Saturday, January 24, 2009

Recap ~ No Such Thing as Vampires ~ Pilot Episode #1x01

Let's talk about Moonlight's pilot episode ~ No Such Thing as Vampires (#1x01).

SPOILER ALERT! If you STILL haven't seen the first episode of the series, do not read this post..... unless you want to know what happens :)







I enjoyed watching the pilot again! Reviewing it with the knowledge of what happens in future episodes made it especially interesting. We know that Moonlight just gets better and better every week.

Did you notice it is Beth's voice asking the questions during the "Interview with a Vampire" opening scene? Mick wants her to understand him. He is afraid she will see him as the monster that he perceives himself to be since being turned.

The first time we see Mick in his trusty freezer. YUM!

Marshall sighting! I like the show Alias, so it was nice to see Kevin Weisman pop up as Beth's camera guy. Just wish he had more to do. He had one of the lines that made me giggle. When Beth says, "I've become a news whore overnight." Steve replies, "Not overnight." ha!

When the handsome Lt Carl and Beth are talking at the crime scene, I wondered (again) just how well they know each other. They appear to be pretty familiar. Is that just from Beth's crime reporting? It is mentioned that this is her first on air story for BuzzWire, but she has obviously been writing articles for a while before making the move to being on camera.

I still want one of those cool iPhones.

Many of my favorite Josef quotes are from this episode. "Sooner or later your inner vampire is going to demand to be fed." <--- currently my profile phrase on MySpace. "What is it? Like... Non-fat, soy, Vegan blood?" "Vampire experts ~ beautiful! Now, we got the food mouthing off about the farmer." "Vampire solidarity ~ rah, rah, rah and all that." Better restrain myself or I will end up quoting every line that Jason Dohring utters.

Rudolf Martin plays Professor Christian Ellis. He thinks he is a vamp on our show, and he portrayed Dracula on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Beth smashing a vase over Mick's head and his emotionless "Ouch" makes me laugh every time. As does this exchange.... "How do I know you're not the killer? Well, because I'm not killing you. ......let's go with that cuz that's comforting..."

She is surprised that he knows who she is and all about BuzzWire.

I've mentioned this before.... this bit of dialogue between Beth and Mick gets me laughing too. "So, we're talking Vampires? You know, some people actually find them attractive. Really? Yea." Poor Mick! His "yea" sounds so deflated.

Leaving the funeral, Mick gets into his car. Beth places her hand on his to stop him & ask for the blood vial. He looks down at her hand on top of his for a split second. Alex is great with these little moments that tell you so much about Mick's feelings.

Mick is so smooth with the professor's wife. Imagine him showing up on your doorstep. Ooooo my....

The scene in which Mick confronts the professor, and he thinks he is schooling Mick in the ways of the Vampire is too amusing. "When most people hear the word Vampyre, they immediately conjure up an image of some undead monstrosity running around at night trying to drink human blood." With the perfect expression on his face, Mick says "hate that" under his breath. *chuckle* This scene also reminds me of one in Alex's film, Feed, in which he faces off with the cop.

Love the camera angle used when Mick closes the blinds in the professor's office.

Carl.... "Threesomes never end well" hehehe

Josef in Mick's loft when he returns is a cool scene. They play so well off each other. I will contain my desire to quote the whole thing. :)

Since I'm super into diners, Cadillac Jack's is my kinda place. Well.... except for the possibility of getting murdered by a crazy grad student thing.

Speaking of.... How come the creepy killer TA, Daniel, gets to use an accent but Alex O'Loughlin doesn't?!? *grin*

Adore how Mick is protective and concerned for Beth.

We got to see Mick vamp out several times in this episode. YEA! He easily manhandles the professor (priceless expression on his face when Mick transforms into a Vampire in front of him) and the killer.

Even though he is hurt during the car chase/crash, Mick wills himself to get up and run to save Beth. The silly killer thinks he has triumphed by stabbing Mick. That smug expression quickly changes to shock & fear as Mick stands again... and hurls him effortlessly!

During the flashback fight scene with Coraline, they are beating each other senseless. In the middle of it, for a brief moment they starting kissing! Then, back to fighting. Josef is correct in his assessment of their crazy love.

Throughout the episode, Beth is convinced that she has seen Mick before they "met" at the crime scene. After he rescues her from Daniel, she awakens on his couch. She says that he saved her when she was little. Mick dismisses the truth again by saying, "You got a really nasty bump on your head tonight."

Moonlight does ending scenes better than any other show. It all began with the one tonight. Beth hugs Mick in gratitude and he slowly puts his arms around her in return. Just the look on his face conveys the emotions.

There are some time line discrepancies, which we have talked about previously. Josef says Mick is 90 years old, but Mick tells Beth he is 85 in a future episode. When Mick holds out his hand to Beth at the end, the voice over states, "60 years is a long time to deny yourself the touch of another." However, he has only been a vamp since 1952. He was on & off with Coraline until she kidnapped Beth (and he thought he killed her) in 1985. Several things could explain these differences...... We have all rounded years up and/or down in telling a story. Or, exaggerated to make a point. There were sooo many behind the scenes changes before Moonlight ever even aired. Originally, Mick was supposed to meet & marry Coraline in the 1940's. None of this keeps me from loving the show ~ in case you hadn't noticed *wink*

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post! Welcome back Kandye!

Anonymous said...

Hi Kandye, how are you?? I still do and have always loved NSTV. I never thought the show got better and better I always thought it was GREAT from the very beginning. I'm still heartbroken. AND, btw, I got myself one of those neat iPhones and it is so much fun and very, very easy to use....and believe me I'm "electronically challenged". Am anxiously waiting for Fri next episode. I had them all DVR'd but then Comcast replaced their old machines and I had to relinquish it so I was without ML for about 4 months. So I'm recording them all again plus I just got my DVD set. Yea!!!!

Anonymous said...

Gosh, this sound like we are all falling in *lust* again! I can't wait until Friday again. Enjoy or 16 week love affair, maybe hollywood will see this and bring our Moonlight back.

Anonymous said...

thank you for posting recap. but do you know what the ratings are?

Anonymous said...

Even though I know almost all of the dialogue from just about every episode of MOONLIGHT (cause I've watched them so many times on TiVo,Unbox and DVD-I know-it's pitiful!) it was STILL great to see the first episode on tv again! and reading your reviews is great to be doing again too!