MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night
- Thread starter JD
- Start date
^^ Yes, one of their best. But the show did have unfortunately low production values overall.
I wasn't watching, so I don't know if they did anything on air, but he was mentioned in their weekly (or whatever) email.
Tonight, on The Incredible Hulk:
"Brain Child"
Originally aired October 5, 1979
Events in the news the week the episode aired:
And new on the charts that week:
"Ladies Night," Kool & The Gang
(#8 US; #1 R&B; #9 UK)
"Tusk," Fleetwood Mac
(#8 US; #6 UK)
"Cruisin'," Smokey Robinson
(#4 US; #34 AC; #4 R&B)
"Heartache Tonight," Eagles
(#1 US; #38 AC; #40 UK)
"Babe," Styx
(#1 US; #9 AC; #6 UK)
"Brain Child"
Originally aired October 5, 1979
Events in the news the week the episode aired:
And new on the charts that week:
"Ladies Night," Kool & The Gang
(#8 US; #1 R&B; #9 UK)
"Tusk," Fleetwood Mac
(#8 US; #6 UK)
"Cruisin'," Smokey Robinson
(#4 US; #34 AC; #4 R&B)
"Heartache Tonight," Eagles
(#1 US; #38 AC; #40 UK)
"Babe," Styx
(#1 US; #9 AC; #6 UK)
"Brain Child"--
At the Kirkland Institute as part of a research project, 16 year old genius Joleen Collins plays "Goldberg Variations" on piano while being monitored by camera. From there, Doctors Kate Lowell and Bruno instruct her to complete a physics problem that would take Dr. Bruno hours with computer assistance, but Joleen solves it in seconds. Although showed with praise, her minders are not enthusiastic when Joleen asks about the whereabouts of her mother--a question that is not new. Lowell promises to help find the girl's mother, but is rebuffed said promise.
Once Joleen is alone, she confides in Max--or MAX-V-U1 (a seemingly sentient & sympathetic artificial intelligence system) about her need for someone like the mythical Sir Lancelot of Arthurian legend...
That evening, Joleen tells Max she's leaving the institute-much to Max's dismay and fear of being reprogrammed; the teenager reminds it that she gave it the ability to fight--
Joleen: "Hide what you are--defend your personality circuits."
Max: "I'll try."
Joleen says her heartfelt goodbyes to Max, as the A.I. disables the institutes security, allowing her to escape.
The next day, Joleen walks along the highway, discovering David Barnes struggling to repair his malfunctioned car--
David: "Damn! Car, you're making me angry, now if you get me angry, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to turn you into a tin sandwich! I mean, for 50 dollars and a handshake, I could've expected more, but you're supposed to move!"
Joleen: "Are you talking to that car?"
David: "Um..yes..as a matter of fact, I am."
Joleen: "A good friend of mine would say you're wasting verbalization."
David: "Sounds like a very practical friend."
Joleen: "Practical and orderly. Order is a lovely thing. On disarray it lays its wing, teaching simplicity to sing."
David: "Anna Hempstead Branch."
Joleen: "You know her work? She's rather obscure."
David: "God wove a web of loveliness...of clouds...and stars and birds, but not made anything at all as beautiful as words."
Jolene is impressed.
David: "I guess other people could introduce themselves? David Barnes."
Joleen: "Joleen Collins. David, I can fix your car."
David: "I don't think so."
Joleen: "I will...if you take to Los Angeles. I wanna visit my mother, and I need a ride."
David:"Well, I don't think you can fix it. I don't think anybody can fix it. But if you can, I will gove you a ride--it will be a little indirect, however, because I''m going south--I'm following the harvesting crews."
Joleen: "Alright. Me too.It's a deal, then?"
David: "..if you can fix the car."
Joleen keeps her end of the bargain, so the two head off...
Back at the institute, government representative Mr. Arnold complains about Joleen's escape, the inability to access Max for information and her value--
Mr. Arnold: "..right through our security system and gone! Vanished--vamoose! And we cant even open that--that thing to see how she did it!"
Dr. Bruno: "Well, I'm sure with time, Mister Arnold--"
Mr. Arnold: "We don't have time, doctor! Joleen Collins was working on a very classified project--Joleen Collins herself was a very classified project...and now she's gone...out there...somewhere! God only knows!"
Dr. Lowell: "W-What will you do?"
Mr. Arnold: "Find her. A flier will be distributed to both state and local police."
Dr. Lowell: "Joleen listed as a-a runaway?"
Mr.Arnold: "No, Dr. Lowell, not as a runaway--we would get little or no help from the police that way.we can't risk the press, and we can only risk the police until we get our first lead. Oh, no, no no, no....A kidnapping!"
Dr. Lowell: "What? I don't understand--"
Mr. Arnold: "A kidnapping! You understand? We have to have absolute secrecy, of course. To protect the victim. That way, the police will keep looking hard and the newspapers will be in the dark. That's it. Yes. Joleen Collins will be kidnapped."
David finds another produce farm harvesting crew, so he and Joleen work over a period of days, getting to know each other. After blistering her hands, the curious Joleen meets the harvester's Mexican medicine woman--a La Bruja (witch), who performs rituals to physically remove growths from her "patients". Joleen describes it as "psychic surgery", noting and how the practice has been studied in academia--but soon realizes--and calls out La Bruja as a fraud using animal parts and blood to fake her "healing" power. This enrages the old woman, who orders the pleading David to be chained to the front of a truck, while Joleen is forced inside La Bruja's trailer.
Inside, the old woman subjects Joleen to her arm-flailing rituals, causing Joleen to scream for David--who has had enough, and Hulks out. Easily breaking his chains, the Hulk tosses La Bruja's men aside, breaks into the trailer, grabs the witch and dunks her in a wooden water barrel, then--with Joleen's understanding--the Hulk carries the girl away..but not before kicking the trailer into a pond.
The Hulk comes to rest a safe distance away, and transforms back to David in front of Joleen. The sensitive, inquisitive teen holds David's hand, telling him--
Joleen: "It's alright. Lancelot was cursed too."
David knows there's more to Joleen than meets the eye, and questions her about her range of knowledge--from being a cultural anthropologist, multilingual, mechanically inclined, a master at chess--several things.
David: "Who are you?"
Joleen: "Do I ask you that question? I accept you for what you seem to be, despite your oblivious education and background. I didn't try to pry into your life...even though I know about your rather extraordinary problem."
David: "My problem...yes.."
Joleen: "Alright. Can I tell you a story?"
David: "Sure."
Joleen:"It's about being different. It's about a girl like me, and it started when she was four years old. It was at night. Her mother took her to a place called the Kirkland Institute, and left her there. She ran away."
David: "Why?"
Joleen: "Because the girl wasn't right. I wasn't like other girls. I tried to make my mother happy by learning what she wanted me to learn. I just learned faster than most. It wasn't my fault. And my mother was frightened of me."
David: "But Kirkland Institute wasn't.."
Joleen: "No. No, they were ecstatic. I needed that joy from them. I wanted...more of it, so I became their prize pupil. I understand why my mother was frightened of me.But she won't be frightened of me now. You saw those people back there, David--they like me! I know how to live like real people! Normal people!"
David: "You are a normal people."
Joleen: "I'm not 18. I'm 16. I lied to you. I won't lie anymore. Max helped me make a phone driver's license, and I.D."
David: "Max."
Joleen: "A computer I designed. It's my friend. You'd like him."
David: "Why are you telling all of this to me now?"
Joleen: "I want you to know everything. I want you to know it all, because then maybe...you'll tell me about you..about what happened last night."
David: "My problem. It's gamma radiation poisoning. Extreme emotion--any kind--rage, frustration, fear, anger...I don't know...they somehow seem to provoke a molecular change...a cellular generation that's uncontrollable. An actual reversion to the primal state."
Joleen: "Well, I just started studying gamma radiation theory, and maybe when I know more, I can help you."
David: "Thank you, Joleen, I'd like that, but uh, I'm afraid that's going to have to be another time, because at this time, you're a minor, and I know that they must be searching for you.I mean really searching for you, and i should take you back to the highway patrol station."
Joleen: "David, please--"
David: "Now, wait---they can take you back to the Kirkland Institute, and I know that they'll understand, and help you find your mother."
Joleen: "I'll tell the police about you if you do this, David! I'll tell them!"
David: "That's a decision you'll have to make."
David drives Joleen to the highway patrol station, but Joleen, not only promises not to reveal David's secret, but professes her love for him, but she's needs to find out if she can have any relationship with her mother, so. David has a change of heart, promising to get her to Los Angeles. The trip is sidelined by a passing police officer, who sees Joleen's FBI wanted poster and chases the duo; David only evades the police by crashing the car in a field.
Eventually, Mr. Arnold & Dr. Lowell join a FBI / police search party, find the wrecked car, but come up empty. Dr.Bruno's luck is not much better, as most attempts to retrieve information from Max were met with self-generated false leads or electric shock; while he's amazed by Joleene's programming prowess, Bruno & Lowell conclude that the institute should have helped the runaway reunite with her mother--instead of their years of deliberate stonewalling--which caused the girl's state of depression and longing in the first place. That sentiment is not shared by Mr. Arnold--now armed with possible address for Joleen's mother...
David & Joleen arrive in Los Angeles, and manage to locate Joleen's mother, Elizabeth at a run-down hotel, but the welcome is not warm; Elizabeth rants--erecting walls about her simplistic life and differences from Joleen, demanding that the girl return to the Kirkland Institute--
Joleen: "I belong here! I belong with you!"
Elizabeth: "In this dump?? You gotta be kidding! Listen--you have everything...right here, kid (pointing at her head), and you wanna come back here--with me??
Joleen: "Yes!! I do! Because I only have one mother--you! I need you--I do!"
Elizabeth slaps Joleen's face to prove a point--
Elizabeth: "You see? You're not like other people. You don't feel like other people feel! You're better! You're smart, and you're tough...you analyze life...you won't let it get a hold of you and hurt you."
David chases Elizabeth out to the street, trying to reason with her; inside, Joleen, rudderless..devastated without a connection to her own mother, mounts the fire escape to the hotel's rooftop--just as Arnold, Lowell, the FBI and the police arrive. Joleen is spotted climbing the fire escape; David shouts for her--getting the attention of the police, who recognize David as the "kidnapper". Elizabeth hops on a bus, with David running alongside, frantically warning her of Joleen's actions, but is shot by one of the FBI agents--sending David violently crashing to the sidewalk--triggering the transformation. David scrambles around a corner, as he Hulks out while running. The Hulk intercepts the bus, forcing the vehicle to a full stop, then grabbing Elizabeth.
On the roof, Arnold and Lowell use the most self serving and clueless arguments for Joleen to back away from the edge of the roof--
Lowell: "Joleen--come away from there! This is not intellignent! It's not intelligent at all!"
Arnold: "Miss Collins--if you just think about what you're doing--the risk to you--what--what what your loss would mean to our country--"
Lowell: "OH, SHUT UP, MISTER ARNOLD!! SHUT UP!!"
At that moment, the Hulk makes it to the roof carrying Elizabeth; wisely, Arnold orders the agents/police not to shoot; the creature sets Elizabeth down, then leaps from building to building, safely making his escape.
Elizabeth: "Joleen..now you come over here, Joleen! You come here on this side! That's crazy!"
Joleen: "T-this is what you wanted--isn't it?? Y-you want me...gone? Y-you want me out of your life? I'm a freak, mama! And I'm tired of not being like other people!! I'm tired!"
Elizabeth: "Joleen.."
Lowell: "No, wait--please! Please!"
Elizabeth: "She needs ME now! Joleen, you do need me now, don't you? I can help you now, can I? Honey, I need you, too!"
Joleen: "Mom.."
Joleen steps away from the edge, embracing her mother.
Outside of the Kirkland Institute, Joleen and & David reunite. Her mother now lives with her at the facility, and Joleen continues to study radiation theory, believing she might be close to an answer for David, and asks him to stay. David cannot (of course), leading Joleen to refer to Lancelot again--
Joleen: "I know. Knights are like that. You saved from La Bruja--the witch, and a deadly precipice..and um...I love you. Write to me, Lancelot--please?"
David: "I will."
NOTES:
Jack McGee does not appear in this episode.
Sort of cure related, since Joleen is researching the cause of Banner's radiation overdose.
Joleen designed sentient A.I. at 16--probably far younger, since Max was not said to be a recent creation. She puts the MCU's Tony Stark to shame with Jarvis. Max also earned the distinction of being the first A.I. in a Marvel live action adaptation.
Jolene joins the list of characters who learns David's secret.
Many character like or love David Banner, but Joleen seeing him as her fantasy knight come alive was unique.
This might be the first time a character threatens Banner with exposing his secret to authorities.
David should have considered hanging around, or at least returning; Joleen's advanced intelligence and study of radiation theory probably would have found a cure for Banner.
David gets his own car! Logical (but short-lived) development--you can imagine David would find it a practical alternative to hitchhiking or trying to reach towns with a bus station.
Acknowledging reality, David asks Joleen if she's really 18 years old; he knows that transporting a minor he's not related to could be misconstrued as abduction, or contributing to the delinquency of a minor. That's the G-rated version of the way that kind of trouble can be interpreted.
Mr. Arnold works for the government, but we never learn which organization employs him.
GUEST CAST:
June Allyson (Dr. Kate Lowell)--Golden Globe-winning screen legend Allyson is best known for Two Girls and a Sailor, The Glenn Miller Story, and a successful transition to TV. Her fantasy credits are thin--
Joseph Mascolo (Mr. Arnold)--
At the Kirkland Institute as part of a research project, 16 year old genius Joleen Collins plays "Goldberg Variations" on piano while being monitored by camera. From there, Doctors Kate Lowell and Bruno instruct her to complete a physics problem that would take Dr. Bruno hours with computer assistance, but Joleen solves it in seconds. Although showed with praise, her minders are not enthusiastic when Joleen asks about the whereabouts of her mother--a question that is not new. Lowell promises to help find the girl's mother, but is rebuffed said promise.
Once Joleen is alone, she confides in Max--or MAX-V-U1 (a seemingly sentient & sympathetic artificial intelligence system) about her need for someone like the mythical Sir Lancelot of Arthurian legend...
That evening, Joleen tells Max she's leaving the institute-much to Max's dismay and fear of being reprogrammed; the teenager reminds it that she gave it the ability to fight--
Joleen: "Hide what you are--defend your personality circuits."
Max: "I'll try."
Joleen says her heartfelt goodbyes to Max, as the A.I. disables the institutes security, allowing her to escape.
The next day, Joleen walks along the highway, discovering David Barnes struggling to repair his malfunctioned car--
David: "Damn! Car, you're making me angry, now if you get me angry, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to turn you into a tin sandwich! I mean, for 50 dollars and a handshake, I could've expected more, but you're supposed to move!"
Joleen: "Are you talking to that car?"
David: "Um..yes..as a matter of fact, I am."
Joleen: "A good friend of mine would say you're wasting verbalization."
David: "Sounds like a very practical friend."
Joleen: "Practical and orderly. Order is a lovely thing. On disarray it lays its wing, teaching simplicity to sing."
David: "Anna Hempstead Branch."
Joleen: "You know her work? She's rather obscure."
David: "God wove a web of loveliness...of clouds...and stars and birds, but not made anything at all as beautiful as words."
Jolene is impressed.
David: "I guess other people could introduce themselves? David Barnes."
Joleen: "Joleen Collins. David, I can fix your car."
David: "I don't think so."
Joleen: "I will...if you take to Los Angeles. I wanna visit my mother, and I need a ride."
David:"Well, I don't think you can fix it. I don't think anybody can fix it. But if you can, I will gove you a ride--it will be a little indirect, however, because I''m going south--I'm following the harvesting crews."
Joleen: "Alright. Me too.It's a deal, then?"
David: "..if you can fix the car."
Joleen keeps her end of the bargain, so the two head off...
Back at the institute, government representative Mr. Arnold complains about Joleen's escape, the inability to access Max for information and her value--
Mr. Arnold: "..right through our security system and gone! Vanished--vamoose! And we cant even open that--that thing to see how she did it!"
Dr. Bruno: "Well, I'm sure with time, Mister Arnold--"
Mr. Arnold: "We don't have time, doctor! Joleen Collins was working on a very classified project--Joleen Collins herself was a very classified project...and now she's gone...out there...somewhere! God only knows!"
Dr. Lowell: "W-What will you do?"
Mr. Arnold: "Find her. A flier will be distributed to both state and local police."
Dr. Lowell: "Joleen listed as a-a runaway?"
Mr.Arnold: "No, Dr. Lowell, not as a runaway--we would get little or no help from the police that way.we can't risk the press, and we can only risk the police until we get our first lead. Oh, no, no no, no....A kidnapping!"
Dr. Lowell: "What? I don't understand--"
Mr. Arnold: "A kidnapping! You understand? We have to have absolute secrecy, of course. To protect the victim. That way, the police will keep looking hard and the newspapers will be in the dark. That's it. Yes. Joleen Collins will be kidnapped."
David finds another produce farm harvesting crew, so he and Joleen work over a period of days, getting to know each other. After blistering her hands, the curious Joleen meets the harvester's Mexican medicine woman--a La Bruja (witch), who performs rituals to physically remove growths from her "patients". Joleen describes it as "psychic surgery", noting and how the practice has been studied in academia--but soon realizes--and calls out La Bruja as a fraud using animal parts and blood to fake her "healing" power. This enrages the old woman, who orders the pleading David to be chained to the front of a truck, while Joleen is forced inside La Bruja's trailer.
Inside, the old woman subjects Joleen to her arm-flailing rituals, causing Joleen to scream for David--who has had enough, and Hulks out. Easily breaking his chains, the Hulk tosses La Bruja's men aside, breaks into the trailer, grabs the witch and dunks her in a wooden water barrel, then--with Joleen's understanding--the Hulk carries the girl away..but not before kicking the trailer into a pond.
The Hulk comes to rest a safe distance away, and transforms back to David in front of Joleen. The sensitive, inquisitive teen holds David's hand, telling him--
Joleen: "It's alright. Lancelot was cursed too."
David knows there's more to Joleen than meets the eye, and questions her about her range of knowledge--from being a cultural anthropologist, multilingual, mechanically inclined, a master at chess--several things.
David: "Who are you?"
Joleen: "Do I ask you that question? I accept you for what you seem to be, despite your oblivious education and background. I didn't try to pry into your life...even though I know about your rather extraordinary problem."
David: "My problem...yes.."
Joleen: "Alright. Can I tell you a story?"
David: "Sure."
Joleen:"It's about being different. It's about a girl like me, and it started when she was four years old. It was at night. Her mother took her to a place called the Kirkland Institute, and left her there. She ran away."
David: "Why?"
Joleen: "Because the girl wasn't right. I wasn't like other girls. I tried to make my mother happy by learning what she wanted me to learn. I just learned faster than most. It wasn't my fault. And my mother was frightened of me."
David: "But Kirkland Institute wasn't.."
Joleen: "No. No, they were ecstatic. I needed that joy from them. I wanted...more of it, so I became their prize pupil. I understand why my mother was frightened of me.But she won't be frightened of me now. You saw those people back there, David--they like me! I know how to live like real people! Normal people!"
David: "You are a normal people."
Joleen: "I'm not 18. I'm 16. I lied to you. I won't lie anymore. Max helped me make a phone driver's license, and I.D."
David: "Max."
Joleen: "A computer I designed. It's my friend. You'd like him."
David: "Why are you telling all of this to me now?"
Joleen: "I want you to know everything. I want you to know it all, because then maybe...you'll tell me about you..about what happened last night."
David: "My problem. It's gamma radiation poisoning. Extreme emotion--any kind--rage, frustration, fear, anger...I don't know...they somehow seem to provoke a molecular change...a cellular generation that's uncontrollable. An actual reversion to the primal state."
Joleen: "Well, I just started studying gamma radiation theory, and maybe when I know more, I can help you."
David: "Thank you, Joleen, I'd like that, but uh, I'm afraid that's going to have to be another time, because at this time, you're a minor, and I know that they must be searching for you.I mean really searching for you, and i should take you back to the highway patrol station."
Joleen: "David, please--"
David: "Now, wait---they can take you back to the Kirkland Institute, and I know that they'll understand, and help you find your mother."
Joleen: "I'll tell the police about you if you do this, David! I'll tell them!"
David: "That's a decision you'll have to make."
David drives Joleen to the highway patrol station, but Joleen, not only promises not to reveal David's secret, but professes her love for him, but she's needs to find out if she can have any relationship with her mother, so. David has a change of heart, promising to get her to Los Angeles. The trip is sidelined by a passing police officer, who sees Joleen's FBI wanted poster and chases the duo; David only evades the police by crashing the car in a field.
Eventually, Mr. Arnold & Dr. Lowell join a FBI / police search party, find the wrecked car, but come up empty. Dr.Bruno's luck is not much better, as most attempts to retrieve information from Max were met with self-generated false leads or electric shock; while he's amazed by Joleene's programming prowess, Bruno & Lowell conclude that the institute should have helped the runaway reunite with her mother--instead of their years of deliberate stonewalling--which caused the girl's state of depression and longing in the first place. That sentiment is not shared by Mr. Arnold--now armed with possible address for Joleen's mother...
David & Joleen arrive in Los Angeles, and manage to locate Joleen's mother, Elizabeth at a run-down hotel, but the welcome is not warm; Elizabeth rants--erecting walls about her simplistic life and differences from Joleen, demanding that the girl return to the Kirkland Institute--
Joleen: "I belong here! I belong with you!"
Elizabeth: "In this dump?? You gotta be kidding! Listen--you have everything...right here, kid (pointing at her head), and you wanna come back here--with me??
Joleen: "Yes!! I do! Because I only have one mother--you! I need you--I do!"
Elizabeth slaps Joleen's face to prove a point--
Elizabeth: "You see? You're not like other people. You don't feel like other people feel! You're better! You're smart, and you're tough...you analyze life...you won't let it get a hold of you and hurt you."
David chases Elizabeth out to the street, trying to reason with her; inside, Joleen, rudderless..devastated without a connection to her own mother, mounts the fire escape to the hotel's rooftop--just as Arnold, Lowell, the FBI and the police arrive. Joleen is spotted climbing the fire escape; David shouts for her--getting the attention of the police, who recognize David as the "kidnapper". Elizabeth hops on a bus, with David running alongside, frantically warning her of Joleen's actions, but is shot by one of the FBI agents--sending David violently crashing to the sidewalk--triggering the transformation. David scrambles around a corner, as he Hulks out while running. The Hulk intercepts the bus, forcing the vehicle to a full stop, then grabbing Elizabeth.
On the roof, Arnold and Lowell use the most self serving and clueless arguments for Joleen to back away from the edge of the roof--
Lowell: "Joleen--come away from there! This is not intellignent! It's not intelligent at all!"
Arnold: "Miss Collins--if you just think about what you're doing--the risk to you--what--what what your loss would mean to our country--"
Lowell: "OH, SHUT UP, MISTER ARNOLD!! SHUT UP!!"
At that moment, the Hulk makes it to the roof carrying Elizabeth; wisely, Arnold orders the agents/police not to shoot; the creature sets Elizabeth down, then leaps from building to building, safely making his escape.
Elizabeth: "Joleen..now you come over here, Joleen! You come here on this side! That's crazy!"
Joleen: "T-this is what you wanted--isn't it?? Y-you want me...gone? Y-you want me out of your life? I'm a freak, mama! And I'm tired of not being like other people!! I'm tired!"
Elizabeth: "Joleen.."
Lowell: "No, wait--please! Please!"
Elizabeth: "She needs ME now! Joleen, you do need me now, don't you? I can help you now, can I? Honey, I need you, too!"
Joleen: "Mom.."
Joleen steps away from the edge, embracing her mother.
Outside of the Kirkland Institute, Joleen and & David reunite. Her mother now lives with her at the facility, and Joleen continues to study radiation theory, believing she might be close to an answer for David, and asks him to stay. David cannot (of course), leading Joleen to refer to Lancelot again--
Joleen: "I know. Knights are like that. You saved from La Bruja--the witch, and a deadly precipice..and um...I love you. Write to me, Lancelot--please?"
David: "I will."
NOTES:
Jack McGee does not appear in this episode.
Sort of cure related, since Joleen is researching the cause of Banner's radiation overdose.
Joleen designed sentient A.I. at 16--probably far younger, since Max was not said to be a recent creation. She puts the MCU's Tony Stark to shame with Jarvis. Max also earned the distinction of being the first A.I. in a Marvel live action adaptation.
Jolene joins the list of characters who learns David's secret.
Many character like or love David Banner, but Joleen seeing him as her fantasy knight come alive was unique.
This might be the first time a character threatens Banner with exposing his secret to authorities.
David should have considered hanging around, or at least returning; Joleen's advanced intelligence and study of radiation theory probably would have found a cure for Banner.
David gets his own car! Logical (but short-lived) development--you can imagine David would find it a practical alternative to hitchhiking or trying to reach towns with a bus station.
Acknowledging reality, David asks Joleen if she's really 18 years old; he knows that transporting a minor he's not related to could be misconstrued as abduction, or contributing to the delinquency of a minor. That's the G-rated version of the way that kind of trouble can be interpreted.
Mr. Arnold works for the government, but we never learn which organization employs him.
GUEST CAST:
June Allyson (Dr. Kate Lowell)--Golden Globe-winning screen legend Allyson is best known for Two Girls and a Sailor, The Glenn Miller Story, and a successful transition to TV. Her fantasy credits are thin--
- The Sixth Sense (NBC, 1972) - "Witness Within"
- Curse of the Black Widow (Dan Curtis Productions / ABC, 1977)
- Misfits of Science (NBC, 1985) - "Steer Crazy"
- The Incredible Hulk (CBS, 1981) - "Danny"
- Earthlings (1984)
- Dead of Night AKA Deathdream (Quadrant Films, 1974)
- The Bionic Woman (NBC, 1978) - "The Martians Are Coming, The Martians Are Coming"
- Battle Beyond the Stars (New World Pictures, 1980)
- Darkroom (ABC, 1981) - "Catnip"
- Superstition (Carolco Entertainment, 1982)
Joseph Mascolo (Mr. Arnold)--
- Monster Squad (NBC, 1976-77) - "Lawrence of Moravia"
- Jaws 2 (Universal, 1978 - with "Alice in Discoland's" Donna Wilkes)
- The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (NBC, 1989)
"Brain Child" was pretty good. Robin Dearden was excellent as Joleen (although, at 26, she wasn't too convincing as someone who supposedly didn't look 18 yet). We can add her to the list of people in on David's secret. Although her promise to work on his cure over the next few years makes it a bit hard to reconcile with the latter-day revival movies where David feels alone and devoid of help or hope. Given how brilliant she is, it's hard to believe she hadn't found a cure by then.
It wasn't a perfect episode. The excuse for the first Hulk-out was very contrived (what were we supposed to think La Bruja was going to do to Joleen? Human-sacrifice her or something?), and in the second, it's hard to believe the Hulk would've just run off while Joleen was still in danger on the ledge.
This is the first time we've seen David Hulk out while running. I think the closest we've seen before is the scene in "A Child in Need" where the Hulk, err, de-Hulked out (Bannered in?) while walking.
This is also one of the very few episodes to include SF/fantasy ideas beyond the overall gamma radiation/metamorphosis premise. I'd thought that was limited to "The Disciple" (sort of) and "The Psychic," but here we have a sentient artificial intelligence. One that isn't even more than a minor plot point, though. (Did anyone recognize MAX's voice? It was an announcer voice I know I've heard somewhere, but not one I can put a name to, and IMDb doesn't give a credit.)
It wasn't a perfect episode. The excuse for the first Hulk-out was very contrived (what were we supposed to think La Bruja was going to do to Joleen? Human-sacrifice her or something?), and in the second, it's hard to believe the Hulk would've just run off while Joleen was still in danger on the ledge.
This is the first time we've seen David Hulk out while running. I think the closest we've seen before is the scene in "A Child in Need" where the Hulk, err, de-Hulked out (Bannered in?) while walking.
This is also one of the very few episodes to include SF/fantasy ideas beyond the overall gamma radiation/metamorphosis premise. I'd thought that was limited to "The Disciple" (sort of) and "The Psychic," but here we have a sentient artificial intelligence. One that isn't even more than a minor plot point, though. (Did anyone recognize MAX's voice? It was an announcer voice I know I've heard somewhere, but not one I can put a name to, and IMDb doesn't give a credit.)
"I know I don't look it, but I'm 18."
No, she doesn't look it...more like 25, maybe going on 26....
I don't think David ever used that one....
Oldschool talking computer...gave me bad Wonder Woman flashbacks....
Nice to see David exhibiting a sense of humor about his condition.
-29:29.
Thought it was a little cutesy for the creature to go out of his way to do something like that.
I got the impression that she knew who he was before he transformed back.
I was a bit surprised that David and Joleen didn't skip out of the migrant camp after that, between the possibility of McGee getting wind and the likelihood that they should have alienated at least some of the locals.
David notes that she hums Mozart and Bach, nothing contemporary...I guess my music posts would be wasted on her.
-05:39. I didn't get the impression that he'd actually been hit.
A very unusual technique for the show. Nice to see them getting away from the bad stock footage.
Perhaps another list I should have compiled. I never realized until this rewatch how many episodes he isn't in. Odd for a main-credits regular.
I didn't see it as such. He didn't go into the situation looking for one, and nothing came of her interest in helping him with his condition.
And lived to not tell about it. This is definitely one that he could have potentially gone back to, once she was "all grown up". Properly versed in the right fields, she could have discerned things about David's condition that even he couldn't have, and likely would have had the resources to put her knowledge to use.
Including one from "The First" whom you've mentioned in other posts, that's at least two characters on the show with that name. Have to wonder if they were deliberately referencing Dark Shadows....
Are we sure it was the same group of migrants? As for McGee, how would he get wind of it? I don't think migrant workers would be that eager to talk to outsiders about their troubles.
I think he was holding his arm as he ran, as if a bullet had struck or grazed it.
But a hard technique to do, one where they couldn't really show clothes ripping and muscles bulging and such. The closest we got was the foot ripping out of the shoe. I can see why they didn't usually do it this way.
Except on Gotham...
Here we have a bunch of stuff that typifies 1979 in my memory: Low points for Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, and Styx. Luckily they all experience a return to form later-- well, maybe not the Eagles, but Don Henley did some great stuff in later years.
And Smokey? I don't care if it's '79, c'mon, that's Smokey.
Well, that's not unusual casting. Judd Nelson was 26 and Ally Sheedy was 23 when cast as high school students in The Breakfast Club, and arguably looked more long in the tooth than Robin Dearden in this Hulk episode.
How dare you!
Agreed.
To me, it says the Hulk retains enough of Banner to see La Bruja as a fraud and dunked her out of disrespect.
Do you think she knew when agreeing to to be taken away by the Hulk?
Probably. she might consider Tusk or Cruisin' crude!
Nothing else other than an impact hit would send him crashing into the trash cans so violently.
On the other hand, he's a reporter on a leash, and does not have the freedom to burn travel expenses on a story the Register barely believes.
...but the main guest introduces the idea, and by the last act, is continuing research. David was not the one seeking a cure, but it is mentioned more than one time. Unlike other episodes where cures were false leads, lost, or one of it chief supporters died, at least Joleen said she was continuing, even if its off camera.
Agreed. She was a character with potential (much like Dr. Gabrielle White from "Kindred Spirits")
Seems like it. At the time the episode was written, Dark Shadows had been off the air for eight years, but in popular cultre
I just think that when they go out of their way to tell us in the story that the character looks even younger, they only draw attention to the fact that she doesn't even look as young as the character's pretending to be. So we get a 25-year-old actress pretending to be a 16-year-old who's trying to pass herself off as 18.
The way the sequence was choreographed, though, seemed a bit too premeditated for the creature's implied mentality. It might have worked better if he'd grabbed her outside while she was trying to get away, realized with bestial chivalry that he couldn't harm her, and dunked her in the barrel because it happened to be there.
From the way it was portrayed, I get the impression that they were trying to convey that.
I was getting more of an A-Team vibe from it...he went crashing to the ground ostensibly to dodge the bullets, and sustained any injury in doing that...much like automatic weapons fire can cause vehicles to flip over without injuring the people inside.
See, you could twist my arm into including it in the "lip service" category, but the two examples already in there were attempts to convey that David was actively seeking a cure even while the episode's plot involved him just getting involved in odd jobs and random situations. Here David goes into the episode seeking to pick fruit, and the lip service is provided after the fact by a character whom he meets along the way.
Think you got cut off there, but it also bears noting that the show thus far has cast more than one actor from the show.
TREK_GOD_1 said:
You've been taking TV stunts too literally. Bullets don't have enough kinetic energy to actually send a person flying -- if they did, then the shooter would be flung backward by an equal force. Even large-caliber bullet or shotgun hits impart velocities of only a fraction of a meter per second on a human body, no worse than a light shove. (The Mythbusters tested this twice, in episodes 25 and 38, and found that even a .50-caliber bullet couldn't knock down their test dummy.) Being "knocked down" by a bullet is more a function of the pain and shock of the impact disrupting the victim's balance, or the hydraulic shock of the impact disrupting circulation and muscle tension.
Again, it looked to me like David was grazed in the arm, because he was holding his arm when he ran off. But that wouldn't have launched him into the cans; rather, because he was subjected to the pain and shock of a bullet wound while running, it threw off his balance and caused him to tumble into the cans. It was his own momentum from running that sent him into the cans -- just as, in real life, it was the stuntman's momentum that he used when he threw himself into the cans.
True, but a genuinely younger actress probably couldn't have played such a supergenius so effectively. (Well, depending on the actress. Alicia Witt was a genius child prodigy, and she was quite compelling at the age of 9 in Dune -- but she would've been, like, 4 years old at the time of "Brain Child," so not really an option.)
He would have looked just like the "demon" we saw at the end of The Norliss Tapes.
https://parlorofhorror.files.wordpr...liss-tapes-1973-pic-10.jpg?w=318&h=249&crop=1
Similar contacts as well
http://67.media.tumblr.com/ddb360f364d7154cb009799655ea0539/tumblr_nwmdbaB48t1qzr8nao5_1280.jpg
I was wondering about that as well. It sounded a little like the actor who played the gov't agent.
A year before Firestarter, too.... and Scanners for that matter...
Back to the institute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirklin_Clinic
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Land of the Giants: "The Weird World": This seems like another really early one, with the giants not speaking clearly or interacting verbally with the little people. Odd choice to cast Glenn Corbett and make him up to look older, rather than just hiring an older actor. And how long could he have been there, anyway? The Spindrift was lost in the 1980s, so I guess he could've been a lost astronaut from maybe 15-20 years earlier. But if he'd been there for so many years, why was his spaceship still in what seemed like an early stage of dismantling by the giants? Why did they even assume there was a chance it was intact? (Also, it's a hell of a coincidence that he happened to be hiding out within the giants' equivalent of a few hundred feet from where the Spindrift set down.)
Fitzhugh's betrayal of the others is another sign that this is an early episode -- in that, as with Dr. Smith on Lost in Space, they were playing up his villainy early on rather than his cowardice as they would later -- but it's not at all clear what he hoped to gain by that betrayal. And the characters totally forgot about it afterward, so what was the point?
The Time Tunnel: "Reign of Terror": A weird one, with General Kirk having a lookalike ancestor who was a villain in the French Revolution. It's a bit surprising, given that they had the power to bring "Querque" into the present (yet again), that it didn't occur to Kirk to go back and impersonate him. It really is getting silly how easy it is to commute between past and future for everyone except Doug and Tony. (Also, this is twice now in as many weeks that the returned traveler has just faded into the past rather than falling in slow motion like D&T.)
I really thought they were going to go for a time-loop thing with the ring, to have Kirk's family in possession of the heirloom in the first place because it was sent back in time. Which would've made it infinitely old and been rather problematical. So I guess it's just as well that they didn't go that route. The confusing bit is that it seemed like it actually was from Marie Antoinette to her lover -- so how did Woody Kirk's family end up with it, and what were the odds that he'd send it back right to where it would get Marie into trouble? Weird.
Planet of the Apes: "The Interrogation": Not bad, with a high-stakes story where Pete gets captured and brainwashed and we get to meet Galen's family. And Beverly Garland was effective as the malicious scientist Dr. Wanda -- another case of casting actors with excellent voices since their faces will be hidden under prosthetics. The brainwashing angle was a bit clumsy, though, with Dr. Wanda just happening to have found and deciphered an old human book on the subject (shouldn't that in itself be the kind of knowledge that Zaius condemns and would want to destroy?), and particularly with Urko's comical misunderstanding of the term. How would he know of a procedure where brains were actually taken out and washed? He's an herbivore! That part just didn't make any sense, and made Urko look needlessly buffoonish.
Speaking of hidden faces, I had no advance knowledge that Harry Townes would be appearing in this episode as the surgeon in the last act or two, but I recognized him almost immediately based solely on his eyes, and maybe a bit on his voice. He really did have distinctive eyes.
Fitzhugh's betrayal of the others is another sign that this is an early episode -- in that, as with Dr. Smith on Lost in Space, they were playing up his villainy early on rather than his cowardice as they would later -- but it's not at all clear what he hoped to gain by that betrayal. And the characters totally forgot about it afterward, so what was the point?
The Time Tunnel: "Reign of Terror": A weird one, with General Kirk having a lookalike ancestor who was a villain in the French Revolution. It's a bit surprising, given that they had the power to bring "Querque" into the present (yet again), that it didn't occur to Kirk to go back and impersonate him. It really is getting silly how easy it is to commute between past and future for everyone except Doug and Tony. (Also, this is twice now in as many weeks that the returned traveler has just faded into the past rather than falling in slow motion like D&T.)
I really thought they were going to go for a time-loop thing with the ring, to have Kirk's family in possession of the heirloom in the first place because it was sent back in time. Which would've made it infinitely old and been rather problematical. So I guess it's just as well that they didn't go that route. The confusing bit is that it seemed like it actually was from Marie Antoinette to her lover -- so how did Woody Kirk's family end up with it, and what were the odds that he'd send it back right to where it would get Marie into trouble? Weird.
Planet of the Apes: "The Interrogation": Not bad, with a high-stakes story where Pete gets captured and brainwashed and we get to meet Galen's family. And Beverly Garland was effective as the malicious scientist Dr. Wanda -- another case of casting actors with excellent voices since their faces will be hidden under prosthetics. The brainwashing angle was a bit clumsy, though, with Dr. Wanda just happening to have found and deciphered an old human book on the subject (shouldn't that in itself be the kind of knowledge that Zaius condemns and would want to destroy?), and particularly with Urko's comical misunderstanding of the term. How would he know of a procedure where brains were actually taken out and washed? He's an herbivore! That part just didn't make any sense, and made Urko look needlessly buffoonish.
Speaking of hidden faces, I had no advance knowledge that Harry Townes would be appearing in this episode as the surgeon in the last act or two, but I recognized him almost immediately based solely on his eyes, and maybe a bit on his voice. He really did have distinctive eyes.
Its a necessary "evil" if the performance serves the character. Look at it this way, Ralph Macchio was running around playing a high school student Karate Kid I & II when he was already (and clearly) in his late 20s, but story allowed that to be glossed over.
Ohh, please do not drop anything from the A-Team on the head of the Hulk!
i'll just say that in a series where a search for a cure is one of the running plots, any references to a cure--no matter who brings it up--should be considered. Its not like cures pop up in every episode.
Yeah, part of the post was cut. I was mentioning that despite Dark Shadows being off air for nearly a decade, a "Collins" surname would probably remind a writer of the soap opera.
Land of the Giants: "The Weird World"--
This was the second episode produced. In fact, the teaser of Barry finding the tape recorder was originally intended to be tagged to the end of "The Crash" as a trailer, and is detailed in one of the pilot's scripts.
As in the pilot, the giants are still very "alien", with the detail that they have poor night vision--something exploited to a clever degree by Dan & Mark.
As a direct sequel to the pilot, the bleak, serious tone flows through this episode, with the crew being less than seasoned in their new environment.
In chronological order, this is the first time we hear of other lost Earth flights. We will learn of others in "Underground", "The Lost Ones", "Brainwash" and "The Golden Cage".
If the giants' lab seems familiar, it should, as part of it was recycled from the pilot.
"The Weird World" guest starred Glenn Corbett as the lost astronaut and ultimately ill-fated Major Kagan. One year earlier, he portrayed another lost spaceman--Zefram Cochrane--in Star Trek's "Metamorphosis". At the time, Corbett was best known as Lincoln Case on Route 66.
The strong quality (and original purpose) of this episode was such that it could be edited with "The Crash" seamlessly--certainly with more of a "movie" feel than The Time Tunnel episodes that were turned into TV movies in the 1980s.
This was the second episode produced. In fact, the teaser of Barry finding the tape recorder was originally intended to be tagged to the end of "The Crash" as a trailer, and is detailed in one of the pilot's scripts.
As in the pilot, the giants are still very "alien", with the detail that they have poor night vision--something exploited to a clever degree by Dan & Mark.
As a direct sequel to the pilot, the bleak, serious tone flows through this episode, with the crew being less than seasoned in their new environment.
In chronological order, this is the first time we hear of other lost Earth flights. We will learn of others in "Underground", "The Lost Ones", "Brainwash" and "The Golden Cage".
If the giants' lab seems familiar, it should, as part of it was recycled from the pilot.
"The Weird World" guest starred Glenn Corbett as the lost astronaut and ultimately ill-fated Major Kagan. One year earlier, he portrayed another lost spaceman--Zefram Cochrane--in Star Trek's "Metamorphosis". At the time, Corbett was best known as Lincoln Case on Route 66.
The strong quality (and original purpose) of this episode was such that it could be edited with "The Crash" seamlessly--certainly with more of a "movie" feel than The Time Tunnel episodes that were turned into TV movies in the 1980s.
It's fine, but not his best. I don't even remember it, to tell the truth.
Tonight, on The Incredible Hulk:
"The Slam"
Originally aired October 19, 1979
Events in the news in the two weeks since the previous episode:
New on the U.S. charts in those weeks:
"Highway to Hell," AC/DC
(#47 US; #56 UK; #254 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
"I Need a Lover," John Cougar
(#28 US)
"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand
(#1 US; #7 AC; #1 Dance; #20 R&B; #3 UK)
"Escape (The Pina Colada Song)," Rupert Holmes
(#1 US; #8 AC; #23 UK; Holds the dubious distinction of being the last #1 single of the '70s)
And I couldn't find a video for the original version of the following:
"Take the Long Way Home," Supertramp
(#10 US; #28 AC)
Which calls for...
ANOTHER SUMMER OF '79 FLASHBACK!!!
"Goodbye Stranger," Supertramp
(July 7; #15 US; #32 AC; #57 UK)
"The Slam"
Originally aired October 19, 1979
Events in the news in the two weeks since the previous episode:
New on the U.S. charts in those weeks:
"Highway to Hell," AC/DC
(#47 US; #56 UK; #254 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
"I Need a Lover," John Cougar
(#28 US)
"No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand
(#1 US; #7 AC; #1 Dance; #20 R&B; #3 UK)
"Escape (The Pina Colada Song)," Rupert Holmes
(#1 US; #8 AC; #23 UK; Holds the dubious distinction of being the last #1 single of the '70s)
And I couldn't find a video for the original version of the following:
"Take the Long Way Home," Supertramp
(#10 US; #28 AC)
Which calls for...
ANOTHER SUMMER OF '79 FLASHBACK!!!
"Goodbye Stranger," Supertramp
(July 7; #15 US; #32 AC; #57 UK)
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Ah, so this is the obligatory "unjustly imprisoned in a labor camp" episode. Those were seemingly as ubiquitous in '70s and '80s TV as "underground fight club" episodes are today. (Heck, even Batman: The Animated Series did one in the early '90s, "The Forgotten.")
^Also the second of our two Season 2 leftovers, going by the production list.
