: I hope you don't mind my correcting you, but the episode was called "Creatures of the Dark". ... I actually liked the episode for the reasons you gave. I especially liked the scene near the end when the frightened "oracle" and his followers, realizing that the volcano would not destroy them after all, immediately fell back into their mind-numbing, self-hypnotizing chant. Veronica doing her "catch-me-if-you-can-jungle-routine" wasn't all that bad either. :)The writing was certainly not overly exciting, but I wouldn't call it terrible. However, we had the "divided cast syndrome" again, which was already discussed a few times on this board. Though this time the two plotlines (mountain/rescue party) hung closer together than usual.

You're right about the episode titles - I got the names confused. Too many caves. "Cave of Fear" was the one where Roxton and Marguerite become infected with hallucinogenic algae and relive the most traumatic moments of their lives (which was a good way to develop the characters personalities - we get to see what makes those characters act the way they do). "Creatures of the Dark" had the boy prophet. Not much character development in that episode ("Creatures"), but it was nice to see Challenger use his brain to figure out that the volcano was going to erupt and that the boy was (mis-)leading his people so that he could retain his social power. The end scene you mentioned - where they start chanting - confirmed Challenger's hypothesis nicely. And I agree with you - the tracking of the secondary storyline so close with the primary storyline was a nice touch. I can never get tired of Veronica running through the jungle as a plot device :)

: : (Jennifer O'Dell) has done a pretty good job acting - though I've caught a couple of weak scenes where she's been over-dramatic. One of the worst instances was the episode where "Nikko" comes to claim her as his bride but Ned opposes it (I can't recall the title of the episode). The climax, where she threatens to kill herself, was not very well done. A more believable scene would have been for her to just simply beat the snot out of Nikko.

: I still firmly believe that the writer who came up with the idea of Veronica commiting suicide to stop the fight must have been in an advanced state of delirium at that time. That scene was not so much Jennifer O'Dell's fault, it was simply out of line with Veronica's character.

True. There's only so much an actress can do with poor material. I suppose she couldn't voice too much concern about it and risk irritating the writers - or she might find herself written out of the next episode :)

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: : ...Cheesecake will draw an audience, camp will entertain an audience for a short time, but a good plotline will keep that audience. Veronica in a skimpy jungle costume fighting crocodiles and marauding tribal warriors is one of the better reasons to watch the show week after week, (hey, it worked for all of those "Tarzan" movies) but eventually John Landis will have to quit raiding the Sci Fi section of his local video store for plot ideas.

: I don't know if the show would've died without her, but it certainly would've had a much harder time. You're absolutely rigtht, in the end it takes a good plotline to be successful in the long run. Turning the show into "Veronica - Jungle Princess" will probably not do the trick, although I certainly would watch. :) However, I'm strongly in favor of having more stories centered around her, but one has to keep an eye on not disrupting the balance of the cast too much.

Actually, I think "Veronica - Jungle Princess" might make a nice spin-off, maybe as a Saturday-morning action show :)
I remember the "Tarzan" shows from the 1960's starring Ron Ely were set in the Saturday morning time slot and did fairly well - the children liked the action aspect and seeing the animals. The plotlines were fairly intelligent and appealed to teens and young adults, too. Mr. Ely played Tarzan as a college-educated amateur zoologist/botanist/anthropologist, which was a nice deviation from the "Cheetah get Boy" Tarzan from the films. Hmmm. Maybe there's a market for "Sheena" out there!

: : The jungle can be a dangerous place. Why not take advantage of it? And the natural character to take the lead role would be Veronica.

: See my comment above about giving her more screen time. However, lead role might be a bit far reaching.

For the Veronica character, you're right. The Veronica character would need to be developed a bit more to make her capable of being the lead. I suppose at this point in the show, there's just not enough substance to O'Dell's character to keep a weekly show running for more than a couple of episodes.

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: : A strong female lead is a very rare thing in action-oriented television these days (except for "Xena") so I hope the show can draw a larger following so as to present a positive role model for girls.

: I do have difficulties with the whole role model idea. Maybe I just don't care enough. The Veronica-character definitely has an exploitative side to it and, forget political correctness for 45 minutes, so what?

The same criticisms were made about "Baywatch" for many years, until people figured out that teenage girls were picking up a very key thing from the show - watching the female lifeguards swim out and rescue full-grown men (which requires some strength) were making the young girls think about sports and building their self confidence. So, while some people saw the beach scenes as exploitation, others saw it in a positive light. (And I have to admit that "Baywatch" was sort of my inspiration for getting into endurance running.) In fact, "Baywatch" now sponsors triathlons in various cities in the US. Who knows - maybe "Veronica" will encourage people to hike and mountain climb more. But I'll still watch the show for the cheesecake :) As for political correctness, it has no place in the jungle :)

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: : I'd also have Marguerite's character begin to grow a bit more. We've seen her impression of her upbringing (in the episode where a fungus makes her hallucinate about her mother) and in the pilot movie she flirts with Roxton in her own confused way. I think the logical progression of her character would be for her to behave more like a female version of Roxton - stronger presence, more knowledgable of outdoors living, more physical. It makes sense to me that she'd become attached to Roxton, certainly more logical than a romance between Ned and Veronica. I think a romatic tie between Veronica and Ned wouldn't play as well - I see Veronica as a free spirit at this point.

: The Veronica/Ned relationship seems a bit artificial. ... I'd like to see the Summerlee/Veronica relationship explored a bit more.... Summerlee is a well played character that deserve's a little more attention.

Summerlee is probably one of the most under-utilized opportunities on the show. I suspect that the writers haven't quite figured out what to do with him, other than to have him in the background as comedic relief. I can't remember the episode, but there was a scene where he was delirious with a fever and Marge stayed by his side as he hallucinated that she was his wife Anne (I think that was the name). I'd like to see that relationship (Marge and Summerlee) explored a bit more. It seems to me that she would have a stronger attachment to Summerlee and Roxton than to the others, which might make for an interesting group dynamic in "divided cast" situations. Yes, Summerlee is very much under-utilized.

: As for Marguerite, the writer's have laid the groundwork for the development of her character with a number of hints and interesting twists of character (see my "Tribute-Spoiler" of December 19th.) So, credit where credit is due, after all the hammering the writers have received. :)

Good point. Out of the 7 or more episodes I've seen, Marguerite is the only character with any depth, although the "Can we trust her?" comments in times of crisis are getting old. I think it'd be a terrific twist if Summerlee played surrogate-father to Marge (based on the events mentioned above about Summerlee's delirium) and perhaps taught her how to display her love for Roxton and how to interact with the other adventurers. It would server three key purposes a) it'd develop Summerlee a bit more; b) it'd create a better romantic link between Marge and Roxton; and c) it'd make Marge a more likable character. Marge's metamorphosis, over a series of episodes, could be very interesting to observe.

Anyway, just a few thoughts about the characters. If only I had show biz connections and could write for the show :)

Enjoy.