"Don't Touch That Dial" is the second episode of the American television miniseries WandaVision, based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch and Vision. It follows the couple as they try to conceal their powers while living an idyllic suburban life in the town of Westview, New Jersey. The episode is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. It was written by Gretchen Enders and directed by Matt Shakman.
Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen reprise their respective roles as Vision and Wanda Maximoff from the film series, with Teyonah Parris, Debra Jo Rupp, and Kathryn Hahn also starring. Development began by October 2018, and Shakman joined in August 2019. The episode pays homage to sitcoms of the 1960s, particularly Bewitched, including an animated opening sequence in the Hanna-Barbera-style of that series' own intro. Filming took place at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, and in Los Angeles, mostly in black-and-white but the episode transitions to color at the end; this was done with visual effects that were designed to look like 1960s optical printer technology had been used.
"Don't Touch That Dial" was released on the streaming service Disney+ on January 15, 2021. Critics praised the performances of Olsen and Bettany, particularly their physical comedy, and found the episode enjoyable, but some criticized the lack of overall plot developments. It received several accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Plot
In a black-and-white 1960s setting, Wanda Maximoff and Vision hear strange noises outside their house. The next day, they prepare their magician act for a neighborhood talent show to help them fit in with the neighbors, before Vision attends the neighborhood watch meeting with the male neighbors. Wanda sees an in-color toy helicopter outside the house, but is distracted by Agnes, who invites her to a women's gathering hosted by Dottie Jones, the snooty leader of the neighborhood. There, Maximoff befriends Geraldine.
The men in the neighborhood watch meeting welcome Vision, who accidentally swallows a piece of gum that is offered to him. Vision's synthezoid system is unable to digest the gum, and it causes him to become "intoxicated". Maximoff speaks with Dottie after the gathering, and a voice calls out to her through a radio asking her who is responsible for causing her situation. Once again, she is distracted as Dottie asks who she is before the radio breaks and Dottie's glass shatters. She bleeds in color but quickly ignores this event.
When the "intoxicated" Vision arrives at the talent show, he inadvertently reveals his superpowers. Maximoff uses her own abilities to make Vision look like he is performing simple magic tricks including sawing her in half. Their performance is well received and they are awarded Comedy Performance of the Year by Dottie. When they return home, Maximoff inexplicably becomes pregnant. As she and Vision are about to celebrate, they hear the noise outside again and walk out to find a beekeeper climbing out of the sewers. Disturbed by this, Maximoff "rewinds" the events on-screen to her pregnancy reveal and the world around them suddenly changes to a 1970s color-filled aesthetic.
A commercial during the WandaVision program advertises Strücker watches with the Hydra logo on them.
Production Development By October 2018, Marvel Studios was developing a limited series starring Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany's Vision from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films. In August 2019, Matt Shakman was hired to direct the miniseries. He and head writer Jac Schaeffer executive produced alongside Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Victoria Alonso. Feige described the series as part sitcom, part "Marvel epic", paying tribute to many eras of American sitcoms. The second episode, "Don't Touch That Dial", was written by Gretchen Enders and pays homage to 1960s sitcoms Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.
Writing The series' writers were aware that the second episode of a series is often more difficult to write than the first due to needing to re-state the intentions of the series without just repeating the plot of the first episode. This was made more difficult by the fact that the audience and the characters do not know the meaning behind the series' mysteries during this episode. They decided early on that they wanted Maximoff and Vision to cement themselves as members of the Westview community in the episode, with Schaeffer explaining that it is Maximoff's desire to fit in with their neighbors and so the episode explores her and Vision trying to fit within the "masculine-feminine spheres" of Westview. The writers could not settle on what the set piece of the episode would be to facilitate this, and spent longer working it out than on any other episode of the series.
Enders went through multiple iterations of the script, with one version having Vision join the neighborhood watch while Wanda participated in a Rose Competition to see who had the best rose bushes in town. Enders was inspired by the film Mean Girls (2004) for the group of women that Maximoff spends time with, especially for their leader Dottie. The writers wanted to bring Vision and Maximoff back together at the end of the episode, and Enders suggested that the set piece actually be a community talent show after watching several talent show-based episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show while researching for the series. This allowed the episode to end with all of the characters together, and with Maximoff and Vision performing together. Though the Rose Competition was removed from the episode, roses are still mentioned in dialogue as a reference to this. Schaeffer later said that using a talent show was "so self-evident" with hindsight since I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched often had episodes featuring a performance or talent show. The writers wanted to explore new sides to Vision in the series and especially wanted to see him acting "drunk" and goofy. Schaeffer suggested that this might happen if something was "gumming up the works" inside Vision, and staff writer Megan McDonnell came up with the idea that Vision swallow actual gum to cause that behavior.
The series features fake commercials that Feige said would indicate "part of the truths of the show beginning to leak out", with "Don't Touch That Dial" including a commercial that is advertising Strücker watches with the slogan "Strücker. He'll make time for you." The face of the watch says "Swiss Made", "Hydra", and "1000M", along with the Hydra logo. Strücker is a reference to Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who experimented on Maximoff in the MCU films to give her her powers. Brenton Stewart at Comic Book Resources said the watch ticking in the commercial gave it an "unsettling feeling of a bomb about to go off", and pointed out the period-accurate sexist nature of the commercial which is similar to the fake commercial in the series' first episode.
Casting
The episode stars Paul Bettany as Vision, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, Teyonah Parris as Geraldine, Debra Jo Rupp as Mrs. Hart, and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. Also appearing as residents of Westview are Asif Ali as Norm, Emma Caulfield Ford as Dottie, Jolene Purdy as Beverly, Amos Glick as the mailman Dennis, David Payton as Herb, and David Lengel as Phil Jones. Zac Henry portrays the beekeeper, while Victoria Blade and Ithamar Enriquez play the man and woman in the Strücker commercial. Randall Park makes an uncredited voice cameo appearance as Jimmy Woo, as revealed by the series' fourth episode, "We Interrupt This Program".
Design Shakman and cinematographer Jess Hall put together a collection of images from existing series that influenced the framing, composition, and color of the episode's sitcom setting, and Hall created a specific color palette of 20 to 30 colors for the episode based on those reference images so he could control the "visual integrity in color" of the episode. Hall worked with production designer Mark Worthington and costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo to ensure that the sets and costumes for the episode matched with his color palette. Worthington's team had to learn how different colors work when filmed in black-and-white, and did three days-worth of color tests. When shooting scenes in black-and-white, Bettany was painted blue, rather than Vision's maroon color, since the blue appeared better in the grayscale image.
Makeup head Tricia Sawyer used her experience working on the 1960s-set series Mad Men and hair stylist Karen Bartek drew on her past sitcom work. Both previously worked on several MCU films, and it was important to Bartek that the color of Maximoff's hair, as revealed at the end of the episode, match what was seen in the recent MCU films despite the change in style. Wigs were used for the hair styles in the episode to allow it to be filmed at the same time as other episodes without the actors' hair having to be re-styled to change between eras. Sawyer said the "nails, the shapes, [and] organizing the background" were all important elements of the period setting.
Filming and editing Soundstage filming occurred at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, with Shakman directing, and Hall serving as cinematographer. Backlot and outdoor filming occurred in Los Angeles when the series resumed production after being on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Don't Touch That Dial" was filmed in black-and-white, using a single-camera setup, and tungsten lights that were common for the 1960s era. Hall said the 1960s was moving towards high-contrast film stock and away from the low-contrast, softer film stock of the 1950s, so he used lighting to try to create a similar difference between the 1950s-set first episode and this one. Hall used a Big Eye 10K lighting tool for the episode which was predominantly used during the 1960s, but he had to diffuse the light slightly because it appeared harsher on the series' digital cameras than it would have on the film cameras of the time. A 4:3 aspect ratio was also used, and Hall chose lenses from Panavision with an "even falloff around the edges" that worked well in the square ratio and was period-appropriate. He made two "special portrait lenses" for Olsen to try to mimic the "beautiful kinds of close-ups that they did of the leading ladies" in the 1960s, which he gave as an example of that era being more "cinematic" than the 1950s. Hall was excited to use a film noir style for the episode's fake commercial.
The episode's laugh track was not recorded live as was done for the first, and Shakman said they "were not super conscious" of when they needed to pause during filming for the track to be added later. On set, the special effects team moved props with wire rigs and used camera tricks to create the effect of Maximoff's magic, as was done in series like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Editor Zene Baker used rewind effects and wipe transitions in the episode. He initially used a spin wipe for one scene transition because he felt it was period appropriate, but Feige later questioned this in a review of the episode. They were unable to find an example of the spin wipe in Bewitched or other series of the era that they reviewed, so Baker replaced it with a traditional wipe. Jump cuts were used to depict Maximoff magically changing clothes, with a shot of Olsen freezing in one position cut with a shot of her in the same position in a different costume. Her stand-in copied the position while Olsen got changed in between the shots. As another reference to Bewitched, Olsen unsuccessfully attempted to wiggle her nose like star Elizabeth Montgomery did in that series. Instead, Olsen uses a pointing motion for Maximoff's magic.