The disc itself had that last episode titled "Night Visitor" but on a Google search all the results turn up the episode as "Night Incident", so that's what I'm going with. I don't pay attention to the titles on the discs, I keep track of where I am in the series by my own posts/commentary.

S1 E7 - "Smoking Out The Nolans"

0:01 I love how every single episode (at least early in the series) starts out with that shot of James Arness's ass. That's hot.

0:24 HE'S BACK AT BOOT HILL!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!! *dreamy sigh*

0:29 "These are the ones the law came hard to." I know what I'm gonna come hard to!!!!!!!! *gyrates*

0:59 [tense theme playing] rofl.

4:11 alright, it's time to get geeky and obsessive... let's read about James Arness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Arness

Quote:born James King Aurness, May 26, 1923  – June 3, 2011

Wow, his middle name was King, how righteous is THAT?!

Quote:Arness has the distinction of having played the role of Dillon in five decades: 1955 to 1975 in the weekly series, then in Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987) and four more made-for-television Gunsmoke films in the 1990s.

Reminds me of Peter Falk/Columbo... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Columbo_episodes He played the character off and on from the '70s to the early 2000s, but most of Columbo took place in the '70s, some in the late '80s, early '90s, and then there was the 2003 send-off.

Quote:As a rifleman, Arness landed on Anzio Beachhead on January 22, 1944. Due to his height, he was the first man to be ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water; it came up to his waist. He was severely wounded in his right leg during the Battle of Anzio, and medically evacuated from Italy to the U.S., where he was sent to the 91st General Hospital in Clinton, Iowa. After undergoing several surgeries, he was honorably discharged from the Army on January 29, 1945. In his later years, he suffered with chronic leg pain that often became acute, and was sometimes initiated when he was mounted on horses during his performances on Gunsmoke. His military decorations included the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Wow...



Think about it. A legitimate war hero going on to play one of the most legendary and memorable TV characters of all time.

You don't hear about stuff like this happening anymore. He was a product of his era. The "greatest generation" as they call them... back when men were hard and tough and gritty and they weren't afraid to get dirty, they were wise and grizzled but they were nice and respectable, they were gentlemanly and sooooo sexy... *cries*

It's like we're watching a historic hero on the screen, portraying an albeit fictional historic hero... it's WILD. This is MAGICAL. This is AMAZING. This is GUNSMOKE.

Quote:After his discharge from the service, Arness began his entertainment career as a radio announcer at Minneapolis station WLOL in 1945.

WLOL... lol. Imagine him saying the "LOL" part in his iconic voice, wow, that would be so cool.

Quote:Determined to find work in films, Arness hitchhiked to Hollywood, where he made the rounds to agencies and casting calls and soon began acting and appearing in films.

He HITCHHIKED TO HOLLYWOOD. He fucking HITCHHIKED THERE. He was basically... now, don't think I'm disrespectin', you know my history, you know my fancies!!! He was basically... A HOBO FOR A TIME. HE WAS A HOTASS RIDE HITCHIN' HOMELESS DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *cries harder* I'M IN LOVE.

Lol, okay okay, I'm playing it up and dramatizing it a little bit but. I mean, it's a fair conclusion to draw from that little tidbit, you don't get from WI to CA in one day hitchhiking. He had to camp somewhere!!!

Quote:The Norwegian-German Arness had to dye his naturally blond hair darker for the role.

I thought he seemed like a blonde. It didn't make a lot of sense to me that his hair was dark, but I've thought a few times as I've been watching that his hair looked gorgeous. Too bad they made him dye it though... I don't see why that was necessary whatsoever.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/248285423...on-s-image

Quote:One of his co-stars even spoke about this protective nature. Amanda Blake, who played Miss Kitty on the show, said it became a natural part of Arness's life to defend Matt Dillon. "After about the first five years, Jim got very protective about Matt Dillon's image. He didn't want Matt to make a mistake."

James Arness himself really believed in the morality present in shows like "Gunsmoke."

I believe in it too.

What an interesting life, so much to ponder on so many levels. So many dots to connect and loose strings to tie together in coming to a broader understanding about humanity itself... what drives our passions, what destiny really is, and the 20/20 hindsight of how we get there. I've never been much into history, but this is about as interested as I've gotten with it. I've been enjoying this fascination with the old west.

I better get back to the show...

4:10 "The fewer people who come into Dodge, the less trouble they bring." Boy isn't that ever the truth!

19:00 lmao, Matt and Kitty and Doc start having a conversation about how they feel like they don't have fuck all in common with their "fellow man"... #relatable. Real talk.

19:40 Marshal Dillon and Miss Kitty are so cute in this scene, these early episodes are really insightful.

20:20 dude whatever, they'll get along just fine... people lived in tents and wagons and all kinda shit back in those days. It's the friggen frontier west FFS!!!

S1 E8 - "Kite's Reward"

0:30 yet another epic Boot Hill opening segment. Sigh. You know what, I'm gonna say this right now...

I am so incredibly grateful that I followed my heart and soul and that I went to Dodge City in 2019. I'm so grateful that I visited the Boot Hill Museum and was able to see the amazing history there for myself. It was so special to me. It was so meaningful and powerful. I followed a thread of destiny and I can only say that I would be very sad watching this right now if I hadn't. I may not even be ABLE to watch it due to the disappointment of having not gone there, and the world being in the state that it went to after 2019. There would be such a huge longing in my heart that it'd be hard to watch this. I'd be longing so much to be able to go to Dodge City, and it would be "someday," it would be a faraway wistful land that I had no concept of. But it isn't. Thank you, God in heaven. Thank you so much for taking me to Dodge City.

Now, about Tombstone...

Lol, I'm kidding. Kinda. Listen, I REALLY do wanna go to Tombstone, AZ. I was gonna go there but the overnighting situation wasn't very ideal and I still dunno how I'd manage that these days even if I was there. I like car camping and there's nowhere that I feel is good around there within a feasible distance to do so. Tombstone's on the back burner. But I still do wanna go there someday. There's no longing like there would be over Dodge City though. To me, Dodge City is the more legendary place of the two... and Gunsmoke definitely helped solidify that conclusion for me.

1:50 maybe he's a writer, lmao!

2:09 "Why, it's Yul Brynner!" roflmfaolol, just kidding.

2:56 "Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never comin' round!" roflmfaololol.

6:30 lol this reminds me of the Waco Kid... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr9xVmCL0bA

10:00 he's so humble <3

25:00 I like the moral of this one... never take a man's gun!!!

I started watching "Outer Range" on Amazon tonight on a whim. I didn't know it existed before today. Watched the first 4 episodes. I went into it blind, thinking it was just a traditional western, but it's science fiction, and it bears quite a bit of resemblance to a short story I wrote several years ago. But that's not what's relevant to the thread. In the fourth episode there's an excerpt from Gunsmoke, and it just hit me very weirdly. One of the secondary characters is watching it, one of the black and white episodes, and weird things start happening around him and he ends up chasing something in the dark.

S1 E9 - "The Hunter"

0:40 another beautiful opening at Boot Hill. I love the fact that I have never seen any of these intros before in my entire life... it's totally new to me, I had no idea the show ever started off this way. I never knew Marshal Dillon hung around at the Boot Hill cemetery contemplating the deeper meaning of things and his place in them.

5:55 sounds like "dudes" was a derogatory term back then, lmao!!!

10:10 this store owner guy is always sooo shady.

17:35 say what you want about this Murdock guy, but his eyebrows are totally on fleek!!!

19:00 wow, so this is where Marshal Dillon sleeps. I was wondering about that, like yeah I figured he slept in the marshal's office, but I just wasn't sure where and on what!

19:55 gorgeous desert scenery.

(04-30-2022, 03:51 AM)Atma Wrote: In the fourth episode there's an excerpt from Gunsmoke, and it just hit me very weirdly. One of the secondary characters is watching it, one of the black and white episodes, and weird things start happening around him and he ends up chasing something in the dark.

Duuuude, that's downright friggen spooky, what the eff?!?!?!?

Coincidence, or something more??

(04-30-2022, 03:20 AM)Chatwoman Wrote: 2:56 "Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you're never comin' round!" roflmfaololol.

Now we know where Jim Steinman gets his song lyrics.

Oh my God ROFLMAOLOLLLL!!!!!!

Dude literally made a whole song out of a line from Gunsmoke. Is that epic genius or what?

(04-30-2022, 09:44 AM)Dev Wrote: Dude literally made a whole song out of a line from Gunsmoke. Is that epic genius or what?

Wow... I'm getting more and more interested in the ways that Gunsmoke has rippled into our culture and lives via other forms of media and interaction. I feel like there's something meaningful here. And fun.

I would love to write some Gunsmoke fanfiction but it would all consist of Matt being unfaithful to Kitty and I feel like the essence of James Arness would be vehemently against the concept!!!

So far in the episodes I've watched, I've seen Marshal Dillon turn down like 5 different hot chicks because Kitty was back in Dodge waiting for him. I meaaan... it's unrealistic and wildly fanciful, but I'm glad for it. This is part of the cleanliness and charm that old-time TV had... like Little House on the Prairie and Michael Landon's desire to keep messages of morality and pureness in the TV shows he was involved in. It's that wholesome quality, a certain romanticism that encourages the viewer to hold SOMETHING sacred.

Plus, they knew that chicks who watched this show were obsessed with Marshal Dillon, and they projected themselves onto Kitty's role... so if they had made Matt unfaithful to Kitty, countless scores of lady viewers would have been super pissed off.

(04-30-2022, 12:46 PM)Atma Wrote: Wow... I'm getting more and more interested in the ways that Gunsmoke has rippled into our culture and lives via other forms of media and interaction. I feel like there's something meaningful here. And fun.

Songwriter Jim Steinman is a cultural phenomenon in himself. In addition to writing all of the hits on Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell album, he had both the number 1 and number 2 singles in the same week in the early 80s: the aforementioned Bonnie Tyler hit, and this one from Air Supply.

This was from September 2019, posted October 2019, when I made the decision to go to Dodge City...

https://www.sectual.com/thread-13842-pos...l#pid99567

And you know what's sort of odd about it...

The decision became totally solidified in me while I was watching Supernatural, another very long running series.

That specific Western themed episode came to me at a time of very serious need.

It sparked a desire in me, it lit up that thread of destiny so that I could see it and feel it and tug on it, and I knew it was right.

Maybe there's more significance to watching these shows than I realize...

Maybe watching Gunsmoke is a key element of (my) destiny too.

I haven't really watched Supernatural since 2019, never did finish watching it, but...

I feel like perhaps the whole entire purpose was that one episode. That one passionate spark of direction.

You remember who else was a lawman in Dodge City, in real life?

Wyatt Earp, who fought with his brothers and Doc Holiday in the gunfight at the OK Corral.

My sweet Wyatt Earp, an absolutely gorgeous fellow...

https://imgur.com/a/aGIXHou

Holy shit. Bonnie Tyler covered the Air Supply song. How cool is that?



The video has a Kate Bush meets the Cure vibe.

I've gotten a VERY late start on my precious Gunsmoke consumption today... I've had so much work to do around the house, but it's been so enjoyable and pleasant! It will be very nice to close out the evening with how ever many episodes I can get in!

S1 E10 -  "The Queue"

Wow the title of this episode is so apropos for my situation tonight! I've been wanting to finally watch the show but there were so many things that came first! Gunsmoke is so very magical.

0:16 my favorite part of the opening (aside from Marshal Matt Dillon's fine posterior) is the announcer saying "GUNSMOKE"... I absolutely love it. I like to put on my deepest voice and randomly say it every now and then. But I do prefer the way it's said in later seasons... it seems like a deeper voice or a different announcer.

0:23 OMG he's at Boot Hill again... I squealed in glee!!! God bless season one. I know eventually they stop doing this at the beginning. They couldn't have carried on opening the show that way for 20 years. I'm going to savor these Boot Hill intros... they hold a very special place in my heart. Part of me wonders if these legendary Boot Hill openers have ever been parodied, like SNL style. ROFL. I would love to do this. I absolutely would love to do it. Maybe I should build a Boot Hill replica in my back yard... *dancing banana*

0:35 God dang... look at the way he grabs that holster and just works it around all good in the front. My God. I had no idea... I had noooooo idea James Arness was that fine. I mean, yeah, I've seen him throughout the years. Sure I have. But I just never knew, baby. I just never knew... https://i.imgur.com/Q1IE2aU.png *lustful moan*

0:49 "Down there in Dodge... down among the randy, hard-living citizens," HOW DID HE KNOW I WAS RANDY!?! *nanarub*

2:48 Overland Express... what a simple yet dreamy name for a coach company.

3:10 hey I'm pretty sure he's Japanese, bro.

4:25 and this is the story of the very first Chinese restaurant ever opened on Main St., America! God bless! I need me some of that chicken lo mein. And some broccoli chicken!

8:00 wow, what the hell is that, a wild west slot machine?!!?!?!?!?!?1? Whoa check it out: https://imgur.com/a/KkbBA6A That's so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9:20 so I guess one of the morals of this episode is that people who are all religious and stuff are basically hypocrites.

11:50 whatever, that's deception and nothing good comes of it. If he talked normally like that, people would respect him. He sounds like a doctor or some shit. I dunno where they're coming from with this!

12:18 ah, how interesting... so the "queue" is a word for the ponytail and the meaning behind it is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queue_(hairstyle) See, this show is educational for me. I had never heard of this before. I gain a lot from watching Gunsmoke. It's more than just enjoyment and entertainment... it's teaching me things.

14:20 oooOooOooo, that was damn near dirty talk right there, Marshal Dillon!!!

17:00 the religitard did it... duh.

17:30 I LOOOOOVE the way Marshal Dillon's eyes scan whoever he's talking to when he gets up in their face. It's especially enjoyable the more lines he's got. I'm gonna point out good examples of this from now on... it's absolutely delicious.

21:30 I meeeean, now might be a good time for Chen to drop the fucking facade and speak normally. It would change the entire dynamic and freak this drunk moron the fuck out, lmao. I gotta say, this episode isn't great. It's good but it's not great. It makes sense that it wouldn't be because it's a bit propagandistic. Back in the day I supposed they still had to make their illuminati deals and sacrifice an episode here and there for the sake of their crossroads agreement. The bright side is that being a vintage television show, it's far less offensive than any of this kinda crap would be today. So all in all, I am not that bothered by it.

22:56 God I love all the sweatiness in this show.

23:20 "You've got to live as an American, not as a Chinese." OHHH DAAAAMMMNNN, see. The societal degradation wasn't so bad back then... it wasn't so far gone and cancerous yet. The propaganda was there, but they still hadn't let go of every single last patriotic value. I think even after I get done watching Gunsmoke 10 years from now (lol) I am still just going to watch super old TV shows exclusively. I'm so tired of propaganda and nasty vile shit on movies and TV these days.

23:30 God this is so sexy.