The Freeze

In Seasons 6 and 7, our MI team was nearly always operating against criminals in the USA; here we have a fairly rare outing for Season 3, where they are doing just that instead of wreaking havoc on secret police in Iron Curtain countries.

This is one of those episodes where a powerful performance by a guest star really stands out. Donnelly Rhodes is excellent as the bad guy, desperate to live. You feel some sympathy for him, with the dilemma he thinks he's in. I would give this episode a grade of about B+; definitely respectable in quality, if not quite an "A" outing. This isn't one of the very best episodes, but it's much, much better than some of their worst ones, which in my opinion were all in Seasons 4 and 5; especially 5.

Fans of the show will find plenty to like in this adventure of our team. Jim and Rollin have by far the most interesting team roles to play, this time.

An amazing episode, one all us fans remembered back in the day, and kind of interesting to compare notes.

Paul Playdon, the creator of CHIPS, wrote the script, and many others for the series. This may be one of his most original, an "A" for effort. Basically, the central character, called Raymond Barret (best played by Canadian actor Donnelly Rhodes), pulls a switch himself. His real name is Jenkins, the mastermind behind a $10 million dollar armored car robbery. Now in prison, and posing as a different man for a lesser charge, he stands to collect the fortune. The bottom line here is the statute of limitations, which is his key to success. Pretty clever stuff. Although the M. I. is on to him...

What happens next is intriguing. Barret is told he hasn't long to live, suffering from a deadly illness for which there is NO cure. Enter scientist Phelps who has a suggestion; cryogenics. Barret will subsequently be frozen and revived in the future when a cure is found -- also guaranteeing him a legit way to get to his millions, right?

The scene switches to 1980, about 12 years later, and as I said, it's fun to compare notes as to what the future is supposed to look like. I agree with the last reviewer, there are all sorts of neat gizmos (including a flat screen tv!), the most unique being the freeze chamber. This storyline is strikingly similar to a TWILIGHT ZONE episode where a group of robbers hide out in a cave, sealed in chambers, waking up 100 years later.

Very entertaining and wait for this ending. It's a must see, a dynamic M. I. switch, faking out the faker at his own game. Donnelly Rhodes is the whole show. Rhodes was a super character actor, best known for his comedy appearances on SOAP. Vince Howard, popular supporting actor on BARNABY JONES, plays his cellmate, Max. A tribute to veteran writer Paul Playdon, who passed in 2023.

Best of SEASON 3 EPISODE 11 remastered color dvd box set. 7 dvd set. Great classic collectors photo on the front.

A guy who is going by the name of 'Raymond Barrett' is in actually another crook who was part of a huge armored car robbery. But he double-crossed the gang and has hidden the $10,000,000 from the robbery. Soon after, he admitted to a crime as Barrett and was sent to prison. After all, he'd be safe from the gang there and he would wait until the statute of limitations is over...and then reclaim the money. With the statute of limitations coming soon, the IM Force must work quickly to get his to reveal the location of the money.

The first part of the plan is to get the prison doctor to set up Barrett...to convince him he's got an incurable disease. They then plant the idea in Barrett that he can be frozen cryogenically in order to be awoken when the cure has been found! So, once he awakens, he'll think the statute of limitations ended long ago...and he can safely get the money.

While I am usually not a big fan of episodes involving organized crime or other domestic criminals, I liked this one because there was an excellent reason to not just shoot the guy in the face...the $10,000,000. I also liked that there were some unexpected twists. It's also fun to see all the Jetsons-like stuff they have in 'the future' in the show. Overall, a very good episode...one of the better ones.