some thoughts about the "Ox Pox" episode
first off-it was an excellent episode, humorous as always but with some real drama and innovation thrown in.
What does that mean: Henry to ray-" Yeah, you wish i was your Mom"
Ella did some real good acting in this episode, she showed a wide range of emotions, from anger, when Henry/Jace tries to give her the Hemlich maneuver, and fear and apprehension as the Ox Pox began to affect her.
One of the weird things about the episode was when "old Ray" is pulled through the time portal, there was a feeling-a build up-that made you believe the "Old Ray" was going to do something heroic to save his younger self, but as usual in a Schneider show-that kind of heroic self sacrifice never materialized, it just suddenly fizzled out.
Piper-seems to always pay the price for her brothers secret life as Kid Danger, once again her life was put into danger because her brother is working with people who make cookies that give people Ox pox, or grow deadly plants, or come into contact with space bugs.
The show broke the stand fast time travel rule, that the same person from two different time periods can exist at the same time in the same place.
This episode was an obvious parody of the classic Star Trek episode -City on the edge of forever-though it excluded the part where time travel changes history.
The best Time Travel story of all time-was written by Ray Bradbury-"A sound of Thunder" a story where a time traveler,
steps on and kills a solitary Butterfly a hundred thousand years in the past-and the event changes the future in a thousand subtle ways. It is a story that perfectly illustrates the Paradoxes that any kind of Time travel would lead too.
Best line-when Henry says he will be the one to save Ray-risking his life in the process, both Schwoz and Charlotte say-"well duh, you'd think i'd try this"
Best and most surprizing scene-Doc and Marty-from back in the future-are pulled through the Time machine.
Charlotte-becomes President in the Future
Use of dramatic music-when they are discussing the dangers of Time Travel-i don't remember dramatic music being used on the show before. But it was one of the few episodes that put not only Ray's life in Danger but Henry's as well. Though to be honest-the dramatic music is used tongue and cheek, and is a parody of all dramatic music use in all such circumstances.
The laugh Track was used very liberally throughout this episode. Once again as a parody of laugh tracks.