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The Flintstones: The Story of Rocky's Raiders (1966)
The Gang Does Some Role-Playing
Though this was the last episode of the original series, there's no sense of finality or closure. It's just a routine episode. It probably wasn't even the last one filmed; it looked like it was just a leftover from the pre-Gazoo arc.
When Grampa Flintstone sends a letter that he's coming to visit, the family pulls all his old gifts out of hiding. Fred comes across his old diary from Stone World War I, when he was the leader of Rocky's Raiders (though there were only the two of them). As Fred reads it aloud, we see the cast playing the characters from the past. Fred and Barney play Rocky Flintstone and fellow raider Reggie Vanderock (though they're essentially just Fred and Barney in uniforms). They have more fun with the lady's roles. Betty plays French waitress Fifi LaRock, complete with accent. Wilma plays superspy Mata Harrock, whom the men must rescue from evil Baron Von Rickenrock. There are some nifty verbal and sight gags, including a clever aerial maneuver by Rocky. It's a fun well-paced episode overall, the only drawback being a rather dopey ending. But all in all, it's a likeable episode to go out on. (Bonus laugh: The closed-captioning misspells Betty's French character name as FeFe. Sacre' Bleu!)
The Flintstones: The Drive - In (1960)
Poor Fred and Barney
Fred and Barney, frustrated with their dead-end jobs, decide to go into business for themselves by buying a drive-in restaurant. They don't tell their wives, knowing they would try to talk them out of it. Unfortunately, their efforts are plagued by a pair of teeny boppers named Gwen and Daisy, who want to work there as car hops and simply won't take "no" for an answer. This leads to the show's one highlight - a catchy burger joint jingle from the two girls. My pet peeves for the episode - the single-minded pests Daisy and Gwen suddenly doing a complete 180 later on, and Wilma and Betty doing something to their husbands which is utterly beneath contempt. Unless you are a person who just must see every episode, or like ones where Fred and Barney suffer a lot, I'd skip this one. Episodes like this one are the reason why I would never buy this series on DVD.
Lost in Space: Space Creature (1967)
Solid Suspense Episode - With a Bonus
This episode - the only one written by William Welch for season 3 - is a solid suspense tale as first Maureen Robinson mysteriously vanishes off the ship while in outer space and then one by one the other members of the Robinson party begin to vanish as well. It is fairly unique as one of only two episodes set entirely in space (the other being "Wild Adventure") and all the cast has at least a few lines in it - though with Will and Smith still getting the lion's share of the script. At least Smith's buffoonery is kept to a minimum and he even has a long scene as a sinister version of himself - more like his persona in the earliest episodes. Altogether, it's a highly recommended episode and one of the third season's best.
Now what's the bonus? It's a blooper that no one else ever seemed to notice. When John is trying to ascertain what is causing the disappearances he stops and asks Will, "Where was your mother when you saw her last?" Will replies it was by the sonic washer. But Will was confined to his cabin when his mother vanished early in the show, so he would have had no idea where she was before she disappeared. However, he was the only one with Penny just before *she* vanished - and by the same sonic washer that Maureen had been standing next to. In other words, John's line should have been "Where was your *sister* when you saw her last?" But in all the books and articles I've ever read about LOST IN SPACE, many which included lists of bloopers, no one else ever seemed to have caught this one.
Code Black: The Business of Saving Lives (2018)
How a finale should be done!
Someday, maybe all TV show producers will realize what people want from a finale. They want closure of storylines, characters to mature, paths to be set for the future. They want one last rewarding experience with the show they've devoted a small piece of their lifetime to. There's still a lot of people that don't understand this. But the people who made this show clearly did.
When I saw the previews the week before about a plane crashing into the hospital, I was in doubt. How could this show have such a dramatic event and still find time to complete its storylines - some of which had gone on for weeks? But they did it, and still had time to give more than lip service to wrapping up the seasonal story arcs. They even still had time for one last tender story about reunited lovers, plus another life and death drama beyond the plane crash.
The most wonderful thing about the episode is that some characters say things you never thought they'd say, while other say things you'd almost been praying for them to say all season. The last full scene features an inspiring speech and a final line guaranteed to melt your heart. Music is used skillfully as well, including featuring the song "Superman (It's Not Easy)" as the beautiful background music for the final scenes. When all is said and done, there's nary a cliffhanger in sight - just a satisfying conclusion.
Over 50 years ago, THE FUGITIVE set the gold standard for how to do a great finale. This episode also earns the gold medal for a magnificent finale - a precious reward to all the fans who stuck with this marvelous series all the way to the end.
The Good Place: The Trolley Problem (2017)
Back on track
After last week's bit-of-a-clunker episode, the series gets back on track (almost literally) with this story dealing with the classic trolley dilemma - do you switch to another track and run over one person in order to avoid staying on your present course and running down five people instead? Chidi tries to teach the problem to a stubborn Michael, only to have him bring the problem to life complete with flying limbs and blood spatter. Like a trolley track, there are some clever twists and turns along the way, along with some great lines.
Meanwhile, Tahani is trying to understand why she is not willing to tell anyone else that she is sleeping with Jason. She persuades Janet to be her therapist so that she can talk to somebody about it. This leads to some bizarre reactions from Janet which must be seen to be believed. This also nicely sets up the cliffhanger for the next episode.
As usual, fast paced and lots of fun. Watch for a bit near the end where Ted Danson proves that it's not always what you say so much as how you say it. All in all, a great effort.
Last Man Standing: Moon Over Kenya (2012)
Mike vs. Loud-mouth bass (fisherman)
This week, Mike finds out that Chad Bickel, a popular young bass fisherman who talks loud and uses music-video-style graphics, has been signed up by Ed as a celebrity spokesman for the store. Chad annoys the heck out of Mike so, in an attempt at making peace between the two, Vanessa invites the fisherman to their house for dinner. Unexpectedly, Mike and Chad bond a little while discussing fishing in Kenya. When Vanessa tries to cut in to the conversation, Mike tells her that she is "his anchor." She takes that the wrong way, feeling like it means she is the one who prevents him from traveling around the world like he used to. This leads to Mike's funniest commentary video of the series so far, where he tries to explain why comparing his wife to a fancy, sleek, galvanized anchor should be a compliment. It was laugh-out-loud funny.
There is great interplay between Mike and Ed discussing store promotions, particularly those that have gone wrong. The story between Mike, Vanessa, and Chad is a pleasant reminder that the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. There's also a short subplot about Mandy deciding to go vegan. Her sisters then pull a "put up or shut up" move on her, but she responds with a surprising comeback for them. Overall, the episode is hilarious and lots of fun.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Conversion (2017)
Utter rubbish!
The premise of this absurd episode is that, at the request of a so-called "reverend", a young man forces himself sexually on a young woman to try to cure her of her homosexual tendencies, calling it "curative intercourse" and implying he is doing it as a religious mission.
Let's pretend for a moment that this wasn't a show about sex crimes. Let's say the young man legitimately convinced the woman to have consensual sex with him in order to "cure" her of her homosexual impulses, because homosexuality is a sin. Sex between unmarried adults, even consensual sex, is still a sin – it's called fornication. No legitimate church would sanction committing a serious sin on the chance that it might prevent someone else from committing another serious sin in the future. No Christian denomination would condone such an action, let alone encourage it. Now add the rape element back in and you increase both the sinfulness and criminality of the act exponentially. In short, the premise of this episode is utter rubbish! No legitimate church would do it; nor would they stand still for someone trying to allow the act to be excused on religious grounds. So, I will refer to these BS characters as cult members from here on in. Not to be stopped there, the writers double down and imply that this young man is part of a "curative intercourse" ring again supposedly being sanctioned by the cult. I am pretty sure they were careful not to mention any denomination during the episode, knowing that they would be deluged with complaints from offended representatives of whatever denomination they chose to insult with this garbage.
I don't recall one positive statement being made about religion in the entire episode. The cult members were portrayed as if they were brainwashed and the victim's parents were shows as harsh and unfeeling. The cult's sleazy lawyer actually had the nerve to cite the "Hobby Lobby" ruling - wherein a Christian corporation was allowed to refrain from behavior that it considered sinful – as if it was some moral equivalent to their "free ride for a rapist" defense.
Not surprisingly, the episode concludes with the victim declaring that she will now embrace her homosexual tendencies. "God made me this way," she oozes. "How can I be less than perfect if I accept that?" Now, imagine a pedophile or a sociopath saying the same thing, and you can see how ridiculous the statement really is.
This episode had absolutely no redeeming features. It looks like it was written just as an excuse to made religion look bad and homosexuality look good.
The Good Fight (2017)
Nothing to draw me in
The opening scene – ultra-liberal Hillary supporter Diane Lockhart staring aghast at the inauguration of President Donald Trump - is breathtaking! Unfortunately, it's pretty much all downhill after that.
The pilot centers around 2 characters – one is Diane who was a memorable, if not particularly likable, character in THE GOOD WIFE. She is planning to retire until it turns out her financial adviser was another Bernie Madoff, and she is now almost broke. Since she officially retired from her old firm before finding out she was bankrupt, they won't take her back. No one else wants her because she advised others to invest with her financial adviser and they lost millions. Eventually, the firm she was litigating against offers her a partnership.
She had an "opposites attract" type husband in the series – a conservative. A few times in the series I recall him taking a risk to support her, but never vice versa. Then in the finale, out of the blue, he was revealed to have been sleeping with another woman. Here, her now separated husband is willing to stand by her even at the risk of losing his own money and properties. But, she makes it clear that she wants no part of him anymore. And, of course, she blames him entirely for their breakup.
The second focal character is Maia Rindell. She is a lesbian, since apparently protocol now dictates that all ensemble casts must have at least one gay couple. She is the daughter of the Bernie Madoff character and is now a pariah as well, since people insist she must have known her father was a crook. Like Alicia in THE GOOD WIFE, she must pay for the sins of someone else. She is fired from her new job at Lockhart's old firm, but not before pulling an Alicia and finding the missing key piece of evidence overlooked by everyone else. At show's end, Diane invites her to join up with her new employers.
So far, there was really nothing to draw me to this show. But if there had been any glimmer of hope, the "case of the week" effectively doused that. It involved two cops beating and kicking, to the point of brain damage, a Black man who tried to break into a car. There was a one minute gap in the video of the beating, which Maia was able to recover from another source. The big reveal was – nothing. Apparently, the cops just saw him breaking into a car and arbitrarily decided to beat the crap out of him. And so it goes...on shows like this.
I wouldn't watch this show for free on a network, so I certainly won't be paying to see it.
Mr. Robot (2015)
A Liberal fantasy
The writing on the wall is evident for this show early on, when Elliott ridicules someone for liking GEORGE W. BUSH'S DECISION POINTS and Josh Groban. Elliott is the main character in the story; he's no "hero" in my book. He has great hacking skills but somehow is "trapped" in his job and life. He even takes morphine, but he's oh-so-careful about it so he can rationalize that he's not an addict. He talks about heroes turning out to be phony, then we see people like Lance Armstrong and Bill Cosby. Why not include a picture of Obama in that group? Oh, right. It's because the show's creators probably love Obama!
When Elliott's not busy stalking his psychiatrist's boy friend or sleeping with his morphine supplier, he comes across Mr. Robot and his fellow hackers. Mr. Robot had a father who rationalized stealing by saying that everyone steals, and – surprise – that people don't get their "fair" share in life (i.e. that most people get too little and a few get way too much). In this episode, he wants to hack into E corporation, which even Elliott calls "Evil Corporation" which is evil because...well, apparently because it's big. He wants to wipe out all their debt information so that he can accomplish "the biggest redistribution of wealth ever." (Well, at least he's upfront about it.) Never mind that people took on all that debt for some legitimate service. Apparently he feels the world would be better off if those consumers just got all their money back and the big evil corporation gets taken down a notch. Elliott is about to expose his organization to E Corporation, but changes his mind when their boss is rude to his incompetent co-worker. He changes his mind and frames the boss for the hacking scheme and debt destruction, raising his arms in triumph like Rocky when the innocent boss is arrested on bogus charges.
Elliott is a disturbing, judgmental guy who frankly I couldn't care less about. The only nice thing I can say about him is that at the end it turns out he likes dogs. Considering the show's obvious Liberal bias, perhaps the biggest surprise about the pilot episode is that in the opening scene Elliott takes down a genuine dealer in child pornography and not, say, some decent, honest baker or photographer who simply doesn't want to participate in a gay "wedding." I wasted 45 minutes of my life watching this nonsense; I'm happy to say I won't be wasting another second on it.
America: Imagine the World Without Her (2014)
A movie everyone should see
Dinesh D'Souza is a man who obviously loves and admires this country and it shows in his work here. He presents a series of criticisms or "indictments" against this country - particularly concerning our past history. Then he counters this with arguments about the many good things about our country, and how important we are to the rest of the world. This is done through a series of interviews, news clips and some historical re-enactments. I found it fascinating to watch and learned some history that I was not aware of. My only criticism is that it was a bit long, particularly towards the end. But I think it's an important film that everyone should see, and that it would make them appreciate our wonderful country even more.
Scandal (2012)
Ludicrous soap opera
A show about a "fixer" in Washington D.C. is at least something different, but in the end this is closer to a fantasy than a drama. For instance, the President – Grant - is supposedly a Republican, yet he acts more like a Democrat, both in cheating on his wife and supporting liberal policies like the DREAM Act. He even has a Chief of Staff who's gay. He does have a conservative VP, but she is a total stereotype who talks like a religious zealot 95% of the time, and seems to exist here only to be constantly one-upped by the President.
The main character is our fixer Olivia Pope who can apparently change elections just by making the public think her candidate really does love his wife. This is done by having the candidate's wife confess to a miscarriage that she made up out of whole cloth and on the spur of the moment to boot. Later on, when a sex tape emerges of Grant and Olivia, Grant's wife says she will claim it is she and her husband having sex. This seems odd, since the only dialogue on the tape consisted of Grant saying "Take off your clothes." There's not even so much as an "I love you," or at least "Thanks, honey." But she will apparently get away with it, because in this show no character seems to really fact-check anything – or if they do, they get killed or blackmailed.
Olivia also has an assortment of assistants working with her, including a man who used to torture people (and is persuaded to go back to his old habits, in one gruesome sequence), and another who seduces women in exchange for information. So far, we've seen she and her team remove all evidence from a murder scene, browbeat some people, lie to others, and even subtly arrange to have someone killed. All in a day's work for this crew.
With all the subject matter available for a TV series, I think you can do better than this hokum that seems to believe that if you have a good enough PR agent, you can simply spin your way out of anything.
The Moment of Truth (2008)
Like that little girl in the poem
"There was a little girl and she had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. And when she good, she was very, very good; but when she was bad, she was horrid!"
This show reminded me of that little girl in the poem. Its premise was simple: keep telling the truth, no matter how embarrassing the questions, and you can win big bucks. It started out well, actually. The earliest contestants didn't have to reveal any earth-shattering information. And some of the answers actually seemed cathartic. One man told his son that he had not gambled away his college fund (as his mother had always claimed.) His answer was declared correct, and a father/son hug ensued. Another man admitted he belonged to the Hair Club for Men. He seemed relieved and happier that now everyone knew. And finally, there was Ray – the zenith for the series. He was a jovial, lovable blue collar worker. His only bad revelations were that he had looked at dirty magazines and occasionally fantasized about other women. But when asked if he would cheat on his wife if he knew she'd never find out, his answer was an emphatic and truthful "No!" Another question revealed the fact that he was hurt when his wife's parents refused to attend their wedding, but even that admission seemed to have a healing effect on both him and his wife. Ray left with 100 grand, and smiles on everyone's faces.
And then came the blonde. Mercifully, I don't remember her name. But if Ray was the zenith of the show, she was its nadir. She admitted to all kind of things – not wearing her wedding ring so people wouldn't know she was married, cheating on her husband, and secretly feeling she should have married her first boyfriend instead. Even though she'd passed one plateau of prize money after revealing all that, she foolishly kept on playing, only to be tripped up on the question, "Do you think you're a good person?" She answered yes, but apparently really thought otherwise. It was miserable to watch.
After that, the healing moments we'd witnessed in earlier shows never seemed to happen again. A poor sweet wife lost all her prize money when she said her husband was the best lover she ever had and it was declared as false. Her husband tried to comfort her but she left in tears. Another man admitted that he falsified documents at his job, leaving him open to possible criminal prosecution. One more contestant brought a ray of hope when he told his wife he had not dated any of her sisters prior to dating her. She was delighted with the news, and he smiled and added, "I told you so." But then the last question was "Have you ever cheated on your wife?" and he admitted that he had. He did win $100,000, but his wife was clearly devastated.
I never saw the show again after that. It only ran for a couple more episodes. MOMENT OF TRUTH – it had its moments, but the truth was it did more harm than good.
Law & Order: Brazil (2010)
Too many headlines in this one
This series loves to say its stories are "ripped from the headlines." That's usually fine if you rip one headline at a time. But this episode goes for everything but the kitchen sink. We start with the Climategate scandal (the e-mails exposing the global warming fraud), then we jump to the story of the father's whose child was taken to Brazil by his wife (they couldn't even be bothered to change the country) and then a little later comes the New York version of Balloon Boy. All of this might still be okay if the overall story was satisfying, but this one ends with a examination of a witness that is totally ludicrous. The man on the stand would have to be a complete imbecile to have made the statements he makes. At the end of the episode, Cutter comments it was "not a good day." Well, he got that right.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Anchor (2009)
If you can't beat them, demonize them!
(This comment does contain spoilers.) Oh, those poor liberals. Conservative talk shows are actually criticizing them! What can they do to counter that? Well, if you can't beat them, demonize them! Oh, but conservative talk radio is intelligent and insightful. How the heck do you demonize that? Why, invent your own talk show host, Gordon Garrison, a white supremacist who hates immigrants. Oh, and he also has a follower named Thagard who is so dumb he thinks it's patriotic to kill immigrant children. Now be careful to never actually call Garrison a conservative, but have him criticize liberals and then mention his name in the same sentence along with Limbaugh and Beck and the audience will draw their own conclusions, right? Oh how clever!
But wait, you need a liberal character to oppose him. So here comes Randall Carver, a "cop-hating bottom-feeder" according to Fin. He says that SVU isn't doing their job and forms a protest against them. (Now, it's okay for liberals to protest; that's just "free speech". But if conservatives protest, it's "an angry mob"). Anyway, Randall's daddy was in the Klan, but his daddy couldn't be a bad man, so he must have been brainwashed by the Klan. So Randall decides Thagard must have been brainwashed too – by Garrison. Putting his own self-interests up front, Randall defends this child-murderer with the claim, "It's all Garrison's fault." And Randall wins – the child murderer goes free! Then he whispers in Randall's ear that's he off to kill more kids. Randall thinks, "Oh my gosh, what have I done?" No problem. He takes the law into his own hands and shoots Thagard dead. The only thing missing is a final scene where Fin leads Randall off in cuffs and Randall pleads, "But you don't understand. I'm not to blame. It was all Garrison's fault!"
This show often brags that it's "ripped from the headlines." Was there some spate of children being murdered by talk-show brainwashed people that I hadn't heard of? Didn't think so. NBC advertised this as "a landmark episode." Well, it did set a new low standard for the show. But ultimately, it only made the liberals look bad – and a little desperate.
Land of the Giants: Panic (1970)
A Betty Bonanza
The character Betty was absent from several second-season episodes due to Heather Young's real-life pregnancy. This episode helps to make up for that. Betty has a huge part in the proceedings, and is wearing her new fetching pink outfit to boot. She figures prominently in the plot and easily has more screen time than any other character.
The story involves a kindly inventor (Jack Albertson) who has created a device which can teleport people and objects from one place to another. He and his device are being sought by a man (Peter Mark Richman) who wants to use it for sinister purposes. Diane McBain is also in the mix, playing a housekeeper who's not quite what she pretends to be.
There are the usual quota of rescues and narrow escapes, including Betty hiding in a rifle barrel. There's even a rare chance for our travelers to possibly get back to Earth. It's one of the better episodes – especially for Betty fans. Barry fans are out of luck, however. He's absent from the entire episode.
Dead Like Me: Pilot (2003)
Flawed but promising start to an intriguing show
Having watched the series all the way through a couple of times now, I can appreciate the pilot more than I initially did. It effectively sets up the show's concept and introduces us to all the characters in this quirky universe. The cast all excel at making each character unique the reapers themselves are a hodge-podge of differing backgrounds and attitudes. And George's off-screen narration makes some clever satirical comments about life and death her opening story about how death came into the world is a delight.
The main flaw of the episode is that it lacks a really likable character. The lead character George is a self-confessed shirker who's lost interest in the world. Her fellow reapers are aloof at best, downright mean at worst. Even her own family is unpleasant to watch. The story isn't funny enough to be a real comedy; it's more of a light-hearted drama with occasional touches of genuine pathos. If you stick around for the series, you'll grow to like these characters even for some of the very flaws that make them undesirable in this outing. My advice is to watch the pilot with low expectations. Just get to know the characters and the setup and proceed on to the next episodes. If you like a show that's truly different, you'll enjoy this in the long run. And later, when you watch this pilot again, you'll find it was better than you first thought.
Land of the Giants: The Trap (1968)
Fitzhugh makes this episode stand out
I loved LOST IN SPACE, but I never really liked Dr. Smith. Lazy, greedy and self-centered, he was the kind of man who'd sell his friends out in a heartbeat for money, power or a trip back to Earth. Alexander Fitzhugh, in this series, was clearly modeled after Dr. Smith. He, too, tended to be lazy, self-centered and greedy, but there was one important difference. He still did his share of the work, and when the chips were down, Fitzhugh always came through to help his friends. This episode demonstrates this beautifully as Fitzhugh at first votes against a plan to explode one of the ship's fuel cells as a diversion to help rescue captured Betty and Valerie. But when Mark is injured trying to rig the blast, Fitzhugh arrives to save the day. It is that portion of the storyline that makes this episode special. I particularly liked the moving tag scene. The rest of the cast perform well and, barring an obviously bogus rear projection shot of a praying mantis early in the episode, is also technically well done. But Kurt Kasznar's multi-layered performance as Fitzhugh is what makes this episode one of my favorites.
Tales from the Darkside: I Can't Help Saying Goodbye (1986)
Effectively creepy
This episode concerns a little girl named Karen who can sense when people are about to die and is compelled to give them a dramatic "goodbye". It happens first with her mother. When it happens again to a friend of Karen's, her sister Libby and Libby's fiancé Max accuse her of causing the deaths. To defend herself, she threatens to "say good-bye to Max" if they continue to accuse her. So Libby and Max begin to fear her and walk on eggshells around her. However, when Karen is alone talking to her doll she confesses that she is not causing the deaths, and doesn't want anyone to die. She is merely aware the deaths are going to happen, and she can't help saying good-bye. But Libby and Max don't hear this, and it leads to tragic results. Despite the usual low budget sets and effects, this is an effectively creepy and chilling episode. Alison Sweeney as little Karen is particularly good.
Boston Legal: Selling Sickness (2007)
Dumb and hypocritical
(This review definitely contains spoilers!) Two words come to mind about this episode: dumb and hypocritical. First, the dumb: One case involves a teenager who was molested and wants to take a pill to forget it happened. Incredibly, her mother wants to refuse her this treatment. More incredibly, Shirley takes the mother's side, only after the molestation incident is first joked about using an anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish slur that I will not repeat. Finally, the judge in the case (who is clearly showing signs of senility) rules in Shirley's favor ignoring the law, logic, and common decency, as well as the wishes of the victim and her father. Apparently he buys Shirley's logic that we're the sum of all our experiences so why should we be allowed to forget the traumatic ones even if they will scar us for life? The other case involves a judge who believes that he has a condition that makes him think he's gay, and wants to sue a program that failed to "cure" him. The program's attorney makes a coherent closing about the facts of her case, including that the judge did not stick to the program, which was successful with other people. Then Alan gets on his soapbox (literally) and delivers a jovial monologue about there being too may diseases these days, which has virtually nothing to do with his case. Of course, he wins the case anyway this is TV, not reality. He evens get to have sex with the female judge afterward, who once slept with Alan and apparently felt that gave him carte blanche to do anything he wished in court.
Now the hypocritical: Not too many episodes back, Shirley sued and condemned a hospital for not giving a teenage girl a "morning after pill" to prevent a pregnancy. Now, she's not allowing another girl to take a pill to simply erase one traumatic memory. So, it's okay to destroy an unborn baby, but not a memory? On the other case, Alan repeatedly condemns those who are opposed to homosexual behavior as intolerant toward a whole race of people. Yet, it seems perfectly okay for him to attack conservatives, Republicans and anyone who has religious beliefs lumping the latter all together as "big religion." Finally, I almost had to laugh when Shirley referred to that forgetting pill as a form of "brainwashing." Isn't this whole show a less than subtle attempt at brainwashing? There was a nice scene between Claire and Clarence, and Bethany got to see some courtroom action, which is why I gave this episode a two instead of a one.
The Time Tunnel: Town of Terror (1967)
A running and jumping episode
It is said that when some TIME TUNNEL writers tried to put some personal drama into an episode, Irwin Allen would nix the idea by saying that this was a "running and jumping show." If so, he probably enjoyed this episode, because running and jumping is about all there is to it. The plot is simple: Doug and Tony escape from an alien laboratory set up in a small town (Cliffport, Maine) to begin to siphon oxygen from the Earth's atmosphere. Then, they try to break back in to the lab and destroy it. Along the way, they must outrun or fight the purple-faced, black cloaked alien invaders. They are aided by two young lovers, who so far have avoided being paralyzed by the touch of the aliens, which has left the remainder of the townspeople in suspended animation.
Meanwhile, the Tunnel complex is pretty much out of commission. After first rescuing Tony and Doug from the alien's paralyzing touch (by transporting them a few feet away in space), an alien invades the complex, planting a device that seals off the Tunnel area and begins to suck the oxygen out through the Tunnel itself. The Tunnel personnel are left to slowly get weaker and General Kirk has to plead for Tony and Doug to break the deadly connection at the alien's lab. So there's not a lot of excitement in that area, as compared to the previous episode. On the plus side Heather Young, who played Betty in LAND OF THE GIANTS, guest stars as one of the young lovers mentioned above. I always thought she was cool in LOTG, and here she gets a chance to let her hair down a little, literally. And of course, there's plenty of fight scenes for action fans. But, this is the third episode in a row to feature aliens, and the second consecutive one where Tony and Doug have to save the world.
It is also the series' last episode. There is no conclusion, as the series was initially renewed and they were expecting to return the next year. But on the bright side, the signal on the two men is so strong at episode's end, it's not hard to believe that rather than simply being transported to another time period, that they were in fact retrieved back home to the Time Tunnel.
All through this episode, there are bizarre and confusing events, starting with a fight in the teaser where Doug punches a man and apparently kills him. Then the "dead" man rises up like a zombie, sets off a control panel and vanishes in a puff of smoke. We find out later on that the aliens can possess a human, which is what happened there. But during later fight scenes, an unconscious possessed human merely vanishes, leaving the alien in his original form before he also vanishes. That is, except for one later fight where, after knocking out one alien, the alien commander says, "Multiply Andro Two." The alien vanishes and is instead replaced by two aliens. They get up and fight with Doug and Tony only to be knocked unconscious again and disappear for good this time. That whole scenario seemed like just an excuse for another fight scene, as if there weren't enough of them already. And very early in the show, Tony looks through a door and sees the alien for the first time from a distance, sitting in front of a control panel. He closes the door and says to Doug, "An Android." Indeed, the aliens are from the planet Andro and are called Androids, but how did Tony know that from one look? (Perhaps he was originally supposed to have overheard the alien's communication as well.) I won't even start on the whole concept that aliens who can travel in space and time can't find another way to produce oxygen other than stealing it from a planet light years away.
There's one final bizarre element to this episode. Originally, it was followed by a repeat of the pilot episode, where Tony and Doug ended up on the Titanic. So the episode ends with a cliffhanger to that episode, starting with Tony and Doug floating in limbo and then followed by a series of scenes from the next episode rather than the usual recap of the first few minutes of the next show. (The first few minutes of the pilot episode featured Senator Clarke arriving in the desert by plane and being met by Doug in a black suit. That would have confused the heck out of a casual viewer of the show.) That in itself isn't strange. But unfortunately, this unusual cliffhanger has led some other websites, and a couple of books, to the bizarre conclusion that this was an "ending" for the show implying that Tony and Doug actually went back to the Titanic a second time and then were doomed to relive their previous adventures over and over again forever. That conclusion is a pack of nonsense; it was simply a cliffhanger to a repeat episode, something that had been done in the past on LOST IN SPACE as well. No, the only place Tony and Doug will be repeating their adventures over and over again is in syndicated reruns.
The Time Tunnel: Kill Two by Two (1967)
One of the series best episodes
Two of the best TIME TUNNEL episodes were related to World War II. One was "The Day the Sky Fell In," where Tony meets his father at Pearl Harbor. The other is this lesser known gem, a solid engrossing drama from start to finish.
For once Tony and Doug don't land on the eve of some pivotal historic event. This time they land on a seemingly deserted Japanese island during World War II. They encounter and capture an old Japanese sergeant, left behind as a spotter. Then a young Japanese lieutenant captures them, announcing he plans to kill them. But he seems to be compelled to humiliate them first. Soon he releases them with a head start intending to hunt them down. But this isn't just another version of a hunter tracking human prey, and the young soldier isn't just a sadist, as described by Ann early in the episode. As the drama unfolds, we slowly learn who this soldier is, and the secret he is hiding.
Meanwhile, at the Tunnel complex, a doctor from the Japanese consulate is brought in to help them locate the island so that Tony and Doug can be removed from it before American soldiers invade. The visitor discovers he has a connection to the Japanese soldier, forcing Kirk, Ann and Ray to have to make a decision that might force them to leave either Tony or Doug behind. Both the dramas in the Tunnel and on the island come to plausible and satisfying resolutions.
The dramatic nature of the story brings out the best in all of the regulars. They also receive solid support from guest stars Kam Tong as the sergeant and Phillip Ahn as the man from the Japanese consulate. But what makes the episode so powerful is the outstanding performance of Mako as Lt. Nakamura, the young soldier. He ranges from a brutal sadist early in the episode to a tortured soul as the story progresses. Either way, he plays the character with such vulnerability that you find yourself caring about him and what his ultimate fate will be. Doug describes him at one point as "a man...fighting his own private war" and indeed that is just what Mako portrays brilliantly. This was my first encounter with this fine actor, and as the years went by I never forgot his superb performance in this episode. Sadly, Mako died just last year (2006). He left behind an impressive array of roles and characters, even being nominated for an Oscar for his work in the film THE SAND PEBBLES. But to me, this role will always stand as one of his best works, and this episode as one of the series' finest.