It’s been a long
time, hasn’t it? It’s been a year since
our last post, and, goodness, do we apologize for that. LuckyLadybug and I have been on several
journeys through various fandoms within the last year. My own path took me away from Simon for a
while--specifically, first to 221 B Baker Street, and then to the TARDIS. But here I am, back again. There’s no way I could stay away.
One would wonder whether
or not my forays into other fandoms would somehow dampen my ability to enjoy
Simon and his characters. The answer, of
course, is a resounding no. If anything, Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who
have allowed me to enjoy some of Simon’s roles even more than before.
How? I’m glad you asked…
Let’s start with
the example of Simon in Get Smart. That was the first time I was ever introduced
to Simon, and one of my favorite roles of his for that reason. Some time ago, I had been rewatching that
episode for nostalgia’s sake. Nothing had
ever been said about the final fate of Simon’s unnamed cowboy character--all we
know is, according to Max, that he missed the truck of mattresses and fell five
stories to the ground. No possible way
the poor Cowboy could survive a fall like that, right? I assumed so… until I watched the finale of
season 2 of BBC’s Sherlock. If I learned anything from that episode, it’s
that there’s every chance that the Cowboy could have survived his fall! I’d like to think he did--that there’s a
chance the story could continue…
Even more intriguing
are the parallels between Simon’s Outer
Limits appearance and Doctor Who;
both Simon’s Empyrian character and the Doctor have the same basic modus
operandi--try to stop an intergalactic cataclysm with the help of human
companions. On the surface, it seems
that their methods of recruiting human companions are different; the Empyrian
merely kidnaps them, while the Doctor invites them. Intriguingly enough, though, if you look back
at the First Doctor, before he mellowed out, he, like the Empyrian, kidnapped
his first human companions in the very first episode of Doctor Who; even more intriguing is the fact that Simon’s episode
of Outer Limits aired three and a
half months after the first Doctor Who
episode.
But, I digress. Comparisons and parallels aside, the fact of
the matter is that the one everlasting reason I keep coming back to Simon’s
roles is because of how he breathed life into them--every well-chosen dialogue,
every movement, every expression came together into creating unique characters
each and every time. No two of Simon’s
characters are the same--not even the villains.
Even the villains who appeared on the same show were different; William
Poole and Mel Barnes, despite being oneshot Bonanza
characters, have notable differences.
You can feel some amount of sympathy for Poole (assuming you believe the
idea that it was his girlfriend’s death that unhinged him), but Barnes gets no
pity--nor deserves any.
Even the good guys
have their differences. Lieutenant Schrank
and Tony Vincenzo are both men who are literally 500% done with the things
(more specifically, the people) they have to put up with on a daily basis. But while Schrank comes across as brash and
biting, Tony is just a big teddy bear who’s way too nice for his own good.
Character actors
play scores of roles in their careers; most of the time, their names are placed
behind those of the starring roles, while, sometimes, they’re lucky enough to
get a starring role. Regardless of the
role, their challenge is to make you remember them, whether they’re onscreen
for just one scene or throughout the whole thing. And Simon definitely succeeded; I never
forgot that scheming Cowboy in the years between my first seeing him and then
later discovering how wonderful Simon was.
And there won’t be a role of his that I’ll ever forget.
And that’s what
will always keep me coming back. It’s
just a bit more obvious today, on what would’ve been his 98th birthday.
Happy Birthday, you
wonderful man, you.
~Crystal Rose
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