NCIS - From the Beginning....

[dragonheart]

I am one of those NCIS fans who hasn’t seen very many episodes from S1 and S2 – I didn’t start watching until S3 and never had time to go back and catch up -- although I have watched some of them, so I am not completely clueless to the happenings in the early days of the show. But, I have to admit that I am far from well versed in these two seasons

 

My friend nakeisha  loves S1 & S2, after reading some of her comments and posts, I have decided that I am going to go back and watch all the episodes during hiatus – and I am watching them in order.

 

I started last night with 1.1 Yankee White – the pilot episode.

 

Here are some of the things I noticed:

·         Gibbs has been building boats from the beginning – first scene that we see of him he is in his basement sanding a boat

·         It’s a two man field team (Gibbs and Tony)

·         Gibbs smiles A LOT and has a sense of humor about most things

·         The rules have been around from the beginning

·         Ducky has always had his little anecdotes

·         Tony was competent – but fun

·         Gibbs flirted with Kate (oh yes, he did – it was subtle – but it was there)

·         Abby wasn’t quite as gothic or quirky

·         Abby looked about 10 lbs heavier (and it looked good on her – she’s way too thin now)

·         Gibbs was a movie buff – He knew a lot about the movie Executive Decision set aboard Air Force One.

·         Fornell has been around since the beginning and he and Gibbs didn’t know each other (not sure how the shared ex-wife plays into that – I am a bit confused on that timeline – maybe subsequent episodes will clear that up for me)

·         Gerald was Ducky’s assistant

·         The gag that no one has ever heard of NCIS (the agency) has been around since the beginning

·         Director Tom Morrow ROCKED – I didn’t know what we were missing in a Director until I saw him

 

I am excited about watching the episodes that I haven’t seen and re-watching the episode that I have seen with “fresh eyes”.

 

A good way to get my NCIS fix over the hiatus!

Comments

[toomuchfandom.livejournal.com]

Fornell has been around since the beginning and he and Gibbs didn’t know each other (not sure how the shared ex-wife plays into that – I am a bit confused on that timeline – maybe subsequent episodes will clear that up for me)

Nope. TPTB fucked that up.

[rigil-kent.livejournal.com]

They retconned Fornell, just like they retconned Tony. You'll note that, originally, he's not a big movie buff, but they changed that by midway thru season 1, I think.

Honestly, I actually preferred Abby from Yankee White to the way she's written anymore.

[whiteink]

You need to start with the JAG crossover episodes.

[kew121]

Things inevitably change from a pilot episode to the rest of a show (even though Yankee White wasn't really the pilot; the JAG episodes were), but it has always pissed me off that they changed Fornell and Gibbs's relationship so much. From not ever having seen one another to having known each other for years and sharing the same ex-wife? Yeesh.

I am also a fan of early-season Abby. I liked that gravelly voice that she used to have.

[ncischick09.livejournal.com]

Gibbs is actually referencing the movie Air Force One, with Harrison Ford and William H. Macy. Also, someone told me that Abby's gravelly voice went away with a nasal surgery...and, I think it was DB that actually switched the personalities after S1, not SB. I own S1&2 on DVD, but I still just can't get into them. I wish I could find online the JAG pilots for NCIS, b/c I really don't want to buy the last season of JAG, just to see the character intros.

[rigil-kent.livejournal.com]

I am also a fan of early-season Abby. I liked that gravelly voice that she used to have.

Its less her voice and more her general personality for me. I can't stand the woman-child they've turned her into. Yankee White era Abby seemed like she was an adult, who happened to be brilliant, and happened to be Goth, but wasn't written like a little girl in an adult's body. I like my adult characters to actually be adults (which probably explains why I've disliked Tony for the last three seasons), so when they started going full-bore woman-child with Abby, I lost interest in the character.

YMMV

[dragonheart]

Me neither, maybe they are on net flicks or we will get lucky and find them on USA channel

[dragonheart]

Oops, wrong movie, good catch-

[ncischick09.livejournal.com]

No, darnit...already checked Netflix...that's a nogo...tried Hulu, as well, no luck...youtube just has snippets, not the whole epis, obviously...gah! I can't believe USA is running not only S8 epis tonight, but LATE S8! That was fast!

[ncischick09.livejournal.com]

Not that Executive Decision isn't an excellent choice...:>P

[dragonheart]

Maybe they are hoping that they will improve with additional airings - hee

[alidiabin]

Not big on S1 or 2 either, I can only remember a few episodes. The Ari ones are great.

Gibbs totally flirted with Kate.

[whiteink]

I have them on my laptop if you want me to upload them tomorrow night.

[proseac]

If you watch the version with the DPB voice-over, he tells us that they loved Joe Spano's performance so they asked him to come back. I'm thinking they wanted to flesh out his back-story so it wouldn't just be about the cases and they'd have more opportunity for interplay between Fornell and Gibbs, so that's why they threw in the stuff about the ex-wife.

Maybe they were hoping we'd conveniently 'forget' that they didn't know each other in Yankee White. But the fans NEVER forget!!

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Excellent - I'm so glad you're going back and that you enjoyed Yankee White.

As for Fornell, nope, it's never explained. However, what happened was TPTB only ever expected Fornell to appear in that one episode, but once they saw the way MH and JS sparked with one another, they decided that Fornell was going to appear again. Maybe they thought we wouldn't remember *wry grin*.

I, however, never bought the 'we're two senior agents in our respective Federal Agencies and have been there for well over a decade and yet we don't know one another'. Huh!?!?!! I never bought that one.

I LOVE Tom Morrow, I really, really wish he hadn't left.

Abby did indeed look better.

And Ducky has indeed been Ducky since day one with his little tales.

[toomuchfandom.livejournal.com]

I don't have the dvd's. Early on in the box-set era we didn't get the same extra's as region 1 DVD's.

And frankly, DPB should have known that on forehand that he'd like Joe Spano's performance. The guy is a fantastic actor (I remember seeing him on Hillstreet Blues I think), he was in an episode of JAG that DPB wrote, and he worked with Mark Harmon in an episode of Reasonable Doubts if I'm not mistaken, which was awesome.

[toomuchfandom.livejournal.com]

(Joe Spano actually appeared on an episode of Reasonable Doubts with Mark Harmon and that was a great ep if I remember correctly! Joe is not an actor you hire for one episode, even if he's "just a big name" to get the series going :-D)

[dragonheart]

you are a sweetheart!!!

I will PM you my email address ---

[dragonheart]

our memories can be LONG---

that NCIS "bible" that they work from - needs some serious revising....

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

I'd agree, but they definitely had only planned on him for the one episode - silly people!