MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[TREK_GOD_1]

The Incredible Hulk
"Captive Night"--

Brothers Gary and recent parolee Jim are set to steal over $250,000 from the safe of Slater's department store. Gary appears to live through his older brother, going so far as to say he felt he was "doing time" while Jim was incarcerated. The younger brother is Hell-bent on impressing--and bonding with Jim. Jim reminds Gary of the price of failure--

Jim: "Look Gary, I'm grateful somebody was thinking about me all those years, but you know kid, you should have been going about your own business--I mean you shouldn't have wasted your life worrying about me."
Gary: "No, us--working together...that was my dream all tho--all those years."
Jim: "Look, if this thing isn't perfect, your doing time won't be a dream. I mean those bars are real. Very real. Take my word for it."

Slater's also happens to be the latest place of employment for David Banner, AKA Bishop, the stock clerk. David takes the employee entrance down to the basement where he runs into Raymond, the elderly security guard, extending his shift to provide security for the late working Karen Mitchell, and the would-be all-knowing, arrogant store manager Mr. Edwards. Edwards sees only the negative in people, accusing David of incorrectly tagging stock for the idea of getting overtime "correcting" the error--as cover for possibly casing the store for a heist. His questionable suspicion is based on the fact David turned down a sales position with a pay increase. Karen finds this hard to swallow, but finds Edwards' sexual come-ons as "reward" for the promise of a promotion beyond the pale.

Elsewhere in the store, Jim & Gary wait to disconnect the building's alarm lines; Jim is worried about the details, despite Gary's confidence in the scheme...

Karen (still believing David is a criminal in waiting is ridiculous) helps Banner change prices; as Banner goes to the stock room, Gary (much to his growing discontent over Jim's "perfect" plan) stumbles across Karen & Raymond, taking both hostage. Entering the safe room, Gary is shocked to see the expected simple combination safe replaced by a walk-in vault with a keypad on a timer--which cannot be opened until the morning. Outside of room, David overhears the criminals & their hostages, then quickly forms a plan, using the code to the vault and the key to the jewelry counter, but is caught by Jim. Taking the malfunctioning frieight elevator down to the basement, Jim locks David (through an access door) at the base of the shaft...with the faulty elevator resting a floor above his head....

The elevator's cables snap, dropping it on David--causing a Hulk-out. The creature breaks through the floor, then out of the entire shaft compartment. After the Hulk has his "bull in the china shop" moment, Jim informs the others about the commotion in the shaft--believing David was killed. Raymond flies into a rage, but is beaten into submission. Upstairs, the Hulk has returned to David-state, but causes enough noise to send Jim searching for the source, eventually spotting Banner breaking his act as a mannequin. David is brought to the vault room, but pretends he's no friend of Karen or Raymond, instead pretending to have his own interests in the vault...

David: "I mean your idea of uh..waiting until tomorrow morning? That's really a lousy fallback position unless you're planning on getting caught."
Jim: "What are you talking about?"
David: "Raymond, did you clue them in? The manager doesn't come in and open this safe alone, he comes with a cashier, and two security guards. Now you better have a better plan...like I have!"
Jim: "When I found you upstairs, you didn't look like a man with a plan to me."
David: "Oh, I had one...until you two jokers made your appearance. If i can get out that elevator shaft, I can get into that vault."
Gary: "Okay..okay, how were you gonna get into the vault of you weren't gonna wait until morning?"
David: "Well I wasn't going to use my bare hands--"
Jim: "Then how?"
David: "Ohh, no. Not for free. We are now all together. I take a third, then I show you how to get the money."

Karen & Raymond are naturally shocked by David's apparent duplicity, until David quotes part of the sarcastic remarks he made about Edwards earlier--tipping her off that he's playing the two criminals, and once out of earshot of the brothers--

David: "Alright...I got the alarm override code card out of Edward's office, and the card not only tells me how to open the vault, but it also says it triggers a silent, auxiliary alarm which is transmitted by a separate radio frequency straight to the police department."
Raymond: "Yes..that's right!"
David: "Good."
Karen: "What do we do now?"
David: "Just wait."

Unfortunately for David's plan, Jim comes across Banner's torn shirt...and the vault code card--with the alarm information. Returning to the vault, Jim states he's now disconnected that all-important auxiliary alarm. Removing the bags of money, Jim orders the captives into the vault--not caring if they will run out of air before its opened in the morning--a concern for Gary, but not Jim, who slams the vault door on Banner's ankle, as he locks them in, shutting off the emergency ventilation--and the lights, just as Banner transforms.

In the chaos of the captives not knowing what's happening, Jim and Gary clash--

Gary: "You can't let them die!"
Jim: "Yes we can."
Gary: "The plan was--"
Jim: "Damn it! This is real life--not one of your fantasies!"
Gary: "All those years I thought about you, it wasn't like that."
Jim: "Well, that's how it is. I don't have time to be your hero."
Gary: "Hero. Get out of my way--"

Jim blocks Gary from activating the emergency ventilation, as the Hulk tears the vault door from the hinges, and on top of the criminals; Jim slips out, then flees--leaving Gary begging for help. Karen covers the pinned Gary with his gun, while Raymond (now armed) chases after Jim & the Hulk. Upstairs, the Hulk flings a barbell at Jim's legs, sending the criminal crashing to the floor, but runs off at the sight of Raymond.

The following day, store owner Slater promotes Karen to assistant manager...and demotes Slater demotes Edwards to stock room work after endangering the lives of employees.

..and David is on the road again.


NOTES:

This is not a cure related episode.

Jack McGee does not appear in this episode.

David B. alias: Bishop.

Karen says Raymond has watched "too many Pat O'Brien movies"--a reference to the noted Golden Age character actor's run of playing heroic and/or forthright men such as priests (e.g. Father Jerry Connolly from Angels with Dirty Faces) or police officers.

The Hulk gazes at the green mannequin as if he's (somehow) attracted to it. While someone might think he's dreaming of a She-Hulk that does not exist in TV Hulk's universe, its interesting that in Hulk-state, he (for the first time) isolates himself as only relating / attracted to "someone" sharing his appearance, as if to suggest he sees himself as standing apart from humanity--a sentiment dating back to the early Lee/Kirby Hulk comics and used repeatedly in published stories to follow.

For the second week in a row, sexual exploitation is referred to or is part of a sub-plot on TIH; in "Babalao," it was the mayor and a cleaning woman, now its Karen Mitchell.

David refused taking a better paying sales job. Clearly, he's avoiding the kind of public contact / exposure working sales in a large department store would demand. Sure, he's worked in other jobs dealing with the public (zoo, clinic, lab custodian, etc.), but nothing that placed him in face to face contact with the endless numbers frequenting a city department store.

Jim shut off the vault lights just as David was transforming. Whew! Providence certainly loves David Banner!

GUEST CAST:

Anne Lockhart (Karen Mitchell) could be called the "first daughter" of bad TV sci-fi--she was a supporting cast member of Battlestar Galactica (ABC, 1978-79) while her mother June was the matriarch of the Robinson clan on Lost in Space (CBS, 1965-68). Her first role opposite Bill Bixby was in the pilot for The Magician (NBC, 1973), and will return to Hulk-land in "The Phenom" from season 5. Other fantasy roles--

• The Sixth Sense (ABC, 1972) - "Dear Joan: We're Going to Scare You to Death"
• The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries (ABC, 1977/'78) - "The Mystery of the African Safari" & "The Last Kiss of Summer" (2 parts)
• Project U.F.O. (NBC, 1979) - "Sighting 4019: The Believe it or Not Incident"
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (NBC, 1980) - "A Dream of Jennifer"
• Earthbound (Taft International Pictures, 1981)
• Darkroom (ABC, 1982) - "Exit Line"
• E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (Universal, 1982)
• Tales of the Gold Monkey (CBS, 1982) - "The Lady and the Tiger"
• Voyagers! (NBC, 1983) - "Merry Christmas, Bogg"
• Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (NBC, 1981-83) - as Storm, Lightwave & several voices
• Automan (ABC, 1984) - "Death by Design"
• Troll (Empire Pictures,1986)
• Dark Tower (Forum Home Video, 1986)
  
• Freddy's Nightmares (Syndicated, 1989) - "Heartbreak Hotel"
• The Highwayman (NBC, 1988) - "Road Lord"
• Wishman (1992)
• Quantum Leap (NBC, 1992) - "Star Light, Star Bright"
• Bionic Ever After? (MCA Television, 1994)
• Bug Buster (Prism Leisure, 1998)
• Level 9 (UPN, 2000-01)
  
• Route 666 (Lions Gate, 2001)
• The Time Traveler's Wife (New Line Cinema, 2009)
  
• Lockhart: Unleashing the Talisman (2015)

Mark Lenard (Slater) --a nice cameo from the sci-fi fan favorite of several generations. Of course, his list will start with the Final Frontier--

• Star Trek (NBC, 1966/'67) - "Balance of Terror" - as the Romulan Commander & "Journey to Babel" as Sarek
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (NBC, 1973) - "Yesteryear" - as Sarek
  
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Paramount, 1979) - as Klingon Captain
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Paramount, 1984) - as Sarek
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Paramount, 1986) - as Sarek
  
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (Syndicated, 1990/'91) - "Sarek" & "Unification Part 1"
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Paramount, 1991) - as Sarek

Non-Trek:

• .his first role opposite Bixby: The Magician (NBC, 1974) - "The Illusion of the Stainless Steel Lady"
• Planet of the Apes (CBS, 1974) - series regular as Chief of Security Urko
  
• Cliffhangers (NBC, 1979) - "The Secret Empire"
  
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (NBC, 1981) - "Journey to Oasis"
• Otherworld (CBS, 1985) - "The Zone Troopers Build Men"

Stanley Kamel (Gary)--

• The Sixth Sense (ABC, 1972) - "The Eyes That Wouldn't Die" (series finale)
  
• Captain America II: Death Too Soon (CBS, 1979)
• The Phoenix (ABC, 1982) - "Pilot" - opposite Judson (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) Scott
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (Syndicated, 1987) - "Where No One Has Gone Before"
• The Highwayman (NBC, 1988) - "Frightmare"
• Dead Men Don't Die (1990)
• Automatic (Lakeview Productions, 1995)
• Dark Skies (NBC, 1996)
• Dark Angel (FOX, 2000)

Paul Picerni (Jim)--

• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - (CBS, 1957) - "The Cream of the Jest" & "Number Twenty Two"
• Panic! (NBC, 1957) - "The Airline Hostess"
• Zorro (ABC, 1958) - "The Well of Death" & "The Deadly Bolas"
• Men Into Space (CBS, 1960) - "Into the Sun"
• Batman (ABC, 1967) - "The Catwoman Goes to College" / "Batman Displays His Knowledge"
  
• The Time Tunnel (ABC, 1967) - "Attack of the Barbarians"
• The Immortal (ABC, 1971) - "Sanctuary"
• The Fearmaker (Churubusco Azteca,1971)
• The Sixth Sense (ABC, 1972) - "Witness Within"
  
• Circle of Fear (NBC, 1973) - "Graveyard Shift"
• Kolchak: The Night Stalker (ABC, 1975) - "Primal Scream"
• Capricorn One (ITC Entertainment, 1977)
• Project U.F.O. (NBC, 1978) - "Sighting 4005: The Medicine Bow Incident

 

[Christopher]

“Captive Night”: A reasonably good one this time -- a bit of a formula plot with David caught in a department store heist, but it’s well enough executed, with a solid guest cast including Anne Lockhart, Parley Baer, Stanley Kamel, Paul Picerni (brother of regular TIH stuntman Charlie Picerni), and a too-short cameo by Mark Lenard. The department-store location they used was pretty impressive; this feels like the kind of episode that began with the location scout saying “Hey, there’s this neat location I can get us permission to use” and the writers building a story around it. The sequences of the Hulk in the department store are fun, especially his ill-fated “romance” with the green mannequin and the hilarious “Hulk in the china shop” sequence where he manages to avoid breaking a single thing. It’s an improvement on some of the past episodes where the first Hulk-out was unobserved by other characters and nothing much happened. They seem to be playing up the humorous side of the Hulk more this season, which helps get Ferrigno more screen time.

I don’t quite buy the logic of the vault’s override code. Okay, I can see why there might be a need to override the time lock, but that should just make it possible to open the vault before morning. You’d still need to know the actual combination, and only Edwards had that.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Everybody has a cell phone now.

Ah yes, hadn't caught that. Honestly, I didn't know what the song was about until I looked it up out of curiosity about your comment.

Slater's department store

In Philadelphia, if my note is based on something that I caught in the episode, and wasn't scrawled in a state of delirium.

David Banner, AKA Bishop

His second use of that one.

Edwards sees only the negative in people, accusing David of incorrectly tagging stock for the idea of getting overtime "correcting" the error--as cover for possibly casing the store for a heist.

While this episode is somewhat memorable and striking compared to too many others, I found many elements to be terribly contrived. David being suspected of planning to burglar the store just before he finds himself accidentally involved in a burglary of the store was one of them.

The elevator's cables snap

Right after David is locked in the shaft...like they'd been waiting for just that moment....

causing a Hulk-out.

-22:54...our second latest so far, if December 2016 me is to be trusted.

The sequences of the Hulk in the department store are fun, especially his ill-fated “romance” with the green mannequin and the hilarious “Hulk in the china shop” sequence where he manages to avoid breaking a single thing. It’s an improvement on some of the past episodes where the first Hulk-out was unobserved by other characters and nothing much happened. They seem to be playing up the humorous side of the Hulk more this season, which helps get Ferrigno more screen time.

I found the whole sequence to be a little too contrived, and the mannequin bit to be downright cheesy. He wanders around the store having his humorous moments while contributing nothing to the main plot, and not being noticed by anybody, and yet...

Upstairs, the Hulk has returned to David-state, but causes enough noise to send Jim searching for the source

Nobody noticed anything that the Hulk did, but Banner crashing into a gong got everyone's attention?

The Hulk gazes at the green mannequin as if he's (somehow) attracted to it. While someone might think he's dreaming of a She-Hulk that does not exist in TV Hulk's universe, its interesting that in Hulk-state, he (for the first time) isolates himself as only relating / attracted to "someone" sharing his appearance, as if to suggest he sees himself as standing apart from humanity--a sentiment dating back to the early Lee/Kirby Hulk comics and used repeatedly in published stories to follow.

I don't think that this version of the Hulk should be self-aware enough to have formed an attraction to green women, but I guess that mannequin would be the closest thing the show gave us to Jarella....

And why the hell were all the toys on? Doesn't somebody turn them off at night?

Jim shut off the vault lights just as David was transforming. Whew! Providence certainly loves David Banner!

-05:19, and yet another contrivance...which still wouldn't have saved Karen and Raymond from the Really Clueless Folk list, if I hadn't given up on keeping that somewhere down the road.

Upstairs, the Hulk flings a barbell at Jim's legs

In retrospect, the Hulk just happening to be by the weight sets when looking for something to throw doesn't seem as contrived as it must have when I was at this point in watching the episode.

and David is on the road again.

Once again exiting the story via the Stock Peacoat Lonely Man Shot.

This is not a cure related episode.

Just Schlepping around with...

Anne Lockhart

David refused taking a better paying sales job. Clearly, he's avoiding the kind of public contact / exposure working sales in a large department store would demand. Sure, he's worked in other jobs dealing with the public (zoo, clinic, lab custodian, etc.), but nothing that placed him in face to face contact with the endless numbers frequenting a city department store.

It might also require more background checking. And realistically, David must have some awareness of the series premise that he's been living in by now...he knows he's just going to have to skip town sooner rather than later, so why bother?

The department-store location they used was pretty impressive; this feels like the kind of episode that began with the location scout saying “Hey, there’s this neat location I can get us permission to use” and the writers building a story around it.

Hmmm...given the timing of the episode, I wonder if it was a downtown department store that was going out of business because of a new mall?

 

[Christopher]

I found the whole sequence to be a little too contrived, and the mannequin bit to be downright cheesy. He wanders around the store having his humorous moments while contributing nothing to the main plot, and not being noticed by anybody, and yet...

It was an unfortunate quirk of the show's formula that first Hulk-outs often tended to have little impact on the plot, aside from providing an excuse for McGee to come onto the scene in the second half. And this was too enclosed a setting for that to happen. So if the FHO couldn't be meaningful, or even witnessed, at least it could be entertaining. This was better than the ghost-story one where he just wandered around the house for a minute before sitting down and changing back.

Even back in first run, I often wished the show weren't so locked into the network-imposed formula of two Hulk-outs per episode. In many cases, I would've happily traded out an irrelevant first Hulk-out for a longer climactic rampage, although then it would be necessary to find a different way to get McGee onto the scene.

Hmm. If it weren't so late in the game already, it might be worth keeping track of which FHOs advance the plot in a meaningful way and which are just arbitrarily tacked on to fit the formula. For instance, off the top of my head, "The Antowuk Horror" is an example of the former, since the guest star's witnessing of the Hulk-out provokes the events of the rest of the episode.

Nobody noticed anything that the Hulk did, but Banner crashing into a gong got everyone's attention?

It was a pretty big department store, multiple floors high, and they were in the basement. And as I recall, the gong thing happened when one of the crooks was already upstairs looking for David and happened to be right nearby when it happened.

And why the hell were all the toys on? Doesn't somebody turn them off at night?

This sort of thing is why they had an energy crisis in the '70s...

 

[RJDiogenes]

I never realized Anne Lockhart was in so many things.

Ah yes, hadn't caught that. Honestly, I didn't know what the song was about until I looked it up out of curiosity about your comment.

It was quite a different world back then. So many plots that involve people being out of contact with each other no longer work-- or must include a scene of somebody angrily shaking their phone and saying, "No reception!"

Also, yes to "Africa." Sorry about that. I somehow missed the entire top part of your post. This is what comes of posting at 4:30am.

 

[Christopher]

I never realized Anne Lockhart was in so many things.

I do remember her being kind of ubiquitous for a while.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I was looking for some footage of Anne from BSG to go with the emoticon...wasn't finding what I was looking for, but did find this nifty little documentary, which I suppose is of historical interest concerning the period of TIH:

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[TREK_GOD_1]

Right after David is locked in the shaft...like they'd been waiting for just that moment....

Right moment, and a visually striking Hulk-out / break-out of the thick concrete wall.

Nobody noticed anything that the Hulk did, but Banner crashing into a gong got everyone's attention?

That was the deliberate point: the Hulk manages to not destroy (with expected noise) in a room full of delicate crystal, but Banner ends up being the clumsy one, as he's transforming.

I don't think that this version of the Hulk should be self-aware enough to have formed an attraction to green women, but I guess that mannequin would be the closest thing the show gave us to Jarella....

I guess this Hulk has formed that attraction, since his experiences with living women usually involve some sort of disaster or problem. The scene suggests the creature is as lonely for his "own" as much as Banner is for female companionship.

And why the hell were all the toys on? Doesn't somebody turn them off at night?

I'm not sure, but in some cities, the big department stores used to keep toy window displays on around the clock.

-05:19, and yet another contrivance...which still wouldn't have saved Karen and Raymond from the Really Clueless Folk list, if I hadn't given up on keeping that somewhere down the road.

Who is going to believe a normal man transformed into a 7 foot green monster few believe exist?

It might also require more background checking. And realistically, David must have some awareness of the series premise that he's been living in by now...he knows he's just going to have to skip town sooner rather than later, so why bother?

He would bother if he's been Hulk-free for some time, but the nature of sales in a city department store would be a terrible risk even if he had not suffered transformation for months. In other words, unless he was prepared to go public that David Banner is alive, he has to stay as inconspicuous as possible.

Hmmm...given the timing of the episode, I wonder if it was a downtown department store that was going out of business because of a new mall?

That's sounds like so many U.S. cities--the once larger than life, everything under one roof department store replaced by the mall..and oft-times limited selection for higher prices.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Right moment, and a visually striking Hulk-out / break-out of the thick concrete wall.

But the show is violating its own rules, because breaking through a wall should mean that he escapes via the Stock Alley Shot.

That's sounds like so many U.S. cities--the once larger than life, everything under one roof department store replaced by the mall..and oft-times limited selection for higher prices.

And in my experience, in the places that I lived, this was happening right around the time of this episode...late '70s / turn of the '80s. Between the beginning and end of the '70s, in my hometown, we'd gone from shopping at downtown storefronts and making special trips to the next town over to shop at the big department store, to the downtowns dying while what had been miles of farm road getting built up with restaurants and strip malls because it had become the road to the new mall.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Earlier in our Incredible Hulk reviews, the show's international distribution (e.g. TV episodes repackaged as movies) and media coverage was explored, and in keeping with that subject, here are a few magazines that featured the then-growing series (between 1978 & '79), or in a specific case--influenced by it--

The Chicago Tribune's TV Week and The Electric Company magazine. As everyone knows, TEC (the series) featured Spider-Man in its Spidey Super Stories segment. It would have been interesting to see Ferrigno guest star as the Hulk, but sadly, that is just a dream since TEC was cancelled in 1977--before TIH pilot's production.

Thailand's version of the international celebrity magazine Starpics. The issue featured a rather long profile of Bill Bixby. Pardon the scan--it was copied from some eBay seller's auction, but I was aware of its content thanks to a third party. Next is the U.K. Kids' magazine Fab, with another Bixby profile.

The legendary Joe Weider's Muscle magazine (July, 1979) with the one and only Lou Ferrigno as the cover story.
Starburst--arguably the most popular UK sci-fi media magazine ever published--covered the Hulk TV series...after the Marvel buyout.

Starlog's annual poster book and the Japanese version of the regular magazine.

Look-In--the U.K. kids' magazine largely spotlighting ITV programs was no stranger to America's pop culture hits, such as two issues with healthy TIH articles and posters.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Sharing the cover with ABBA...can't get much more '70s than that...!

You have so much behind-the-scenes info at hand...I was hoping you might be able to weigh in on the question of the show's airing schedule in Season 5, which I'd brought up several days back. Did you catch that post?

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was looking for some footage of Anne from BSG to go with the emoticon...wasn't finding what I was looking for, but did find this nifty little documentary, which I suppose is of historical interest concerning the period of TIH:

That looks pretty good. They certainly did have a large number of interesting character actors.

 

[David Bixby]

While this episode is somewhat memorable and striking compared to too many others, I found many elements to be terribly contrived.

Another contrivance was the use of David's torn shirt. Ever since three occasions in the early part of Season 2, the hulk has dispensed with his shirt at the earliest opportunity and within seconds of his emergence. Under normal circumstances, the shredded shirt would been lost or removed by the hulk when bursting through the lift floor in the shaft.
However, with the plot requiring the piece of paper with the override code written on it to be discovered, it wouldn't have been easy to do so in the rubble of a wrecked lift shaft. Hence, the hulk keeps it on for a bit longer until he reaches a clothes section (although the reason for finally removing the shirt is a clever one...thank heavens the trousers stayed on...)

I think the FHO contained the first instance of a busting belt being used to suggest mass increase.

The SHO commenced with a reused shot from the Metamorphosis FHO of a white-eyes close-up.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I thought there was something about the shirt bit that bugged me as well, but I couldn't remember what it was.

 

[Greg Cox]

Reminder: THE NIGHT STALKER debuts on MeTV tonight, beginning with the Jack the Ripper episode.

 

[Christopher]

Reminder: THE NIGHT STALKER debuts on MeTV tonight, beginning with the Jack the Ripper episode.

I'm surprised they're promoting it as The Night Stalker instead of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I know the former was its original title for the first few episodes, but it didn't last long before it was changed, and the syndicated and home-video versions (including the one that was on Netflix until recently) use the longer title.

On reflection, it probably makes more sense to discuss K:TNS here than in the Classic/Retro TV thread, because it's a genre show on MeTV on the weekend, even if it's Sunday night instead of Saturday night. And technically I think the Irwin Allen shows I've been covering aren't counted as part of the Super Sci-Fi Saturday Night block anyway, so we're already beyond that.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Should I bring my Batman reviews back over here? They're based on my watching the H&I airings, but I'm belatedly responding to your Me-TV reviews from a year and a half back. I thought they'd get overwhelmed here by all the new review business, but as things have settled in, you seem to be the only one regularly covering the current Me shows other than TIH.

 

[Christopher]

Should I bring my Batman reviews back over here? They're based on my watching the H&I airings, but I'm belatedly responding to your Me-TV reviews from a year and a half back.

Up to you, but I have found it kind of confusing that you were quoting my reviews from this thread in a different thread and forum altogether.

 

[Christopher]

Land of the Giants: "Seven Little Indians": Not bad, another fairly tense episode about the crew vs. Kobick, though largely the same capture-and-escape dynamic we've seen plenty of times before. I guess it was the characters that made it effective -- the ruthless Kobick, the sadistic SID man played by Garry Walberg, the scheming janitor. (At first I thought he was going to turn out to be a friendly doofus who helped the little people, but he went in a much nastier direction.) There were some problems, though. The whole "Let's cut through the cages of the giant wild animals which will eat us because it's safer than risking discovery by giant humans who will capture us" thing didn't make a lot of sense, and the composition was weird, with them running to the middle of the hyena cage and then back the way they'd come rather than going through to the other side, which was supposed to be the point. Also, why bring Mark and Betty into the hyena-cage tree stump in the first place if Steve was just going to order them to wait and go back to the ship? Plus, there's a shot where they're running out of the stump and Steve's body passes right through the matte line. And then there's the bit where Dan and Mark are climbing up the sides of the animal net, and we then cut to a shot of the janitor searching for them with his head brushing right against the net that he was nowhere near in the preceding shot. "Don't let them get past you" indeed.


The Time Tunnel: "Visitors from Beyond the Stars": Time travelers in 1885? Great Scott!

Wow, what a dumb episode. Silver-painted aliens invading Earth on a burger run, supposedly ultra-powerful and threatening to destroy all life, but turning out to have a ridiculously simple Achilles heel and no backup. And all against a generic Old-West backdrop so the production could keep using stock footage and the Western backlot. (The alien ship, meanwhile, is stock footage from Roger Corman's War of the Satellites.) And then there's a random ending where aliens show up in the present, boss the Tic-Toc crew around for a bit, then say in passing that there's no more danger of invasion and just leave. Lame. The one good thing is that they used bits of Bernard Herrmann's The Day the Earth Stood Still score as a motif for the aliens. Yay, theremin!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Batman
"Fine Finny Fiends"

Originally aired May 4, 1966​

"Batman Makes the Scenes"

Originally aired May 5, 1966​

Might've made an interesting complication to see what would happen if they weren't there.

That's when they break out the Bat-Signal.

If the Penguin Box never fails, how come Pengy's never brainwashed anyone before?

Hey, that sauna box adorned with Christmas lights means business!

Brainwashing Alfred was a wasted opportunity, since they never even teased us with the possibility of him spilling the beans about his master's alter ego.

The fact that Alfred claimed not to recognize the Penguin should have been enough of a clue that there was something wrong with him. I don't remember if he'd previously gotten face time with the Penguin, but surely he should recognize a foe that Batman has already encountered multiple times.

And how could Penguin know that Batman and Robin would be in a position to discover his fish hook clue when they only did so as Bruce and Dick?

That shot at the start of Part 2 with Julie Gregg bent forward with the henchmen pumping that big bellows behind her was probably the most blatant sexual innuendo this show ever did. Although I didn't recognize that as a kid, of course...

It might have slipped by me if I hadn't read it here first. "Miss Natural Resources" also seemed a bit suggestive to me....

And Finella is inconsistently characterized; if she's just an innocent who wanted to win a contest and doesn't have the stomach for serious crime, why was she so thrilled by the deathtrap?

I thought they were being consistent in portraying her as a self-absorbed ditz, but then they went and had to pull the same ol' "redeemable moll" angle in the climax and epilogue...it was an awkward fit.

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Batman
"Shoot a Crooked Arrow"

Originally aired September 7, 1966​

"Walk the Straight and Narrow"

Originally aired September 8, 1966 (Now there's a noteworthy date!)​

It occurs to me that this is basically Batman vs. Green Arrow, what with all the trick arrows the Archer uses, and the Robin Hood theme.

What's more, the jousting cliffhanger particularly reminds me of an early comic of mine...a mid-70s issue of The Brave & the Bold that had Batman saving a captive Green Arrow (who was tied to a post IIRC) by engaging in a jousting contest that involved putting his lance through a ring. (But here, the Archer & co. used their jousting lances as thrown weapons, rather than running Batman & Robin through, which is what lances are designed for.)

But man, is Art Carney ever an odd casting choice for the role. Maybe the incongruity of it was the whole idea, but it doesn't particularly work. Carney is just clumsy and annoying in the role.

I think it definitely was meant to be the idea...cf., the way the Archer's hoods spook their mock-medieval dialogue in an equally clumsy manner, and the moll, who wasn't trying, emphasizing that the Archer was from the same neighborhood as her. I was OK with Carney because he was Carney, and you have to get a chuckle out of the fact that he has one of his hoods carry around an applause box.

And we've also got the complication of corruption in the Wayne Foundation.

I could tell Dale was bad news from his first scene.

It looks like they were reusing Sherry Jackson's unconvincing tattered red dress for one of the bystanders in the scenes of Archer throwing money to the poor people.

It was a clever bit of business having Bruce answer Commissioner Gordon's call right under O'Hara's nose.

We also learn that he's from Liverpool -- though he's totally lost the accent.

Referring to that particular locale was almost certainly catering to the recognition that it had gained in the previous couple of years as the source of a certain variety of bug that had been exported to the States....

And Alfred's involvement gives us yet another example of Bruce Wayne's butler being obviously linked to the Dynamic Duo. There's a certain irony in Archer threatening Alfred as a means of trying to get the location of the Batcave when Alfred's presence is the answer he's looking for. (Also, he could always, y'know, unmask Batman and Robin....)

And even though this aired before the movie came out, they worked in movie footage of the Batboat launching sequence

"To the Batboat via Batmobile." So do they just leave the Batboat there at that pier when they're not using it? [ETA: Also, according to Wiki, the film came out July 30, not during the fall. IMDb gives an October date, but specifies that it's for Italy.]

The reference to "imported California smog" seemed like a Hollywood in-joke.

The gimmick of the curved arrow being shot around corners was pretty silly.

Got a chuckle out of "We've got trouble.... Real trouble, right here in Gotham City." And the special lever to negate only Bruce's Batpole change.

I've been noticing Ward's stunt double a lot in the fight sequences, but West's was unusually noticeable during the climactic sword fight on the boat.

The William Tell gag at the end was cute, but it didn't jibe with the shaft-splitting skill that Alfred had displayed in his contest with the Archer.

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So, now I'm caught up with the H&I airings again, and being in Fall of 1966 puts this series tangibly closer to synching up with my 50th anniversary viewings of TOS, The Green Hornet, The Man from UNCLE, and The Saint. It should be synchable when H&I gets to Season 3, but I'll have to go on hiatus for part of the summer.