NCIS MODERATORS' BLOG 22

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NCIS WARDROBE/MAKEUP/HAIRSTYLING

9th September

When thinking what to write today, the above came to mind, which I don't think we've discussed so far or at least in this blog.

What stands out about the wardrobe on the series, its practicality for the line of work the characters do, right down to the shoes they wear with the exception of Jenny Shepard, but then she supposedly stayed in her office dealing with the political side of the agency, except perhaps for that infamous scene at the end of S4, with those ridiculously high stiletto heels she went stomping off into the darkness. Then of course there are Abby's boots, which go with the Goth style, plus the fact she works in a lab, and better to wear clomping boots like that in case any liquid or heavy item fell on on her foot. We also know that when she has to make a court appearance, then they dress her up Barbie style complete with court shoes, although the heels are no where near as high as Jenny's.

Ziva on the other hand, is usually dressed in casual clothes, preferably trousers and a pair of sensible brogues or boots, which enable her to run without the risk of twisting an ankle. The trousers she wears are usually combat style, again eminently practical if she needs to run, kick or jump over something/someone, without getting her knickers in a twist (literal sense not figurative!!) or her movements impeded by restrictive clothing - common in other crime fighting series, where the female characters tend to be dressed for court appearances unless wearing uniform. Kate was somewhere between Ziva and Jenny in her dress style, although primarily she wore practical casual wear of a blouse/jumper and trousers, followed by low or flat heeled shoes.

The men are all pretty classic in their dress style, that includes Tony's middle price range Zara [in the Spanish State, this brand is inexpensive unlike abroad where it becomes designer label price wise!) or Ermenegildo Zegna (I hope that's spelt right!) suits. Have one thing they all have in common is that their trousers are a comfortable fitting allowing them to run and jump easily, likewise the fact they tend to wear brogue style shoes or boots. Gibbs' clothes are more casual than Tony's or McGee's but still smart enough for a government agency, they also fit in with his character of tough ex-marine. What is interesting to note in the men's wardrobes they all have those classic American Federal Agency long overcoats in charcoal grey/black - you never see these overcoats on European TV series.

Another interesting point in the men's wear, is that none of them use shoulder holsters to carry their weapons, no doubt there is a reason for that, but nevertheless it's something, which surprised me.

Ziva's hairstyles and makeup are underplayed, unlike the classic over madeup Charlie's Angels, where the girls looked as if they were on their way to a cocktail party as opposed to fighting crime, not to mention in other crime series, there is a tendency to make sure the female officers look extra pretty with perfect makeup, hair, and manicure - this is not the case with Ziva, where makeup is always kept to a minimum, the hairstyle informal or practical. Abby's hairstyles are informal too, likewise her makeup is also kept to a minimum, given the environment she works, even Jenny Shepard's hair and makeup were minimal, although her French manicure was perhaps a little exaggerated. However, given the post, then it didn't look quite so out of place.

The men's haircuts, except for Gibbs are impeccable - the day Gibbs gets a good haircut, we're all going to fall over backwards :-)

Another good area of the wardrobe in this series, are the scrubs worn by Ducky and Palmer along with the practical footwear of trainers for pottering about in the autopsy room. When they go to a crime scene their uniform is complemented again by practical brogues or boots. Ducky's own clothes are synonymous of the English well to do of the 60s and 70s, and earlier, with his bowties and tweed jackets.

The makeup used on the male actors to balance out skin colour for the lighting is also very natural, since in some series the men end up looking like a cross between George Hamilton and a glam artist, due to the excessive use of eye makeup.

I think all in all the series deserves an award, for keeping these areas in consonance with the characters' 'employment'. Special mention should also go to the makeup department for the excellent work they do on the cadavers we see in autopsy and crime scenes, not to mention scenes where people have been injured or beaten up. This is a particularly difficult area for makeup departments, one just has to look back at the film the English patient, and the very bad makeup of the burn victim, which was so unrealistic as to be laughable. So another well done for the NCIS makeup department and the realistic effects achieved on the cadavers, injured and beaten up characters.

No doubt we'll be seeing more of this excellent work by the makeup department in S7 if the promos of episode 1 are anything to go by, not to mention what we saw in final episode of S6.

LAST UPDATE ON 9th September 2009 9:55 PM - CET
SUBMITTED BY Sorgiña

SCRIPTS OF ALFONSO H. MORENO

8th September 2009

Alfonso joined the NCIS production team at the beginning of season 5. Whilst only having written five episodes, the ones he has written have all been extremely memorable. Let's take a look at them, shall we?

The Ex-File. The final appearance of Hollis Mann (yaaayyyyy). A convoluted plot involving Gibbs' ex-wife Stephanie. Several wonderful scenes, including the memorable one of Gibbs confronted by current girlfriend, ex-girlfriend and ex-wife. Every man's nightmare! To a Tom Lehrer fan like me, one of the delights of this episode was the plot device of information buried in a sound bite of one of Lehrer's comic songs, "The Elements Song". A counterpoint to the menage a troi scene in the squadroom was the beautiful and heart-rending scene in Gibbs' basement. As Hollis Mann finds and plays an old audio tape. Her surprise when she discovers the tape is of Gibbs' wife and daughter. The sight of Gibbs on the stairs, tears in his eyes, lost in his memories. The one brief moment as Hollis realizes that she can never, ever come first in Gibbs' life. Shannon and Kelly will always hold that position.
Dog Tags. Not liked by some fans, it is nevertheless an excellent episode. McGee savaged by a drug addled dog. Abby, predictably taking the dog's part over McGee's. Several scenes spring to mind. Ducky's confusion when Abby renames the dog Jethro. Abby: Have you met Jethro? Ducky (deeply confused): Many years ago! McGee being suckered into giving Jethro a new home. He knows he is being manipulated by Abby, he also knows he is going to do what she asks. Ah, true love. The most poignant scene however is the one with Jenny and Abby. Jenny is, on the surface, talking about the dog, but is in reality talking about her own impending death..
About Face. Alfonse was the teleplay writer for this episode. The episode that gave us a real insight into Jimmy Palmer and showed us the depth of feeling Ducky really does have for his assistant.
Collateral Damage. The episode that gave us the rookie Dwayne whom Gibbs initially distrusts, because he is distrusting his own gut-instincts. It takes Ducky's 'profile' on Dwayne, which is really a profile of Gibbs, to get our Jethro back to trusting himself again. Lovely scene in the cemetery when Dwayne protects an elderly lady, calling her "grandma" and escorting her to safety without raising the suspicion of the killers.
Caged. THE McGee episode of season 6. McGee trapped in a riot in a women's prison. He must solve the murder of a prison guard and somehow get out alive. Cute subplot with McGee being bullied by his mechanic. Wonderful display of McGee's new found confidence at the end as he chews out the mechanic over the telephone. Leaving DiNozzo with what is probably one of the best lines of season 6: "Who would have thought McGee would grow a pair inside a women's prison?"

As you can see, Alfonso has written some truly great NCIS scripts. I hope that we see a lot more of Alfonso's talent in season 7 and beyond.

LAST UPDATE ON 9th September 2009, 6.31AM
SUBMITTED BY MargyW

THE CHARACTERS AS POTENTIAL BOY/GIRLFRIEND

8th September

I know MargyW dealt with this as regards Gibbs, however, the rest of them don't exactly fair well if we take a detached look at them:

CHARACTER	POSITIVE POTENTIAL	NEGATIVE POTENTIAL
GIBBS	Attractive, fit, steady job, protective, loyal	Arrogant, workaholic, obsessive tendencies - e.g. Ari, unable to forget 1st wife, measures all other women according to her, unwilling to be dictated to - Hollis tried to rule him, addicted to coffee and drinks large amounts of bourbon
DINOZZO	Attractive, fit, charming, well-mannered, loyal, protective, street wise	Peter Pan tendencies, commitment phobe, workaholic, emotionally insecure, attention / approval seeking, inclined to be solitary - like Gibbs in many ways
ZIVA	Attractive, good figure, knows how to cook well - e.g. Boxed In episode, confident	Aggressive, likes to dominate, has difficulty expressing emotions, tends to act on the defensive, knowing how to diffuse bombs or killing people in many different ways doesn't exactly seduce a would-be suitor
MCGEE	Sweet, homely, intelligent, no-known vices	Lacks gumph, very nerdy, lacking in social skills, dull, seems to prefer playing online role games to socialising
ABBY	Attractive, good figure, highly intelligent, unique	Highly strung (may be due to large amounts of caffeine), too intelligent, too bizarre dress style, seems to be seeking a father figure, easily gets hysterical, workaholic
DUCKY	Elegant, charming, highly intelligent, mature, good conversationalist	A man who's always lived with his mother doesn't exactly inspire women, probably extremely set in his ways, over talkative, eccentric - talking to corpses as if they were alive is a little worrying to say the least

In the end none of our favourite characters would really make the grade in real life, however, we should of course bear in mind, their character traits are exaggerated to help us distinguish them, thus making each personality unique. Of course, there is no accounting for taste and different people are attracted by different things. Then of course, there are those who 'choose' people so that they can mould them into how they really want them to be, which is extremely sad, but it's amazing how many people are like this. So no doubt, there are people out there, who would be attracted to any of our intrepid characters if only for the pleasure of trying to mould them into the image they would like them to be, as if they were lumps of putty ready to be squeezed and rolled and beaten into shape. Then of course, there are those, who will idealise these characters and won't see beyond their obsession, but then that's another story altogether.

LAST UPDATE ON 8th September 2009 10:05 PM - CET
SUBMITTED BY Sorgiña

FAVORITE REGULAR CHARACTERS - PAST & PRESENT

7th September 2009

We all have characters that make watching NCIS very special for us. I thought I would share mine with you.

Leroy Jethro Gibbs. This is going to surprise no-one that Gibbs is my most favorite regular character. Mark Harmon who plays him was one of the reasons I began to watch NCIS in the first place. Gibbs delighted me from the start by being totally different to any of the current crop of TV heroes. For a start he was building a boat in his basement. That is quirky to say the least.
Dr Donald "Ducky" Mallard. David McCallum was the other reason I started to watch NCIS. I quickly grew to love Ducky's store of knowledge and the way he shared it in long rambling stories.
Ziva David. I admit that I didn't care for Ziva when she was introduced in "Kill Ari Part 1", but again, the quirkiness of the character soon appealed. Her mangling of the English language (my mother does the same thing and English IS her first language) had a resonance, and the running gag of her driving abilities (or lack thereof) is fun. And there aren't too many television shows that give us a Mossad assassin as a main character.....and strive to make her sympathetic to the audience.
Abby Scuito. I liked Abby the first time I saw the character in "Yankee White". I particularly liked the quick witted exchanges between her and Gibbs which were a feature of seasons 1 and 2. Abby's development or I could even say devolution, in season 6 has made her slightly less of a favorite with me. Interestingly, she is a favorite with my mother and her cousins (all in their late 70's early 80's) who all want to adopt her!
Leon Vance. I liked this character from the moment he was introduced in "Internal Affairs". Probably one of the deeper more intricate characters introduced on the show. He has had to spring full formed, where the others have had the time to grow and mature.

I am sure you all have other favorites and I would love to hear about them.

LAST UPDATE ON 8th September 2009, 6.28AM Australian Time
SUBMITTED BY MargyW

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Sorgiña

NCIS WARDROBE/MAKEUP/STYLING

Sep 9 2009, 8:40 PM EDT by Sorgiña

Thread started: Sep 9 2009, 4:06 PM EDT Watch

A few comments on the above make up the contents of my blog entry today. As always comments are welcome

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MargyW

Scripts of Alfonso H. Moreno

Sep 9 2009, 4:11 PM EDT by MargyW

Thread started: Sep 8 2009, 4:36 PM EDT Watch

My blog entry this morning in on this NCIS scriptwriter.

http://cbsncis.wetpaint.com/page/NCIS+MODERATORS%27+BLOG+22

Any discussion/feedback will be great.

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Sorgiña

The characters as potential boy/girlfriend

Sep 8 2009, 11:49 PM EDT by Sorgiña

Thread started: Sep 8 2009, 4:46 PM EDT Watch

Just a brief analysis of the main characters as a potential romantic partner. Nothing too deep, it's too hot where I am for my brain to do any more today. Your comments as always are welcome.

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