701 Burning Man: Feedback, Opinions and Anaylsis

admin

Retired Administrator
samboo1 said:
Cool, nice selection there. Can i ask how you actually get vidcaps because if i press print screen it shows the actual video once ive pasted.:confused:

Yeah, I used to have that problem. If you have an ATI graphics card you can download Multimedia Centre for it, and it has a file player which allows you to capture vidcaps. Thats what I use, as MITM18 says PowerDVD is another piece of software that does it, and I am sure there are many more DVD playing software that have the feature in.
 

samboo1

New member
Yeah thanks for all the info. I think ill use power dvd, its easier than downloading things, although having that function on WMP would be handy. I might try that sometime...
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Re: Burning Man

I enjoyed reading about it when the spoiler first surfaced, but I knew I didn't want to go then and I don't want to go now. :) Sorry. The idea of spending up to a week in the dessert just doesn't appeal to me, although Malcolm's explanation made a bit of sense, I suppose.
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
Re: Burning Man

Thanks for uploading the pics. Everyone looks the same except Dewey's face has changed and Jamie, wow he has grown a lot! And his expressions of emotion were good too - especially the look on his face after being tattooed (who would tattoo a kid that young anyway?)

Where did Reese burn the RV? Why did they all look unhappy in the final scene where they were eating dinner?

I'm having withdrawal symptoms from MITM :(.
 

Malcoholic

New member
The chief point of interest in this season premiere is how the show handles the aging of the boy characters. In the case of Reese, the episode simply builds on the recent trend to make Reese less brutal and malicious, more whimsical and involved in bizarre efforts to give purpose to his life as he senses the approach of adulthood. Here he falls for the illusion that he's discovered an escape from the real world of rules and boundaries. As usual, Reese plunges headlong into the craziness. His performance is full of wild energy and striking visual images, and shows off Justin's gift for injecting a touch of sentiment into farcical situations.

It's in the Malcolm part that the episode breaks new ground. By involving Malcolm in an erotic situation with an adult woman, it sends a signal that Malcolm is no longer a kid role, but a young man. Going where he's never been before as an actor, Frankie gives an inspired performance. He is entirely credible in the romantic scenes, despite being paired with a woman twice his age.

This episode tells little about how the show will deal with Dewey's approaching adolescence, since his part was peripheral and wholly subsidiary to Hal's story.

The parents' parts were both very funny and entirely farcical, so that while Hal's story gets the most laughs, the dramatic focus is on the boys. Malcolm is tormented by his characteristic conflict between head and heart, with the stakes higher than ever before. He gives in to his passions more than he ever has, but his intellectual skepticism is still intact and makes him despise what he desires. The woman senses that only part of him desires her, while the other part regards her with "cynical condescension." In portraying Malcolm's conflict at this intensified level, Frankie does some if his most emotionally engaging acting ever. As in the pilot season, he puts on a dazzling display of his unique gift for confiding with the viewer in quick asides at the most intense moments, without breaking the dramatic tension or tempo of a scene.

With Malcolm back in the middle, Reese is back to serving as his diametrical opposite. He is untroubled by mental reservations and gives himself body and soul to the festival's spirit of unfettered self-expression. Trouble is, for all the others, the festival is just a brief break from their regular lives, whereas Reese has no regular life to go back to. Reese's problem here is his familiar one, but is portrayed far more explicitly than ever before. Reese's problem is, not that he's stupid or evil, but that he's primeval. If he lived in pre-civilized times, before there were laws or property, Reese would be a normal young human male. It's no accident that Reese is dressed, or rather undressed as a savage when he says: "But it can't end! I don't want it to! For the first time in my life I feel real, like I belong!"

With this episode, the new production team put a tremendous amount of effort and talent into bringing renewed energy and excitement into this series. It's the most ambitious and lavish project since the Reese-Army sequence. Some of the mass scenes were like something out of a feature film. The new season certainly is off to a rousing start.
 
The information for the amazing Malcolm in the Middle Episode 'Burning Man':

Malcolm's Journal on Fox.com said:
BURNING MAN Air Date 9/30/05
Chapter 701
Hal and Lois catch Malcolm and Reese hitchhiking to the Burning Man festival. They are so intrigued by Malcolm's description of the festival that they decide to take the whole family in their borrowed RV. Malcolm injures himself on a cactus while taking in the sights, and he is taken to Anita, a pretty, 40-something Shaman. He quickly develops an intense on-again, off-again relationship with her. He balks at her rebirthing ceremonies and retreats to the RV, telling Hal it was a stupid idea to come to Burning Man. When Hal excitedly bonds with Malcolm over their mutual inflexible beliefs, Malcolm runs back to Anita and participates in his own rebirth.

To me this looks a particularly interesting episode and by all means a great one too although for a season premier, it has to be but for Malcolm in the Middle, every episode is a good one so be thankful to Linwood Boomer for this amazing program!!
 

Kratos

New member
Hee hee, most of it's been said already. Either here or the main page...

I would have posted some pics but that's been done... and everyone has said the things that were worth saying... I suppose I can add that Reese looked mighty fine in that tribal art. :D

I think its going to be hard to beat this episode... but who knows. ;)
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
From: http://dannationworld.wordpress.com/2005/10/30/malcolm-in-the-middle-goes-to-burning-man/

Dan’s comments:
I NEVER watch Malcolm in the Middle, but it happened to be on tonight. It was a hilarious episode in which the family goes to Burning Man and the episode caught the event pretty hilariously. I believe that the episode originally aired in late September 2005. The father from the family (I don’t know their names) cooks hot dogs and hamburgers on the astroturf in front of his RV event, and his BM neighborhood thinks he is performance art. Meanwhile, the wife rides in “Critical Tits” but they didn’t call it that, and one of the other sons wears body make up and wears nothing but a sarong for the episode. Malcolm has a tantric sexual experience with one of the Arquettes (I think it was Rosanna) in her geodesic dome. The writers captured the “participant, no spectators allowed” mode so it was obvious that someone on the show had attended the event. The sets, costumes, and outdoor setting (filmed somewhere in the Mojave Desert since Malcolm steps in a cactus in one scene) caught the event quite well. It was funny to see a sit com shot in the Burning Man context (lots of art cars, discreet nudity - including Malcolm’s mom - and the mom and war-painted son claiming they were returning the next year). In the last scene, the father’s RV accidently burns instead of the Man himself. By the way, is it me or are the kids all old now? And Frankie Munoz is getting more creepy looking. I think that in real life he is dating a porn star or something?
———————-
I really liked this episode review from Living the Wally Lifestyle :
Malcolm in the Middle at Burning Man
October 03, 2005

The cast of Malcolm in the Middle went to Burning Man for their season opener. Once again, the truth is weirder than the fiction.
Here is a rundown of a few points from the show which were not like Burning Man:
The Couple Dressed as a Nun and a Bishop
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are far weirder and way, way more fun.
Moop on the ground
There is straw laying all over the ground. This would never be allowed since hay bales are banned.
Cactus
There is nothing alive on the dry lake bed.
Larry Harvey (the guy spraying Stanley)
This unnamed Larry Harvey is way more like Larry Harvey should be than Larry Harvey is. I blame this on the 5,000 people who come up to Larry every year to tell him how Burning Man changed their lives. Do they leave it at that? No, they tell the whole story about the first time they did acid, the person they met, the child that resulted, the life change. Good gravy people, leave him alone! You’re cutting into his drinking time.
Bowling Ball Sized Rocks
There are no bowling ball sized rocks on the Playa. They were all used by catapults last year.
Guy in the Cow Skull
Java Cow is way cooler than this guy, because he serves coffee.
The Shaman Woman
There are far weirder and more fun people than this woman. Although amazingly enough, a lot of them look exactly like Roseanne Arquette.
Malcolm Gets Laid at Burning Man
Anyone can get laid at Burning Man and most relationships last almost as long.
Dumping Center
There is no RV dumping center at Burning Man. You have to pack out your potty.
Only Losers Go to Burning Man with your Parents
Most of the kids Burning Man are more responsible than their parents.
Random Strangers are Chosen to Light the Man
The truth is, people pay to be in the Inner Circle. One person who buys a $300.00 ticket is chosen at random to light the man.
Reese Doesn’t Want to Light the Man
Camaan, Reese would do anything to light the Man. And an RV, now that I think about it.
Trumpet Strumpets
Critical Tits is far more impressive and fun.
I’ll Keep the RV Clean
Never has a sentiment been heavily expressed and never accomplished.
In Conclusion:
In all, I think the show did a good job. This show is consistently funny and I hope it has a good run on Fox.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Thanks for sharing TJ. The first one was good to hear a non-MITM fan enjoying the episode and the nitpicks of teh second one were just funny.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I second that! How could a festival in the middle of the desert be so expensive and why would anyone pay a few thousand dollars for a whole lot of nothingness?
 
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