Don't mince words, Shaka...tell us what you really think.
MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night
- Thread starter JD
- Start date
Harsh. I thought KISS was pretty good. I don't know if they're Hall of Fame material, but I think that about a few Hall of Famers.
There's that Universal bean counter again....stock..match as close as possible!
It was deliberate, since all other shots in the sequence were clear.
That would be interesting to uncover; right now, I cannot recall others knowing about Banner, other than the episodes "Broken Image" and "Interview with the Hulk." and if memory serves, "A Rock and a Hard Place."
No, but Byron was self interested as the nurse in "A Child in Need."
...and having to deal with McGee putting it all together and accusing Banner (the survivor) of murder.
Some larger entertainment centers/arenas are known to have anything from holding cells resembling jail, to small rooms with a one window door, but they usually separate detainees.
Hey--that's never stopped sportscasters from creative exaggeration before...
Agreed. It seems the series established (now in two episodes) that there enough Banner in the Hulk to know how he should treat a person not deserving of a full-on thrashing.
Yes, that was TOS' favorite jealous boyfriend! Miramanee friendzoned him in a hot minute!
Yes, she was striking..and about her acting skills...probably the reason her career did not last long.
Good catch! I recognized him, but did not place him as the Superman II diner bully!
Or it's the influence of the only force strong enough to restrain the Hulk -- Broadcast Standards & Practices! (Also the only force strong enough to keep his pants from tearing off.)
@Christopher , you're alive!
^I've been away at the Shore Leave convention. I wanted to wait to watch the episode until I could get home and watch on my larger desktop screen (and be sure of a reliable streaming connection).
Not bad, overall. Always interesting to see a callback to Dr. Banner's research, and the parallels between Tobey and the Hulk were interesting. I loved Bixby's acting when he conceded the mistake Stewart cited in Banner's research. There was some pretty good directing at times, some nice moments of tension and silent reaction shots. And Denny Miller gave a pretty good performance, if a bit over-the-top at times (but that was what was called for). Excellent use of the Memorial Coliseum as a location. And it was interesting in the climax to see the Hulk as the calmer one in a confrontation. Plus the Hulk's "touchdown" of Tobey was kind of fun.
The weak link in the episode was Tobey's wife. Not only were her lines clumsily expository, not only did she confide in David way too readily, but Barbara Leigh's performance was atrocious.
Another error: At one point, they showed the TV announcers with their own TV image being played back on the screen behind them, but the screen within the screen was blank, giving away the special effect. In reality, you'd see an infinite regression of screens within screens.
And yes, I recognized Frank Orsatti doing David's fence climb. I didn't recognize him as an actual character in the episode, though. (Was he one of the guys who locked David in the steam room?)
Meanwhile, The National Register has amazingly broad circulation for a disreputable tabloid rag. It seems to be the only newspaper anyone ever reads in this series. At least this time they didn't give McGee credit for writing the article, even though we've seen him on the sports beat before (in "Rainbow's End").
Covering up his own malpractice to avoid losing face/funding seems pretty shady and deliberate to me. Although I guess you're saying you thought he might be actively trying to sabotage Tobey, maybe at the behest of gamblers or mobsters or the opposing coach or something? I'm not sure that would really fit the tenor of this current run of episodes, which is less about crime and bad guys and more about personal and social problems like child abuse and alcoholism. We have had a few bad guys this season -- the crooked race car drivers in "Ricky," the dreadfully acted evil dojo gangster in "Another Path" -- but not many. (That's two really awful guest actors in just a few weeks. I hope it isn't a trend.)
In general, though, a typical plot for the show would have had an out-and-out bad guy who would have, for instance, sicced the football players on David because he was meddling, that sort of thing. The psychiatrist would have been the most obvious choice for that, perhaps in collaboration with the coach. Maybe a deliberate attempt to tap into his aggression to make him a better player, with things going a bit too far, rather than an unintended side-effect of therapy intended to be benevolent.
For the show overall, perhaps. For this particular portion of its run, not so much. They seem to be very much in a social-consciousness/Very Special Episode sort of vein lately.
"Ricky" had the rival race-car driver and his mechanic; in "A Child in Need" the father was the bad guy until his breakdown; "Alice in Disco Land" had Gul Discotek and his cohorts, though they were admittedly a laid-back bunch when it came to moving the plot along...those are the most "Very Special" episodes of the season, and they're not even consecutive ones. So I'm not seeing an emergent pattern of no bad guys.
Already acknowledged. I didn't say there were no bad guys at all, just that they weren't a routine presence at this stage.
But not in the sense of a criminal -- just a character like Tobey here, a guy with serious anger issues. That episode, like this one, was more a psychological drama than a typical TV crime/action plot.
"Married" didn't have any villains except the sleazy guys from the bar. "The Antowuk Horror" had the big-game hunter as a secondary threat, but the main antagonist was -- there's a trend here -- a basically decent guy with anger issues exacerbated by his financial problems. "Rainbow's End" did have a sleazy owner, but the main source of danger was the cheated employee seeking revenge, again more a misguided decent guy than a criminal per se. I'll give you Marc Alaimo, though; I'd forgotten about him and his goons.
And I still say that a doctor who's willing to risk letting his patient become a killer rather than admit to his own mistakes is a pretty bad guy, even if he didn't have a premeditated Evil Plot. He used harmful and disreputable methods and didn't care who they hurt as long as he got his grant and his opportunity to publish. He put self-interest above others' well-being, despite being in a profession that's all about taking care of others. That's more than villainous enough for me. Everyone makes mistakes, but it's when you double down on a mistake and choose to let others be harmed by it that you cross the line.
I'd say that the psychiatrist was misguided at best...he wasn't deliberately perpetrating an underhanded scheme, siccing goons on people who stuck their noses in his business, etc.
But like I said, he refused to admit his mistake even after David told him that he was putting lives at risk by staying silent. At that moment, even as we were watching, he made a choice to let others suffer for his own. So yes, at that moment he made a deliberate choice to do harm. Stewart didn't start out as a villain, but he became a villain at the moment he made that choice.
That's painting things with a rather broad brush.
Whatever. It's not worth arguing over.
The Incredible Hulk
"Stop the Presses"
Originally aired November 24, 1978
If you've been paying attention to the airdates, you'll notice that the show skipped a week. What might have aired on CBS in the Hulk's timeslot on Friday, November 17, 1978...?
Talk about your dates that will live in infamy! Kind of sucks the air right out of the thread, doesn't it?
This somewhat lighthearted episode gives David two competing romantic interests at his workplace of the week. He's just schlepping around, but becomes involved in a plot to avoid being exposed, if that counts for anything. And he doesn't have any specific alias that I noticed, though he does briefly assume an identity of opportunity as "Littman". He also manages to have multiple close encounters with McGee.
This episode gives us a look at McGee's National Register HQ, complete with a subplot that the Hulk stories are getting too expensive. That trip to Hawaii to appear in one scene couldn't have helped. The story generates some sympathy for Jack by showing that even he has more principles than the slimeball who's running the phony exposes.
The Hulk is also said to have been recently spotted in New Mexico...this show had a tendency to disown the comics, but I have to wonder if that wasn't a deliberate nod on the part of the writer. Another nod to something that Johnson denied as an influence: "Another town, another name," indeed!
Also, another hunter associated with Jack. And another obvious use of Stunt David in the restaurant fight. First Hulk-Out: -25:36. One of the episode's more subtle bits of humor is David's inability to budge the freezer that the Hulk casually moved around, even with two people helping him.
Second Hulk-Out: -7:37. You'd have to think that a tranquilizer capable of affecting the Hulk would have knocked Jack out a lot sooner.
One last potential nod in this episode--Was it mere coincidence the guy who was running an expose on the food establishment that Pat Morita was working at was named "Arnold"?
"Stop the Presses"
Originally aired November 24, 1978
If you've been paying attention to the airdates, you'll notice that the show skipped a week. What might have aired on CBS in the Hulk's timeslot on Friday, November 17, 1978...?
Talk about your dates that will live in infamy! Kind of sucks the air right out of the thread, doesn't it?
This somewhat lighthearted episode gives David two competing romantic interests at his workplace of the week. He's just schlepping around, but becomes involved in a plot to avoid being exposed, if that counts for anything. And he doesn't have any specific alias that I noticed, though he does briefly assume an identity of opportunity as "Littman". He also manages to have multiple close encounters with McGee.
This episode gives us a look at McGee's National Register HQ, complete with a subplot that the Hulk stories are getting too expensive. That trip to Hawaii to appear in one scene couldn't have helped. The story generates some sympathy for Jack by showing that even he has more principles than the slimeball who's running the phony exposes.
The Hulk is also said to have been recently spotted in New Mexico...this show had a tendency to disown the comics, but I have to wonder if that wasn't a deliberate nod on the part of the writer. Another nod to something that Johnson denied as an influence: "Another town, another name," indeed!
Also, another hunter associated with Jack. And another obvious use of Stunt David in the restaurant fight. First Hulk-Out: -25:36. One of the episode's more subtle bits of humor is David's inability to budge the freezer that the Hulk casually moved around, even with two people helping him.
Second Hulk-Out: -7:37. You'd have to think that a tranquilizer capable of affecting the Hulk would have knocked Jack out a lot sooner.
One last potential nod in this episode--Was it mere coincidence the guy who was running an expose on the food establishment that Pat Morita was working at was named "Arnold"?
"Stop the Presses"--
At The National Register offices (Chicago), ex-wrestler / photographer Charlie tries to peddle photos to Jack McGee, claiming it can return McGee to front page status. McGee dismisses Charlie's sell job, telling him to pass them off to rival Joe Arnold, which irritates the wrestler. If that was not bad enough, Mr. Roberts--McGee's boss--showers Arnold with praise about a shooting story and a restaurant investigation. Adding insult to injury, the boss tells McGee:
Mr, Roberts: "Jack, the publishers are thinking of killing your weekly "Creature Report." The Hulk hunt is getting too expensive--plane tickets, wrecked cars--"
Jack: "You're talking about the biggest story in newspaper history, and they're worried about a few, cheesy bucks?"
Mr. Roberts: "Oh, cool off, Jack. Look at it from their angle: you haven't come up with anything new for quite awhile--not even with that $10,000 reward to help you!"
Jack: "It's just a matter of time...there was a guy in New Mexico--saw the Hulk not a month ago!"
Mr. Roberts: "Jack--there's an astrologers' convention in town. Get the head fortune-teller's end for an interview."
Jack: "That's cub reporter stuff!"
Mr. Roberts: "You'll do what I say...or go back to freelancing. And you'll drop the Hulk story, until you can bring me something more than an out of focus photo of your green friend."
Dejected, Jack reads the latest Register cover story, about a gorilla subdued by a tranquilizer gun, and his wheels start turning...
Elsewhere, at Bruno's Restaurant, owners Jill Norton & Karen Weiss discuss a certain new employee; Karen mentions that this employee might be great helping out with the books, but thinks there's more to him than meets the eye:
Karen: "If that man is a diswasher, then I'm Greta Garbo."
The man in question is--of course--David. Karen credits Banner for helping them get their liquor license, etc., while Fred the cook teases David about the ladies' interest in him. Jill reveals she once had a budding career in the newspaper business, but gave that up to run Bruno's. Register reporter Joe Arnold meets Charlie for a trip to Bruno's, which Arnold describes:
Arnold: "The owners are young...and struggling...and female. Zero clout!"
Setting firecrackers in an outside dumpster, Charlie and Arnold use the diversion to send David and Fred away, then plant filthy rags, and other dirty items all over the kitchen, in order to shoot incriminating photos--they do, and catch David's face in one of the images. David and Fred are too late to stop them. Fred explains Arnold's reputation of creating Register stories by setting up restaurant owners as a health risk.
The owners want to go to the Register to expose Arnold, but Fred (having lived through these tactics before), does not see a positive outcome. David is visibly disturbed about his predicament, causing Jill and Karen to speculate about the cause of his concern.
At the Register, Jill & Karen confront Arnold, who blows off threats of legal action. Returning to Bruno's, the women inform David of their failure--including not obtaining the photo. That night, David visits the Register to retrieve the photo (how would he know where to find it, unless Jill gave him some pointers on where photos are stored?), and is nearly exposed as McGee shares the same elevator--and after some now-you-see-him, now-you-don't peeking hi-jinks, David leaves the building.
The next day at the Register offices, Arnold tries to scam (about Bruno's) and threaten Geller, the health department representative, but Geller holds his own:
Geller: "It's just an unofficial warning--but if you write one more line about the health department slacking off, we will have to take action, and I don't buy your 'freedom of the press' routine."
Arnold: "Oh, Geller, there's need for us knocking heads over this thing, we're both after the same thing--the public's welfare. Now, maybe we can figure out a way to make your cooperation work to your advantage."
Geller: "I already have a pension plan, Mr. Arnold."
Arnold: "I mean you and your bossed might enjoy a little national publicity."
Geller: "Nobody in the department wants to be quoted in this rag."
Arnold: "You seen these photos?"
Geller: "A little garbage..moldy cheese. Your readers may not have anything better to worry about, but we do. Come see us when you bust some real offenders. Maggots, cockroaches...real filth.That's when we get involved. Until then, leave us out of it...or you'll see what kind of power the Department of Health does have. good day, Mr. Arnold."
Later, Jill, Karen and Fred leave for the market, while David works in the freezer. Arnold and Charlie sneak in, and dump cockroaches in the sink; David catches them in the act, using Charlie's camera to capture the ill deed, but the men grab David, and manhandle him enough to trigger a Hulk-out. During the kitchen destruction, Arnold retrieves his camera, and gets up close and personal shots of Jack McGee's one and only passion.
At the Register, McGee analyses Arnold and his motives:
McGee: "How do you do it, Arnold?"
Arnold: "Do what? I do my job--it's as simple as that."
McGee: "No...you could be a good reporter. You're smart enough, but you always take the cheap shot."
Arnold: "Let me tell you something, McGee. There's only a handful of reporters in this country who make big money, and I intend on being one of them."
McGee: "So that's it--go for the bucks."
Arnold: "Yeah!"
McGee: "No matter who it hurts..."
Arnold: "Right. You want me to do it straight like you do, and end up with nothing?"
McGee: "Well, I sleep good. I shave with my eyes wide open, I have...friends. I feel a little sorry for you, Joe."
Arnold: "Save your sympathy, pal....for yourself."
This exchange is not only fascinating in that it takes a short, but honest look at the oil and water relationship some have with career and ethics, but much of the meaning behind McGee's own words--true as they are--will be used against him (appropriately, by Banner) in the 2-part "Mystery Man."
While David, Jill and Karen clean up the Hulk's kitchen mess, and lament over Fred quitting, McGee walks in, offering to help the ladies with the Register reward if they can lead him to the Hulk. Karen says they will help--if McGee can retrieve Arnold's photos of the restaurant. McGee shoots this idea down, as the pictures are logged, dated...and its a violation of ethics, which earns a deserved:
Karen: "What would anybody working for the National Register know about ethics?"
McGee: "Yeah, I understand how you feel."
After McGee leaves, David shows the women photos that were taken only an hour before Arnold's (thanks to a newspaper headline dating the event), showing a completely clean kitchen. That, plus the logged Register photos should prove innocence, and force a retraction from the paper...if they can get their hands on the photos...
McGee talks to the game warden responsible for tranquilizing the gorilla (from the Register article), learning that the non-lethal dart could bring down a medium-sized elephant....
Game warden: "After something big?
McGee: "Yeah, you can say that....something big."
That night, Jill, Karen and David return to the register, with Jill wearing a slinky dress to serve as a distraction long enough for David to use a staff phone, pretending to be Register publisher Robert Steinhauer, obviously asking if Jill had arrived. As a result, the security guard gives Jill access to the elevators, while warning her to "be careful."
In the photo lab, the trio steals all of Arnold's proofs and negatives from the restaurant, but Jill notices the run sheet has been sent to make plates for the next issue. Knowing all hinges on destroying the plates, David--reasoning its easier for one to go / risk getting caught than three, sends Jill & Karen back to restaurant, while he goes to the print shop. David shuts down the power to stop the printing and give himself cover in darkness, as he steals the plate. However, Bad Luck Banner is forced to hide near one of the large plate cylinders, so when power is restored, his hand is pulled in between the crushing press drums, causing an instant Hulk-out...
Unbeknownst to David, McGee was working after hours, familiarizing himself with the tranquilizer rifle, and then speaking to security about the power outage--right as the guard hears the Hulk's roaring rampage. Jack grabs the rifle, and races to the print shop, spots the Hulk, and fires a dart into his leg. The Hulk grabs the rifle, causing it to fire the next dart into McGee's leg; even under the growing influence of the tranquilizer, McGee bravely pursues the fleeing creature, with the Hulk now feeling the effects of the tranquilizer.
As the Hulk transforms back to a groggy Banner, McGee stumbles toward him--face to face, but McGee's drug-induced state blurs his vision. McGee passes out.
Days later, Jill and Karen post a register front page on the wall, the headline reads--
Restaurant Stories Exposed and National Register Cleans House--by Jack McGee.
We do not have to guess what happened to Arnold and Charlie.
Jill and Karen's restaurant is doing well, thanks to David's help, but he's moved on, this time without giving notice. Jill believes they will never see him again...well, they have a Polaroid..of David's back.
NOTES:
I believe David does not use one of his endless surnames in this episode.
This is a non-cure related episode.
The given names of characters Jill Norton and Karen Weiss were an inside nod to this episode's writers, Jill Sherman and Karen Harris. Harris not only served as writer, but moved up to producing during the series' run. Another inside nod is naming the Register publisher Robert Steinhauer, after Hulk producer Robert Bennet Steinhauer.
Jill's "call Pizza People, they deliver" was a play on the real life Pizza Man delivery restaurant (with the slogan, "Pizza Man--He Delivers") that was one of the best known pizza restaurants in 1970s California, but to be honest, eating some of their pies was similar to eating salt packets...
I know David has to go where he can find opportunity for work, but to the home city of his arch enemy & his headquarters? That's either reckless, or he's one bold guy.
Jack Colvin's McGee was provided with a number of episodes to make make him more than the plug-in, weekly antagonist. We see his frustration with the lack of support for his Hulk story, with realistic higher-up pressure or judgement. As McGee always says, this is the biggest story of the century, so in an all too rare development for TV villains, some sympathy is generated...but he wears on sympathy from time to time..
GUEST STARS:
Julie Cobb (Jill Norton) is the original Star Trek's only female "red shirt" to die. In the season two episode, "By Any Other Name," Yeoman Leslie Thompson was turned into a mineral cube, then crushed by the Kelvan leader Rojan. Not much screen time, but certainly left an impression as a rare ST victim. Cobb would work with William Shatner for a second time in "To Kill A Cop," a 1985 episode of T.J. Hooker.
Cobb's other significant fantasy role came over a decade later, in the CBS miniseries adaptation of Salem's Lot, (Warner Brothers, 1979) as adulterous wife Bonnie Sawyer, and a part in the TV spinoff of Starman ("Fathers and Sons").
Mary Frann (Karen Weiss) will always be Joanna Loudin from Newhart (CBS, 1982-1990) in the hearts of TV audiences, but she had a couple of fantasy credits in her pre-Hulk years, including The Fantastic Journey ("Funhouse"), and ABC's Wide World of Mystery in a 1975 alien abduction movie called Distant Early Warning.
Pat Morita (Fred) is inseparable from his roles as Happy Days' Arnold, and The Karate Kid series' Mr. Miyagi (the first film earned Morita an Academy Award & Golden Globe nomination). Not much fantasy performances in his career, but he did contribute the 1983 real space special Living and Working in Space: the Countdown Has Begun, and a truly embarrassing, low rent sci-fi film called Timemaster (1995), also shaming Michael Dorn. Discover it...if you dare.
Sam Chew Jr. (Joe Arnold) has fantasy roles dating back to two uncredited parts in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (Fox, 1971) and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (Fox, 1972). He began his Kenneth Johnson association with 8 episodes of The Bionic Woman. In the 80s, his fantasy roles werehit and miss in terms of quality, with parts in Time Walker (an alien escapes King Tut's tomb and naturally seeks a college to terrorize), and "Voyagers of the Titanic," a 1983 episode of Voyagers!
At The National Register offices (Chicago), ex-wrestler / photographer Charlie tries to peddle photos to Jack McGee, claiming it can return McGee to front page status. McGee dismisses Charlie's sell job, telling him to pass them off to rival Joe Arnold, which irritates the wrestler. If that was not bad enough, Mr. Roberts--McGee's boss--showers Arnold with praise about a shooting story and a restaurant investigation. Adding insult to injury, the boss tells McGee:
Mr, Roberts: "Jack, the publishers are thinking of killing your weekly "Creature Report." The Hulk hunt is getting too expensive--plane tickets, wrecked cars--"
Jack: "You're talking about the biggest story in newspaper history, and they're worried about a few, cheesy bucks?"
Mr. Roberts: "Oh, cool off, Jack. Look at it from their angle: you haven't come up with anything new for quite awhile--not even with that $10,000 reward to help you!"
Jack: "It's just a matter of time...there was a guy in New Mexico--saw the Hulk not a month ago!"
Mr. Roberts: "Jack--there's an astrologers' convention in town. Get the head fortune-teller's end for an interview."
Jack: "That's cub reporter stuff!"
Mr. Roberts: "You'll do what I say...or go back to freelancing. And you'll drop the Hulk story, until you can bring me something more than an out of focus photo of your green friend."
Dejected, Jack reads the latest Register cover story, about a gorilla subdued by a tranquilizer gun, and his wheels start turning...
Elsewhere, at Bruno's Restaurant, owners Jill Norton & Karen Weiss discuss a certain new employee; Karen mentions that this employee might be great helping out with the books, but thinks there's more to him than meets the eye:
Karen: "If that man is a diswasher, then I'm Greta Garbo."
The man in question is--of course--David. Karen credits Banner for helping them get their liquor license, etc., while Fred the cook teases David about the ladies' interest in him. Jill reveals she once had a budding career in the newspaper business, but gave that up to run Bruno's. Register reporter Joe Arnold meets Charlie for a trip to Bruno's, which Arnold describes:
Arnold: "The owners are young...and struggling...and female. Zero clout!"
Setting firecrackers in an outside dumpster, Charlie and Arnold use the diversion to send David and Fred away, then plant filthy rags, and other dirty items all over the kitchen, in order to shoot incriminating photos--they do, and catch David's face in one of the images. David and Fred are too late to stop them. Fred explains Arnold's reputation of creating Register stories by setting up restaurant owners as a health risk.
The owners want to go to the Register to expose Arnold, but Fred (having lived through these tactics before), does not see a positive outcome. David is visibly disturbed about his predicament, causing Jill and Karen to speculate about the cause of his concern.
At the Register, Jill & Karen confront Arnold, who blows off threats of legal action. Returning to Bruno's, the women inform David of their failure--including not obtaining the photo. That night, David visits the Register to retrieve the photo (how would he know where to find it, unless Jill gave him some pointers on where photos are stored?), and is nearly exposed as McGee shares the same elevator--and after some now-you-see-him, now-you-don't peeking hi-jinks, David leaves the building.
The next day at the Register offices, Arnold tries to scam (about Bruno's) and threaten Geller, the health department representative, but Geller holds his own:
Geller: "It's just an unofficial warning--but if you write one more line about the health department slacking off, we will have to take action, and I don't buy your 'freedom of the press' routine."
Arnold: "Oh, Geller, there's need for us knocking heads over this thing, we're both after the same thing--the public's welfare. Now, maybe we can figure out a way to make your cooperation work to your advantage."
Geller: "I already have a pension plan, Mr. Arnold."
Arnold: "I mean you and your bossed might enjoy a little national publicity."
Geller: "Nobody in the department wants to be quoted in this rag."
Arnold: "You seen these photos?"
Geller: "A little garbage..moldy cheese. Your readers may not have anything better to worry about, but we do. Come see us when you bust some real offenders. Maggots, cockroaches...real filth.That's when we get involved. Until then, leave us out of it...or you'll see what kind of power the Department of Health does have. good day, Mr. Arnold."
Later, Jill, Karen and Fred leave for the market, while David works in the freezer. Arnold and Charlie sneak in, and dump cockroaches in the sink; David catches them in the act, using Charlie's camera to capture the ill deed, but the men grab David, and manhandle him enough to trigger a Hulk-out. During the kitchen destruction, Arnold retrieves his camera, and gets up close and personal shots of Jack McGee's one and only passion.
At the Register, McGee analyses Arnold and his motives:
McGee: "How do you do it, Arnold?"
Arnold: "Do what? I do my job--it's as simple as that."
McGee: "No...you could be a good reporter. You're smart enough, but you always take the cheap shot."
Arnold: "Let me tell you something, McGee. There's only a handful of reporters in this country who make big money, and I intend on being one of them."
McGee: "So that's it--go for the bucks."
Arnold: "Yeah!"
McGee: "No matter who it hurts..."
Arnold: "Right. You want me to do it straight like you do, and end up with nothing?"
McGee: "Well, I sleep good. I shave with my eyes wide open, I have...friends. I feel a little sorry for you, Joe."
Arnold: "Save your sympathy, pal....for yourself."
This exchange is not only fascinating in that it takes a short, but honest look at the oil and water relationship some have with career and ethics, but much of the meaning behind McGee's own words--true as they are--will be used against him (appropriately, by Banner) in the 2-part "Mystery Man."
While David, Jill and Karen clean up the Hulk's kitchen mess, and lament over Fred quitting, McGee walks in, offering to help the ladies with the Register reward if they can lead him to the Hulk. Karen says they will help--if McGee can retrieve Arnold's photos of the restaurant. McGee shoots this idea down, as the pictures are logged, dated...and its a violation of ethics, which earns a deserved:
Karen: "What would anybody working for the National Register know about ethics?"
McGee: "Yeah, I understand how you feel."
After McGee leaves, David shows the women photos that were taken only an hour before Arnold's (thanks to a newspaper headline dating the event), showing a completely clean kitchen. That, plus the logged Register photos should prove innocence, and force a retraction from the paper...if they can get their hands on the photos...
McGee talks to the game warden responsible for tranquilizing the gorilla (from the Register article), learning that the non-lethal dart could bring down a medium-sized elephant....
Game warden: "After something big?
McGee: "Yeah, you can say that....something big."
That night, Jill, Karen and David return to the register, with Jill wearing a slinky dress to serve as a distraction long enough for David to use a staff phone, pretending to be Register publisher Robert Steinhauer, obviously asking if Jill had arrived. As a result, the security guard gives Jill access to the elevators, while warning her to "be careful."
In the photo lab, the trio steals all of Arnold's proofs and negatives from the restaurant, but Jill notices the run sheet has been sent to make plates for the next issue. Knowing all hinges on destroying the plates, David--reasoning its easier for one to go / risk getting caught than three, sends Jill & Karen back to restaurant, while he goes to the print shop. David shuts down the power to stop the printing and give himself cover in darkness, as he steals the plate. However, Bad Luck Banner is forced to hide near one of the large plate cylinders, so when power is restored, his hand is pulled in between the crushing press drums, causing an instant Hulk-out...
Unbeknownst to David, McGee was working after hours, familiarizing himself with the tranquilizer rifle, and then speaking to security about the power outage--right as the guard hears the Hulk's roaring rampage. Jack grabs the rifle, and races to the print shop, spots the Hulk, and fires a dart into his leg. The Hulk grabs the rifle, causing it to fire the next dart into McGee's leg; even under the growing influence of the tranquilizer, McGee bravely pursues the fleeing creature, with the Hulk now feeling the effects of the tranquilizer.
As the Hulk transforms back to a groggy Banner, McGee stumbles toward him--face to face, but McGee's drug-induced state blurs his vision. McGee passes out.
Days later, Jill and Karen post a register front page on the wall, the headline reads--
Restaurant Stories Exposed and National Register Cleans House--by Jack McGee.
We do not have to guess what happened to Arnold and Charlie.
Jill and Karen's restaurant is doing well, thanks to David's help, but he's moved on, this time without giving notice. Jill believes they will never see him again...well, they have a Polaroid..of David's back.
NOTES:
I believe David does not use one of his endless surnames in this episode.
This is a non-cure related episode.
The given names of characters Jill Norton and Karen Weiss were an inside nod to this episode's writers, Jill Sherman and Karen Harris. Harris not only served as writer, but moved up to producing during the series' run. Another inside nod is naming the Register publisher Robert Steinhauer, after Hulk producer Robert Bennet Steinhauer.
Jill's "call Pizza People, they deliver" was a play on the real life Pizza Man delivery restaurant (with the slogan, "Pizza Man--He Delivers") that was one of the best known pizza restaurants in 1970s California, but to be honest, eating some of their pies was similar to eating salt packets...
I know David has to go where he can find opportunity for work, but to the home city of his arch enemy & his headquarters? That's either reckless, or he's one bold guy.
Jack Colvin's McGee was provided with a number of episodes to make make him more than the plug-in, weekly antagonist. We see his frustration with the lack of support for his Hulk story, with realistic higher-up pressure or judgement. As McGee always says, this is the biggest story of the century, so in an all too rare development for TV villains, some sympathy is generated...but he wears on sympathy from time to time..
GUEST STARS:
Julie Cobb (Jill Norton) is the original Star Trek's only female "red shirt" to die. In the season two episode, "By Any Other Name," Yeoman Leslie Thompson was turned into a mineral cube, then crushed by the Kelvan leader Rojan. Not much screen time, but certainly left an impression as a rare ST victim. Cobb would work with William Shatner for a second time in "To Kill A Cop," a 1985 episode of T.J. Hooker.
Cobb's other significant fantasy role came over a decade later, in the CBS miniseries adaptation of Salem's Lot, (Warner Brothers, 1979) as adulterous wife Bonnie Sawyer, and a part in the TV spinoff of Starman ("Fathers and Sons").
Mary Frann (Karen Weiss) will always be Joanna Loudin from Newhart (CBS, 1982-1990) in the hearts of TV audiences, but she had a couple of fantasy credits in her pre-Hulk years, including The Fantastic Journey ("Funhouse"), and ABC's Wide World of Mystery in a 1975 alien abduction movie called Distant Early Warning.
Pat Morita (Fred) is inseparable from his roles as Happy Days' Arnold, and The Karate Kid series' Mr. Miyagi (the first film earned Morita an Academy Award & Golden Globe nomination). Not much fantasy performances in his career, but he did contribute the 1983 real space special Living and Working in Space: the Countdown Has Begun, and a truly embarrassing, low rent sci-fi film called Timemaster (1995), also shaming Michael Dorn. Discover it...if you dare.
Sam Chew Jr. (Joe Arnold) has fantasy roles dating back to two uncredited parts in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (Fox, 1971) and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (Fox, 1972). He began his Kenneth Johnson association with 8 episodes of The Bionic Woman. In the 80s, his fantasy roles werehit and miss in terms of quality, with parts in Time Walker (an alien escapes King Tut's tomb and naturally seeks a college to terrorize), and "Voyagers of the Titanic," a 1983 episode of Voyagers!
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The Register really is the only paper on this show--It's exposing itself!
To be fair, it's a big city, and McGee is usually all over the country chasing down Hulk leads.
All upstaged by the Holiday Special connection!
But I didn't realize that was her, though the actress's name did seem a bit familiar.
Yeah..pure crap. I remember that weekend very well. The world--particularly Americans would not think much about the Star Wars Holiday Special, as the afternoon of the next day (Saturday, November 18) all news coverage would be dominated--for weeks after that--by the Peoples Temple mass murders/suicides in "Jonestown," Guyana.
I doubt it was a nod to the comics. America is a big place, and Banner traveled like a Greyhound bus from one end of the nation to the other. Johnson did not like comics at all, and I imagine he would rather yank his own teeth out with a rusty pair of wire cutters than even wet his toes in the comic world, only to have a certain part of TIH's fanbase start thinking the series was going to use more of that as a source.
Maybe--if typical Hulk audiences even paid attention to Morita's one season on Happy Days to get the reference.
