6.21 Ursa Minor

 

 

 

 


Original Air Date: July 12, 1995 Production number: 77819
Written by:
Sam Egan Directed by: Pat McKee


Ed: Do we have anything you can spray on furniture to keep bears off--like BEAR AWAY?
Log line (1): Ed becomes a surrogate parent to a bear cub; Chris uses lucid dreaming to explore his growing love for Maggie; Maurice is concerned the population is dwindling.
Synopsis
(Production Bible):

Walking through the snow in the wilderness, Ed comes upon a bearcub - only a few months old -- who's been separated from its mother. The bear wants nothing than to be with Ed, who wants nothing but to be away from the bear. But, given the kind and compassionate person Ed is, he sees no choice but to take it back home with him. When he tries to pass it off on Phil, Phil tells him its his responsibility, and that the bear really needs some mothering. Naturally, Ed never had any intention of being a mother, and barely wants to be a father. Still, he continues to care for the bear cub, bonding with it in a loving, caring way that even surprises him. When Ed leaves the bear alone for a minute and it gets away, Ed panics like a father would panic. This is too weird. But, finally, when walking in the woods and teaching the young cub about different kinds of berries, the bear's mother returns, and Ed is forced to give up the creature that he'd never wanted, but had come to love.

And, speaking of creatures that Cicelians had never wanted but had come to love, Chris is becoming more attached to Maggie, and it's scaring him. He decides to try lucid dreaming, where he has control over his dreams and can put himself in specific situations. Problem is, he puts himself in a hotel with Maggie, but instead gets Melissa, a beautiful woman who eventually seduces him. But, through his lucid dreaming, he comes to realize that Maggie is the woman he wants most of all. Meanwhile, Maurice is all bent out of shape. (What? Never happen) The population of Cicely has gone down by sixteen, and he sees his dream of it becoming a boomtown slowly diminishing. When Hayden Keyes' brother, Rusty, decided to close up shop and leave town, Maurice has had it. He's on a mission to bring business back into Cicely, and eventually cuts a deal with a businessman who has a family of nine, who decide to make their home in Cicely, much to Maurice's content.

Details
(Production Bible):

Oneironauts - explorers of lucid dreaming.

Population of Cicely: 615

Homer, Alaska - Silicon Valley of the North

Chris' sleepytime attire: old fashioned nightshirt, sleeping cap with tassle, wired ski-goggles.

Hot P and a four-top, side o'homers -- TRANSLATION: Pancakes with four eggs and home fries.

Michelle's new skills: Can disassemble and clean an 80-cup percolator in less than 10 minutes. Knows the shelf-life of a hundred basic perishables.

Most Memorable Quote: "You haven't been lying on this with your shoes on, have you?

Guest stars (9): Hayden Keyes - James L. Dunn
Eugene - Earl Quewezance
Todd Patterson - Ronald Hippe
Aral Subrapramian - Navin Naidu
Lucille - Amy Perry
Bellhop - Fred Saas (Also served as the extras casting)
Bar Patron - Floyd Van Buskirk
Melissa - Felicity Waterman

Music:
(Note music listed is from the original TV airings. The DVD may differ.)

[Help! Email me if you know these names of the tunes on the original airings.]
• instumental at Maggie's house when Chris runs away.

• cajun/country tune in the Brick when Maurice and Ruth-Anne argue about the population.

• elevator/Lawrence Welk music when Chris dreams of the Woodbine and Melissa.

• country song in the Brick when Phil and Michelle talk.

• piano tune in Ruth-Anne's store when Maggie talks about Chris' lucid dreaming.

• elevator music when Maurice talks with Todd about Honey Baked Ham franchises.

Canned Heat - Canned Heat
[Maurice, drunk, laments to Phil about the population decrease. Phil wallows over Michelle not coming home. Phil attacks the jukebox.]

• instrumental when Melissa shows up in KBHR when Chris thinks he is awake.

• guitar ditty at the end.

Shelly's Earrings:

Babies [When Ed brings Bear to the daycare center and complains to Shelly and Lucille, the other Mom.]

Additional Notes:

Script was previously known as "Visions." Airdates was listed as May 3, 1995 in the Production Bible, however the show was placed on hiatus prior to this, so the last couple of episodes were delayed until July.

We never meet Rusty Keyes (Hayden's brother) but he shows up on a resume for a Mark Lewis who was a Featured Performer. Did he end up on the cutting room floor or were there additional unaired episodes? In this episode, Mr. Rusty leaves town. You can see the deleted scene on the The Complete Season Six DVD.

The illustrious Kurt L. finally tackled the mystery and posted this in the NX newsgroup:
<<So I asked Mark Lewis directly about the elusive Rusty Keyes. Here's his reply which he gave me permission to post:
Hi Kurt,
I was hired to play Rusty Keyes in the Ursa Minor episode. I played the owner of the party supply and gun shop in Cicely. Rusty is Hayden's brother. In my scene, Rusty is trying to skip out of town without paying back rent to Maurice. Maurice confronts Rusty as he is packing the station wagon in front of the store. My favorite line from the scene was, "But Jeez, Maurice, party supplies don't move like they used to ... and everybody's already goat a firearm." Another part of the scene was Hayden wanting me to give him a box of glitter pens. It was an amazing experience to do a scene with Barry Corbin. Also, in the episode, Chris was experimenting with lucid dreaming and was putting himself in a Paris Hotel. The scene was cut and never made it on the air. I have never heard why. I figure they decided that it was more interesting to have Chris rolling around on a bed in Paris with a beautiful concierge than seeing a big guy with a beard trying to skip out of town. Even though I never made it on the air, I still get residual checks for the episode from Universal! I hope this helps to clear things up. Please let me know that you got this. I would love to answer any other questions you may have. Thanks for checking in.
Cheers, Mark
http://www.laughingmooninc.com>>

As Ed panics and looks for Bear, he runs around the corner and we can see the Central Sundries sign - that is the "real" name of Ruth-Anne's store in Roslyn. WA.

Rusty's old store that Maurice rents out in the end is home was once home to the coolest store in Roslyn - called Lost in Roslyn (which has since moved to main street). Now it is a bicycle place, with rentals when you're visiting town.

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