Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Farewell Bear Facts St Petersburg
Farewell Bear Facts St Petersburg
The original St Petersburg blog, with deleted scene and notebook pictures, is here.
When Im asked which episode of Cabin Pressure is my favourite, my stock reply is to say (truthfully) that it changes all the time, but at the moment Im very fond of… Wokingham, or Ipswich, or Douz, or whichever it happens to be. But it has to be said that the one that comes up most often when I do that is St Petersburg. Its probably not the funniest, and it would be a terrible place for someone to start listening to the show, as its quite unrepresentative; but it has the highest stakes of any episode, and I do love the plot, and the ending. Its also another episode that marks a change in the dynamics of the show - just as the central relationships are different before and after Fitton, theyre altered again by St Petersburg.
- This episode was also the most daunting for me as a actor, because for once I actually had to do some acting. Mostly, Arthur sails along on a cloud of equal parts optimism and clottishness, and as an actor I can sit back and watch Stephanie, Benedict and Roger do all the heavy lifting. I had a little bit of something more complex to do in Fitton, and then again in Helsinki; but now here was an episode in which everything was far from Brilliant for Arthur, and I actually had to carry some of the emotional burden of the show, for once … and do so whilst playing opposite, not just my ridiculously over-talented friends and colleagues in the regular cast, but the great Timothy West, into the bargain. Sheesh.
- The emergency drill when the goose strike happens is a little cut-down, but otherwise (I hope) accurate. In this bit:
DOUGLAS: Engine fire check list number two engine Captain. Number two thrust lever?
MARTIN: Yes.
DOUGLAS: Closed. Number two fuel control switch?
MARTIN: Yes, yes!
DOUGLAS: Number two fuel control switch to cut off, number two fire handle check?
MARTIN: Yes!
… the meaning of Douglas questions is Do you agree, Captain, that this thing Ive got my hand on is the number two thrust lever; because if in the heat of the moment it turns out to be the number ONE thrust lever, then when I close it Ill be shutting down our one remaining good engine, and thats a decision we might possibly come to regret. And Martins replies mean Yes, First Officer, that certainly looks like the number two thrust lever to me, so let me encourage you to pull it with no further ado. Seriously, as quick as you like.
Another bit I like is
DOUGLAS: Fire is out Captain. One two four decimal two is selected. Martin, do you want me to land it?
MARTIN: No, I’ll do it.
DOUGLAS: Okay. In switching from Captain to Martin for the last question, Douglas is saying: Its obviously your job to land it, but, point-scoring aside, we both know Im a better pilot, shall I take over? Martins reply means: We do both know that, and Im not taking offence; but it is my job, and Im confident I can do it safely. And Douglas Okay, means Yes, Im confident you can too. If this had happened in series one, and possibly two, Douglas would not have been confident of that, and would simply have taken control, by force if necessary. (The hydraulics failure in Douz was nowhere near as serious as this, obviously.)
Im sorry I havent in general been able to answer the questions put to me in the comments sections so far - as those of you whove suffered through the placeholders know, I have my hands full just doing these daily posts. However, one Stephen Buxton has been particularly dogged in his posing of a question about this episode:
When you wrote the episode, did you have a moment in mind when Douglas realised that he might be able to scam Gordon Shappey out of an engine, or at the very least, the money for a new engine? If so, at what point was that?
Answer: Douglas is just as baffled as he says he is for most of this episode- its only in the taxi that he twigs that Gordons trying to steal Gerti, not buy her. And I think as soon as he realises that, the mighty and well-practised scheming centres of his brain come up with the whole frozen control column / gin / blackmail thing pretty much instantaneously.
Available link for download
