Castle TV show, steam-punk, black powder pistols

[Perd Hapley]

Just thought it might interest some folks here, even if you're not regular Castle fans. The latest episode of Castle is a little bit steam-punk, and also has some discussion of black powder weaponry. (Features Nathan Fillion of Firefly as the title character.)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/184337/castle-punked

[roo_ster]

Yeah, I saw that.

The writers' cluelessness WRT black powder "ballistics testing" is profound.

[tokugawa]

My daughter wrote me and said the show was funny but the weapons handling was atrocious.!
 This used to be a fun show but the writers are scared to proceed, they keep replaying the same old personal dynamic formula over and over because it worked for a while. They are in a rut ..

[TommyGunn]

Yeah, I saw that.

The writers' cluelessness WRT black powder "ballistics testing" is profound.

As a BP aficionado, care to elaborate?  I don't watch CASTLE  and frankly, I don't care to sit on a computer watching TV a la' staccato .....

[Harold Tuttle]

i thought the finding a round ball on the grass was way lame

yeah, the pistol just lobs it out there and they land gently on the grass

[TommyGunn]

How far out "on the grass???"   
It is no more reasonable to expect this to happen from a black powder gun than from, say a .38 special or any other modern gun.  The laws of ballistics do not magicly rewrite themselves when you switch from black powder to modern propellents.
A heck of a lot of people were killed in the Civil War because the guns they used actually worked.....

[roo_ster]

TG:

You did not see it.  You would be horrified as a BP guy.  Horrified.

Here's some this non-BP expert caught:
1. Performing "ballistics tests" on round balls shot from old flintlock smooth bore pistols
1.a. Doing so on an entire collection of such to eliminate the possibility of the lead round ball coming from one of them.
2. Aforementioned lead round balls being shot at 40 paces plus a little and being found nestled amongst the grass all nice & comfy.
3. Using such pistols to shoot at a human silhouette at an estimated 25 yards and not being able to stay on paper.  Heck, shooting so far off the mark it goes off-bore 5+ feet at an estimated distance of 25 yards.

Pretty awful gun stuff.

Bonus Goof:
Murderer "modified his father's [modern] shotgun to fire lead balls."

[sanglant]

  teh stupid, it hurts.

[freakazoid]

"I think he's going for the time machine!"

  Why have I not heard of this show before?

edit - To modify the modern shotgun really all he would need to do is put something in it to keep the powder in the barrel then treat it like a regular black powder rifle. Although it is interesting how they couldn't hit each other with the pistols but the killer could basically snipe him from a farther distance.

[AJ Dual]

3. Using such pistols to shoot at a human silhouette at an estimated 25 yards and not being able to stay on paper.  Heck, shooting so far off the mark it goes off-bore 5+ feet at an estimated distance of 25 yards.

Pretty awful gun stuff.

Bonus Goof:
Murderer "modified his father's [modern] shotgun to fire lead balls."

If they were smoothbore, with balls, I gave them poetic license for #3. Granted, it's not so bad that someone could not hit another at 40 paces that it fails as a "technical" plot-point, but there's no good way to demonstrate the more subtle inaccuracy of smoothbore muskets and balls, over rifled conical bullets in a TV show.

Something with at least a kernel of truth to it usually gets a pass from me in a fiction setting.

Same for the bonus goof.

Prying open the crimp on a cheap birdshot shell, dumping the shot, and stuffing something else in there like an antique lead musket ball, then firing it is somewhat plausible. Although they flubbed the line by saying "modified his father's shotgun to fire lead balls". They should have said, "cut open a modern shotgun shell, dumped the shot, and put the lead ball in there..."  and the audience still would have gotten it.

Honestly the "Blackpowder social network of New York City" was the unbelievable part. Although at least they knew they had to put some kind of McGuffin in there because BP stuff isn't nearly as regulated as modern firearms. (OTOH, they may be in NYC, shrug...)

And uh.. she's only seventeen (I think) and if I were to comment on the actress that plays Nathon Fillion's daughter on the show, I might get a visit from Chris Hansen... er... so I won't.  
 
And I preemptively point an accusatory finger at ANYONE who's ever said one word, or ever had so much as a stray thought about Summer Glau when Firefly was still on the air. (Hmmpf) 

[freakazoid]

And I preemptively point an accusatory finger at ANYONE who's ever said one word, or ever had so much as a stray thought about Summer Glau when Firefly was still on the air. (Hmmpf) 

Kaylee is what did it for me, 

[AJ Dual]

Kaylee is what did it for me, 

Same here.

[roo_ster]

"I think he's going for the time machine!"

  Why have I not heard of this show before?

edit - To modify the modern shotgun really all he would need to do is put something in it to keep the powder in the barrel then treat it like a regular black powder rifle. Although it is interesting how they couldn't hit each other with the pistols but the killer could basically snipe him from a farther distance.

One of the better shows,IMO, despite the BP faux pas.

As was mentioned,just hand load a modern shotgun shell.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

And uh.. she's only seventeen (I think) and if I were to comment on the actress that plays Nathon Fillion's daughter on the show, I might get a visit from Chris Hansen... er... so I won't.

I actually know that girl. By proxy (three of them). Don't recall much, but I think she's a vegetarian. So don't mention bacon too much. Zardoz is probably okay, though.

[erictank]

One of the better shows,IMO, despite the BP faux pas.

As was mentioned,just hand load a modern shotgun shell.

I *REALLY* enjoy Castle.  But then, I get a kick out of Nathan Fillion playing, well, Nathan Fillion.

Molly Quinn certainly is a cutie, who did indeed (according to IMDB) just turn 17 a week and a half ago, so yes, you'd probably better avoid rousing the Wrath Of Hansen.   Nice to see a show where the teenage daughter doesn't just absolutely *HATE* her father.

The 'Moonlighting' will-they-won't-they vibe was getting just a little old - I like that they've introduced an outside love-interest for Beckett, which of course leaves Castle heartbroken.

[Perd Hapley]

I *REALLY* enjoy Castle.  But then, I get a kick out of Nathan Fillion playing, well, Nathan Fillion.

I liked him much better as Captain Mal.

[AJ Dual]

I *REALLY* enjoy Castle.  But then, I get a kick out of Nathan Fillion playing, well, Nathan Fillion.

Molly Quinn certainly is a cutie, who did indeed (according to IMDB) just turn 17 a week and a half ago, so yes, you'd probably better avoid rousing the Wrath Of Hansen.   Nice to see a show where the teenage daughter doesn't just absolutely *HATE* her father.

The 'Moonlighting' will-they-won't-they vibe was getting just a little old - I like that they've introduced an outside love-interest for Beckett, which of course leaves Castle heartbroken.

Yeah, I DO like that angle of it. The "Incompetent Doofus White Male" is a staple of most network TV, shows, and commercials these days. The fact that he does display his underlying brilliance out of the immature banter, and that in the domestic sidebar story, she needs her father now and again. And they make the occasional note that it's her absent mother that's the flake. (I guess TWO normal competent parents is too much for network TV at this time...)

[Perd Hapley]

I guess TWO normal competent parents is too much for network TV at this time...

Or any other video medium. I'm not sure why that is, but there are a few easy guesses. For one, it leaves Mom/Dad more open for exciting new romantic attachments, which is always an easy plot twist for writers to phone in. And children resenting the boyfriend/girlfriend, which is another thing writers can phone in. And maybe the writer is just writing from his own experience as a single parent or child of a broken home. And maybe the writer thinks that people will relate better to a family that isn't all Norman Rockwell.