A Passion for Justice

If you are hoping to learn the truth about English authors by watching Bonanza perhaps you'll be disappointed. However,for pure entertainment value, watching Jonathan Harris steal the show as Charles Dickens is a treat indeed. Harris was later known as the nutty Dr Smith on the Lost in Space tv show. His style may not be for all,but I think most viewers would admit that this was an inspired performance by Harris. Historical accuracy 3/10 Overall 9/10

There are some who consider Johnathon Harris a great actor mostly based upon his Lost in Space character, but not really. It's a one-dimensional character that is often disagreeable and cartoonish. I find his portrayal of Dickens here to be along the same lines. I really don't see much more than an extended Dr Smith character without the cowardly behavior, the scene with Hoss being the lone exception. I really don't see Harris as anything more than mediocre or average.

If Dickens himself was as snobbish and snooty as portrayed here, he certainly doesn't have much in common with his fictitious main characters, except for the overbearing ones. If he found the US unpleasant on his trips here, and hypocritical, he forgot that it was once a British colony and that it was the British who traded in slaves for sale in the colonies, and created that whole period of hypocrisy of being a free nation with slaves. The commercialism he disdained was also an import from Britain, and something necessary to the building of the nation.

This attitude shows narrow mindedness and complete lack of understanding about the settlement of the new world. As portrayed here, Diockens is just not much more than tolerable. An educated person would have pursued copyright infringement in a legal manner and not with such overt hostility towards his hosts. He would have been able and eager to explain his position to them without such an arrogant attitude.

I really dislike this episode and find few redeeming qualities within it to make it watchable.

Although novelist Charles Dickens did tour America, he never did get as far west as Virginia City so was not in a position to visit the fabled if fictional Ponderosa that Lorne Greene and his sons owned.

Jonathan Harris who was the son of Russian immigrants in the Bronx learned his speech pattern and acting style by imitating the best of the British colony in Hollywood. It certainly worked for many swore he was a native of the UK.

The astringent Dickens is honed to perfection by Harris who gets into a big brouhaha with the townspeople of Virginia City particularly its newspaper editor. Later on he's framed for the trashing of the newspaper office and spends some time in Ray Teal's jail.

What brought all this about was the lack of copyright protection among the nations allowing American publishers to republish Dickens's work without a red cent going to the author. It was an issue that concerned Dickens deeply in his real life as well.

Harris brings off Dickens to perfection in a scene with Dan Blocker where he compares Hoss's love of the Ponderosa to Harris's love and sweat over every printed word. He also talks about his own childhood where much of his story material comes from.

A really fine Bonanza episode with a perfect performance by Jonathan Harris as Charles Dickens.