» Wonderfalls Options

[Messy]

My copy of Tulse Luper is not subtitled. But I haven't watched much of it. How many languages is it in? Caroline's lines are all in English I believe.

Moab Story takes place mostly in Utah there they speak English. I've seen the whole thing and it's Very screwed up.

[GraydonCarter]

I'm in Dublin for the week and was excited to see a promo for an all-new episode of Wonderfalls on some satellite channel (SkyNetOne?)... Crime Dog... tonight at 9pm.

[cjl]

We're bobbing along in our barrel
Some of us tip right over the edge
But there's one thing really mystifying
Got me laughing, now it's got me crying
All my life I will be death defying
'Til I know

I wonder wonder why the wonderfalls
I wonder why the wonderfalls on me
I wonder wonder why the wonderfalls
With everything I touch and hear and see

Finished the series. Right after the final credits, I went back and rewatched the episode with the collective commentary of Fuller, Holland, CD and KF. They sang the theme song with such love and joy that I almost teared up.

A solid final six episodes, each with its strengths, even "Totem Mole," which doesn't seem to get any love out here. One sure indication of quality was the fact that I stayed up until 5:00 a.m. to finish the run, because I just couldn't bear not knowing what happened to these characters. Ramping up the Jaye/Eric romantic angst was a big factor in my all-nighter, but I was also delighted with the Aaron/Mahandra pair-up, which could have been a huge source of plot goodies in Season 2 and beyond. (I'm tempted to write fanfic for a Karen/Mahandra "monster-in-law" showdown.)

Great scenes that made me want to kill the Fox executives: Jaye smashing the wax lions in anger and despair; Sharon comforting Jaye when she finally loses it over Eric (the KF love overflows); the Tyler family hug and Mahandra and Aaron's final clinch at the end ("What do you think you'll lose?"); the brass monkey's "inappropriate touching" comment (and the wax lion's "This isn't fun for anybody" response); "because you listen"; the mating ritual lecture at the start of "Safety Canary"; Aaron's sweep and subsequent interrogation of the muses; Jaye and Heidi's epic bitch off in the hotel suite; and about a hundred others I can't put into words right now.

I could have used a touch more background for both Eric and Heidi. She was so "Heidi ho" in the first few eps before they consciously pulled back in "Caged Bird." Why did Eric fall for this woman in the first place? What did they see in each other? Would have made the eventual choice and the ending that much sweeter.

[McKay]

Aw, boy, do I know how you feel. So much genius, there's no room or time to write it all out, even if it's possible to do. The tiniest little gestures or looks from the actors, the brilliant one-liners that manage to be funny and poignant at the same time, each and every Muse...it's ridiculous how much I love this show.

Also...I love Totem Mole! The tone was a bit out of place, but it was such a strong episode, IMO, I overlooked it easily enough. Of course, a totem pole with a Ringo Starr accent? There's no way I can't love that. And the bear skull..."Oooh, pick me, pick me!" Cracks me up every time. The guest stars were brilliant, and it was really setting up the Aaron/Jaye arc for season two (c'mon, people, one more season? Please?)

I think we only got the "evil" of Heidi from Eric because, well, he's said it himself, she was his life and she cheated on him on their honeymoon. Despite his sweet nature, I don't think he's going to be forgiving her too quickly, especially in Jaye's presence. And I thought we got the softer side of Heidi in "Lying Pig." I don't think she was trying to take Jaye on a ride with her feelings about Eric; I think she was being sincere. Of course, she was faking amnesia, so maybe not. More backstory would have been nice, but I don't think it was really necessary. Also, I don't see where they would have had room to fit it in. But then, I wasn't horribly interested in Eric and Heidi, and while I liked Eric and Jaye as a couple (I'm not immune to that kind of cuteness!) I was more interested in the Tyler family dynamics. I'm still not sure about the Aaron/Mahandra relationship; it seemed kind of unnecessary. But anything that gives those characters more screentime is okay with me.

Sharon comforting Jaye when she finally loses it over Eric (the KF love overflows)

No matter how many times I watch "Caged Bird," that makes me well up. And giggle, too, I love Katie's delivery of "Your little friend who likes the zoo?" Also, Caroline is an awesome crier. I love how stuffed up and choked she sounds after a crying bit, so very real. Really, watching Sharon and Jaye's developing relationship is the highlight of the series for me. The end of "Crime Dog" always makes me fuzzy. Jaye's nervous, apologetic smile when she opens the door, and the family at the breakfast table makes me smile. (I only wish we'd gotten more Yvette, I loved her. They could have at least mentioned her once in a while!) And the scene in the store in "Safety Canary" is so sweet and affectionate without really acknowledging it. And I love watching them bicker, too. Katie and Caroline had such fabulous chemistry, they were a joy to watch.

"because you listen";

I don't know why, but "Because you listen." makes me get teary-eyed. I really don't know why. "Inappropriate touching" always, ALWAYS makes me laugh out loud. And I love the little guy prompting Jaye with "I love you" in "Wax Lion." God, the monkey is awesome. And I love the Lovesick Ass's facial response to Jaye's tirade in "Lovesick Ass." His little face just crumples when she's yelling at him. SO FUNNY. And when he blows the styrofoam peanut in "Safety Canary" - so cute.

[cjl]

And when he blows the styrofoam peanut in "Safety Canary" - so cute.

Priceless.

I think we only got the "evil" of Heidi from Eric because, well, he's said it himself, she was his life and she cheated on him on their honeymoon.

In the "Caged Bird" commentary, Fuller and Holland say they deliberately flipped perspectives on Heidi from the previous eps and ramped up the moral ambiguity, to make the audience uncomfortable about Eric running out on his wife. (P.S.: Fuller was the voice of the caged bird. Holland was the Penguin. Minear was the karma chameleon. "Get her words out!")

I liked "Totem Mole" a lot because it hit the main theme of Wonderfalls head on: the search for the authentic, and how the muses tie into each character's search. Jaye has her college degree from Brown, and she's perfectly capable of finding a job in a NY college that would make Darren and Karen proud, but she doesn't see the value in that life. She's frozen with indecision about what WOULD be a life of value and contentedly stuck in the metaphorical mud at Wonderfalls, until the muses start gabbing.

Sharon, the closeted lesbian, shutting herself off from her real emotions and channeling the energy into her professional life, breaks her long thaw. Aaron, content with "lack of meaning in a meaningless universe", uses his existential outlook as an excuse to coast. The muses shake up his entire worldview.

In "Totem Mole," we sifted through multiple levels of fakery: Littlefoot disguising her personal power politics as tribal pride; Mahandra's fake identification with the tribe; Bill's fake anunciation as seer and the protest at Wonderfalls; and the corrosively cynical ending where Littlefoot's spiritual revelation will lead to that most spiritual of projects--a spanking new casino and tons o' cash for the tribe. (BTW, did anybody else think Littlefoot and Sharon would have made a hot couple? I know they planned the immaculate conception plotline with Beth, but the whole intense legal rivalry/sweaty gym exercise/steam bath progression was very slashy....)

What is true spirituality in a society filled with plastic values and greed? You can't answer this kind of question in 13 'sodes.

This post has been edited by cjl: Jul 15, 2005 @ 4:50 pm.

[McKay]

cjl, it's that depth that makes me love this show so much. Although I never dissected it as carefully as you did, I must say! Still, I know what you mean, and I agree. And I love that such a layered episode is also fucking hilarious. I think the problem with a lot of shows is that they take things too seriously and don't trust the audience to get the "serious" messages if there's humor there.

(BTW, did anybody else think Littlefoot and Sharon would have made a hot couple? I know they planned the immaculate conception plotline with Beth, but the whole intense legal rivalry/sweaty gym exercise/steam bath progression was very slashy....)

I swear, they had something going on back in law school. The undercurrents were unbelievable. I wish there was more fanfiction for this show. I've tried, but I can't capture the style of the show, and if I can't do it right, I don't want to do it.

In the "Caged Bird" commentary, Fuller and Holland say they deliberately flipped perspectives on Heidi from the previous eps and ramped up the moral ambiguity, to make the audience uncomfortable that Eric was running out on his wife.

Ah, yes, that's right. I wonder if they planned on it from the start, or got uncomfortable with the way the characters were going midway through.

I love Bryan's voice for the Caged Bird. "Let him go!" All of the Muses' voices were great. I loved Catherine Haight in Cocktail Bunny. The voice just matched the image so perfectly, IMO.

[cjl]

It's significant that the only time Jaye hears a message from a human muse and a non-manufactured animal (the bear skull), it's in a completely different context from her everyday life. Away from the tourist trap(pings), she's able to gain perspective on her gift and ask some of the deeper questions about her quest for an "authentic" spirituality.

In the Wonderfalls gift shop, with the worthless tchotchkes, fake animals, and fake legends (the Maid of the Mist), her spirit guides have to make due with what's available. The fake animals chosen to be the muses bring to Jaye's attention the artificiality of her environment and prod her to look beneath the surface for something more real.

This entire series is filled with fakes and frauds: the Gen Y reporter, Millie, Heidi the "amnesiac," closeted Sharon, Bill the Seer, Yvette--and especially Jaye, who disguises her real feelings for Eric until it's almost too late. With Heidi out of the way, and her real feelings out in the open, I wonder how the Jaye/Eric relationship would have progressed in S2?

This post has been edited by cjl: Jul 12, 2005 @ 3:27 pm.

[Cran]

Jaye would have started wondering if it's possible to juggle a relationship and her "duties" for the muses (complicated by her brother starting to basically worship her as a Jesus figure), and would consequently put her relationship "on trial," which would coincide with an episode where she had to do jury duty. (All that according to Bryan.) I would have loved that so much.

[McKay]

It's significant that the only time Jaye hears a message from a human muse and a non-manufactured animal (the bear skull), it's in a completely different context from her everyday life. Away from the tourist trap(pings), she's able to gain perspective on her gift and ask some of the deeper questions about her quest for an "authentic" spirituality. 

And yet in that same episode, she's spoken to several times by or via the totem pole, the self-proclaimed fraud. I always figured they attached a significance to the bear skull in particular - the bear as totem is often representative of a time of dreaming and introspection, as well as awakening. Bears, funnily enough, often represent solitude, as well as getting caught up in dreams and losing sight of reality, losing progress in waking life. I still wonder if the writers did that on purpose.
Hm. I wonder what the mole as a totem represents! That's one I don't know a damn thing about...I'll have to Google it later and see if anything comes up.

In the Wonderfalls gift shop, with the worthless tchotchkes, fake animals, and fake legends (the Maid of the Mist), her spirit guides have to make due with what's available.

That's one way of looking at it. The concept of animism has also been brought to the show (in the pilot) - the idea that the animals themselves are talking to Jaye, rather than some greater force speaking THROUGH them (well, any more than some greater spirit or force is speaking through us, I suppose.) I do think that they're representative of various aspects of Jaye and her life, and perhaps their unnaturalness is a part of it, I don't know that their "worthlessness" comes into play.

...you think we're overthinking this a little? Eh well, it's fun.

With Heidi out of the way, and her real feelings out in the open, I wonder how the Jaye/Eric relationship would have progressed in S2?

Given Jaye's neuroses? Lovingly but awkwardly is my guess.

How many organs and limbs to I have to remove to get a second season of this show? *whips out circular saw*

[cjl]

...in that same episode, she's spoken to several times by or via the totem pole, the self-proclaimed fraud.

The phony totem could be seen as a guidepost to spiritual travelers like Jaye, steering them toward the inner sanctum of the tribe, where the spiritual truths reside, away from the commercial facade shown to the public. One of things I like about Wonderfalls is that Minear and Co. aren't hung up on the idea of "nature equals purity and truth." Even though an icon may be prefabricated, it still might contain power or knowledge. Neil Gaiman explored the same idea in American Gods.

I always figured they attached a significance to the bear skull in particular - the bear as totem is often representative of a time of dreaming and introspection, as well as awakening. Bears, funnily enough, often represent solitude, as well as getting caught up in dreams and losing sight of reality, losing progress in waking life.

Never knew that about bears. Cool. If that was a deliberate choice, a huge bow of respect to the creative staff.

Mahandra's speech in Wax Lion is "animalist" (as Fuller and Holland described it in the commentary), but the muses are restricted to animal guides. OTOH, in the Welcome to Wonderfalls documentary, Fuller specfiically says God or a higher power speaks through the muses. So who knows? All I know is, it's not a traditional Judeo-Christian way of looking at the universe, as was anviliciously demonstrated in Wound Up Penguin.

This post has been edited by cjl: Jul 12, 2005 @ 11:40 pm.

[McKay]

One of things I like about Wonderfalls is that Minear and Co. aren't hung up on the idea of "nature equals purity and truth."

If they were, I doubt they'd have a heroine like Jaye.

Mahandra's speech in Wax Lion is "animalist" (as Fuller and Holland described it in the commentary)

I think they were going for "animism," not "animalism" (animalism being the belief that humans are, as Sister Katrina put it, just a sack of meat) there. Although the writers intended for it to be some higher power speaking through the critters, I like that they left it so ambiguous in the show itself. You could argue that it's not simply Jaye's subconscious because they generally have some desired effect or knowledge of the future, I suppose.

All I know is, it's not a traditional Judeo-Christian way of looking at the universe, as was anviliciously demonstrated in Wound Up Penguin.

Heh. I guess I'm the only one who doesn't mind that episode.
My dad calls the show "an idolator's Joan of Arcadia." Sums it up pretty well, if you ask me.

[Ember]

The phony totem could be seen as a guidepost to spiritual travelers like Jaye, steering them toward the inner sanctum of the tribe, where the spiritual truths reside, away from the commercial facade shown to the public.

That makes a lot of sense.

I'm really enjoying hearing what new viewers have to say about the episodes.

[Kris_AB]

cjl said:

...I went back and rewatched the episode with the collective commentary of Fuller, Holland, CD and KF. They sang the theme song with such love and joy that I almost teared up.

I know, damn, that almost made me tear up too. I even guessed that they'd sing too, it being the last episode and all.

Finished the commentaries last night after spacing them out over the last few weeks. The series I finished in two or three days last month. I wish I hadn't watched the special on the first disc though, that spoiled a bit. I guess it had to do with space constraints (five episodes on the last disc instead of the typical four), but it would've made more sense to put the spoilery special features at the very end. Most people have enough common sense to stay away from the commentaries until the very end (unless they don't mind being spoiled as the cast and crew discuss), but I figured a "Making Of" would be some sort of not-so-in-depth Fox promotional thing. It was quality though, can't complain there.

I'm glad Scotch Ellis Loring was able to do one of the commentaries, that surprised me (I guess I only scanned the credits on the back of the DVD cases half-assed and though it was the same foursome doing all the comments). Too bad he didn't say much.

I'm gonna have a time reading back through this thread. The entire thread if I'm feeling ambitious tomorrow.

Damn, I really wanted to see Jaye institutionalized. And I can't imagine how they would've depicted the growing-cult-of-Jaye idea, I'm imagining something that would've gotten gradually more crazy. Sharon's baby could've been great too (they give what sounds like scientific reasoning for it, but I guess it really would be a "miracle birth", as Bryan Fuller put it, if the sperm started swimming the other way. Or would they actually do that in real life if they were in a hostile uterus? I think that's where they were going when they said in the "Safety Canary" commentary that Thomas and Beth couldn't conceive, that his sperm wasn't the problem).

I shouldn't pick favorites 'cause the entire cast of characters was awesome, but I feel the need to say that I'll miss Aaron the most. Yep. I can catch Katie Finneran on The Inside for a little while longer, recently watched the so-bad-it-was-kinda-fun House of the Dead for Tyron Leitso, and can check out a whole bunch of indie flicks with Caroline Dhavernas. Tracie Thoms is in the film adaptation of Rent opening later this year. Doesn't look like Lee Pace has anything coming up soon though.

[McKay]

"Hostile uterus" just sent me laughing so hard I think I woke my mother up on the opposite side of the apartment. God, the second season would have been brilliant.
I need to pick up the "Cube" sequel - turns out Kari Matchett is in it. I'm also curious to see it, since I did like the first one, and I'm curious as to how they can squeeze a sequel out of it. I can't find it anywhere for rental, though, and I doubt I'd watch it more than once, so it's not really worth it to buy it.
Any idea whether Caroline's new movies are American or Canadian? I'd love for her to do something that I don't have to search my back end off for.

[Polter-Cow]

And the bear skull..."Oooh, pick me, pick me!" Cracks me up every time.

Whereas it really bugged me. It's a skull. It comes from an actual animal. It's not something inanimate-yet-animal-shaped like every other muse ever. Unless it was a fake skull, I wasn't pleased.

I've tried, but I can't capture the style of the show, and if I can't do it right, I don't want to do it.

Hey, wow. Fandom thanks you. If only more people followed your example.

I need to pick up the "Cube" sequel - turns out Kari Matchett is in it. I'm also curious to see it, since I did like the first one, and I'm curious as to how they can squeeze a sequel out of it.

Ooh. I liked the first one too, but I heard the sequels are really bad. Did you see that Sci-Fi miniseries Five Days to Midnight? Kari Matchett was in that too; I think it's out on DVD.