Chapter  LXII : "Possession"

Time to ramble...

[Disclaimer: I watched this episode back in January of 2006. So it's been half a year since I've seen it. At the time, I did take a few notes of things I wanted to include in the ramble. So this is what you're getting now. A somewhat abbreviated ramble, as the ep isn't as fresh in my mind as I might like. As with "The Reckoning" ramble, most of what I took down were fun dialogue lines that leapt out at me... (All quotations approximate.)]

Chapter  LXII : "Possession"
Story Editor: Cary Bates
Writer: Cary Bates
Director: Dennis Woodyard

Another one word title, i.e. another one of mine.

FAMILY XANATOS
Xanatos' appearance in this one is brief, but he's still got some great lines...
"Someday you'll thank me for that."
"Wiggle your nose or something." [A BEWITCHED reference.]
"Chin up." (This spoken to Coldstone's detached head.)

Fox has recovered nicely after her pregnancy. She looks great. Have fun, she's told.
Fox: "We always do."

As always I watched the episode with my kids. Erin liked Alex's plush teddy-gargoyle.

GOLIATH THE MAGE
Obviously, Goliath's acting a bit out of character. Did he even sound like himself? And what's with that powder he nails Bronx and Lex with? Plus another clue is that the spell he uses is a rhyming spell rather than Latin. Mortal sorcerers use ancient languages. Only the Children of Oberon use rhymes.

But the key idea is one of volunteering for "Soul Transference 101". Puck-as-Goliath needs Broadway, Angela AND Brooklyn to volunteer -- even if Brooklyn thinks his offer is rejected. Puck is of course teaching Alex-as-Hudson a lesson here. Later, Alex-in-Lex needs Othello, Desdemona and Iago to likewise volunteer. Can't do the soul transference without it.

There's a lot of body-hopping. Illusions. Transference. Possession. Spells. But I think we played pretty fair with the audience. All the clues were there. But kudos to our voice actors, who had to play all sorts of different characters within the framework of their usual voices. It seemed to me if they could keep it straight, then it would help the audience do the same.

COLDSTEEL & ... GOLDFIRE?
As you saw in the memo I posted yesterday, Coldfire's original name was Goldfire. That name and Coldsteel were both mine. Goldfire because she was gold I guess. Cary's first draft of the script kept the Goldfire name too. But at some point it occured to me that Coldfire was much, MUCH cooler.

But WHO designed those robot bodies, huh?! They're dead ringers for Desdemona and Iago. How did Xanatos manage that? There are of course a number of possible explanations. After all, Puck is in the House, right? But perhaps it's no more complicated than the fact that Xanatos saw them both with Othello back in "Vows".

Note that throughout the series, Desdemona is always more honorable than Othello. He seems more compromised in general.

I should acknowledge the debt we owe to Star Trek here. Not "Next Generation", which provided us with voice actors Dorn and Spiner and Frakes. But rather to a specific episode of the Original Series. The Broadway/Angela/Brooklyn possession dynamic was a direct homage to the Kirk/Diana Muldar/Spock dynamic of an episode who's title I'm afraid escapes me at the moment.

Gave us an excuse to give Broadway and Angela a bit of a head start relationship wise too. A kiss...

ALEX
Alex learns his lesson plan. But it was fun watching him-in-Lex dump the real Goliath and Hudson on their heads.

And I liked how Puck/Owen cannot fulfill Xanatos' wishes. But after teaching Alex how, he maneuvers things so that the son gives the father exactly what he wants.

MORE FUN LINES
"Slow but astute."
"My date is coming to."
"By the Dragon, you're me."
"It is a handsome automaton."
"Is that the choice you were leaning toward?"
"Try not to miss me too much."
"I thought you would never grow a conscience"
"I live for subterfuge."

FINALLY...
We wanted that giant pocket watch (or whatever) that Puck pulls out at the end to be a MICKEY MOUSE WATCH... but Disney would just not allow it. They were afraid it would come off as product placement in a kid's show or something. <SIGH>

Anyway, that's my ramble...

Where's yours?