes of clickable thumbnail images.


To begin, I just want to say that I found this episode funnier than Hell House and Tall Tales put together. I was laughing through the whole hour. For once I was thankful for the commercial breaks just so I'd get a rest.

Which is why I find some of the fan's reactions kind of puzzling. Based on what I've read on some of the comms, there's some folks who really didn't like this episode and thought it was a waste of time or a throw away episode. I may be the angst queen, but some frivolity and goofing off is fun. Besides, the Winchester brothers deserve a vacation after the season they've had, we'll get back to the serious stuff soon enough. I took this to be a big thank you to the fans as well as just another fun episode for everyone associated with the show as they poke fun at the industry.

On to the review...

* The actress's scream just cracked me up! And the poor camera guys right in her face hoping for more! LOL! And what's all this about people saying the gal's voice was like a manvoice or something. Come on! I didn't think anything was wrong with it until I read people's comments. Some people's voices are just naturally lower than others. Not all females have high pitched voices.



* "Don't mark that" I love it! Shout out to Script Supervisors everywhere! Whoohoo! Sorry. It's just that the director there just told the Script Supervisor not to mark (circle) that take in her notebook. She's the one sitting right next to the director btw.



* Tara: "I'm having trouble with the tennis ball." McG: "You know what, that is just for CG registration. Now when Ivan and the FX guys are done it is going to look terrifying." Btw, Ivan Hayden is the Visual Effects Supervisor for SPN. Gotta love the CG reference! The only thing missing is shooting against a green screen.

* I cracked up again with Tara elsewhere on the set practicing her lines and her scream. And then she investigates a strange noise and finally gets the scream right. Which I totally saw coming. McG: "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" LOL!



* Heehee! Studio tour! Love Dean being such a big movie buff during the whole episode! And what about the big Gilmore Girls joke we were supposed to get? Sam just gave this look and got off the tram. Somehow I was expecting more based on the spoilers I read. Dean was willing...even gave a big 2 thumbs up!



Dean: "Sammy check it out. It's Matt Damon."
Heehee! I love Dean being happy and showing off all his fanboyishness.

Sam: "Dude, you wanted to come to LA."
Dean: "Yeah, for a vacation! I mean swimming pools and movie stars. Not to work."
Sam: "Does this seem like swimming pool weather to you Dean? I mean it's practically Canadian."
LMAO! I love this show!


Check out all the crazy props and things in the background as they walk through the studio...there's a giant woman's head...


And then a space suit, plus a couple of Roman soldiers back behind Sammy's shoulder on the right.


* It's nice how they at least mention Madison and how Sam's still getting over her death. He wants to work to keep his mind off of it and Dean understands. Awwww!

Dean: "You know nothing of our cultural heritage? Do you?"
For once Dean gets to be be geekboy!




* I was kind of surprised Gary Cole's character didn't stick around longer, but oh well. He did get one of the best scenes. His character complaining about how the movie was so dark and needed some color was priceless. "And who says horror has to be dark? It's sort of depressing." We all know how dark and under-saturated SPN episodes are, so kudos to the production for bringing it up. And then when he thinks Dean's a PA was great! "Green shirt guy?" And then Dean's reaction..."You wanted what from who?" LOL!



Dean: "What's a PA?"
Sam: "I think they're sort of like slaves."
I love it! Actually a PA (Production Assistant) is indeed the lowest rung on the production ladder.

* I gotta admit, when I saw Dean climb up on the scaffolding and investigate where the guy died I thought for sure he was going to make a loud noise or knock something down to spoil the take they were filming. But he didn't, so good for him. 'Course, he didn't find anything with the EMF meter either.


States! I love slates! Check out the numbers on this one...the 666. Camera A6, Scene 6, Take 6.


And then look what happens to the timecode when it's clapped shut - code 30? Don't know what that means, but it's not what you normally would see.



* It's too cute how Dean's continually stuffing his face with food throughout the episode! Even poor Sam doesn't know what to make of it. It reminded me of Rusty Ryan, Brad Pitt's character in Ocean's Eleven. He was always eating!



* Dean being all nervous around Tara was cute too! Pretty smooth how he swiped those papers to try and give to her. Dean: "I loved you in Boogeyman." Tara: "Oh God. What a terrible script." Heehee! It's great that Kripke can poke fun at his own work. And meanwhile, Walter just keeps bringing Tara her favorite drink. Haha! And then there's the reference to actors taking pictures of people on the set. Perhaps a reference to Jensen himself? We've seen him on the set with his camera and it was mentioned that he took photos of the cast and crew of Ten Inch Hero, too.



* Song reference for when they visit Gerard - it's "I've Got The World On A String" by Frank Sinatra.

* It's hilarious how Dean just recognizes everyone from some movie as poor Sam just looks confused. Ha!

* The power of the internet references are great fun, too.

Gerard: "These days...it's all about new media. Building buzz. They say...I'm the new Lonelygirl."
Dean: "Who?"
Heehee!



* Uuummm. Not a good idea to follow a naked grey creepy lady.

* "They must have super hearing!" Heehee!



* Dean: "That's a cut!" LMAO Love PA!Dean! Decked out with his whole heaphone set and everything! How adorkable can he be? And then McG tells the Script Supervisor "Only I can say cut." Haha! How true, but what's she supposed to do about it?

Dean's reaction when Tara questions why a ghost would be afraid of salt was nice. He's just amused by this whole thing.

Marty: "Not married to salt. What do you want? Are we still sticking with condiments?"
LOL!

* Poor Sam. You gotta feel for him. He's trying to work the case and Dean's all starstruck. Heehee! It's cute how Dean keeps talking into his mic when Sam's trying to carry on a conversation with him.



* Totally gratuitous crotch shot!!! My God, what are they thinking? I can see thousands of icons being made right now. And Dean's still eating!



* Hey! Is that some of the guy's wardrobe being wheeled by? Maybe it's Jared's - check out how he looks at it. And maybe it's just me, but the gal that passes right in front of them on the scooter? It kinda looks like she was CGed in there. They have no reaction to her and she passes so close that there should've been some reaction to her almost hitting them! And whose trailer is that? It's really decked out!



* I thought I saw something during that weird footage that flashed by that the guys view in the dailies footage and I was right! Check it out....Clairmont Camera is the company that supplies the cameras for SPN. Nice little shout out to them!




* Ah, yes...the 6 a.m. call time for crew. I know it well. And I'm not a morning person, so it's always tough for me. Although, I will say that sometimes we did have it easy (us being students) and our call times would be 7 or 8 a.m. Yeah...big difference.

* "You're kickin' ass and takin' names." Wonder where they got that saying from? Is it something they say on the SPN set?





Gotta love it when our boys are snooping around in a graveyard...

Dean: "Ha! This map is totally worth the 5 bucks! Hey, we gotta check out Johnny Ramones grave when we're done here."
Sam: "You wanna dig him up too?"
Dean: "Bite your tongue, heathen!"
I don't know why, but Dean saying that line to Sam just had me rolling! That just might be my favorite new Dean line for season two!

* So we see producer guy talking on the phone about McG....and then he mentions a Bob (Robert Singer, anyone?). "No Bob. You I love. You're kickin' ass and takin' names."

* That's gotta be one of the creepier corpses they've dug up. And I totally love how Dean strikes all the matches in the book together to torch the bones. Too cool! He should do that more often!



* Ouch! Death by a gigantic fan. That's gotta hurt! The blood splatter was great! I can totally see Kripke saying "I want more blood and more guts on that screen!" Heehee!



* I'm so glad I wasn't taking the commercials out during the show, because I probably would've taken out the cool movie trailer!


Looks like your normal green preview screen, but look what it says in the box under "This Film Not Yet Rated". It says "Also not yet written, cast, shot, edited, or scored."


And check out the old footage they used from SPN episodes...

Dead Claire's hands from TUS
Gordon's bloody knife from Bloodlust
The Ancient Greek on Angela's coffin from CSPWDT
A shaky camera shot from the apple orchard in Scarecrow

The references to Scarecrow and Route 666 were hilarious! Monster Truck! LOL!







And here's the last shot of the trailer...



Observations...

* I've wondered if Tara Benchley is a shout out to Robert Benchley who wrote Jaws.
* Robert J. Ulrich helps cast SPN
* Jerry Wanek is the Production Designer on SPN
* Serge Ladouceur really is the DP on SPN
* Jay Gruska!!! (he also scored this episode)
* Notice the website address has only 2 w's and is .con instead of .com

The boys are stumped yet again. They burned the actress's bones and Dean gives another "Dude, what the hell?"

Dean: "We already torched her. So what are we dealing with here? Another ghost?"
Sam: "Maybe."
Dean: "Yeah, but these things don't usually tag team."


I wonder if a lot of these people are actually the crew of SPN being extras in this scene?


* Poor Sam...stuck watching all the dailies. I feel for you buddy. It can be a drag sometimes.

Dean: "Anymore ghost cameos in the dailies?"
Sam: "Not in the first six hours."
Six? Try going through 25 hours of documentary footage! Over and over again.

Sam: "Maybe the spirits are trying to shut down the movie cause they think it sucks. Cause I mean, it kinda does."




* Marty doing the whole "seriously" thing must be a reference to the Aussie Seriously ads by Jared and Jensen. "Dude, are you serious? 'Cause I'm serious." Haha!


"Revenge Of The Monster Truck" Heehee!



* Okay...why are they sitting so far apart from each other like that? Just a question. 'Course then we wouldn't get a lovely shot of Jensen turning and looking over his shoulder which he looks so sexy doing. Are the producers reading my LJ?




Oh My Lord! *Guh* Need. To. Make. Icon....Now! (I did, too! Check out my new "Golden Boy" icon on this post!)



Walter: "We could've gotten it right for the first time ever in this whore house of a town. But...you tore it to shreads. You replaced it with cleavage and fart jokes. It was real."
Marty: "Who gives a rat's ass about real?"
Sadly, I learned in my scriptwriting class that this is all too true.

Marty: "You are one hell of a PA!"
Dean: "Yeah I know."
Heehee!

Walter: "Please, please. Just leave. But Martin's gotta stay."
Dean: "Sorry, can't do that. It's not that we like him or anything, it's just a matter of principle."



* Did Dean honestly think all 3 of those spirits were going to just line up in a row so he could blast them with one shot? Love how he rushes over to Sam when his little brother's thrown to the ground. BigBrotherProtectiveMode!

* Too funny how they run into the house on the set and then realize there's a whole wall missing! "Aw, man!"





* SmartSammy! Thinking of using the camera phone was a good move. 'Course it was clearly to help sell phones (Verizon - hello!). And to me, the footage of his hand holding the camera is just weird looking. Maybe because the camera footage is too sharp. I do love how it helps the brothers work together so well. "Dean! Right there!" Of course, if I was going to be picky, I'd point out how a great shot Dean is even though he's not the one looking at the camera phone. He's just going by where Sam points!



Marty: "I cannot believe there's an afterlife."
Dean: "Oh there's an afterlife alright. But mostly it's a pain in the ass."

* Interesting how this ending with Walter kind of mirrors the death of the reverand's wife in Faith. Each broke (or had broken) their talisman, which then caused the spirits (or reaper) they were forcing to kill, attack and kill them.



* Too funny how they then take the camera phone idea and put it in the movie!

Sam: "You find out there's an afterlife and this is what you do with it."
Marty: "I needed a little jazz on the page."
Welcome to the movie biz, Sammy.



* Our other music selection is "Green Peppers" by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.

* The rocking trailer! LOL! Well, Dean didn't get to bang Lindsey Lohan, but at least he got some action from Tara. "You're one hell of a PA." "Thank you." Heehee! And again, poor Sammy! Awkward! LOL! And Dean just has to grab some more food!





* The whole walking-into-the-sunset bit was fun...especially when once they roll the backdrop away....they really do! "God, I love this town!"






Can't wait for next week's episode. I've read all the spoilers and it sounds like another winner. In fact, all the episodes until the end sound like winners. Hard to believe there's only 4 episodes left. *sniffle* How did the season go by so quickly!

Btw, I'm going to be posting caps I made of the preview for the next episode very soon!