"The Fugitive" (1963): Season 1; Volume 1 Rumored To Be In The Works! (1 Viewer)

[michael_ks]

Gary, I was about to add to my post something along the lines of "at least 'Terror at High Point' will prove itself worthy as Gary thinks highly of this one along with 'See Hollywood and Die'".

And Jeff, I genuinely laughed at your comment...good one!

 

[michael_ks]

Well I watched "Terror at Highpoint" this weekend and what a tour-de-force that one was! The episode had excellent pacing and I thought that Janssen really pulled out all the stops in this one. Great performances too by Jack Klugman, (the man for the job when you need someone who's rough around the edges) and Buck Taylor who in the same year also portrayed a troubled youngster in the 'Outer Limits' episode "Don't Open 'til Doomsday".

This episode features music cues from TZ's "The Big, Tall Wish", "Back There" and "100 Yards Over the Rim". At one point bits from all three are heard within the span of roughly 90 seconds. The propulsive, ominous harpsichord cue from "Back There" is heard for the first time in this episode, I believe. Excellent nighttime photography in this episode, too. Bullseye, Gary!

 

[Harry-N]

Hey - we watched "Terror At Highpoint" this weekend too, and in fact also did "Glass Tightrope".

The good news is my wife asked to watch BOTH! Of course that was after I'd decided to watch an episode of LAND OF THE GIANTS. In her eyes, THE FUGITIVE is WAY preferable!

After the two were finished playing, I asked her which she preferred, and she liked "Terror At Highpoint" better. I don't think she identified at all with the Diana van der Vlis character in "Glass Tightrope".

Harry

 

[michael_ks]

Next to "Ticket to Alaska", "Glass Tightrope" falls to the bottom of the my list of the first 13 episodes. (And I think I can safely assume that it will not edge out the final two entries in this set!). With "Tightrope" I couldn't get into Nielson's plight, couldn't empathize with anyone or anything and REALLY disliked van der Vlis (she only had a handful tv credits between 1954 and 1973, and I can see why). Someone like Angie Dickinson would have made for a more inspired choice, IMO.

Wives and Irwin Allen don't mix, I've found. Mine will watch some S1 VTTBOTS episodes and the non-sci-fi TTs, but that's all.

 

[Gary OS]

That just cracks me up every time for some reason.

Gary "we still seem to see most of these episodes in the same light, Michael" O.

 

[David Von Pein]

There are a few times, however, when he gets into some skirmishes with his nasty co-workers (as they taunt him for seemingly no reason at all in various shows).

BTW, I too like "Terror At High Point". Just the title alone breeds "Fugitive" contentment for me.

 

[michael_ks]

The reason I felt "Ticket to Alaska" was just mediocre has more to do with the cast than the overall story and setting. I agree that a murder mystery at sea makes for otherwise good story material for "The Fugitive". Unfortunately, I really disliked the entire cast in this one except for Geraldine Brooks, who was at least serviceable. But Tim O' Connor, a rather weak actor in my book, along with John Larkin as the Captain kind made for a rather ho-hum outing. Gail Kobe, who I usually like had a rather ineffectual role and I didn't care for her character either. I also didn't like how the narrator announced the proceedings in every act as it kind of made the epilog narration a bit anti-climatic. Thankfully, this was the only episode in the entire series done in this fashion.

And so, onwards to "The Girl from Little Egypt" which I'm saving for the weekend--and God willing, perhaps my wife will join in.

 

[Gary OS]

Michael, I can't disagree with you on the cast for "Ticket to Alaska." They were quite mundane for the most part and I can see why that would cause anyone to rate the episode lower. The narration at the beginning of each act didn't bother me too much, but I certainly am glad they didn't employ it with other episodes.

Gary "my guess is your wife will like 'Girl from Little Egypt' - maybe not love it, but like it" O.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Gary & Mike,

You guy's posts reminded me to ask this question about the seriies: Does the "William Conrad" narration continue through the entire series? I like it ok but not too much of it. I like the opening and end part but I don't think I'd prefer too much narration in this series.

I watched "Smoke Screen" this past weekend. My rating (5 being top)

:star: :star: :star: :star: 1/2

Maybe they'll all be 5 :star:'s in this series for me

Bob, you sure called it with the "Beverly Garland" guest role.

I thouht this episode was outstanding from the beginning scene in the onion filelds to the end where Kimble once again has to "wave goodbye"

The highlights for me were the scenes:

- Scene where Kimble is torn between revealing that he's a Dr and performing the operation on "Paco"'s wife
and...

- Scene near the end where Paco just looks at Kimble after the successful operation outside the tent and tears form in his eyes where nothing needs to be said, and the last goodbye between Beverly Garland's character and Kimble

I thought Alejandro Rey and Beverly Garland were outstanding in this one. How about that scene when Bev Garland's eyes were flashing fire when Kimble refused to make a break though the fire?

Plus, all of these "era" character actors keep popping up! John Milford (one of my favorites from several "Big Valley" guest spots), Mort Mills, Buck Young.....

Wow! If this episode is considered average in this series, then....you guys hooked me for good on this show!

Next up this weekend is the "See Hollywood" episode. I have a "report" to give to another Fugitive fanatic out there about that one

- Jeff "If 'Smoke Screen' is average, then I'm in for a great blind-buy series ride" W.

 

[michael_ks]

In answer to your question, Jeff, yes the narration is heard throughout the series. But I thought I recalled reading in Ed Robertson's book that there was perhaps one episode that did not feature Conrad's voice? Maybe I'm mixing this up with "The Outer Limits" as I just read through that companion guide a second time recently.

It's a funny thing about "The Fugitive". In watching one stellar episode after another, one's expectations get higher and higher so that the "lesser" entries on the surface seem below par, but still in effect are above average when compared to other series. This show is batting the proverbial .400 in my book and when one considers that most shows have about one-third of a season's complement of episodes as being well above par, well this series is breaking that 'rule' and appears to be at the two-thirds mark--no small feat, to be sure.

Individual tastes will vary, but from where I stand, Jeff, it appears to me that you may have as many as six episodes remaining in the set, no less that exceed "Smoke Screen" for sheer quality of story telling and performances.

 

[Harry-N]

A word about the William Conrad narration. Yes, he's there doing usually an opening and closing narration in each episode. It may seem a bit overbearing in these early episodes where he was given more to do, what with the extra narration in the pilot and in the "Ticket To Alaska" episode. Add to that the long narration of the plot premise starting each episode in season one, and it could seem a bit "Conrad-heavy" I suppose. Starting with season two, the opening "series" narration gets pared down a bit as stills from the series' first season flash on the screen as Conrad tells the story. It's better pacing than the slow "train" opening that graced the first season.

Personally I don't mind the Conrad narrations at all - for me, the more the better. I thought he added a lot to the series, grounding it in the seriousness that his basso-profundo voice provides.

Actually, the most annoying thing about seasons two through four is the preview scene that they use as the teaser before the credits. It seems as if they always gave away too much of the upcoming story in those teasers.

Harry

 

[michael_ks]

Do you mean that a key scene embedded in the episode is shown at the beginning? If that's the case, hopefully those sets will still allow you to skip directly to Act I. After watching the episode, I'd only then go back and check to see what scene was chosen for the teaser. I understand why this was done but it does often result in creating a heavy duty "spoiler". This is very evident in series like "The Outer Limits" and "The Untouchables".

 

[Gary OS]

Yea, it happened on occasion. And I guess it could be annoying to a degree, but I never thought the teasers were all that spoilery. But that's just my take on them. Other people may feel differently.

I also don't mind the Conrad narration in general. I think it adds a good bit to the overall feel for the show. But again, that's just me.

And Jeff, if you gave "Smoke Screen" that good of a rating I can't imagine you won't be thrilled with the remainder of the set. Like Michael, I'd say you have at least 6 (if not 7) more episodes that you'll consider as good or better than the one you just watched.

Gary "it's really nice to read these posts from people rediscovering the show and enjoying it fresh and new" O.

 

[michael_ks]

I watched "The Girl from Little Egypt" this weekend ('alone again, naturally' as the song goes). Mighty impressive, to say the least. Another 10/10 for this fan--that makes four for the set! A bravura performance by Janssen and Lt. Gerard's momentary 'expression' just about steal's the entire show. (Obviously, I won't elaborate on this.) Everyone was exceptional in this episode, including Ed Nelson and Pamela Tiffin, a young lady I'd never seen prior to this outing. Her scant tv/movie credits shown at IMDB.com rather bely her considerable talent. Music from Bernard Herrmann's "Walking Distance" very tenderly underscores a poignant moment between Kimble and Helen in one scene. Just a superbly moving episode in all respects.

On a related note, in my hunger for all things "Fugitive" I purchased the Mel Proctor companion book recently through Amazon for the very reasonable $3.99. Although very similar to Robertson's book in that the genesis and concepts behind the show are are more or less repeated, it has some more elaborate indexes, some additional background on Quinn Martin and the many guest stars, in addition to quite a few more photos--highly recommended!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

The Best Episode I think I've seen in the 1st set is Nightmare at Northoak, it was the first episode to illicit empathy from me to what the plight of the main character truly is. The scene where the townfolk come by the jail to say goodbye is excellent in it's silence. Some fantastic acting from both Morse and Janssen in this one.

 

[michael_ks]

I almost hated to put "Home is the Hunted" on last night knowing that this was the final episode for the set, but wow, what a great episode to round out the set with! Robert Keith (father of Brian Keith seen in "Fear in a Desert City") is very good here and Jacqueline Scott's performance as Kimble's sister is exceptionally good. The landscape is certainly too dry and hilly to be Indiana, but what the heck. The pacing of the episode and the performances were both top notch and in spite of the fact that the suspense factor is low, this segment is very engaging indeed.

In Mel Proctor's "Fugitive" companion, Quinn Martin was quoted as saying that he felt they produced around 10 good episodes per season. Well, the season's only half way through and I've already been witness to at least 10!

Now the wait begins for Parmount to release the last half of S1. If only the whole season had been released like it should have been. I'd only be around half way through and looking forward to seeing them again in production order.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Yeah, I think this was very much an "ABC-thing." I remember reading in a book about Outer Limits where Joe Stefano said that the "suits" at the network wanted the "bear" (monster) to always be shown in the pre-credits teaser to try to "hook" the viewers.

 

[Gary OS]

Just thought I'd bring this thread back to the top and talk about the 2nd volume time-frame. Right now Paramount is announcing their schedule for February of next year. And since the first volume of THE FUGITIVE was released in August, that makes February an obvious choice for a second release (6 months later). Yet, THE FUGITIVE is not on Paramount's February release schedule as yet. They apparently still have some announcements for that month that haven't been made yet, and I'm hoping our show is one of them. I'd hate to think we would go beyond 6 months in between releases, especially when we are having to deal with split season sets as it is. Anything beyond 6 months is just completely unacceptable to me. So let's keep our fingers crossed that we hear good news in the next week or two.

Gary "I hate the split seasons with a passion" O.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Gary,

Glad you're at the "top" of that "bug" out there

As a 1st time viewer of this one, I was also wondering about the S1 V2 time-fame. I'd also expect to hear something about this one soon but there's no telling about these guy's schedules. After that (as yet unofficial) "Barney Miller" news after S1 was released 4 years ago, anything's possible. But I shouldn't mention Sony in the same thread as Paramout

I'm still in process of viewing S1 V1. Just watched the "Ticket to Alaska" show last weekend. That one was ok but not (IMO) as good as the ones so far.

Jeff "Paramount, don't do a "Sony" on us" W

 

[michael_ks]

You, me and a whole legion of "Fuge" fans. I think we're all agreed that releasing one full season over the span of a year or more is torturous indeed. And Jeff, of the six remaining episodes you've remaining, five of those quite easily trump "Ticket to Alaska"--that's just how lucky you are.