EMILY: So do I. We really ought to do something. RORY: Yes, I agree. LORELAI: Warning, warning. EMILY: I’m glad to hear you say that Rory, because I thought of a wonderful way to cheer him up. RORY: Cool, what? LORELAI: Danger, Will Robinson, danger!
Lorelai is referencing the science-fiction television series Lost in Space (1965-1968). Inspired by the 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson, it followed the adventures of the Robinson family, pioneering space colonists, struggling to survive in the depths of space.
Will Robinson (played by Bill Mumy) was the youngest member of the family, a precocious nine-year-old who was a whizz with electronics and computers. He was accompanied by a robot (played by Bob May, voiced by Dick Tufeld), who was tasked with protecting Will. His catchphrases to alert Will when faced with potential hazards were, “Warning, warning”, and “Danger, Will Robinson, danger”.
The series received reasonable ratings and its catchphrases became part of popular culture, although never given much respect as a work of science-fiction. It was adapted into a film in 2004, and rebooted as a television series on Netflix (2018-2021).
The episode ends with Rory back in the dining hall at Chilton, peacefully reading and listening to her Walkman. She hasn’t been made to socialise after all, and the headmaster has been forced to back down and realise that Gilmore girls have to follow their own rules.
Another girl asks if she can sit with Rory, and she takes her own book out and starts reading in silence. Rory smiles at this confirmation she is not the only person at Chilton who likes to read at lunchtime, and now she isn’t a weird loner any more. She has a lunch friend, just as Mrs Verdinas insisted she find.
According to the credits, this girl is named Lisa. She’s played by Connecticut actress Madeline Zima, who already had quite a lengthy CV at this stage, and was most famous for playing Grace Sheffield in The Nanny.
Lisa was one of the other girls who was going to be inducted by the Puffs at the same time as Rory and Paris, although she is never introduced to the viewer and never speaks to Rory that we see (they might have spoken off-screen). She is the girl wearing blue and yellow checked pyjama pants with a grey tee shirt and a blue cardigan.
Possibly Lisa was also told to find some friends, rather than sit and read at lunchtime – although if so, couldn’t Headmaster Charleston or Mrs Verdinas have simply introduced Rory and Lisa to each other, suggesting that they have something in common? You know, like a normal school? Lisa was never shown eating lunch with the Puffs, so presumably she was recruited some other way, or that occurred after Rory and Paris joined the table, and was therefore offscreen.
Do not expect to ever see Lisa again, or hear her mentioned. Did she and Rory ever speak to each other and become real friends? Did they show each other the books they were reading? Did they have anything else in common? These questions are never answered.
In an episode that doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense, it finishes with a character that remains an enigma.
EDIT: This article was heavily edited with the kind assistance of Sarah M, who was able to identify Lisa as one of the girls at the Puffs induction ceremony, something I was unable to do.
RORY: Hey. LORELAI: Hey. RORY: Hey. LORELAI: Yeah, look Fat Albert. Get me a soda, will you?
Lorelai is referring to the hero of the animated children’s television show, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972-1985). It was created by comedian Bill Cosby and inspired by his own childhood gang in Philadelphia, and his friend Albert Robertson. In the show, Fat Albert is wise beyond his years, and serves as the conscience of the gang to maintain its integrity. The lead singer of their band, Fat Albert is also athletic and loves sports, despite his weight.
LORELAI: Do you think [Luke’s] dated anyone since Rachel? RORY: I don’t know. Where would he meet anyone? He’s either here or in his apartment. LORELAI: Maybe he has a secret life. Maybe he’s got a little chippy stowed away in Mount Pilot.
Mount Pilot is a fictional town in the sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68). The show is set in the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, and Mount Pilot is a neighbouring larger town. Mayberry is apparently based on the real town of Pilot Mountain in North Carolina, with its name inspiring Mount Pilot. (There is a real Mayberry in Virginia, about 22 miles from Pilot Mountain).
The archetypal small town of Mayberry was almost named Taylortown and had a sheriff named Taylor [!!!!!], and like Stars Hollow, only had one traffic light and a cast of lovable eccentric characters. Like Stars Hollow, it was about thirty miles from the state capital, and had a population of ambiguous size.
The name Mayberry is used in popular culture as a term to refer to idyllic small town life and rural simplicity. Lorelai is humorously using the name “Mount Pilot” to mean any real life neighbouring town to the “Mayberry” of Stars Hollow.
“Chippy” is dated American slang for a prostitute or promiscuous woman; it goes back to the late 19th century and is of obscure origin.
RORY: Thanks again for going with me. DEAN: Tomorrow you start paying. Bye. [leaves]
Dean makes it sound as if Rory will start watching BattleBots the next day, a Sunday, but in real life, the show was broadcast on Wednesdays at this time. Maybe he taped it to watch later – all that ball preparation (tee hee) must have really cut into his television-watching schedule.
It’s a chilly and rather threatening way to end a night out with his girlfriend, and fans could well feel that Dean is also in preparation for being “phased out”.
CHRISTOPHER: Imagine what we could do if we freed up the brain space that holds onto the Viennese Waltz. LORELAI: Yeah, it’s right up there in between old Brady Bunch reruns and the lyrics to Rapture.
Christopher and Lorelai mention things they learned and experienced during their teenage years they can never forget. It’s a none-too-subtle reference to the fact that they can never really forget each other or let each other go.
Viennese Waltz
A type of ballroom dance, the original form of the waltz. It emerged in the second half of the 18th century from a German baroque dance and an Austrian folk dance. The American style of the waltz allows for much greater freedom of movement.
The Brady Bunch
An American sitcom about a large blended family which aired from 1969 to 1974, but is still popular today as re-runs. There are also numerous specials, spin-offs, and television movies based on the show. It later turns out that Lorelai and Rory often watched them.
Rapture
A 1981 Blondie song which combines new wave, disco, and rap. From the album Autoamerican, it went to #1 in the US, and was successful around the world. It was the first song with rapping in it to get to #1, and the first rap song to original music.
The lyrics are:
Toe to toe Dancing very close Barely breathing Almost comatose Wall to wall People hypnotised And they’re stepping lightly Hang each night in Rapture
Back to back Sacroiliac Spineless movement And a wild attack
Face to face Sadly solitude And it’s finger popping Twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture
Fab Five Freddy told me everybody’s fly Dj spinnin’ I said, “My, my” Flash is fast, Flash is cool François c’est pas, Flash ain’t no dude And you don’t stop, sure shot Go out to the parking lot And you get in your car and drive real far And you drive all night and then you see a light And it comes right down and it lands on the ground And out comes a man from Mars And you try to run but he’s got a gun And he shoots you dead and he eats your head And then you’re in the man from Mars You go out at night eatin’ cars You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too Mercurys and Subaru And you don’t stop, you keep on eatin’ cars Then, when there’s no more cars you go out at night And eat up bars where the people meet Face to face, dance cheek to cheek One to one, man to man Dance toe to toe, don’t move too slow ‘Cause the man from Mars is through with cars He’s eatin’ bars, yeah wall to wall Door to door, hall to hall He’s gonna eat ’em all Rapture, be pure Take a tour through the sewer Don’t strain your brain, paint a train You’ll be singin’ in the rain Said don’t stop to punk rock
Well now you see what you wanna be Just have your party on TV ‘Cause the man from Mars won’t eat up bars when the TV’s on And now he’s gone back up to space Where he won’t have a hassle with the human race And you hip-hop, and you don’t stop Just blast off, sure shot ‘Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin’ cars and eatin’ bars And now he only eats guitars, get up
Lorelai must have sung along to this a lot to have learned all the lyrics off by heart! Maybe this is the song Lorelai was thinking of when she told Max she is into rap music?
RORY: Remember that I’ll be watching BattleBots with you for a month.
BattleBots is an American robot combat television show, where competitors design and operate by remote control their own armoured machines, which fight in an elimination tournament. It first aired in 2000.
Here we discover this is a favourite TV program of Dean’s, and that Rory needs a bribe to induce her to watch it with him. Considering that Dean tamely watches everything Lorelai and Rory do, with no complaint, it seems a bit much she can’t put herself out to watch something he enjoys unless he does her a favour.
On the other hand, Dean is Rory’s boyfriend – he shouldn’t really need any “payment” to be her escort for her debutante ball. It should be something he wants to do for her, especially considering that Emily would be more than happy to organise a suitable escort for Rory in his stead. I feel as if Dean is having things both ways: going to the ball only reluctantly and with a lot of moaning, yet if Rory went with someone else, he’d be very jealous and sulky about it.
DEAN: It’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. RORY: And doesn’t Neil Young look cool? … If you’ll notice, he’s wearing a tux. DEAN: Neil Young looks cool because he’s Neil Young, not because he’s wearing a tux.
Neil Young (born 1945) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, musician, and activist. His career started in the 1960s, and includes membership of critically-acclaimed rock band Buffalo Springfield, folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and solo work backed by his band Crazy Horse. His distorted electric guitar playing has earned him the nickname “Grandfather of Grunge”. He has won several Grammy and Juno Awards, and been named one of the great musical artists in history, defined by his guitar work, deeply personal lyrics, and signature high tenor vocals.
Neil Young has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – in 1995 as a solo artist, and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. He has served to induct others into the Hall of Fame six times: The Everly Brothers (1986), Woody Guthrie (1988), Jimi Hendrix (1992), Paul McCartney (1999), The Pretenders (2005), and Tom Waits (2011).
However, Neil Young doesn’t seem to have worn a tuxedo for any of his appearances at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, preferring a more casual (and occasionally more cowboy) look. When he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1982, he did dress in evening wear: not a tuxedo, but tailcoat, ruffled shirt, waistcoat and bow-tie [pictured].
It seems awfully unlikely, but just possibly they are watching an old video of this somehow (or it appears in a documentary or clip show???), and Dean mistakes it for the Rock and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. It feels as if Rory and Lane might have put it on expressly to persuade Dean that men can still look cool in formal wear.
“Incoming” is a stock phrase often used in film or television that is called out by one character to alert others to danger, commonly in battle scenes to mean something is about to fall on them. It originates from military usage.
Lorelai is telling to Rory to be quiet and stay out of the way, since they are witnessing a “battle” between Richard and Emily, and risk getting the middle of it.
MAX: We could sit. RORY: Sit, sure, that’s good. Barbara Walters sits, or walks sometimes if the person she’s talking to has a horse or a ranch or a big backyard sometimes, but usually she just sits.
Barbara Walters (born 1929) is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality, now retired. Known for her interviewing skills and popularity, she was the host of numerous television programs. She began her career on the Today Show in the 1960s, and was co-host by 1974, the first female to take such a role, and continued her pioneering efforts by becoming the first woman to work as a co-anchor on a nightly news broadcast for the ABC.
In 2001, Walters was producer and co-host of 20/20 and The View, and had an annual special on the ABC, Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People, as well as other interview specials.
Barbara was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1989, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2000.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 