too many connections

[OPT]

I would have to guess the spam bots were hard at work today. I got this message when I went to sign in.

Too Many Connections
There are currently too many connections to this server. Please check back again in 30 seconds.

Never in all the years of being member of this forum had there been a traffic jam. When I do log in, I see 8 members and 188 guests online in the last 24 hours. Wow, if half of those guests were real people it would be amazing.

[zootmoney]

I have gotten that message a couple of times, although not recently.

[mickeygubitosifan]

Feb 9, 2011 10:59:36 GMT -5 OPT said:

Never in all the years of being member of this forum had there been a traffic jam. When I do log in, I see 8 members and 188 guests online in the last 24 hours. Wow, if half of those guests were real people it would be amazing.

I've never thought about that before, but it could just be a sign of my lack of specific knowledge when it comes to the complex workings of the internet world. Are most of the participants who show up as "Guests" on the "Users Online" panel not actually real people?

[littlerascal4891]

I don't think I've ever got a message like that on this site. I have noticed that lately there have been a lot of "guests" online. I didn't think about them not being real people.

[mickeygubitosifan]

It seemed to me that the typical number of "Guests" here on the site each day noticeably elevated after the Turner Classic Movies Our Gang marathon in January. I attributed it to interest in the series having been rekindled a bit by laymen seeing the films for their first time in what may have been years, in some cases.

[littlerascal4891]

Feb 9, 2011 19:32:10 GMT -5 mickeygubitosifan said:

It seemed to me that the typical number of "Guests" here on the site each day noticeably elevated after the Turner Classic Movies Our Gang marathon in January. I attributed it to interest in the series having been rekindled a bit by laymen seeing the films for their first time in what may have been years, in some cases.

Right, I think it probably has to do with the TCM marathon also. Actually, the board seems to be more active lately (even before the marathon the activity had really started to pick up). I hope the forum stays active; there's nowhere else for me to discuss the Gang with.

[mickeygubitosifan]

Feb 10, 2011 18:55:39 GMT -5 littlerascal4891 said:

Actually, the board seems to be more active lately (even before the marathon the activity had really started to pick up). I hope the forum stays active; there's nowhere else for me to discuss the Gang with.

It's the same way for me, basically. I know one or two people outside of these boards who have a small amount of knowledge about Our Gang, but no one who could reliably discern the difference between Dickie De Nuet and Dickie Hall, or Jackie Davis and Jackie Lynn Taylor, or pick Harold Switzer out of a crowd of extras.

Of course, OPT has excellent computer acumen, so I'm sure that he's right, too, about the spambots. I just don't have enough computer acumen of my own to know how that works.

[littlerascal4891]

I know pretty much no one who is interested in Our Gang, besides my mom, dad, and sister, but they don't know near as much as I do about the films and the cast. And I am a very young fan, at least compared to most Rascal fans (I will be 20 in April). The only Rascals people my age are familiar with are from the 1994 remake... and let's face it, that's just not the same.

[mickeygubitosifan]

Feb 10, 2011 23:01:55 GMT -5 littlerascal4891 said:

I know pretty much no one who is interested in Our Gang, besides my mom, dad, and sister, but they don't know near as much as I do about the films and the cast. And I am a very young fan, at least compared to most Rascal fans (I will be 20 in April). The only Rascals people my age are familiar with are from the 1994 remake... and let's face it, that's just not the same.

My family members, as well, are really the only ones I know personally that take an interest in Our Gang. My mother has come to adore Bobby Hutchins, but I've so far been the source of everything that she knows about him. Like so many others, she grew up with The Little Rascals on television, even if it wasn't a particular favorite of hers. Most people know Our Gang simply because it's been part of American culture for many decades, but their knowledge of the series isn't necessarily very deep.

The 1994 movie wasn't quite the same as Hal Roach's classics, of course, though it was a good introduction to the Our Gang motion pictures for so many people. In fact, it was my introduction to the films! Yes, Bug Hall was my first Alfalfa, Courtland Mead my first Uh-Huh, Brittany Ashton Holmes my first Darla and Zachary Mabry my first Porky. At the very least, the movie makes for a solid recent reference point to the series for those who spend their formative years without a love of classic cinema in their homes. Then later, if that love should ever take root, they'll already have one foot set firmly down the Our Gang path.

[littlerascal4891]

Feb 11, 2011 2:09:58 GMT -5 mickeygubitosifan said:

Feb 10, 2011 23:01:55 GMT -5 littlerascal4891 said:

I know pretty much no one who is interested in Our Gang, besides my mom, dad, and sister, but they don't know near as much as I do about the films and the cast. And I am a very young fan, at least compared to most Rascal fans (I will be 20 in April). The only Rascals people my age are familiar with are from the 1994 remake... and let's face it, that's just not the same.

My family members, as well, are really the only ones I know personally that take an interest in Our Gang. My mother has come to adore Bobby Hutchins, but I've so far been the source of everything that she knows about him. Like so many others, she grew up with The Little Rascals on television, even if it wasn't a particular favorite of hers. Most people know Our Gang simply because it's been part of American culture for many decades, but their knowledge of the series isn't necessarily very deep.

The 1994 movie wasn't quite the same as Hal Roach's classics, of course, though it was a good introduction to the Our Gang motion pictures for so many people. In fact, it was my introduction to the films! Yes, Bug Hall was my first Alfalfa, Courtland Mead my first Uh-Huh, Brittany Ashton Holmes my first Darla and Zachary Mabry my first Porky. At the very least, the movie makes for a solid recent reference point to the series for those who spend their formative years without a love of classic cinema in their homes. Then later, if that love should ever take root, they'll already have one foot set firmly down the Our Gang path.

Right. I know the 1994 movie wasn't very well-liked by fans of the original (or at least judging from what I've seen on this board) but it did introduce the Gang to new fans. I also saw the remake before the old films. (Oh, and I thought Bug Hall did a great job as Alfalfa. He really stood out among the others).

[mickeygubitosifan]

I liked the movie, actually. I don't think that Bug Hall had as vast a physical comedy repertoire as Carl Switzer (how many do, really?), but I thought that he did a good job in a tough role, and I've long been a fan of his. Blake McIver Ewing (as Waldo) and Ross Bagley (Buckwheat) are two others that I would highlight as having been especially good in the film.

[littlerascal4891]

This movie was among my favorite non-animated movies as a kid. But now that I'm older, I have mixed feelings about it. I think it's mostly due to the child acting. But I liked that they put in some gags from the old films (the people "flying" in the air when the go-karts run by is one that always comes to mind) and I appreciated that they referenced many classic shorts, like Hi Neighbor! and Hook and Ladder.

Looking back, I think it would be nice if someone from the original cast/crew from Our Gang had made a cameo. Maybe they just didn't want to, but I remember reading somewhere that they weren't asked (I also remember seeing that George "Spanky" McFarland hated the idea of a remake). But I would have rather seen the original Butch or Porky (they were both still alive at the time) make an appearence, rather than Donald Trump or the Olsen twins.

And I agree, I thought the kid who played Waldo did a good job in his role and the kid who played Buckwheat was among the most memorable characters in the movie. Brittany Ashton Holmes was cute, and did remind me a little bit of the original Darla Hood (probably mostly because of the dark hair), but I didn't think she was a very good actress.

Haha wow, we got kind of off-topic.

[mickeygubitosifan]

Feb 11, 2011 22:32:27 GMT -5 littlerascal4891 said:

This movie was among my favorite non-animated movies as a kid. But now that I'm older, I have mixed feelings about it. I think it's mostly due to the child acting. But I liked that they put in some gags from the old films (the people "flying" in the air when the go-karts run by is one that always comes to mind) and I appreciated that they referenced many classic shorts, like Hi Neighbor! and Hook and Ladder.

Looking back, I think it would be nice if someone from the original cast/crew from Our Gang had made a cameo. Maybe they just didn't want to, but I remember reading somewhere that they weren't asked (I also remember seeing that George "Spanky" McFarland hated the idea of a remake). But I would have rather seen the original Butch or Porky (they were both still alive at the time) make an appearence, rather than Donald Trump or the Olsen twins.

And I agree, I thought the kid who played Waldo did a good job in his role and the kid who played Buckwheat was among the most memorable characters in the movie. Brittany Ashton Holmes was cute, and did remind me a little bit of the original Darla Hood (probably mostly because of the dark hair), but I didn't think she was a very good actress.

Haha wow, we got kind of off-topic. :D

I prefer to think that the topic simply evolved to reaches far beyond its original base, and we just went along for the ride. ;-) Actually, I've observed that there seems to be a fair amount of maneuverability, when called for, within topics here on the boards, and that freedom to move about within conversations can sometimes lead to interesting information. My "Dickie Jackson Questions" thread, for example, ended up with talk about whether or not Mary Ann Jackson is still alive (the answer being "no", sad to say).

I've wondered about not seeing anyone from the original films in the 1994 The Little Rascals movie, but I had never checked for sure to see if there might have been a cameo that I was missing somewhere along the way. It would have been nice for the producers to include a few of the living cast members in bit parts, and there was even less of a shortage of surviving Gangsters at the time than there is now. Robert Blake, Sidney Kibrick, Tommy Bond, Darwood Kaye and Jay R. Smith are only a few of the possibilities. Depending on the taping dates for the movie, even George McFarland may have been a viable option to include before his demise, though if his view of the general idea of making such a film was as dim you suggested it might have been, I don't know if the producers could have persuaded him to get on board for a cameo appearance.

Whenever I think of Brittany Ashton Holmes, it's the funny "Don't look at the camera, Sweetie!" moments from The Little Rascals that first flash through my mind. I want to say that it was primarily a lack of experience on her part, but this was Bug Hall's first movie role, too, and I thought that he seemed more natural in front of the cameras.

[littlerascal4891]

I think it was a lot of the young actors and actresses in "The Little Rascals" were going through their first movie roles. Actually, I haven't really heard much about any of the kids. I know Bug Hall was in "Honey We Shrunk Ourselves" and a Disney channel movie with Lindsay Lohan. I also saw a recent video of him on youtube reciting his lines with some guy pretending to be Darla (they reinacted the boat scene at the beginning of the movie). I think most of the other kids just dropped acting over time and live normal lives. The kid who played Spanky used to post on the IMDB boards, and I think the boy who played Porky posted on this forum a few times.

I think Tommy Bond said that he wasn't asked to appear in the 1994 movie. But I could be wrong on that.

I actually found a topic I posted on the forum back in 2009 about the film. littlerascals.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=772 I had forgotten I had written that. lol

[mickeygubitosifan]

Feb 12, 2011 11:47:43 GMT -5 littlerascal4891 said:

I think it was a lot of the young actors and actresses in "The Little Rascals" were going through their first movie roles. Actually, I haven't really heard much about any of the kids. I know Bug Hall was in "Honey We Shrunk Ourselves" and a Disney channel movie with Lindsay Lohan. I also saw a recent video of him on youtube reciting his lines with some guy pretending to be Darla (they reinacted the boat scene at the beginning of the movie). I think most of the other kids just dropped acting over time and live normal lives.

It does seem that the 1994 movie was the silver screen debut for many of the new generation of Rascals; in fact, as was the case with Bug Hall, Travis Tedford was making his first credited appearance in the cinema. Even so, many of the actors probably had some prior professional experience in front of the camera, such as Travis Tedford's famous T.V. commercial spot for Welch's grape juice.

Some of the new Rascals faded away from Hollywood quickly, but others enjoyed a longer time in the spotlight. Blake McIver Ewing (Waldo) was very much in demand—especially on television—during the mid-'90s, his popular appeal having a lot to do with the unusual strength of his performance projection. He had terrific ability in that regard. Jordan Warkol (Froggy) would go on to voice Chocolate Boy in the animated Nickelodeon series Hey Arnold!, and he had a fair number of other roles along the way, too. A more obscure contributer to The Gang in the 1994 movie, Joseph Ashton (as a background Rascal with no solo lines), had a decent run in several films, and also provided the voice for Otto Rocket in another Nickelodeon series, Rocket Power. He was joined in some episodes of that series by fellow 1994 Rascal Sam Saletta (Butch), who lent his vocal talents to the character known to his friends as "Squid".

Feb 12, 2011 11:47:43 GMT -5 littlerascal4891 said:

I actually found a topic I posted on the forum back in 2009 about the film. littlerascals.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=772 I had forgotten I had written that. lol

I looked through the thread, and found many interesting things to consider. You said that Travis Tedford really didn't seem to be a lot like George McFarland's Spanky, and I would admit that I've thought the same thing, at least during parts of the film. I can actually see more of a physical resemblance between Travis Tedford and Tommy Bond's Butch, and if the movie had been created a few years later, I believe that Travis Tedford could have potentially been convincing as Butch.

The niche that Porky and Buckwheat filled in the 1994 movie was a little bit like that of Spanky and Scotty Beckett early in their Our Gang years, when they were mostly a visceral part of the group. They made smart quips and added some valuable humor, which I thought seemed to be the role designated for Porky and Buckwheat in the updated version. As for the sideways hat, I, too, pondered that. It's hard to know for sure what a director may have been thinking, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the hat were a subtle nod to Our Gang fans to acknowledge the presence of Scotty, even if he were not going to be written into the screenplay. The writers had a bit of an awkward situation on their hands, trying to fit twenty-three years worth of favorite characters into a single motion picture, and even though I would have loved to see them try to find an actor to channel Scotty, I can understand that significant roles in the production were extremely limited. The main example I think of that shows how hard it was to find things for all of the characters to do onscreen is the way that Mary Ann was included in the cast, yet her role was so restricted that I didn't even know it was her character until very recently. Trying to condense fond memories from two hundred twenty-one shorts worth of unique characters was a daunting task, at the very least.