From: kstrong@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Captain Clueless)
Subject: Re: Major inconsistencies in BatB....
Organization: Oakland University, Rochester MI.
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 04:00:57 GMT

f012@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu writes:
>Well, it's probably due to that same little rift in the normal time-space
>continuum that makes the Beast's castle get closer and closer to Belle's
>village every day...IE, first time it took Maurice a whole day to get there on
>Philippe, by the end of the movie the villagers & Gaston got there in about 6
>minutes (judging by the length of the song.. :) walking...

I'd say that it's just a movie trick.  There might even have been a
set map of where the castle is compared to the village and Belle's
house.  (There might NOT have been.  I don't know.)  The point is that
there were different paths and different speeds to consider.

1.) Maurice goes off at a reasonable pace so he doesn't damage his
machine.  He also uses the roads for the same reason.  It takes him
about a day to get to the castle.  (Another point is that we don't
know how far or which way Phillepe ran while panicing.)  He traveling
slowly.

2.) Phillepe, panicing, races home as fast as he can.  We don't know
the path.  He probably made it back by mid to late morning.

3.) Belle rides Phillepe back trying to find her father.  She probably
went at a medium speed to go fast enough but still find the trail.
Add a little time in to let Belle search for likely places her father
would have gone.  She took about the rest of the day all in all.

4.) The mob just goes through the forest walking on paths not
necessarily taking the roads.  They go at a slow pace compared to
horseback but probably cover a significantly shorter distance.  They
thus take about 3-6 hours depending on some unknown factors.

5.) Belle and Maurice, go to the castle (probably both riding Phillepe
till the end when he'd be really tired).  Belle, having seen what is
where and everything, can ride Phillepe to the castle at a pretty fair
trot to a gallop in about an hour.

All of this sounds like a plausible explanation to me.  There were
obvioulsy time constraints that caused them to not show everything.
How many people would want to see every little bit of the mob making
the battering ram.  Think about it.  They had to cut down the tree,
cut it to the right size and chop off the branches that weren't used
as handles.  I would get bored with this process fast.

... Or look at the fight:  Mrs. Potts probably had to pour the hot tea
on at least 5 people.  It looses it's comedy after the first few
though, so we just didn't see those other dumps.  In the scene right
after Lumiere is saved from LeFou and subsequently saves the
featherduster (what IS her name anyway?), LeFou is chasing the
dog/footrest who has LeFou's shoe.  We missed the part where LeFou
looses the shoe to the dog, but we can imagine it.  The latter is the
important part.

In a movie, there has to be something of importance/significance
happening at almost all times.  (Or at least all times after the
mid-point of the movie.)  They can't afford to show us a long hike
through the woods or the entirity of the mob cutting down the tree and
making the battering ram.  They probably figure that we can mentally
fill in the gaps.  I know I could.

>You know, as I write this I just thought of something else - the castle
>changed directions from the village, didn't it?  1st time Maurice rides off
>into the countryside, but last time the mob goes THROUGH the villiage first...

Since I'm coming up with possibilities for everything else...

Perhaps they went to the village to get more men and drop off the
women and children.  After all, it is a sexist bunch of townspeople
from (probably) the 18th century or thereabouts.

Just my views.  They may be wrong.  They may be stupid.  But they're
100% from my head.  No one elses... :)

-- 
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= "PHENOMINAL COSMIC POWER!!!!          | Ken Strong aka Captain Clueless     =
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= -Robin Williams as "Aladdin"'s Genie  | Oakland U. in Rochester, Michigan   =
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