Posted: January 21, 192000 at 10:51:34: by Troy
: : No real juxtaposition between Malone and Roxton? Kind of makes you wonder why the producers see a need to keep them around. I think one or the other (or both) could be bumped off and parts of their characters shuttled off to other characters. Challenger certainly could make a good deep-woods safari hunter (which would make Roxton a duplicate and expendable) and as for Ned, what does he contribute again? Oh yeah - a longing to return to England to win the hand of a fair maiden. Not much contribution to the safari there.:
: If my memory is correct, in the TV-series Malone's fair maiden is waiting for him (or probably not) in New York City and his longing is directed a little bit more to the west, across the Atlantic. My personal opinion is, that his longing is directed much more to a fellow stranded character whose name starts with a "V". No matter where he will eventually turn up, I agree with you that so far he is the most expendable character. Rather pale (as a character :)) and with nothing much to do. Then again, he is a perfect reflection of most people. Just see him as an anchor of mediocrity in a world made of camp. :) In the book, he was based in England as were most of the other characters. His fair maiden (I can't recall her name) was the daughter of a nobleman. Her father didn't approve of their relationship and she was looking to marry someone of adventure and fame. Hence the motivation for young-fella-me-lad to go on the safari. : Maybe there is potential for him, though. Malone is probably the character that could grow most, because he starts at such a medium level. As I said before, I thought it was a mistake to change actors between the pilot and the regular series, but maybe the producers had no other choice. You're right about that. The writers could take him in any direction they want since he's pretty much a "blank slate". I'm glad to see that they're starting to give him some backbone instead of keeping him a coward, but some complexity would be nice, too. : As for Roxton, I like the character and wouldn't want to see him go. And I don't think that Challenger could be a real replacement. Getting rid of Malone would be possible, dropping Malone AND Roxton would disrupt the balance of the group. True. I wouldn't want to see both of them gone. But I see some redundancy between Roxton and Challenger. Still, its a nice blend between the two and does allow the team to get separated for dual plotlines. But there should be more focus on Challenger as a scientist on the show, and I don't see that very often. Challenger is becoming more like Roxton. Its as if, once he proved the existence of dinosaurs, he stopped exploring for the sake of science. : All in all, maybe it's best to leave the group as it is, define the characters and their reltionship more closely and do something substantial with Malone. No, not killing him off. :) Yes, I can hear you thinking! Maybe the Saurian Empire could find some use for him :)
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