A Night in the Woods

[Scrabjan1]

Wouldn’t have Eddie gotten badly hurt falling off a cliff that high and onto a rocky ledge? He comes out unscathed.

[Mr B]

I think Lumpy said he caught some branches that helped break his fall

[Hazel Anyday]

Just saw that episode this week (I watch Beaver in order from my DVDs) and I noticed that rope they threw down for Eddie was pretty scrawny and thin. Even if Eddie could have reached it I don't know that it would have held.

[stevea]

Also, it was interesting E & L found them up there. Amazing they knew right where to look.

One other thing: a lot of Beaver was filmed on location, but you could tell this was an elaborate set on a sound stage. That must have been one expensive set to decorate.

[Scrabjan1]

Did Wally take them in a taxi to the woods? He didn’t drive.

[stevea]

They should have written it so that Lumpy dropped them off. That would have also explained how Eddie and Lumpy found them later. Or, they could have had Ward say, "I'll take you up there, and pick you up Sunday afternoon."

[Torgo]

Or they walked. Beaver and Wally went to the pond all the time to fish, these woods could have been in the same area.

[tdr]

This happens to be the only episode of LITB that I can clearly remember from the original run-- but really just the part where Eddie is seen stuck on the ledge.

It's true, though, that it's unlikely Eddie could have taken a fall that was broken by tree branches and gotten through without serious injuries. And we don't see, nor are we told, that he was scratched up, as would be almost inevitable. But he wasn't complaining about cuts or minor puncture wounds-- instead he complained about being cold and thirsty, and lonely if everybody left.

The ranger was played by John Hart, the father of Buddy Hart, who had played Chester Anderson in previous seasons. And John Hart himself had previously played the Scout Master in the 1st season when Wally and his buddies joined. He also had played the Lone Ranger during the year and a half that Clayton Moore was out of the role in a contract dispute. Beaver overstated Eddie's reaction that he "started telling the ranger how to run the forest." Really, he just said, "I could have gotten up myself but I thought I'd teach these fellows a lesson... I really gave you guys a scare, didn't I?"

[Scrabjan1]

Did anyone pick up on the conversation in the beginning about why Gilbert’s father can’t take them camping?

Beaver says they’ve been planning the trip for a whole month and Gilbert’s father was taking them. June says he can’t take them now and later Ward hopes it was a good excuse. Alan says his father gets sinus issues in the woods and Whitey’s father has to work like Ward.

Whitey says how Gilbert is home mad at his father and we find he has to go to a wedding. A wedding? He finds he has to go to a wedding 5 days before the camping trip. Was it one of those shotgun weddings? Maybe Gilbert’s sister had a quick wedding.

Ward said he had to work Saturday but he’s dressed casual for a change he’s not in a suit Saturday morning.

Who actually drove them to the mountain?

[Torgo]

I just assumed they walked, probably not far from where Larry and Beaver went on their picnic.

Everything was in walking distance, except after Beaver got banned from riding the school bus, school suddenly was too far for Beaver to walk (according to June)

[Scrabjan1]

When Wally and Beaver are about to leave June says so and so will be there shortly but missed the name. Maybe one of the fathers drove them to the mountain like Gilbert’s before the wedding.

[Torgo]

Don't recall that, the last conversation I recall between them and Mrs Cleaver is when Beaver's friends come over and talk to the parents in the living room, then it's Wally, Beaver, Eddie, Lumpy and eventually Gilbert out in the yard talking, then the next scene Wally leading Beaver and his friends to the clearing for their camping spot.

[stevea]

A couple of things about the episode:

How did Eddie and Lumpy know exactly where to find them camping?

Also, as much on-location shooting as LITB did, it would have made a better episode, IMO, if they had done an on-location shoot for this one. Although it would have been expensive, it mustn't have been cheap constructing all that elaborate scenery. They also had to mock up that ledge scene with Eddie. Other shows of the time did location shoots in remote-looking areas, so it wasn't unheard-of (Andy Griffith/Mayberry RFD, Lassie, Ozzie and Harriet).

The getting where you are thing is always interesting--like when Beaver and Larry are "downtown" looking in storefront windows, etc. I'm just trying to imagine 8 or 9 year olds wandering that far, even in those days. Yet we need a school bus to get to Grant Avenue School. But we don't, sometimes we can ride our bikes. But, wait, Beaver walked Mary to the Cleavers'. How did we get to Friends Lake? Sometimes Beaver and Larry get there somehow, sometimes we drive for a picnic...evidently, when we're writers, we just don't think about it.

None of this is exclusive to LITB--we see this on other sitcoms, too.

[Torgo]

Maybe they went with a set because of the Eddie over the cliff scene? Also, being set a night.
A lot of their outdoor scenes are filmed on location.

[stevea]

Yeah, shooting on-location with a ton of lights would have been rough, and I suppose they might have encountered real wild animals. Then Eddie wouldn't have needed the record.