Mysterious latex mask-wearing figure seen in Night Court's opening intro... - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

WilliamShatnersPants · 12-04-2005, 07:40 AM

Hey People!

I'm new here. Glad that I found a message board out there for fans of this wonderful show. NightCourt was my favourite show growing up in the eighties. It was worth staying up late for, and I have never grown tired of it!

One thing that has always intrigued me was the funky opening title imagery and theme song. Interspersed between the characters being listed were shots of New York, the people walking the streets, steam rising from vents in the pavement, etc... There is something that I used to see every time I viewed these credits, and to this day, I don't know if I was imagining things or not. One of the in-between shots of the city shows a horse drawn-carriage carrying people down the street. If you look closely in this shot, you can see passengers enjoying the ride - however, on closer inspection, I can see something that I've never - to this day - been able to explain.

It's a person wearing what looks to be a hideously exagerrated latex mask of John Larroquette visage, riding in the carriage!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've always seen this face, and it used to freak me-out every time. One time, I taped the show and paused it on this scene in the opening title and showed it to my friend, who could also see and make out the latex-mask wearing figure. Because the film of this sequence is taken at night, and the light is not the best, I can't be sure of what I'm seeing, or if this is seen correctly - whether it is a latex-mask wearing clown or not - it looks remarkable similar to JL.

Can anyone else see this shadowy face in the carriage? Am I seeing things? Or was it all a trick of the receeding light? Or was I just staying up way-past my bedtime?

Your comments would be much appreciated.

HaskellGirl · 12-04-2005, 10:52 AM

I've never seen a horse-drawn carriage in the opening of Night Court.

ekkostar · 12-04-2005, 03:30 PM

It happens right before John Larroquette's credit in the opening from Season 3 on, but I've never seen the mask wearin' man.

nitcrt1 · 12-04-2005, 03:56 PM

You're question caught my attention. So, I pulled out one of my tapes and watched the opening credits. I did remember the carriage ride. I have to say that sequence was a bit strange. I did look like someone in the carriage had some kind of latex mask on. I never paid any attention to that before. It looked like a big over-sized head. Too kooky!

McFly121 · 12-04-2005, 08:10 PM

The beauty of tivo, let's just have a look at a digitally recorded ep....

Hmm, the person in the carriage is at a distance, so it's tough. Either a pale face, or a Reagan mask from my determination.

nitcrt1 · 12-04-2005, 09:05 PM

Yeah or like a Nixon mask. It was weird.

WilliamShatnersPants · 12-05-2005, 12:13 AM

Thanks for your replies!

I glad that I wasn't simply imagining that strange mask-looking figure in the the carriage. Even if it isn't a mask, it still is a strange looking shape/image. It has haunted me for years! It does kinda resemble a nixon mask. I think its proximity to the JL image made me connect the two, even though it looks nothing like JL. Always fascinated me, this Night Court bogeyman face. The fact it's riding in the horse-drawn carriage kinda adds to the surrealness of this image.

It reminds me of the Three Men and a Baby movie urban legend, about how a ghost of someone who supposively killed themselves on a set used in this movie can be seen in the background of one still - apparently this figure is a cardboard cutout that someone forgot to remove before filming, and so it gave rise to the ghost rumour when people started seeing this in the footage.

There is another strange sighting I have seen on The Ring movie, which I have been unable to explain. It goes as follows:

Late in the film, when Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson's characters pick up their son and take him to bed, you can see a strange moving figure in the background of the dimly-lit, hallway. Watts and Henderson carry their son through a doorway, and in the background, in the hallway, there is the movement of what looks to be a human-like sillouette, wearing a bowler-hat. As the characters move through the set, the shadowy shape in the background moves, as if there was a person standing out of sight in the hallway, however, the shadow they are casting is clearly seen on the hallway walls, moving out the way as the lead actors move into the hallway. It is another clearly seen unexplained figure, as it does not relate to the plot of The Ring, and is not explained. The scene is dark and monocromatic, backlit with rain splashing against the window panes in the hallway background.

Can anyone else also see this figure? Let me know if you can.

ClassicTVGal · 12-05-2005, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WilliamShatnersPants

It reminds me of the Three Men and a Baby movie urban legend, about how a ghost of someone who supposively killed themselves on a set used in this movie can be seen in the background of one still - apparently this figure is a cardboard cutout that someone forgot to remove before filming, and so it gave rise to the ghost rumour when people started seeing this in the footage.

Yes, I saw that on TV the other day or so... it is a cardboard cut out of Ted Danson.

WilliamShatnersPants · 12-05-2005, 12:38 AM

Ted Danson Cardboard cutout! LOL!

Bizarre!

Anyone watching The Ring movie, have you seen this strange shadowy figure in the background of this rainy-night-outside, in the hallway scene?

WilliamShatnersPants · 12-04-2006, 06:47 AM

Hey people

It's been a while since I've frequented these boards - and it's good to be back!

I just picked up Night Court Season One boxed set - and I'm loving it!!!!

I'm hoping that they release subsequent seasons, particulary as I'm keen to see the mysterious latex-mask wearing figure, in the opening credits - absent in season one - unfortunately!

Warners Bros had better get working on releasing seasons 2 and 3 shortly, or else they are gonna have some pretty angry Night Court fans to contend with...

kramer · 02-12-2007, 09:32 PM

http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5868
The bad news is there will be no more Night Court releases. The sales were too low for Warner Bros. to consider a second season. All we can do is contact them and try to persuade them to continue the season sets.

nitcrt1 · 02-13-2007, 08:40 PM

Okay, I'm just going to come right out and say it...this is a load of crap. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the sets they were comparing "Night Court" to are shows that are still actively in syndication and are the most recent to be off the air. As far as I'm concerned, this is an unfair comparison. You can't compare shows that are more recent and were closer to the rising DVD market to shows that ended when VCRs were more popular for crying out loud. It's just not right. Additionally, the shows that were mentioned were promoted far more than "Night Court" was and are more readily available to the public for purchase. You can actually go into a Target or Circuit City and buy them. You can't do that with "Night Court." You could in the beginning for season one, but again there was very little if any promotion for it. Because "Night Court" is not a perpetual syndication staple, there should have been more promotion for it. There are many ways that seasons of "Night Court" could be packaged and sold to actual stores. I just think Warner Brothers is too lazy to do it. I think the only solution to this problem, other than a huge fan campaign, is if someone associated with "Night Court" had the money to buy the rights. Then, they could market and promote the show the way it should be marketed and sold. Heck, I never knew until today that the Olsen twins bought the rights to "Full House." This is still being sold in season sets. Warner Brothers will never treat this show with respect. Thus, they should sell it to someone who would.
Don't get me wrong. I knew this was going to happen. Warner Brothers screwed "Night Court" once already. Why stop now?

Whew! That's enough of my soapbox for today.

I'll leave Warner Brothers with this parting comment...BOO!!!!!

WilliamShatnersPants · 03-20-2007, 07:47 AM

^^^ I agree one-hundy percentile!

Warners have missed the boat completely on NightCourt.

And it's a travesty!

The latest wearing mask is now a metaphor for the distorted, fake rubber-mask wearing Warners, leering in the background of NightCourt's credits, insidious, scary and completely ridiculous!!!

ARRRHHHGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

WilliamShatnersPants · 03-20-2007, 08:01 AM

Words cannot express how disappointed I am in Warners decision...

:

:2mad :

hazlenut · 03-20-2007, 05:47 PM

Grr...This sucks! Unless the title of your show is "Friends", WB doesn't give it the time of day.

Ok, I liked Friends and thought it was a good show but seriously, how many different compilations of the same show can you put out on DVD?!?!?!

It just bugs me to no end that two of my all time favorite shows, both Warner Brothers, will never see the light of day on DVD and for no GOOD reason.

12-04-2005, 07:40 AM	#1
WilliamShatnersPants Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 04, 2005 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 6	Mysterious latex mask-wearing figure seen in Night Court's opening intro... Hey People! I'm new here. Glad that I found a message board out there for fans of this wonderful show. NightCourt was my favourite show growing up in the eighties. It was worth staying up late for, and I have never grown tired of it! One thing that has always intrigued me was the funky opening title imagery and theme song. Interspersed between the characters being listed were shots of New York, the people walking the streets, steam rising from vents in the pavement, etc... There is something that I used to see every time I viewed these credits, and to this day, I don't know if I was imagining things or not. One of the in-between shots of the city shows a horse drawn-carriage carrying people down the street. If you look closely in this shot, you can see passengers enjoying the ride - however, on closer inspection, I can see something that I've never - to this day - been able to explain. It's a person wearing what looks to be a hideously exagerrated latex mask of John Larroquette visage, riding in the carriage!!!!!!!!!!!! I've always seen this face, and it used to freak me-out every time. One time, I taped the show and paused it on this scene in the opening title and showed it to my friend, who could also see and make out the latex-mask wearing figure. Because the film of this sequence is taken at night, and the light is not the best, I can't be sure of what I'm seeing, or if this is seen correctly - whether it is a latex-mask wearing clown or not - it looks remarkable similar to JL. Can anyone else see this shadowy face in the carriage? Am I seeing things? Or was it all a trick of the receeding light? Or was I just staying up way-past my bedtime? Your comments would be much appreciated.
	Last edited by WilliamShatnersPants; 12-04-2005 at 08:10 AM.

12-04-2005, 03:30 PM	#3
ekkostar Coffee, Tea & Larroquette! Senior Member Join Date: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 1,077	It happens right before John Larroquette's credit in the opening from Season 3 on, but I've never seen the mask wearin' man.
	__________________ "All my sitcoms had an audience, with four or five cameras, so working this way has always been appealing to me." - John Larroquette A living legend, five Emmys and a Tony award! Your favorites could never...

12-04-2005, 08:10 PM	#5
McFly121 Member Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 18, 2004 Location: calif Posts: 812	The beauty of tivo, let's just have a look at a digitally recorded ep.... Hmm, the person in the carriage is at a distance, so it's tough. Either a pale face, or a Reagan mask from my determination.
	__________________ "That was Bob's donut!"

02-12-2007, 09:32 PM	#11
kramer Re-gifter Frequent Poster Join Date: Mar 15, 2003 Posts: 255	http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5868 The bad news is there will be no more Night Court releases. The sales were too low for Warner Bros. to consider a second season. All we can do is contact them and try to persuade them to continue the season sets.
	__________________ Man: Is this going to be in competent hands? Curly: Certainly! We're all incompetent

03-20-2007, 05:47 PM	#15
hazlenut Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Dec 24, 2001 Location: Newark, DE Posts: 147	Grr...This sucks! Unless the title of your show is "Friends", WB doesn't give it the time of day. Ok, I liked Friends and thought it was a good show but seriously, how many different compilations of the same show can you put out on DVD?!?!?! It just bugs me to no end that two of my all time favorite shows, both Warner Brothers, will never see the light of day on DVD and for *no GOOD* reason.**
	__________________ Murphy's Law of Work: - You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard. - Never delay the ending of a meeting or the beginning of a cocktail hour. - If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done. - When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried. - No one gets sick on Wednesdays. Last edited by hazlenut; 05-13-2007 at 07:29 PM.

12-04-2005, 10:52 AM	#2
HaskellGirl Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jul 15, 2002 Posts: 590	I've never seen a horse-drawn carriage in the opening of Night Court.

12-04-2005, 03:56 PM	#4
nitcrt1 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 22, 2003 Posts: 482	You're question caught my attention. So, I pulled out one of my tapes and watched the opening credits. I did remember the carriage ride. I have to say that sequence was a bit strange. I did look like someone in the carriage had some kind of latex mask on. I never paid any attention to that before. It looked like a big over-sized head. Too kooky!

12-04-2005, 09:05 PM	#6
nitcrt1 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 22, 2003 Posts: 482	Yeah or like a Nixon mask. It was weird.

12-05-2005, 12:13 AM	#7
WilliamShatnersPants Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 04, 2005 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 6	Thanks for your replies! I glad that I wasn't simply imagining that strange mask-looking figure in the the carriage. Even if it isn't a mask, it still is a strange looking shape/image. It has haunted me for years! It does kinda resemble a nixon mask. I think its proximity to the JL image made me connect the two, even though it looks nothing like JL. Always fascinated me, this Night Court bogeyman face. The fact it's riding in the horse-drawn carriage kinda adds to the surrealness of this image. It reminds me of the Three Men and a Baby movie urban legend, about how a ghost of someone who supposively killed themselves on a set used in this movie can be seen in the background of one still - apparently this figure is a cardboard cutout that someone forgot to remove before filming, and so it gave rise to the ghost rumour when people started seeing this in the footage. There is another strange sighting I have seen on The Ring movie, which I have been unable to explain. It goes as follows: Late in the film, when Naomi Watts and Martin Henderson's characters pick up their son and take him to bed, you can see a strange moving figure in the background of the dimly-lit, hallway. Watts and Henderson carry their son through a doorway, and in the background, in the hallway, there is the movement of what looks to be a human-like sillouette, wearing a bowler-hat. As the characters move through the set, the shadowy shape in the background moves, as if there was a person standing out of sight in the hallway, however, the shadow they are casting is clearly seen on the hallway walls, moving out the way as the lead actors move into the hallway. It is another clearly seen unexplained figure, as it does not relate to the plot of The Ring, and is not explained. The scene is dark and monocromatic, backlit with rain splashing against the window panes in the hallway background. Can anyone else also see this figure? Let me know if you can.

12-05-2005, 12:38 AM	#9
WilliamShatnersPants Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 04, 2005 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 6	Ted Danson Cardboard cutout! LOL! Bizarre! Anyone watching The Ring movie, have you seen this strange shadowy figure in the background of this rainy-night-outside, in the hallway scene?

12-04-2006, 06:47 AM	#10
WilliamShatnersPants Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 04, 2005 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 6	Hey people It's been a while since I've frequented these boards - and it's good to be back! I just picked up Night Court Season One boxed set - and I'm loving it!!!! I'm hoping that they release subsequent seasons, particulary as I'm keen to see the mysterious latex-mask wearing figure, in the opening credits - absent in season one - unfortunately! Warners Bros had better get working on releasing seasons 2 and 3 shortly, or else they are gonna have some pretty angry Night Court fans to contend with...

02-13-2007, 08:40 PM	#12
nitcrt1 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Oct 22, 2003 Posts: 482	Okay, I'm just going to come right out and say it...this is a load of crap. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the sets they were comparing "Night Court" to are shows that are still actively in syndication and are the most recent to be off the air. As far as I'm concerned, this is an unfair comparison. You can't compare shows that are more recent and were closer to the rising DVD market to shows that ended when VCRs were more popular for crying out loud. It's just not right. Additionally, the shows that were mentioned were promoted far more than "Night Court" was and are more readily available to the public for purchase. You can actually go into a Target or Circuit City and buy them. You can't do that with "Night Court." You could in the beginning for season one, but again there was very little if any promotion for it. Because "Night Court" is not a perpetual syndication staple, there should have been more promotion for it. There are many ways that seasons of "Night Court" could be packaged and sold to actual stores. I just think Warner Brothers is too lazy to do it. I think the only solution to this problem, other than a huge fan campaign, is if someone associated with "Night Court" had the money to buy the rights. Then, they could market and promote the show the way it should be marketed and sold. Heck, I never knew until today that the Olsen twins bought the rights to "Full House." This is still being sold in season sets. Warner Brothers will never treat this show with respect. Thus, they should sell it to someone who would. Don't get me wrong. I knew this was going to happen. Warner Brothers screwed "Night Court" once already. Why stop now? Whew! That's enough of my soapbox for today. I'll leave Warner Brothers with this parting comment...BOO!!!!!

03-20-2007, 07:47 AM	#13
WilliamShatnersPants Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 04, 2005 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 6	^^^ I agree one-hundy percentile! Warners have missed the boat completely on NightCourt. And it's a travesty! The latest wearing mask is now a metaphor for the distorted, fake rubber-mask wearing Warners, leering in the background of NightCourt's credits, insidious, scary and completely ridiculous!!! ARRRHHHGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

03-20-2007, 08:01 AM	#14
WilliamShatnersPants Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Dec 04, 2005 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 6	Words cannot express how disappointed I am in Warners decision... : :2mad :