<![CDATA[Basil the rat.Why did they have to use a puppet?]]>Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Fawlty Towers

johnbalance — 9 years ago(January 04, 2017 11:47 PM)

I think that a very funny final episode is let down somewhat by the fact that Basil, when we see him in the biscuit tin at the end is represented by a very unconvincing sock puppet. Surely there could have been some way of using a real trained rat in this scene.

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/topic/187266/basil-the-rat-why-did-they-have-to-use-a-puppetRSS for NodeThu, 14 May 2026 14:16:23 GMTWed, 29 Apr 2026 00:07:24 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Basil the rat.Why did they have to use a puppet? on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:07:26 GMT]]>deem_bastille — 9 years ago(January 07, 2017 07:02 AM)

and what was the rat doing when we saw the real one? running around, eating. it is practically impossible to get a rodent to 'act' when and how you need him to. he can not take direction.
Heck, we just had professional family photos done and my 1 year old niece spent all her time trying to eat the stuff she found on the grass or crawling away. It takes too much time to wait to get a good shot of a rat sitting up nicely in a metal box.
and if you want to see a good example of bad editing try seeing a close up of Malcolm in the Middle's Lois feeding 'baby jamie' in a high chair that is actually a doll! close up!
Oh God. Fortune
vomits
on my eiderdown once more.

]]>https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1572479https://filmglance.com/discuss/post/1572479Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:07:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Basil the rat.Why did they have to use a puppet? on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:07:25 GMT]]>drunkbear — 9 years ago(January 05, 2017 08:29 AM)

Absolutely agree with you, on that. I've always thought that it broke up the feel of the entire episode. After all, we'd already seen the REAL rat a few times; how hard would it have been to make it look like Basil (Fawlty) took the lid off of the biscuit tin to reveal Basil (the rat) sitting inside of it?

  • Oh, SOMEbody asides me is gonna RUE this here particular day
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