"Wildfire"
David
Blakeman is working at an oil rig run by the
Wildfire Oil Well Drilling Company, and narrowly misses being
brained by a large wrench (that would have turned into a 5 minute episode). Owner Mike Calahan is friendly with David, taking to the site office, where the Mike's daughter Linda--the woman who hired David--remarks on David's past jobs and locations. The family has been in the oil business for decades, with Mike pointing out the various drilling sites they've worked around the world, but none were personal successes. Mike is placing his hope for riches and a sense of accomplishment on his own rig.
Linda likes helping her father, but studied languages; she hopes the company strikes so her father will be financially stable, and she can return to New York, with the aim of becoming a United Nations interpreter.
Linda complains about her situation..
Linda:
"Meanwhile, I'm up to my knees in mud and I.O.U.s, waiting for someone to pass through town who knows that a Matisse is not a foreign car. You know what I mean?"
David. "Oh..sure."
Ohhhh, to have to deal with the "lower classes." Tush tush!
Ray of
Wilco Oil of America approaches Mike with another offer to buy the lease to his drilling site--
Ray:
"Hey, Mike. Any luck?"
Mike:
"Ohh, yeah..Can't you see the thing gushing back there? Careful not splash oil all over your nice scarf."
Ray:
"Gettin' pretty tense these days, Mike, I think wildcatting's wearing you down."
Mike:
"It's being around three-piece suits. Always did make me break out."
Ray: "
Well, have you thought anymore about our talk? It's a fair offer, Mike. Even Linda says so. We're not gettin' any younger. What do you need with this kind of aggravation?"
Mike:
"Listen, Ray. You and I have been plagued by company men all our lives, I never let one of them get to me yet. They're not smart enough."
Ray: "
That's why you're gonna die out here! Nothin' but mud."
Mike: "Nothing but mud. Is that why that outfit you're hustlin' for wants my lease so bad?"
Ray: "You never used to be this big a fool, Mike. You're risking everything you got! I don't envy you."
Mike:
"Yes you do. I got something worth risking."
Later, at the Wilco offices, Ray shuffles around Tim Wade--the boss--regarding the meeting with Mike--
Wade: "How's Mike Calahan?"
Ray: "He's stubborn. But I'm wearin' him down. Those geology tests come in?"
Wade: "It could blow anytime. And its going to be worth millions. We wait much longer, and he's gonna have a full blown gusher on his hands. I don't think he'd be too likely to sell to us, then. Do you?"
Ray: "Well, I'll see what I can do."
Wade:
"One of the reasons we hired you, Ray was your long standing relationships with these wildcatters, but of you can't convince an old crony like Mike Calahan to sell, well.....I know you can get him to sell Wildfire. Let's hope he doesn't hit oil before you make the deal."
Back at the Wildfire drilling site, Mike tries to convince the workers to bear with the lack of pay for a few more days on the promise of success. The workers reluctantly agree to stay on. Linda speaks to David privately, exploring her interest in him--
Linda: "Why are you staying?"
David: "Well, if--I mean when Wildfire comes in, my share will be worth quite a bit of money. I could really use it to accomplish some important things."
Linda: "Oh, good. You know, I'd hate to see you leave."
David: "No."
Linda: "There's this steakhouse in town, and I can't get anyone to agree that they have the worst red wine in the continental United States. I'd like to know that you think."
David: "Tonight."
That evening, at Jim's Steak House, Linda and David's bad wine and limited menu choices are interrupted by Ray, who tries to move Linda toward convincing Mike to sell his lease. Linda does not seem interested, even in the face of accidents slowing work down. Returning to her quarters at Wildfire, David and Linda share a kiss, and...
Linda:
"How would you like to see my very own 5th Avenue penthouse apartment?"
David:
"Hmm.."
Linda:
"And I'll say it first: no strings, no commitments, no demands. And I know you don't plan to be around here very long, but David, neither do I."
The couple retire to her quarters...
After an unspecified amount of time passes (figure it out), David leaves her quarters, but spots employee Frank Adler in the shadows, doing
something to one of the generator cables; Adler knocks out David, seals him in an empty oil drum, loads is on a Wildfire truck and drives the soon revived & yelling Banner away--presumably to dump him in the woods.
David turns into the Hulk, breaks out of the drum, and causes Adler to crash into a tree. The Hulk rips the truck cab open like a sardine can, angrily grabbing Adler by the shirt collar with such force, that the man is choking...until the truck radio distracts the creature, who tosses Adler to the ground, almost as an afterthought. Adler runs away.
In the morning, David tries to tell a distracted Mike about the sabotage, but both are overtaken with joy as the rig rumbles, followed by a blowout of crude oil. David continues trying to inform Mike about Adler's treachery, but the man believes his newfound luck is all that matters.
Speaking of Adler, the would-be murderer is at Ray's office, complaining--
Ray:
"Well, Wildfire just came in."
Adler:
"I could've shut that rig down for a week!"
Ray: "You're full of alibis, aren't you?"
Adler:
"You think I could make up a story about some crazy green man? I mean, you shoulda seen the turkey, he was huge, he and was strong, and my truck out there looks like a sardine can."
Ray: "Okay, Okay, but what about Blakeman?"
Adler: "Gone. What do you want me to do about him?"
Ray: "Nothing. We're canning the whole thing."
Adler: "Did Mr. Wade say call it off?"
Ray: "No, I said call it off. With Wildfire comin' in, we're too late. Mike Calahan is a rich man--he'd never sell."
Adler:
"You give up too easy."
Ray:
"I said can it!"
Adler:
"You know the trouble with you, Thomas? You got no guts!"
Ray:
"Get out!"
Thanks to the Hulk incident, David prepares to leave Wildfire. Mike admits Linda is fond of David, but also reveals how she is sort of hanging around in an environment not her own for his sake, and how she should take advantage of her abilities in New York, but is--according to Mike--running scared. Mike hoped a man like David (described as intelligent, classy and polished) would offer her something in a place like Wildfire's town, but...
David tells Linda he cannot stay, telling her he does not belong there anymore than she does, presenting her with the plane tickets (to New York) her father purchased for her over a year ago.
Adler returns, planting a time bomb under the rig--Mike spots Adler running away, but the bomb detonates--the blast injuring several workers. David and Linda help the injured men, while Mike plans to cap the well. Ray arrives and is manhandled by Mike, the latter feigning ignorance of Adler's actions, but admits the ambitious Adler is on the Wilco payroll. It turns out that Ray--although harassing Mike about selling for a month, is more loyal to him than Wade, proven by his suiting up to help cap the well.
Ray and Mike don asbestos suits & plant explosives with David at the detonator, ahh, but the dastardly Adler attacks David, with Banner--for once--not folding like a card table. Eventually, David is beaten, Adler sets off the explosives before Ray and Mike were in the safe zone, triggering the Hulk's return. The creature tosses Adler aside, and manages to rescue the unconscious Mike; displaying an awareness not normally associated with the creature, the Hulk uses the malfunctioning crane to drop the plug into place--capping the well. As always, the Hulk quickly leaves the scene.
Days later, the workers (shareholders) receive their long-awaited payment. Only two have not collected their pay: Adler--now in prison, and David, who left town earlier. Linda tries to blow the disappointment, but receives a gift from David: a bottle of good wine (instead of the poor stuff referenced earlier), and a letter--
"This wine should be saved for New York. Maybe we will drink it together."
David says he will pick up his share of the money at another time (that never happens), and the rst of the letter is written in French, for Linda's eyes only.
As usual, David walks along some unnamed road, hitchhiking.
NOTES:
Jack McGee and
The National Register do not appear, or are mentioned in this episode.
"Wildfire" is the second TIH episode directed by Bixby's regular stuntman,
Frank Orsatti (the first was
"Ricky").
If David collected his share of the money, what would he do with it? Since I will go ahead and say that no matter how much it was, he would still live as if David Banner is dead. Perhaps with enough money, he would not need to expose himself / risk Hulk incidents and could isolate himself to fully dedicate his time to finding his own cure.
Even if we assume David would use the money for anything in the neighborhood of a cure, the episode is not cure-related.
Good attention to detail: one of the workers says David does not know what he's doing. Realistic, as David might pick up certain job skills on the road, but procedures specific to something as technical as an oil rig is beyond his "pick it up" knowledge. In other words, he's cannot be a true jack-of-all-trades. He has limits.
GUEST CAST:
Christine Belford (
Linda) has a very long fantasy credits list, starting with
"Face of Ice," a 1972 episode of
The Sixth Sense. That same year, she appeared in the espionage / mind wipe thriller
The Groundstar Conspiracy, followed by
"Survival of the Fittest," the second episode of
The Six Million Dollar Man. Like so many TIH guest stars, she also ran into another TV superhero--Wonder Woman--in the first regular episode of the series,
"Wonder Woman Meets Baroness von Gunther" (1976). On the short-lived series front, Belford faced off against a Satanist's murderous dogs (with the help of
TV Green Hornet Van Williams) in
"Devil Pack," from the short-lived
Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected, and guest-starred on the equally short-lived
Beyond Westworld.
While at Universal, Belford portrayed Leda in the 2-part
Battlestar Galactica episode,
"Gun on Ice Planet Zero," before returning to TIH in the 4th season's
"Wax Museum."
John Anderson (
Mike) was one of the most visible faces from TV's Golden Age, with a career spanning four decades. His fantasy TV & movie credits include
Steve Canyon (
"The Bomb" - 1959),
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (
"The Old Pro" - 1961)
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (
"Ride the Nightmare" - 1962 /
"The Second Wife" - 1965), and had a role as car dealer "California Charlie" in Hitchcock's
Psycho (Paramount, 1960). Anderson appeared in the doomsday virus thriller
The Satan Bug (United Artists, 1965) opposite Richard Basehart, and that same year, had a reunion on Basehart's
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (
"Cradle of the Deep"). Above all else, Anderson's best known work was on several episodes of
The Twilight Zone--
- "A Passage for Trumpet"
- "The Odyssey of Flight 33"
- "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville"
- "The Old Man in the Cave."
Billy Green Bush (
Ray) has few fantasy credits, beginning with
The Outer Limits'
"The Architects of Fear" (1965), then taking a log absence until appearing on TIH. Aside from
"Wildfire," he made a return appearance in season four's famous 2-parter,
"The First" as Sheriff Carl Decker. Post Hulk, he added an episode of
Misfits of Science (
"Lost Link" - 1985) the horror film
Critters (New Line Cinema, 1986) and the
"Without Diana" episode of
Amazing Stories to his short fantasy list.
