"No Escape"--
At a beach side walkway in Santa Maria, David Baron is sleeping on a bench, but is arrested for vagrancy. David tries to explain his way out of the situation--especially after hearing the police will run a check on his identity. As he's placed in the police van, an older man watches--only he's seeing a very different world, one where the police are Francisco Franco's fascist soldiers, who he says wiped out "the entire village." The delusional man (named Tom Wallace) insists on calling David "Ramon," and that they must get to the Stanford Arms, where he will write about their struggle.
Wallace's instability becomes apparent as he speaks of not going back to "that room," where he received shock treatment; he blames his wife & doctor, vowing to kill them. If that was not enough of a red flag, the stenciled marker in his back filled in some blanks:
County Hospital S.M. C.O.
Wallace suffers from flashbacks of his shock treatment, then turns on David, referring to himself as "Papa Hemingway." David is attacked, but turns into the Hulk, breaking out of the police van, turning it over (with "Hemingway" still inside), and knocks two offers aside like toys. "Hemingway" makes his escape, grabbing his journal--and David's bag.
The following day, as a tow lifts the overturned police van, reporters interview Deputy Chief Harry Simon, incredulous about his officers' report of a "7 or 8 foot green man," though the officers' blood alcohol level returned negative, and both agreed to take lie detector tests, which is answered by...
McGee: "They'll pass. You can bet on it. I'm Jack McGee of the National Register. What they saw was the Hulk. Now, these two men who escaped--who were they?"
Simon: "A vagrant and a psycho--just a couple of ordinary guys."
McGee: "Well, its just an ordinary guy who becomes the creature--I've seen him change with my own eyes."
Simon: "Is that right. Well, I've seen your paper, Mr. McGee, and its known for its uh..shall we say....exaggerations."
McGee: "Yeah...well, maybe, but I'm telling you what I know. This uh..Tom Wallace was a local man who escaped from the state hospital, right?"
Simon: "Right."
Reporter #1: "What hospital?
Reporter #2: "How sick was he?"
Reporter #1: "What was he in for?"
Simon: "I don't know. You'll have to talk to his family about that."
McGee: "The vagrant?"
Simon: "He gave his name as uh...David Baron. Probably phony--he had no money, no I.D. A transient."
McGee: "Now this David Baron--what did he look like? Did he have any identifying marks?"
Simon:"I didn't bring him in. Just as I told you, he's a vagrant. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Just an ordinary guy."
Elsewhere, Kay Wallace listens to the radio report of Tom Wallace escaping and is shocked by the information....
At the beach, Tom "Hemingway" Wallace suffers more hallucinations, imagining the Hulk running by. Recovering, he goes to the apartment of Robert--and old friend who addresses Wallace as "Papa Hemingway." Wallace's behavior is off track; when Robert questions him about his arrest the previous night, Wallace grins it away as if he is some Hemingway who will simply write it as one of his life's experiences, ignoring the real legal danger he's in. Wallace sends Robert to buy him some clothes, and once alone, Wallace hallucinates again, while quoting from Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories.
On the boardwalk, David reads a newspaper report of Wallace's escape--also remembering the disturbed man's vow to kill his wife and doctor. Being penniless, he collects bottles on the beach and in trashcans, redeeming it for enough change to call Kay Wallace. Getting no answer, he makes his way to her home--avoiding reporters staked out in front of her home, including McGee.
David warns her of his threats, but she is sure he's harmless--just suffering from the hallucinations. She reveals he was a claims adjuster, but wanted to be a writer--though she doubts if he ever had any talent for it. David insists Tom is dangerous, but is interrupted by McGee at the front door, who nearly spots David.
After David sneaks away from the house, he calls Tom's doctor--Robert Stanley--posing as a "Dr. Johnson" working on Tom's case. David probes, asking if Tom received shock treatment, and if he's capable of violence, but thanks to David using a pay phone, the operator interrupts the call, requesting additional change--raising suspicion in Stanley.
Robert Tom obsesses on Kay and Dr. Stanley--accusing them of institutionalizing him so they could have an affair, all the while, ignoring Robert reminding him that law enforcement is out in force looking for him. Tom hallucinates, and makes the cryptic, mater-of-fact statement that his gun gets faster results than his typewriter....
Desperate, David calls Chief Simon, trying to convince the officer of the threat, only for Simon to trace the call, and send a police car to David's location--barely missing him.
Elsewhere, Kay sits nervously on a bench--observed by Tom; she finds a copy of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms next to her, and knows Tom is nearby. Tom watches her, but suffers more hallucinations, including the Hulk running at him. David finds Robert, challenging him to help Tom by tuning him in to the police, but is cut off by the armed Tom--still referring to David as Ramon. Feeling he has no choice but to watch Tom, David accompanies Robert & Tom to a skeet shooting range, where Tom displays his accuracy with a shotgun--and continues with his dark delusion--
Tom: "It wasn't just enough to send me away. They had to take away the only thing I had left. They had to take away my writing. Burned it out of me. Cliche plot though, isn't it? As old as the hills--the faithless wife...the conniving psychiatrist..the betrayed artist.......burned it out of me...electrodes in my brain...the talent..its gone. The words, the style..."
David: "Tom...suppose it wasn't true. Suppose you didn't have shock treatments?"
Tom: "Oh, I know what happened. I was there. Me, not you."
David: "The brain is a marvelous instrument. But sometimes to protect us, it can...uh..throw up a wall, and those delusions...those hallucinations become our reality."
While David talks, Tom's hallucinations continue, imagining he's on a big game hunt, shooting at elephants, when in reality, its his own car. He sees the Hulk growling again,
David: "What are you seeing?"
Tom: "Its green...its something I...its a man, I...think it was a man. Huge!"
Robert stares at Tom lost in his hallucinations leading him to shoot at the car.
David: "Tom..."
Tom is struck with pain again, grabbing his head--
Tom: "What's happening to me??"
David: "Tom, the elephants are a reality. The green creature is a reality..but not here. No, not now. Ernest Hemingway did have shock treatments....Tom Wallace did not!"
Tom: "My Wife..and my doctor...they're together now!"
David: "Tom!"
Tom: "No, Ramon. I can't trust you anymore."
Tom leaves...gun in hand.
Robert: "I hope he's alright."
David: "Do you know where he's going?"
Robert: "No."
David: "Well, his Hemingway hallucinations and his delusions about his wife and the doctor finally come together. Now, you can't protect him, because your friend Tom doesn't exist anymore!"
Robert: "He's just working through one of his stories--"
David: "No! He's on his way to commit murder! Now you have to tell me where he's going--I have to get there before he does!"
Robert: "I can't. He'll be alright."
David: "You know how Ernest Hemingway died. He put a gun in his mouth, and he pulled the trigger. Now, you've got to tell me where he's going!"
David hitches a ride to Dr. Stanley's boat, where he finds the doctor and Kay, but his warning is too late--tom emerges, armed and ready to take his revenge. As he prepares to shoot, the police arrive, equipped with tear gas, thanks to Robert. Chief Simon tries to reason with Tom--who now thinks he's facing authorities in Havana. If the situation were not bad enough, McGee drives up, demanding to know who is on the boat with Tom.
On the boat, Dr. Stanley whispers some of his concerns to David--
Stanley: "These hallucinations are typical. He's showing all the symptoms of a paranoid schizophrenic."
David: "But the headaches seem real, and they're getting worse. Couldn't the symptoms--all of them--the hallucinations, the temple pressure...couldn't that be evidence of physiological disorder?"
Stanley: "...a tumor?"
David: "Yes."
Kay: "None of this matters--what's important now is that we get him out of here!"
Tom: "I said be quiet, and I meant it!"
Kay pleads with Tom--offering to help, this time without going to the hospital; but the man suffers a flood of pain and hallucinations--shock therapy & the Hulk among them. Suddenly, Tom orders his hostages off of the boat, but David freezes in his tracks the moment he sees McGee. As Stanley and Kay move to the dock, McGee--arguing that the stranger on the boat is the Hulk--tries to force his past the police, only to be stopped by Simon, who gives Tom one minute to surrender.
Tom: "I wanted to kill them...but I couldn't."
David: "Tom...Tom, that's a good sign. That's a sign that you can be helped. You're not a murderer, Tom. If you give yourself up, you'll get the kind of treatment that you really need."
Tom: "You're never gonna send me back to that place. Never."
David: "If you go out there...with that in your hand, they're going to open fire."
Tom: "I don't think so........I still got one hostage left."
David is forced at gunpoint to inch up the steps to the bridge--
David: "Tom...don't make me do this!"
David spins around, struggling with Tom for control of the gun--just as Simon orders his officers to fire a tear gas canister into the boat. The gas fills the cabin, triggering David's Hulk out. Tom is overcome by the gas, but the creature carries him to to the top deck, where Kay tends to her husband. McGee blocks an officer from shooting the creature*, who sends a rowboat flying at the officers, then leaps into the waters to safely swim away.
At the hospital, Tom is recovering from surgery--his tumor removed. Dr. Stanley notes that the stranger who escaped with Tom seemed to know what he was talking about when suggesting a tumor could be the problem. Tom helps a sketch artist with a description of David, but he's purposely giving details that are the polar opposite of Banner. McGee tells tom he's "all wrong" with his description, but Tom passes that off as being a bit cloudy after brain surgery. Kay smiles, knowing Tom is not going to identify David.
At Robert's apartment, David thanks Robert for holding on to his bag. He still has faith that Tom will be a published author one day, and with that, says goodbye to David.
NOTES:
Yes, that was the great Jack Kirby in a cameo as the sketch artist. I remember many a TIH fan / comic reader being tickled to see Kirby when this first aired. Ironically, by this time in his career, his pencil roughs and animation conceptuals (pencil and/or dyes) were far superior to his published work in comics around this period such as Marvel's 2001: A Space Odyssey adaptation, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, etc. Longtime inker Mike Royer did not do his work justice--a far cry from the masterful Joe Sinnott.
Rare for a superhero production, David's plight as a drifter is highlighted with his having no lodging, so he's arrested for vagrancy, and later, collecting bottles to redeem them for a very small amount of money. Both realistic experiences for the homeless, though a weekly TV series would not fully dive into the perils of life as a homeless person (and for this episode, it did not need to). His life is not at all easy, and as seen in "Wildfire," he is not able to fit into every kind of job, making his survival prospects shaky at best.
*McGee stops an officer from shooting the Hulk, but the motive--considering the character development up to this point--strongly appears to be the reporter keeping his ticket to fortune and glory alive. A dead John Doe / Hulk means the entire story (and the link to McGee's own coverage from the beginning) is lost forever, along with his career catapult to "being somebody."
GUEST CAST:
James Wainwright (Tom Wallace) had a handfull of fantasy credits:
Thalmus Rasulala (Deputy Chief Simon) left a short but notable list fantasy credits:
At a beach side walkway in Santa Maria, David Baron is sleeping on a bench, but is arrested for vagrancy. David tries to explain his way out of the situation--especially after hearing the police will run a check on his identity. As he's placed in the police van, an older man watches--only he's seeing a very different world, one where the police are Francisco Franco's fascist soldiers, who he says wiped out "the entire village." The delusional man (named Tom Wallace) insists on calling David "Ramon," and that they must get to the Stanford Arms, where he will write about their struggle.
Wallace's instability becomes apparent as he speaks of not going back to "that room," where he received shock treatment; he blames his wife & doctor, vowing to kill them. If that was not enough of a red flag, the stenciled marker in his back filled in some blanks:
County Hospital S.M. C.O.
Wallace suffers from flashbacks of his shock treatment, then turns on David, referring to himself as "Papa Hemingway." David is attacked, but turns into the Hulk, breaking out of the police van, turning it over (with "Hemingway" still inside), and knocks two offers aside like toys. "Hemingway" makes his escape, grabbing his journal--and David's bag.
The following day, as a tow lifts the overturned police van, reporters interview Deputy Chief Harry Simon, incredulous about his officers' report of a "7 or 8 foot green man," though the officers' blood alcohol level returned negative, and both agreed to take lie detector tests, which is answered by...
McGee: "They'll pass. You can bet on it. I'm Jack McGee of the National Register. What they saw was the Hulk. Now, these two men who escaped--who were they?"
Simon: "A vagrant and a psycho--just a couple of ordinary guys."
McGee: "Well, its just an ordinary guy who becomes the creature--I've seen him change with my own eyes."
Simon: "Is that right. Well, I've seen your paper, Mr. McGee, and its known for its uh..shall we say....exaggerations."
McGee: "Yeah...well, maybe, but I'm telling you what I know. This uh..Tom Wallace was a local man who escaped from the state hospital, right?"
Simon: "Right."
Reporter #1: "What hospital?
Reporter #2: "How sick was he?"
Reporter #1: "What was he in for?"
Simon: "I don't know. You'll have to talk to his family about that."
McGee: "The vagrant?"
Simon: "He gave his name as uh...David Baron. Probably phony--he had no money, no I.D. A transient."
McGee: "Now this David Baron--what did he look like? Did he have any identifying marks?"
Simon:"I didn't bring him in. Just as I told you, he's a vagrant. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Just an ordinary guy."
Elsewhere, Kay Wallace listens to the radio report of Tom Wallace escaping and is shocked by the information....
At the beach, Tom "Hemingway" Wallace suffers more hallucinations, imagining the Hulk running by. Recovering, he goes to the apartment of Robert--and old friend who addresses Wallace as "Papa Hemingway." Wallace's behavior is off track; when Robert questions him about his arrest the previous night, Wallace grins it away as if he is some Hemingway who will simply write it as one of his life's experiences, ignoring the real legal danger he's in. Wallace sends Robert to buy him some clothes, and once alone, Wallace hallucinates again, while quoting from Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories.
On the boardwalk, David reads a newspaper report of Wallace's escape--also remembering the disturbed man's vow to kill his wife and doctor. Being penniless, he collects bottles on the beach and in trashcans, redeeming it for enough change to call Kay Wallace. Getting no answer, he makes his way to her home--avoiding reporters staked out in front of her home, including McGee.
David warns her of his threats, but she is sure he's harmless--just suffering from the hallucinations. She reveals he was a claims adjuster, but wanted to be a writer--though she doubts if he ever had any talent for it. David insists Tom is dangerous, but is interrupted by McGee at the front door, who nearly spots David.
After David sneaks away from the house, he calls Tom's doctor--Robert Stanley--posing as a "Dr. Johnson" working on Tom's case. David probes, asking if Tom received shock treatment, and if he's capable of violence, but thanks to David using a pay phone, the operator interrupts the call, requesting additional change--raising suspicion in Stanley.
Robert Tom obsesses on Kay and Dr. Stanley--accusing them of institutionalizing him so they could have an affair, all the while, ignoring Robert reminding him that law enforcement is out in force looking for him. Tom hallucinates, and makes the cryptic, mater-of-fact statement that his gun gets faster results than his typewriter....
Desperate, David calls Chief Simon, trying to convince the officer of the threat, only for Simon to trace the call, and send a police car to David's location--barely missing him.
Elsewhere, Kay sits nervously on a bench--observed by Tom; she finds a copy of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms next to her, and knows Tom is nearby. Tom watches her, but suffers more hallucinations, including the Hulk running at him. David finds Robert, challenging him to help Tom by tuning him in to the police, but is cut off by the armed Tom--still referring to David as Ramon. Feeling he has no choice but to watch Tom, David accompanies Robert & Tom to a skeet shooting range, where Tom displays his accuracy with a shotgun--and continues with his dark delusion--
Tom: "It wasn't just enough to send me away. They had to take away the only thing I had left. They had to take away my writing. Burned it out of me. Cliche plot though, isn't it? As old as the hills--the faithless wife...the conniving psychiatrist..the betrayed artist.......burned it out of me...electrodes in my brain...the talent..its gone. The words, the style..."
David: "Tom...suppose it wasn't true. Suppose you didn't have shock treatments?"
Tom: "Oh, I know what happened. I was there. Me, not you."
David: "The brain is a marvelous instrument. But sometimes to protect us, it can...uh..throw up a wall, and those delusions...those hallucinations become our reality."
While David talks, Tom's hallucinations continue, imagining he's on a big game hunt, shooting at elephants, when in reality, its his own car. He sees the Hulk growling again,
David: "What are you seeing?"
Tom: "Its green...its something I...its a man, I...think it was a man. Huge!"
Robert stares at Tom lost in his hallucinations leading him to shoot at the car.
David: "Tom..."
Tom is struck with pain again, grabbing his head--
Tom: "What's happening to me??"
David: "Tom, the elephants are a reality. The green creature is a reality..but not here. No, not now. Ernest Hemingway did have shock treatments....Tom Wallace did not!"
Tom: "My Wife..and my doctor...they're together now!"
David: "Tom!"
Tom: "No, Ramon. I can't trust you anymore."
Tom leaves...gun in hand.
Robert: "I hope he's alright."
David: "Do you know where he's going?"
Robert: "No."
David: "Well, his Hemingway hallucinations and his delusions about his wife and the doctor finally come together. Now, you can't protect him, because your friend Tom doesn't exist anymore!"
Robert: "He's just working through one of his stories--"
David: "No! He's on his way to commit murder! Now you have to tell me where he's going--I have to get there before he does!"
Robert: "I can't. He'll be alright."
David: "You know how Ernest Hemingway died. He put a gun in his mouth, and he pulled the trigger. Now, you've got to tell me where he's going!"
David hitches a ride to Dr. Stanley's boat, where he finds the doctor and Kay, but his warning is too late--tom emerges, armed and ready to take his revenge. As he prepares to shoot, the police arrive, equipped with tear gas, thanks to Robert. Chief Simon tries to reason with Tom--who now thinks he's facing authorities in Havana. If the situation were not bad enough, McGee drives up, demanding to know who is on the boat with Tom.
On the boat, Dr. Stanley whispers some of his concerns to David--
Stanley: "These hallucinations are typical. He's showing all the symptoms of a paranoid schizophrenic."
David: "But the headaches seem real, and they're getting worse. Couldn't the symptoms--all of them--the hallucinations, the temple pressure...couldn't that be evidence of physiological disorder?"
Stanley: "...a tumor?"
David: "Yes."
Kay: "None of this matters--what's important now is that we get him out of here!"
Tom: "I said be quiet, and I meant it!"
Kay pleads with Tom--offering to help, this time without going to the hospital; but the man suffers a flood of pain and hallucinations--shock therapy & the Hulk among them. Suddenly, Tom orders his hostages off of the boat, but David freezes in his tracks the moment he sees McGee. As Stanley and Kay move to the dock, McGee--arguing that the stranger on the boat is the Hulk--tries to force his past the police, only to be stopped by Simon, who gives Tom one minute to surrender.
Tom: "I wanted to kill them...but I couldn't."
David: "Tom...Tom, that's a good sign. That's a sign that you can be helped. You're not a murderer, Tom. If you give yourself up, you'll get the kind of treatment that you really need."
Tom: "You're never gonna send me back to that place. Never."
David: "If you go out there...with that in your hand, they're going to open fire."
Tom: "I don't think so........I still got one hostage left."
David is forced at gunpoint to inch up the steps to the bridge--
David: "Tom...don't make me do this!"
David spins around, struggling with Tom for control of the gun--just as Simon orders his officers to fire a tear gas canister into the boat. The gas fills the cabin, triggering David's Hulk out. Tom is overcome by the gas, but the creature carries him to to the top deck, where Kay tends to her husband. McGee blocks an officer from shooting the creature*, who sends a rowboat flying at the officers, then leaps into the waters to safely swim away.
At the hospital, Tom is recovering from surgery--his tumor removed. Dr. Stanley notes that the stranger who escaped with Tom seemed to know what he was talking about when suggesting a tumor could be the problem. Tom helps a sketch artist with a description of David, but he's purposely giving details that are the polar opposite of Banner. McGee tells tom he's "all wrong" with his description, but Tom passes that off as being a bit cloudy after brain surgery. Kay smiles, knowing Tom is not going to identify David.
At Robert's apartment, David thanks Robert for holding on to his bag. He still has faith that Tom will be a published author one day, and with that, says goodbye to David.
NOTES:
Yes, that was the great Jack Kirby in a cameo as the sketch artist. I remember many a TIH fan / comic reader being tickled to see Kirby when this first aired. Ironically, by this time in his career, his pencil roughs and animation conceptuals (pencil and/or dyes) were far superior to his published work in comics around this period such as Marvel's 2001: A Space Odyssey adaptation, Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, etc. Longtime inker Mike Royer did not do his work justice--a far cry from the masterful Joe Sinnott.
Rare for a superhero production, David's plight as a drifter is highlighted with his having no lodging, so he's arrested for vagrancy, and later, collecting bottles to redeem them for a very small amount of money. Both realistic experiences for the homeless, though a weekly TV series would not fully dive into the perils of life as a homeless person (and for this episode, it did not need to). His life is not at all easy, and as seen in "Wildfire," he is not able to fit into every kind of job, making his survival prospects shaky at best.
*McGee stops an officer from shooting the Hulk, but the motive--considering the character development up to this point--strongly appears to be the reporter keeping his ticket to fortune and glory alive. A dead John Doe / Hulk means the entire story (and the link to McGee's own coverage from the beginning) is lost forever, along with his career catapult to "being somebody."
GUEST CAST:
James Wainwright (Tom Wallace) had a handfull of fantasy credits:
- Primus - "Underwater Getaway" (Syndicated, 1971)
- The Sixth Sense - "Eye of the Haunted" (NBC, 1972)
- Killdozer (NBC, 1974)
- Beyond Westworld (NBC, 1980)
- Battletruck (New World Pictures, 1982)
Thalmus Rasulala (Deputy Chief Simon) left a short but notable list fantasy credits:
- The Twilight Zone - "The Brain Center at Whipple's" (CBS, 1964)
- Blacula (as Dr. Gordon Thomas) - (AIP, 1972). Fans will notice three former TOS guest stars in this landmark vampire movie - William Marshall ("The Ultimate Computer"), Charles Macaulay ("The Return of the Archons" & "Wolf in the Fold") and Elisha Cook, jr. ("Court Martial").
- The Greatest American Hero - "A Chicken in Every Plot" (ABC, 1982).
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Contagion" (Syndicated, 1989).
- Mom and Dad Save the World (Warner Brothers, 1992).
- Suspense - "Night of Evil" (CBS, 1952),
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents - "Momentum" (CBS, 1956) & "The Motive" (CBS, 1958).
- The Outer Limits - "Expanded Human" (ABC, 1964)
- The Addams Family - "Halloween with the Addams Family" (ABC, 1964)
- The Ghost and Mr. Chicken - (Universal, 1964)
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - "The Amphibians" (1965), "The Day the World Ended" (1966), "Attack!" (ABC, 1968).
- Star Trek - "Patterns of Force" (1968) & "The Way to Eden" (NBC, 1969)
- The Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove (NBC, 1971)
- Circle of Fear - "Bad Connection" (NBC, 1972)
- The Six Million Dollar Man - "Dark Side of the Moon: Part 1" (ABC, 1977)
- Project U.F.O. - "Sighting 4007: The forest City of Incident" (NBC, 1978)
- The Bionic Woman - "The Jailing of Jamie" (ABC, 1976) & "On the Run" (NBC, 1978)
- The Wild, Wild West Revisited - (CBS, 1979)
- Love at First Bite (AIP, 1979)
- The Twilight Zone - "I of Newton" (CBS, 1985)
- Ghost Fever (1986)
- Dinosaurs (ABC, 1991-94)
- Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - "Season's Greetings" (ABC, 1994)
- The Secret World of Alex Mack - "Annie Bails" (Nickelodeon, 1995)
- Casper: A Spirited Beginning (Video, 1997)
- Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Paramount, 1971)
As someone who grew up watching shows like The Jeffersons, clearly I have a little more fondness for them than you do.
