What did you watch this week in classic TV on DVD(or Blu)? (1 Viewer)

[ScottRE]

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
NEXT ON VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

“Killers of the Deep”

This warmonger-oriented adventure suffers from strong anachronism because it’s written like a traditional WWII Navy narrative that stretches endlessly and the sets of the destroyer and the sub are terribly vintage but, at least, it’s a return to the season 1 Navy realism. A submarine from a small Central America nation hijacks the American missiles from their underwater silos. Oddly enough, Nelson is first only obsessed by the missing missiles and not by Crane. The action is divided in two: owing to the sudden death of the high officers, Nelson directs the US destroyer and Crane is held prisoner in the enemy sub and does his best to be spotted by the sonar: he makes two attempts (the klaxon in the control room and the noise in the air duct) during silent running.

As in “The Machines Strike Back”, one Seaview lead is locked up in the supply room and, here, Crane manages to remove his handcuffs with a wire. As in “Terror on the Dinosaur Island”, the prologue ends with two Seaview officers force to leave by parachute the flying sub but unlike the previous one, an enemy submarine fires a missile at them. Nelson is fished up by a US destroyer unlike Crane by the crew of bald-headed Captain Tomaz Ruiz (actor Michael Ansara) and his second-in-command Manolo (actor James Frawley). After undergoing two salvos, Nelson disarms a live torpedo which penetrates the hull during four minutes, helped by a sailor. Later, after a fatal torpedo, Nelson orders the crew to abandon the ship but he heads to the sub to ram it. In the control room, Crane guns down Manolo and struggles against Ruiz when water leaks occur. Nelson throws out a rope to Crane standing in the deck of the sub to join him in the ship: that scene is really not realistic at all.

The film editor supervised by the script editor use footages from the 20th Century Fox WWII Navy feature film The Enemy Below (co-starring David Hedison) to support that drama and it’s quite inappropriate when we witness German sailors inside the sub. The interior set of the enemy sub is extremely tiny and cheap. We don’t know the enemy nation because the sub has no emblem but the main drive of Captain Tomaz Ruiz may give you an idea: “a very small country with a few nuclear missiles… suddenly becomes a very large country.” Is it Cuba? Who knows? During the epilogue, Nelson quickly points out an island on the table map of the control room.

As in many scripts by Woodfield and Balter, find two recurring elements: disarming a bomb and crawling into the vent. The guest cast for the US Navy is insignificant even though the son of John Wayne is part of it. Both actors Michael Ansara (“Hotline”) and James Frawley (“The Exile”) return from season 1.

We disagree on this one. "Killers of the Deep" is one of my favorite episodes of the second season. While it is the first color episode to be fashioned around pre-existing footage, it's a great suspenseful game of cat and mouse as Nelson becomes a submarine hunter and Crane is stuck on the enemy submarine. Crane does his best to stymie the enemy even though he knows detection would likely mean his death.

This is the first episode in production order where a flying submarine is lost. The teaser is extremely tense and exciting as the FS1 is shot down. Crane is able to bail out, but Nelson is trapped aboard and guides it down well enough to survive the crash but not enough to save the ship. There is no music when the sub hits the water which goes a long way in selling the devastation since they use the same diving footage as usual to illustrate the crash. The act two climax also has no music and these stylistic choices were uncommon for Irwin Allen.

Some fans asked why Nelson and crane put life preservers on when their leather jackets serve that purpose (as stated in "Leviathan"). I figured it was because they had to have the parachutes.

It's interesting you bring up "The Machines Strike Back" and the similarities. While that episode is light and over the top, this one feels darker and more serious. Even, dare I say it, more realistic.

Basehart is excellent as he pushes Crane's fate out of his mind while he concentrates on finding the absconded missiles and the sub which has them. Hedison is equally good as the put upon Crane kneecapping the sub crew at every turn.

The enemy sub set is the same one used in "...And Five of Us Are Left." It's a dingy and grimy set and the most realistic subset in the series. The crew of that sub is sweaty and filthy. Michael Ansara is magnetic as Ruiz with his shaved head beaded with sweat throughout. Ansara was legitimately bald here, his head shaved for a stage run in The King and I. When he appeared on Lost in Space a while later that year, he was wearing a skull cap. While Irwin Allen liked him bald, mostly likely the play was over and Ansara was growing his hair back. He appeared bald in the "Secret Weapon" episode of The Time Tunnel. If he was wearing a skull cap there, it was more realistic than on Lost in Space.

Obviously, the footage was taken from The Enemy Below. What's amusing is that the plot made it impossible to use David Hedison's footage from the film since he was on the sub.

There are a great many fine moments in this episode. Nelson mentally figuring out how long Ruiz would take before firing the second round, the disarming of the unexploded torpedo, the dolly zoom of Nelson as he rams the sub and the really competent way the U.S.S. Macklin crew responds. Yes, this footage means they are using WWII ships and equipment when the series was based in the 70's at this point. Now that we're so far past when this series aired, it probably doesn't seem as out of place as then since a) battleships don't change all THAT much and b) Ruiz would have had a surplus sub and it is stated that they were in old submarine. I also appreciated how the crew of the sub is made up of new faces to the series and not the usual background guys from the Seaview repurposed.

This is the first episode to use Leigh Harline's music from The Last Wagon in the battle scenes and this music would be used a lot in the series going forward. "Dead Men's Doubloons" kicks off the episode with it. In fact, a lot of music from The Enemy Below is used in this episode and the series itself.

I didn't find Crane's escape by rope all that unconvincing and the utter relief and joy on Nelson's face when they finally meet up is really great. Unlike the infighting on Lost in Space, he the two leads on Voyage really hit it off and were genuine friends.

I love this one a lot and revisit it often. Really well done seafaring combat episode.

 

[JohnHopper]

We disagree on this one. "Killers of the Deep" is one of my favorite episodes of the second season. While it is the first color episode to be fashioned around pre-existing footage, it's a great suspenseful game of cat and mouse as Nelson becomes a submarine hunter and Crane is stuck on the enemy submarine. Crane does his best to stymie the enemy even though he knows detection would likely mean his death.

Anyway, it's interesting to compare our contrasted points of view on any episodes of Voyage and I enjoy reading your frame of reference which makes sense. In the very end, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I do agree with you about the intense prologue inside the flying sub.
Above all, I really like your knowledge on the stock music the music editor used: see The Last Wagon and The Enemy Below.

 

[JohnHopper]

We disagree on this one. "Killers of the Deep" is one of my favorite episodes of the second season. While it is the first color episode to be fashioned around pre-existing footage, it's a great suspenseful game of cat and mouse as Nelson becomes a submarine hunter and Crane is stuck on the enemy submarine. Crane does his best to stymie the enemy even though he knows detection would likely mean his death.

This is the first episode in production order where a flying submarine is lost. The teaser is extremely tense and exciting as the FS1 is shot down. Crane is able to bail out, but Nelson is trapped aboard and guides it down well enough to survive the crash but not enough to save the ship. There is no music when the sub hits the water which goes a long way in selling the devastation since they use the same diving footage as usual to illustrate the crash. The act two climax also has no music and these stylistic choices were uncommon for Irwin Allen.

Some fans asked why Nelson and crane put life preservers on when their leather jackets serve that purpose (as stated in "Leviathan"). I figured it was because they had to have the parachutes.

It's interesting you bring up "The Machines Strike Back" and the similarities. While that episode is light and over the top, this one feels darker and more serious. Even, dare I say it, more realistic.

Basehart is excellent as he pushes Crane's fate out of his mind while he concentrates on finding the absconded missiles and the sub which has them. Hedison is equally good as the put upon Crane kneecapping the sub crew at every turn.

The enemy sub set is the same one used in "...And Five of Us Are Left." It's a dingy and grimy set and the most realistic subset in the series. The crew of that sub is sweaty and filthy. Michael Ansara is magnetic as Ruiz with his shaved head beaded with sweat throughout. Ansara was legitimately bald here, his head shaved for a stage run in The King and I. When he appeared on Lost in Space a while later that year, he was wearing a skull cap. While Irwin Allen liked him bald, mostly likely the play was over and Ansara was growing his hair back. He appeared bald in the "Secret Weapon" episode of The Time Tunnel. If he was wearing a skull cap there, it was more realistic than on Lost in Space.

Obviously, the footage was taken from The Enemy Below. What's amusing is that the plot made it impossible to use David Hedison's footage from the film since he was on the sub.

There are a great many fine moments in this episode. Nelson mentally figuring out how long Ruiz would take before firing the second round, the disarming of the unexploded torpedo, the dolly zoom of Nelson as he rams the sub and the really competent way the U.S.S. Macklin crew responds. Yes, this footage means they are using WWII ships and equipment when the series was based in the 70's at this point. Now that we're so far past when this series aired, it probably doesn't seem as out of place as then since a) battleships don't change all THAT much and b) Ruiz would have had a surplus sub and it is stated that they were in old submarine. I also appreciated how the crew of the sub is made up of new faces to the series and not the usual background guys from the Seaview repurposed.

This is the first episode to use Leigh Harline's music from The Last Wagon in the battle scenes and this music would be used a lot in the series going forward. "Dead Men's Doubloons" kicks off the episode with it. In fact, a lot of music from The Enemy Below is used in this episode and the series itself.

I didn't find Crane's escape by rope all that unconvincing and the utter relief and joy on Nelson's face when they finally meet up is really great. Unlike the infighting on Lost in Space, he the two leads on Voyage really hit it off and were genuine friends.

I love this one a lot and revisit it often. Really well done seafaring combat episode.

What’s next? Hit me again. “The Sky’s on Fire”.​

 

[JohnHopper]

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
NEXT ON VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

“Killers of the Deep”

This warmonger-oriented adventure suffers from strong anachronism because it’s written like a traditional WWII Navy narrative that stretches endlessly and the sets of the destroyer and the sub are terribly vintage but, at least, it’s a return to the season 1 Navy realism. A submarine from a small Central America nation hijacks the American missiles from their underwater silos. Oddly enough, Nelson is first only obsessed by the missing missiles and not by Crane. The action is divided in two: owing to the sudden death of the high officers, Nelson directs the US destroyer and Crane is held prisoner in the enemy sub and does his best to be spotted by the sonar: he makes two attempts (the klaxon in the control room and the noise in the air duct) during silent running.

As in “The Machines Strike Back”, one Seaview lead is locked up in the supply room and, here, Crane manages to remove his handcuffs with a wire. As in “Terror on the Dinosaur Island”, the prologue ends with two Seaview officers force to leave by parachute the flying sub but unlike the previous one, an enemy submarine fires a missile at them. Nelson is fished up by a US destroyer unlike Crane by the crew of bald-headed Captain Tomaz Ruiz (actor Michael Ansara) and his second-in-command Manolo (actor James Frawley). After undergoing two salvos, Nelson disarms a live torpedo which penetrates the hull during four minutes, helped by a sailor. Later, after a fatal torpedo, Nelson orders the crew to abandon the ship but he heads to the sub to ram it. In the control room, Crane guns down Manolo and struggles against Ruiz when water leaks occur. Nelson throws out a rope to Crane standing in the deck of the sub to join him in the ship: that scene is really not realistic at all.

The film editor supervised by the script editor use footages from the 20th Century Fox WWII Navy feature film The Enemy Below (co-starring David Hedison) to support that drama and it’s quite inappropriate when we witness German sailors inside the sub. The interior set of the enemy sub is extremely tiny and cheap. We don’t know the enemy nation because the sub has no emblem but the main drive of Captain Tomaz Ruiz may give you an idea: “a very small country with a few nuclear missiles… suddenly becomes a very large country.” Is it Cuba? Who knows? During the epilogue, Nelson quickly points out an island on the table map of the control room.

As in many scripts by Woodfield and Balter, find two recurring elements: disarming a bomb and crawling into the vent. The guest cast for the US Navy is insignificant even though the son of John Wayne is part of it. Both actors Michael Ansara (“Hotline”) and James Frawley (“The Exile”) return from season 1.

Watch the trailer and compare it with “Killers of the Deep”.

The Enemy Below Theatrical Movie Trailer (1957)​

​

 

[ScottRE]

This was one of my Dad's favorite films and we watched it a few times together.

You can see some of the footage the series reused and much of the music in the trailer was tracked in late 3rd season episodes.

This story was so successful, Star Trek famously used it in the incredibly good "Balance of Terror" which introduced us to the Romulans.

 

[ScottRE]

Above all, I really like your knowledge on the stock music the music editor used: see The Last Wagon and The Enemy Below.

Some other scores featured heavily in this episode (and the series after this) are:

Between Heaven and Hell by Hugo Friedhofer
The Young Lions by Hugo Friedhofer
Soldier of Fortune by Hugo Friedhofer
Rains of Ranchupur by Hugo Friedhofer

In fact, a great deal of the stock music comes from Friedhofer, Alfred Newman and Leigh Harline. Most fans gravitate over to Bernard Herrmann because he's more well known and Irwin credited him for the music in the Lost in Space pilot. While Irwin did use some Herrmann cues on Voyage, most of the stock cues from from the above gentlemen. The third season episode "The Mummy" had a lot of music from Friedhofer's brilliant Rains of Ranchipur. Marc Cushman's hugely disappointing "reference" books on Voyage falsely attribute the music to The Egyptian. Not a single note of that score was used in the series.

 

[Rustifer]

Episode Commentary
Wild Wild West
"The Night of the Gruesome Games" (S4E5)

I freely admit the only reason I recorded this episode was because Sherry Jackson guest starred. I was never much of a devotee of this Sci-fi Western experiment despite the appeal of Robert Conrad and Ross Martin, preferring more of the traditional John Wayne shoot-'em-up movies or even Roy Rogers' modern day oaters. Be that as it may, any series that features Ms. Jackson is sure to get my undivided attention.

James and Artemus are chasing after Dr. Raker (Robert Ellenstein), who's stolen a vial of deadly virus that if released will cause a plague worse than moldy Velveeta cheese. James sneaks into the hotel where Raker is hiding and runs smack dab into Lola Cortez (Sherry Jackson) wearing nothing but a towel and a wanna-see-more? expression. James, displaying wits not even worthy of a correspondence school degree, totally ignores her in his quest for Raker. No problem, as Raker escapes but falls into a deep ravine. But what of the vial?

Hand over the towel, Missy; James and Sherry attempt the Pulp Fiction dance; Ohhh my....

West and Gordon follow a lead to a party at the house of fantastically rich Rufus Krause (William Schallert). Suspicions arise that the vial is hidden in lovely Lola's luggage, who is a guest at the Krause house--which coincidently resembles the residence of the Munsters. Krause, it seems, is fond of hosting parlor games that appeal more to the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer than normal folks. While Artemus (disguised as Dr. Raker) participates in the goofy games, James sneaks about the mansion in search of the vial and perhaps, if lucky, some of Lola's undergarments.

Meanwhile, the guests win expensive gifts that aren't really what they appear to be as Krause cackles maniacally from his balcony perch. Eventually the vial is found and the world is saved from a fate worse than Dennis the Menace reruns.

A typical Wild Wild West episode: Fantastical, unintentionally humorous and totally beyond belief.

Notes:
I found it amusing that the series' bad guys always seem to have available some sort of jail facility as if expecting the need to incarcerate James West if he shows up.

One of the parlor games has Sherry Jackson on hands and knees as she balances an egg on a spoon in her mouth. With little effort, I'm pretty sure most guys could manufacture an interesting dream for themselves utilizing that scenario...

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Episode Commentary
Wild Wild West
"The Night of the Gruesome Games" (S4E5)

A typical Wild Wild West episode: Fantastical, unintentionally humorous and totally beyond belief.

Enjoyed your review as always, Russ, but have to strongly disagree with you re: the "unintentionally humorous" bit. I think The Wild Wild West's tongue is always firmly in its cheek, the humor as much a part of the show's DNA as the action, colorful villains, fantastical plots, pretty girls and Robert Conrad's tight pants.

One of the parlor games has Sherry Jackson on hands and knees as she balances an egg on a spoon in her mouth. With little effort, I'm pretty sure most guys could manufacture an interesting dream for themselves utilizing that scenario...

Now this sentiment I am fully on board with.

 

[Bryan^H]

Laramie

"The Violent Ones"

A group of no good hot heads are out to coax Jess into a duel to the death. Especially the son of a man that Jess wounded years ago. Their hatred toward Jess is unfounded, as he keeps trying to diffuse the situation by explaining he has no quarrel, but they keep poking a hornets nest. Dawn Wells stars as a sweet saloon gal that is stuck in the middle of the hurricane of hate.

Edge of Evil

Ron Harper stars as a good friend of Jess. His wife appreciates his dedication to hunting, and putting food on the table (Jess favors tree Squirrel that she cooked so well) but financially they are hurting. Enter a shady, evil prospector played by Alan Hale with a pack mule loaded with gold. Too good to be true for the young couple, and Jess warns him to do the right thing and find the rightful owner of the two time stolen gold. I never believe Ron Harper as anything but good from his roles on TV, so I had a feeling this might turn out well.

 

[ScottRE]

Enjoyed your review as always, Russ, but have to strongly disagree with you re: the "unintentionally humorous" bit. I think The Wild Wild West's tongue is always firmly in its cheek, the humor as much a part of the show's DNA as the action, colorful villains, fantastical plots, pretty girls and Robert Conrad's tight pants.



Now this sentiment I am fully on board with.

This. If you felt like something was funny in the series, it was usually intentional. This was not a heavy, dramatic show. It was a light fantasy or light western (depending on the producer or demands of the network). Bob Conrad was there for his looks, charm and athletic prowess, not his dramatic chops. Ross Martin did the dramatic heavy lifting and even he generally brought a light touch. The Wild Wild West (the additional "Wild" was a good indicator) was a pure "fun" series.

 

[Rustifer]

Enjoyed your review as always, Russ, but have to strongly disagree with you re: the "unintentionally humorous" bit. I think The Wild Wild West's tongue is always firmly in its cheek, the humor as much a part of the show's DNA as the action, colorful villains, fantastical plots, pretty girls and Robert Conrad's tight pants.

So true, Jeff! The series never took itself seriously, and rightly so. Misuse of the word "unintentionally" on my part. I should never write a commentary before morning coffee.

 

[JohnHopper]

Episode Commentary
Wild Wild West
"The Night of the Gruesome Games" (S4E5)

A typical Wild Wild West episode: Fantastical, unintentionally humorous and totally beyond belief.

Keep in mind that one tall bodyguard is called No-Fun in that episode!​

The delirious performance of actor William Schallert as the senile Rufus Krauss is totally hilarious.​

The whole plot about inviting selected people to attend a children costume ball for adults: see all the games they play as the musical chairs, the egg and spoon race, hide and seek.​

And the wife of Dr. Raker who sings “Here We Go Around The Mulberry Bush”.​

That episode is a comical madhouse.​

 

[BobO'Link]

Episode Commentary
Wild Wild West
"The Night of the Gruesome Games" (S4E5)

I freely admit the only reason I recorded this episode was because Sherry Jackson guest starred....

Do you need more of a reason? I mean... I really love this series - it's right up my alley with its SF/Westerns mashup but it also had more than its fair share of lovely ladies...

...moldy Velveeta cheese...

I thought that was called Brie...

 

[ScottRE]

Laramie

"The Violent Ones"

A group of no good hot heads are out to coax Jess into a duel to the death. Especially the son of a man that Jess wounded years ago. Their hatred toward Jess is unfounded, as he keeps trying to diffuse the situation by explaining he has no quarrel, but they keep poking a hornets nest. Dawn Wells stars as a sweet saloon gal that is stuck in the middle of the hurricane of hate.

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Edge of Evil

Ron Harper stars as a good friend of Jess. His wife appreciates his dedication to hunting, and putting food on the table (Jess favors tree Squirrel that she cooked so well) but financially they are hurting. Enter a shady, evil prospector played by Alan Hale with a pack mule loaded with gold. Too good to be true for the young couple, and Jess warns him to do the right thing and find the rightful owner of the two time stolen gold. I never believe Ron Harper as anything but good from his roles on TV, so I had a feeling this might turn out well.

View attachment 99980 View attachment 99981 View attachment 99982 View attachment 99983 View attachment 99984 View attachment 99985 View attachment 99986

Did you specifically pick two episodes with cast members of Gilligan's Island?

Lots of familiar faces here. 60s were very good time for character actors. I need to start tracking down more of these shows.

 

[Bryan^H]

Did you specifically pick two episodes with cast members of Gilligan's Island?

Lots of familiar faces here. 60s were very good time for character actors. I need to start tracking down more of these shows.

LOL, funny you should say that, and this is really weird. I actually am going through season 4 in non sequintial order (I never do with non-serialized shows..odd I know) and I picked two episodes in a row with Gilligan's Island Cast members. The weirdest part is that the third episode I picked, and will post shortly guest star is Russel Johnson (the professor). If I was a betting man, I'd say those odds are practically zero percent chance. I should play the lottery.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Last of the Summer Wine
2.4 “Some Enchanted Evening”
2.5 “A Quiet Drink”
2.6 “Ballad for Wind Instruments and Canoe”
2.7 “Northern Flying Circus”
Finished off the back half of season two of this idiosyncratic and gently funny rural Britcom. In "Some Enchanted Evening," a lovesick Compo (Bill Owen) has seemingly abandoned his friends to take advantage of his bizarre object of lust, Nora Batty (Kathy Staff), after she appears to have been abandoned by her long-suffering husband, Walt (Joe Gladwin). The trio's attempt to grab "A Quiet Drink" at a pub leads to a series of amusing interactions with various regular customers of said establishment - including trying to trick notoriously tightwad curmudgeon Mouse (Larry Noble) into standing a round of drinks for the first time in his life.

Possibly the highlight of these last four episodes is "Ballad for Wind Instruments and Canoe," which finds our hapless reprobates lucking into possession of a canoe, and the antics that ensue. Finally, the boys look up the widow of a recently-deceased friend to buy the man's old motorcycle, and set out getting Compo properly kitted out to drive it in "Northern Flying Circus."

I have really gotten in tune with this series' relaxed, virtually plotless, witty and (in these edgier early episodes) genially naughty vibe. Thus concludes the "Blamire" / Michael Bates' run of the show. I shall miss them both. But now it's on to S3 and the arrival of Brian Wilde as the "third man" most beloved by LOTSW fans, Foggy Dewhirst.

Heat of the Sun – 1.2 “Hide in Plain Sight”
The second two-hour episode of this terrific period mystery/adventure series, following Trevor Eve as Superintendent Tyburn, recently arrived head of the CID in 1930s Nairobi, Kenya. In this installment, Tyburn's investigation into a pair of mysterious deaths at a remote mission headed by Charlotte Elliott (Cathryn Harrison) and Reverend Herbert (a young Hugh Bonneville, from Downton Abbey) is complicated by several factors... including his being cursed by a fearsome witch doctor, the Laibon (Laurence Simbarashe). Tyburn soon susses out that a series of attacks on the mission by the Laibon and his warriors are related to the disappearance of several young native girls. This leads to an exciting finale where Tyburn, newly-transferred crack shot Assistant Superintendent Valentine (Julian Rhind-Tutt) and bold aviatrix Emma Fitzgerald (Susannah Harker) waylay a boat of slavers trying to spirit the abducted girls to the coast.

A nicely twisty mystery narrative and heat-drenched, richly-detailed period atmosphere, punctuated by moments of violent, pulse-pounding action, make this series a winner for classic mystery fans. This is the type of detective show where one wishes there was a series of novels to dive deep into after viewing...but sadly, this was written expressly for television, not adapted. Kudos to the show's producers and writers, however, for creating such an evocative world and complex, engrossing plots from whole cloth. Also with Diana Quick, Deborah Finlay. Michael Byrne and David Horovitch.

Bless This House – 1.8 “Make Love – Not War”
Sid and Jean's noisy neighbors, Betty (Patsy Rowlands) and Trev (Anthony Jackson) are at it again, fighting and bickering - and this time, they end up pushing Sid and Jean to take sides in their quarrel. Ah, but the making up makes the fighting all the sweeter... Boisterous take on a standard sitcom plot, made palatable by the skilled comic chops of the great Sid James.

Gunsmoke – 16.20 “Murdoch”
Jack Elam guest stars as Murdoch, a hardbitten old marshal with a formidable reputation, who comes to Dodge City to lure an outlaw gang into a trap. Matt isn't overly keen to have his town chosen as the location for the gang's capture, but grudgingly goes along with the plan. Murdoch has a warrant from the governor to hang the leader of the gang, Amos Carver (Jim Davis), along with several named members, including Les Townsend (Anthony Caruso)...plus a handful of "John Does." Turns out one of those unnamed men just might be Murdoch's own son, Scott (Robert Random), who has chosen the outlaw life after years of callous neglect from his strict, absentee father and found a new home with Carver's gang. The son gets captured, and dares his old man to face Carver one on one. Murdoch, his eyes weak and watery due to an old bullet wound, heads out for a dramatic showdown with his nemesis on a dusty ghost town street.

Elam is typically good value here, and this is a rock solid episode overall, but I would've gladly traded in some of the son's bitching and moaning for more of Davis, who oozes flinty charisma in his all-too-brief handful of scenes. One debit resulting from the clarity provided by the fabulous restoration work done on these episodes for the CBS/Paramount DVDs: the extreme fakeyness of the Dodge City set is painfully clear...as bad as or worse than anything seen on Bonanza, the usual target of grief over this kind of thing. This episode also features young Clint Howard, as a little punk kid who tries to startle a dozing Festus by setting off a string of firecrackers under his chair. But despite his cornpone accent, ol' Festus isn't so easily fooled, and doesn't even bat an eye, causing the brat to walk off in a disgusted huff.

Spenser: For Hire – 1.14 “A Madness Most Discreet”
Spenser (Robert Urich) comes to the aid of a Russian ballerina (Maria Holvoe), the trophy wife of a recently-killed diplomat. The aloof blond beauty is caught between a rock and a hard place: the KGB, who want to assassinate her because they think she is out to defect, and a rogue CIA agent (Robert Hogan) who plans to force her to defect, whether she wants to or not. Once again, what makes this show a cut above the normal P.I. fare is its flair for gritty action and, especially, all the evocative, wintry location work around Boston. Also with Walter Gotell and Stefan Schnabel.

Steve Canyon – 1.10 “Operation: Survival”
Steve (Dean Fredericks) is coaxed into tagging along with a squad of paramedics (in the original sense of the word, basically elite paratroop doctors) by an old pilot buddy (Anthony Eisley). When the plane swerves suddenly to avoid a midair collision, Steve falls out. Luckily, he's wearing a parachute, but as he's missing his survival pack, the squad sergeant (Eddie Firestone) dives out after him. The sergeant badly breaks his leg landing on a rock, and it's up to Steve to carry the man to higher ground. Stranded in the wilderness 90 miles from the nearest ranger station, Steve and the increasingly delirious sergeant must stay alive until rescue comes...in the form of the man's fellow paramedics. Nifty, taut little survival tale, and Fredericks makes for a low-key but commanding lead. I was all set to immediately fire up the commentary track on this sucker when I realized that this was one of the very few episodes of this show that John Ellis, producer of the lovingly restored and presented DVD sets, didn't record one for. Oh, well...

From a Bird’s Eye View
1.1 “The Difficult Passenger”
1.9 “Highland Fling"
Little known sitcom from ITC, a company MUCH more famous for their lively action-adventure and sci-fi shows. From a Bird's Eye View stars 5'1" Brit Millicent Martin as Millie, and 5'2" American Patte Finlay as Maggie. both stewardesses who work for International Airlines. The pair share a London flat and get into various misadventures, frequently dogged by their unctuous boss, Clive Beauchamp (pronounced "Beecham"), played by Peter Jones. The show was a co-production between ITC's Sir Lew Grade and veteran U.S. producer Sheldon Leonard. The series was made in 1969-1970, but, according to Wikipedia, didn't air in the U.S until the following year, when it received a brief run as a summer replacement series on NBC. It isn't held in particularly high regard by ITC fans, and was basically relegated to an obscure footnote in the company's history until Network released a 3-disc set containing all 16 episodes back in 2008.

I actually found these two episodes a pleasantly amusing watch, with the two diminutive leading ladies charming and cute in equal measure. It certainly helps that we also get some major guest star turns from the likes of Robert Coote (in "The Difficult Passenger") and a couple of Dad's Army alums - Clive Dunn and John Laurie - in "Highland Fling." Other episodes include similar Brit thespic stalwarts, such as Joan Hickson, Ferdy Mayne, Kenneth Cranham, Frank Thornton, Nicholas Ball, Angus Lennie, Alexandra Bastedo and Aubrey Morris.

The aforementioned Robert Coote is "The Difficult Passenger," who makes Millie's flight to Berlin a living hell...so much so that, when she spots him staying at the same hotel, she concocts a plan to get back at him, dressing up in a blond wig and impersonating a German stripper to drive the man into an embarrassed panic in the hotel bar. What she doesn't know is that the man is actually an airline plant, and was on board to test the service skills of Millie, Maggie and their fellow stewardesses. Oops!

In "Highland Fling," Millie and Maggie are trying to get their unemployed carpenter neighbor Fred (Clive Dunn) a job so he'll stop "improving" their flat. When Fred suddenly acquires a position as caretaker for Lord McBracken's (John Laurie) castle in Scotland, the girls try to finagle free seats on one of the company's flights. Mr. Beauchamp is having none of it until he realizes that the girls have an open invitation to stay with a lord. The snobbish social-climber Beauchamp changes his tune and soon he, Millie and Maggie are ensconced in the castle, being regaled by Lord McBracken's grisly tales of ancestral murders. All goes swimmingly until it becomes apparent that the castle just might be haunted.

Both of these episodes play like a typically broad 1960s U.S. sitcom, only filmed in England with a mostly British cast. Perhaps that hybrid effect, with its Americanized comic style (plenty of one-liners and some fun physical gags) was a bit of a turn-off for British viewers at the time. Conversely, the feel and look of the production, though slickly made in the usual ITC manner and shot on 35mm film, perhaps came across as overly British and twee to U.S. viewers. At any rate, while it's by no means a lost classic, I found what I've watched of the series so far to be diverting fluff, bright and cheerful. I enjoyed it equally, if not more so, than ITC's other unsuccessful attempt at a comedy program, Shirley's World (though that one too is also plenty watchable, helped immeasurably by the frequent presence of John Gregson). And while it's not the kind of stylish action spy-fi show I usually come to ITC for, it's a nice little example of the variety the company was capable of, and I don't regret picking up the DVD set. I do find the show's title to be somewhat clunky, though.

clunk

 

[Harry-N]

Patte Finlay had a semi-regular role for a couple of seasons of THE BOB NEWHART SHOW playing Bob's sister.

 

[ScottRE]

Knight Rider
“The Scent of Roses” (S4E12)

This series isn’t exactly heavy drama. Even by the loose standards of the 80’s, this was light entertainment. Legend has it that Brandon Tartikoff wanted a show where a car did all the talking, while the driver just looked good and did action bits. While this wasn’t that extreme, it also wasn’t that far off. David Hasselhoff is an actor of limited range, but with some natural charm and good looks. He’s also quite tall with athletic ability. Knight Rider was a Glen Larson series, which meant it wanted to be better than it was. Most of the time, it followed a strict formula: Michael Knight was sent on a mission to stop someone unscrupulous from taking advantage of someone nice (usually a beautiful woman) and he and his talking car KITT (voiced by William Daniels) save the day. Every so often, they shake it up by introducing an evil duplicate of either KITT or Michael and those were usually rating winners. Hasselhoff playing his evil twin brother was usually embarrassing since Hasselhoff didn’t have the chops to do anything but over act. But, regardless of the talent surrounding the leading man, nobody was tuning in to watch a Master Class in Thesping. It was a cheesy adventure show for kids and their dads.

Yet one time, midway through the final season. they aimed a little higher.

Michael is summoned to stop a tech robbery and he is brutally shot by the disguised villain, Durant (Aharon Ipale). Michael rips off his false beard before he goes down but doesn’t really see anything. Durant (an ex agent for multiple agencies now gone rogue), though, doesn’t realize that and orders Michael killed.

While Michael recovers, he loses his will to keep fighting the good fight. He has no life of his own and no family to speak of. He’s done. He quits his job at The Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG). His boss, Devon Miles (the always great Edward Mulhare) doesn’t want to convince Michael to stay, but he does want him to find focus and be happy. When they mat 4 years earlier, Devon and Michael were at odd. In time, Devon has grown to see Michael much like a son. So he reaches out to Stevie Mason, an old love of Michael’s (played by Hasselhoff’s then-wife Catherine Hickland). She returns to him and they commit to each other. Lots of music and lap dissolves of scenes frolicking at the beach with KITT doing stunts. They get married. The ceremony ends. They are husband and wife. As soon as they kiss, though, Durant bursts in and shoots Stevie down. She dies in Michael’s arms as Durant escapes.

Michael goes on an obsessive manhunt to find his wife’s killer and after a fairly well done action sequence, captures him, He stops short of beating him to death, instead choosing to let the courts decide his fate. Michael, knowing the people at FLAG are truly his family, returns to the foundation.

The scene where Michael and Stevie see each other for the first time is among Hasselhoff’s best work. I get that’s a low bar to clear, but the tears in his eyes and the broken expression on his face really hit me. Then, a second later, we get his close up and you can just feel the effort he’s putting in. For a moment, he truly did it. When he hunts down Durant, Hasselhoff is actually pretty great as an anti-hero. When he rushes into an auto repair shop to confront one of Durant's contacts, the middle aged fat mechanic (Roy Jenson) doesn't get two words out before Michael delivers a brutal kick to the man's face, a body blow to the gut and then a fist to the jaw. It's a riveting sequence.

Stevie is a great character. Sweet, beautiful and smart. We know she’s gonna die, but it still sucks and for this series, it’s pretty strong. I do have to wonder who are these guests at the wedding? There are so few and Michael has no private life (“Michael Knight” isn’t even a real person and Michael Long is considered dead). I have to guess these are FLAG staffers.

Season 4 brought us a new regular, R.C. III – the “black sidekick” and “super pursuit mode” for KITT. Usually well edited shots of fins and wings sprout from the car and the film is sped u and off he goes. Naturally, these extra widgets would add resistance to the car, not speed, but I’m just a guy geeking over the tech.

Sadly, this episode wasn’t broadcast as a finale. It would have been lovely. However, the network put it in sweeps week because they knew they had a winner and the series was not doing as well as it once was.

A solid episode, off format and a nice opportunity for Hasselhoff to do something different.

 

[ScottRE]

Spenser: For Hire – 1.14 “A Madness Most Discreet”
Spenser (Robert Urich) comes to the aid of a Russian ballerina (Maria Holvoe), the trophy wife of a recently-killed diplomat. The aloof blond beauty is caught between a rock and a hard place: the KGB want to assassinate her because they think she wants to defect, and a rogue CIA agent (Robert Hogan) who plans to force her to defect, whether she wants to or not. Once again, what makes this show a cut above the normal P.I. fare is its flair for gritty action and, especially, all the evocative, wintry location work around Boston. Also with Walter Gotell and Stefan Schnabel.

Steve Canyon – 1.10 “Operation: Survival”
Steve (Dean Fredericks) is coaxed into tagging along with a squad of paramedics (in the original sense of the word, basically elite paratrooper doctors) by an old pilot buddy. When the plane swerves suddenly to avoid a midair collision, Steve falls out of the plane. Luckily, he's wearing a parachute, but as he's missing his survival pack, the squad sergeant (Eddie Firestone) dives out after him. The sergeant badly breaks his leg landing on a rock, and it's up to Steve to carry the man to higher ground. Stranded in the wilderness 90 miles from the nearest ranger station, Steve and the increasingly delirious sergeant must stay alive until rescue comes...in the form of the man's fellow paramedics. Nifty, taut little survival tale, and Fredericks makes for a low-key but commanding lead. I was all set to immediately fire up the commentary track on this sucker when I realized that this was one of the very few episodes of this show that John Ellis, producer of the lovingly restored and presented DVD set, didn't record one for.

From a Bird’s Eye View

Little known sitcom from ITC, a company MUCH more famous for their lively action-adventure and sci-fi shows. From a Bird's Eye View stars 5'1" Brit Millicent, Martin as Millie, and 5'2" Yank Patte Finlay as Maggie. both stewardesses for International Airlines. The pair share a London flat and get into various misadventures, frequently dogged by their unctuous boss, Clive Beauchamp (pronounced "Beecham"), played by Peter Jones. The show was a co-production between ITC's Sir Lew Grade and veteran U.S. producer Sheldon Leonard. The series was made in 1969-1970, but, according to Wikipedia, didn't air in the U.S until the following year, when it received a brief run as a summer replacement series on NBC. It isn't held in particularly high regard by ITC fans, and was basically relegated to an obscure footnote in the company's history until Network released a nice little 3-disc set containing all 16 episodes back in 2008.

I loved Spenser. This series was a really different PI show and one I really need to find. I used to record them off cable but they never would run the pilot episode, and back then if I didn't get the pilots, I didn't try to get the show. I was a jerk.

Steve Canyon: I bought this show for two reasons: to support John Ellis, who nearly worked himself into poverty and death to get them done and also because I wanted to check out an obscure vintage show like this. I never regretted it. It was a fine show and I loved it more as it went on. I know the production didn't love having to lose access to the Air Force base, but when they altered the format to accommodate, it really worked. It was more fun and, I think, closer in spirit to the source material. I'm sorry it didn't get more seasons.

As for ITC shows, one of the reason so few of them stuck the landing in the US or the UK is (IMO) that whole hybrid formula. They were meant to be shown worldwide, so they didn't really have a cultural identity. They were too American to appeal to the Brits and not British enough to appeal to the US in the midst of the British Invasion. By the time we were over the whole "Swinging London" craze, the shows weren't what we were looking for.

This is really a shame because many of the adventure series were excellent. Some, like The Adventurer, weren't. At all.

 

[Jack P]

, Capt. Greer (Tige Andrew, sporting a really bad haircut)

View attachment 99781

Actually, in Tige's case it would be a bad rug.