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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr
enik1138
-at-popapostle-dot-com

"The Orb"
Written by Jon Kubichan
Directed by Rick Bennewitz

The Sleestak attempt once again to bring endless night to the Land of the Lost.

Read the complete story summary by Nels Olsen

Didja Notice?

When they walk past the pylon, Will comments he has never seen this pylon before and Enik agrees he has not seen it before either. If the pylons are Altrusian in design, wouldn't Enik be aware of them all? Or were the pylons placed in the Land after the time of the height of Altrusia?

In my notes on "After-Shock", I mentioned the new design of the pylons in season three. Here we see another facet of the pylon redesign: unlike the pylons in previous seasons, the triangular key is located on the doorway, not above it. Thus, when the key is turned and the door opens...the key disappears with the door! How could a visitor ever close the door again? In this episode, the camera cuts away and the viewer does not see whether Will closes the door or it closes itself; we just hear the electronic throbbing sound of the door closing! (From Will's motion as he fades to becoming invisible, it appears he is just walking away from the pylon without closing it.) When we see the closed pylon as invisi-Will walks past, the key is back. I think this must have been an unintentional design flaw when the sets were rebuilt at the new studio...someone wasn't paying attention to how it had been done previously and the producers were stuck with it!

Closed door with key. Open door, key has vanished.

Also redesigned is the cave of the Hole of No Return, home of the Sleestak god. I suppose it could be argued that there is another hole leading to the god's pit.

Jack gives invisi-Will 3 hours to rescue Enik before he goes after him. Isn't 3 hours an awfully long time just for a journey to the Lost City? Presumably the Old Temple is in fairly close proximity. Yet, somehow, it does take Will over 3 hours to make his way to the captive Enik and assist him with his plan to fool the Sleestak.

When Jack, Holly and Cha-ka are about to go look for Will, they slide open the temple door only to find Sleestak trying to claw their way in. Jack says, "There's no telling how many of them are out there." Um, I'm pretty sure no more than three!

Jack again makes use of the survival kit found last episode, retrieving a flare pistol to scare away the Sleestak.

Jack fires the flare pistol out the temple door and we see the scene shown below. Is this, then, the view from the front of the Old Temple? The Marshalls are living closer to the swamp than I thought.

At 21:19 on the DVD, during the tussle between Marshalls and Sleestak, a Sleestak bumps into a giant stalagmite and the set piece can be seen rocking as he hits it.

At the end of the episode, Holly asks Will what the god of the pit looked like. Shouldn't she already know? She saw it in "Elsewhen".

Unanswered Questions

Where did the previously unknown pylon come from? It's tempting to say it was simply invisible like the effect it temporarily bestows on Will, but when the Marshalls return to the spot to find it gone they could surely have still touched it if it were only invisible. That suggests it actually teleported to and from that spot in the jungle! From where? To where? Did the pylon teleport itself? Did someone do it? If so, who? Is this effect similar to the Moongiver pylon appearing on various worlds in "The Pylon Express"?

Will notes that the new pylon is completely empty, no matrix table present. Then what powers/controls the pylon?

Memorable Dialog

the Sleestak must rule.wav
not logical.wav
not everything here is logical.wav
Enik shall be sacrificed.wav
at dawn.wav
a simple Sleestak.wav
sounds like Will.wav
touch myself.wav
hasn't always treated us as a friend.wav
logical isn't necessarily right.wav
think how Enik feels.wav
too stupid.wav
invisibility and stupidity.wav
the mystic Altrusian rope.wav
no such rope.wav
Cha-ka for breakfast.wav
the orb is extremely heavy.wav
uncomfortable.wav
the meaning of morality.wav
Holly want to know.wav

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