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"Day for Knight"
Written by Jules Dennis and Richard Mueller
Directed by John Carl Buechler
Original airdate:
October 19, 1991 |
A 12th
century knight arrives through a portal.
Didja Know?
This episode's title, "Day for Knight", is a
play on the movie-making term "day for night". The term is used
to describe the technique of shooting film out-of-doors during
the day but making it appear to be night. The simulation of
night is usually achieved with blue camera filters,
tungsten-based film stock, and under-exposure of the film (or a
combination of these techniques).
Didja Notice?
Early in the episode we see that the Porters have at least one
real fishing pole and a home-made one of bamboo.
In the scene at 1:54-2:00 in the episode, as he's
attacking Christa, Keeg shakes his club over his head
two-handed in a gesture very similar to the scene in
Star Wars: A New Hope of the Tusken Raider who is
attacking Luke Skywalker. Was this an intentional homage
by the episode's director, John Carl Buechler? |
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The Sleestak seem to have a habit of applying nicknames to their
foes. In this episode, they refer to Balen as the Ironface, due to the iron helmet he wears. In
later episodes, they refer to Christa as Longhair and Kevin as
Quickmouth. Do they also secretly refer to Annie by the same
nickname her father has given her? That would be Sweetface, of
course!
Balen says he comes from the court of King Arthur. Realistically,
the version of English spoken by a person from that time period
would be unintelligible to your average modern English speaker.
At 18:55 in the episode, Kevin and Balen hide from Scarface
under some piled up rocks and foliage that looks like a manmade
hide rather than a natural accumulation. In my
Porter Timeline I
speculate that the Porters built several of these in the jungle
to use for just such emergencies. (Although evidence of Tyrannosaurus rex's large olfactory bulbs and olfactory nerves
suggests that Scarface should not have had a difficult time
sniffing them out even if he had lost visual sight of them.)
Scarface seems to chase Kevin and Balen at least a short
distance from where the two humans throw the sword and bolos at
him. Yet, after they finally ditch the tyrannosaur by hiding in
the rocks and foliage, they are able to pick up the weapons
almost right in front of them.
Balen gives Kevin the bolos as a token of gratitude. So, that's
another item the Porters have in their arsenal of supplies.
Pakuni translations |
Time in
episode |
Pakuni |
English |
12:52 |
Christa says, "Acuba
ne." |
"Farewell." |
Unanswered Questions
Near the end of the episode, the portal
conveniently reappears so that Balen can return to Earth. Of
course, Kevin is the only Porter present so only Balen can take
the opportunity to leave the Land. But how does he know that
this portal will actually lead to his own world and time? Unlike
the time doorways of LOTL70, there is no vision of the
destination in the fog.
Memorable Dialog
got it all under control.wav
Kevin's dream.wav
from the court of King Arthur.wav
understand, wart-sniffers.wav
who cares.wav
that's Christa for ya.wav
Christa's like the wind.wav
give m'lady Christa a kiss.wav
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