MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[TREK_GOD_1]

The Incredible Hulk--
"Long Run Home"

The California-based criminal biker gang Barbarians unload a van filled with stolen military weapons for a sale, when they are discovered by a squad of A.T.F. agents. The bikers manage to escape, leaving the van and its valuable merchandise. Elsewhere, hitchhiking David is picked up by Carl Rivers--a generally friendly member of the Barbarians. Along the way, they are run off the road (deliberately) by a commercial truck; Carl injures his wrist, so David volunteers to drive the bike--taking Carl to a doctor. The inexperienced David manages to get them to a local clinic in Forrest, where a judgmental doctor ignored David & Carl until it all comes to a head--

David: "Excuse me, doctor. We have been waiting for over two hours."
Doctor: "Well, if you're in a hurry, why don't you go to County General in Geyserville. As a matter of fact, I'd prefer it."
David: "It happens to be over 30 miles away, and this man needs treatment."
Doctor: "Oh treatment. Of course. Especially painkillers, right?"
David: "You're wrong."
Doctor: "Look, your kind have been coming in here for a long time with the same sob story. It all adds up to the fact that you want a prescription for dope."
David: "You can tell all that across a room?"
Doctor: "Contrary to popular belief, you can judge a book by its cover!"
David: "I always thought that doctors were taught not to assume anything, but only go by facts."
Doctor: "An observation is a fact."
David: "Well, may I tell you then, how much I admire your powers of observation, doctor, and how much I admire your ability at this distance to know that that man does not have a broken arm. Without your even examining him. Or taking x-rays? Now would you please check him out?"

David's dismantling of the doctor's bias wins out. Carl is treated for his broken wrist. Discharged, David & Carl end up waiting out a rainstorm; Carl speaks of taking a leave of absence from his gang due to recent events, and his journey to a farm run by other ex-gang members...

That gang now wonders how the federal police were tipped to their location; current leader Johnny is sure Carl set them up--the reason being the absent "brother" never approved of the increasingly criminal direction Johnny took the gang. Knowing where Carl is headed, Johnny decides to find, then kill him.

Short on cash, David & Carl seek temporary employment, but they run into the same prejudices experienced with the doctor.

The Barbarians make their way into Forrest, learning Carl--and his "citizen" companion David passed through. Meanwhile, at a tavern, David & Carl stop to get coffee, but its not long before the pompous frat boys begin harassing the duo (evolution remarks, etc.). Bob (the lead frat boy) challenges Carl to a game of pool, which he quickly loses to the biker. Before the duo can leave, the prickish Bob drops Carl's Barbarians vet in a bowl of dip...and earning a crack to the jaw. A fight breaks out, but David is subdued, beaten and tossed behind a bar as Carl (initially holding his own) is overpowered. Suddenly, the Hulk rises from behind the bar, pushes it into the group, and sends Bob sailing. After the dust settles, Carl meets up with David, excitedly telling him about the Hulk. David uses the story to support leaving ASAP--just missing the Barbarians--but falling into the hands of the Burley County sheriff. At the department--

David: "Any idea why they haven't booked us yet?"
Carl: "Don't worry. They will."
David: "They haven't asked us for any ID."
Carl: "Don't tell me. You don't got none, right? What happens when they run a make and take prints?"
David: "I don't know."
Carl: "Oh man, this is gonna be a bigger hassle than I thought."

Carl is interrogated by A.T.F. Agent Fitzgerald, reminding him of Johnny's expansion into more serious criminal territory--and the biker's belief that Carl was the fed's rat. Carl still refuses to help--and David refuses to leave Carl on his own.

The duo are soon chased by the Barbarians, forcing David to crash--and transform into the Hulk. The creature attacks the gang--in the end, knocking them around long enough for the A.T.F. agents to arrive, taking all into custody. Although Carl will not testify against the gang, and never supported Johnny's criminal reshaping of the Barbarians, his steadfast dedication to his "brothers" earns the respect of Fitzgerald. Running into David again, Carl burns his gang vest, and parts ways with the "brother" handshake.

NOTES:
This is not a cure related episode.

Jack McGee does not appear in this episode.

The episode goes some way in exploring the biker's (Carl) view that he is a "new minority" considering the discrimination and/or flat out violent treatment he received at the hands of so-called normal society. Clearly, he would never understand the magnitude of say, racial discrimination's effect on a minority, but you can see where he's coming from.

David plays disbelieving the idea of a green man perfectly.

In reality, there were a few bike "clubs" that were not of the murdering/pimping/drug trafficking/anything else variety such as the Hells Angels--which the pre-Johnny Barbarians were supposed to be.

Providence shines on David again: the A.T.F. did not check his identity. One might argue that Fitzgerald knew Carl was the only one connected to the Barbarians, so he considered David "innocent," but he certainly missed a disaster.

GUEST CAST:
Paul Koslo (Carl Rivers) first displayed his skill at riding choppers in the second adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend--opposite Charlton Heston in the post-apocalyptic sci/horror drama The Omega Man (Warner Brothers, 1971). Following that fan favorite, Koslo can be seen in--

• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (NBC, 1980) - "A Dream of Jennifer"
• Galactica 1980 (ABC, 1980) - "Spaceball"
• The Incredible Hulk (CBS, 1981) - "Veteran"
• The Hitchhiker (HBO, 1985) - "Petty Thieves"
• Misfits of Science (NBC, 1985) - "Twin Engines"
• The Highwayman (NBC, 1988) - "The Haunted Highway"
• Robot Jox (Trans World Entertainment, 1990)
• X-Tro II: The Second Encounter (New Line Cinema, 1990)
• Solar Crisis (Bridge Entertainment, 1990)
• The Flash (CBS, 1990) - "Sins of the Father"
• Project Shadowchaser (EGM, 1992)
• Stargate SG-1 (Showtime, 2000) - "The Serpent's Venom"

Robert Tessier (Johnny)--

• The Velvet Vampire (New World Pictures, 1971)
• Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (Warner Brothers, 1975)
• Starcrash (New World Pictures, 1979)
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (NBC, 1979) - "The Plot to Kill a City" (2 parts)
• The Sword and the Sorcerer (Group 1 International Distribution Organization, Ltd., 1982)
• Manimal (NBC, 1983) - "Scrimshaw"
• Amazing Stories (NBC, 1986) - "Hell Toupee"
• Future Force (Action International Pictures, 1989)
• Nightwish (Channel Communications, 1989)
• Fertilize the Blaspheming Bombshell (Holmby Pictures, 1990)

Last, but not least, Mickey Jones (Doc) is best known from TIH's "Ricky"--and will make a third (and final) appearance in "Triangle." Jones' fantasy credits include the pilot for the Glen Larson schlock Automan (1983), and working for Kenneth Johnson in the 80s, appearing as Chris Farber in V: The Final Battle (NBC, 1984) and V the TV series (NBC, 1984-85). In between dealing with the Visitors, Jones landed a role in John Carpenter's acclaimed Starman (Columbia, 1984).

 

[The Old Mixer]

Easy Hulkster?

The spare "shades" that Carl gives David to wear are nearly clear...I'm betting that Bixby was wearing his prescriptions.

The inexperienced David manages to get them to a local clinic in Forrest, where a judgmental doctor ignored David & Carl until it all comes to a head--

The Undercover Doctor angle is put to good use here.

A fight breaks out, but David is subdued, beaten and tossed behind a bar

I made the bad call that he'd be tossed in the back room.

Suddenly, the Hulk rises from behind the bar

Another problematic FHO time. From the general pace of the sequence, I'd call that the likely trigger point was about -20:14, but he's out of sight and there's no distinct cue. -19:58 is the first definite indication of the Hulk's presence (growling). Either way, it would be our new latest FHO.

Carl is interrogated by A.T.F. Agent Fitzgerald

Who only dials three digits on the phone...or was he dialing an internal extension? Did they have those on rotary dial phones?

The duo are soon chased by the Barbarians, forcing David to crash--and transform into the Hulk.

-07:42--Not our earliest SHO, but possibly our two closest together HO's in a regular-format episode, though I haven't been keeping track of that.

When the bikers impact with the tree that the Hulk's holding, note how the Hulk seems to be thrown back...!

This is not a cure related episode.

Just schlepping around, and without a specified alias.

Jack McGee does not appear in this episode.

He's still on his flight to Gary...had to make a layover in Shanghai.

The episode goes some way in exploring the biker's (Carl) view that he is a "new minority" considering the discrimination and/or flat out violent treatment he received at the hands of so-called normal society. Clearly, he would never understand the magnitude of say, racial discrimination's effect on a minority, but you can see where he's coming from.

The discrimination angle reminded me very much of a then-recent period in the comic when the Hulk was traveling with a leftover hippie named Fred Sloan.

Providence shines on David again: the A.T.F. did not check his identity. One might argue that Fitzgerald knew Carl was the only one connected to the Barbarians, so he considered David "innocent," but he certainly missed a disaster.

There was no intention to book them, they were there for the proposition to Carl.

Last, but not least, Mickey Jones (Doc) is best known from TIH's "Ricky"--and will make a third (and final) appearance in "Triangle." Jones' fantasy credits include the pilot for the Glen Larson schlock Automan (1983), and working for Kenneth Johnson in the 80s, appearing as Chris Farber in V: The Final Battle (NBC, 1984) and V the TV series (NBC, 1984-85). In between dealing with the Visitors, Jones landed a role in John Carpenter's acclaimed Starman (Columbia, 1984).

You forgot the part where he was drumming for Kenny Rogers in the '60s.

 

[Christopher]

“Long Run Home”: Not much to say -- another pretty routine episode, lots of biker stuff, lots of riding shots along the same stretches of roadway (there’s a fence the gang drives through twice in opposite directions), plus the obligatory Mickey Jones appearance that was apparently mandated by law in any biker-related TV episode at the time. But the relationship between David and Carl is pretty enjoyable. It’s a bit unusual to see Paul Koslo playing a good guy.

Also unusual to leave the Hulk-outs mostly unseen. The first one doesn’t even have the chorus or the initial white-eye shot, and the second was shown just through the cracking helmet and one ripped-shirt shot. (Oddly, the helmet is intact on the back of Carl’s bike at the end.)

Who only dials three digits on the phone...or was he dialing an internal extension? Did they have those on rotary dial phones?

I'm sure they did. If the office had its own internal switchboard, then it wouldn't take more than a few digits.

Still, I do recall it being pretty common for TV shows to skimp on the number of digits characters dialed on rotary phones. After all, those things took a long time to dial compared to touch-tone phones. Especially if the number had a lot of high digits.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Ah yes...I recall noticing the resurrected helmet, but apparently failed to jot it down.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Batman
"The Greatest Mother of Them All"

Originally aired October 5, 1966​

"Ma Parker"

Originally aired October 6, 1966​

Ma Parker's never operated in Gotham for fear of Batman? Must be those scary Bat-Shadows! Note how we get a machine-gun toting villainess, and the show makes a point of telling us that she and her gang are known as the worst shots in the country!

We get some more continuity with past episodes in the form of another Archer reference.

The first part feels a bit padded, the way Ma's plan involves the Dynamic Duo taking out her boys one at a time...supposedly to avoid suspicion, but it only arouses it by establishing a pattern...which Batman eventually picks up on.

A deathtrap that counts on Batman breaking traffic laws! It seems odd that they'd hear the explosion back at the penitentiary...yet Batman and Robin managed to get far enough away that Ma & gang had time to redecorate.

And this week Batman's Utility Belt sports a big plug or whatever it was that he was tapping out that Morse code on. And the Dynamic Duo take a trick out of Dr. Mid-Nite's bag with the infrared glasses.

I was thinking from the emphasis on what a great mom Ma Parker was supposed to be that maybe this should have aired closer to Mother's Day...and then the coda establishes that it was indeed Mother's Day on the show...yet the discrepancy between that and the actual airdate is considerable.

"Next week, the Dynamic Duo meets the Clock King"? That was unexpected. Are promos like that going to be a feature from now on?

You tell me now!

 

[Christopher]

how we get a machine-gun toting villainess, and the show makes a point of telling us that she and her gang are known as the worst shots in the country!

I don't think that had anything to do with gender -- it was more about censorship. They couldn't show anyone actually being shot in a kids' show, so the only way they could do a parody of the gun-toting Barker gang was by having them be terrible shots. After all, the boys in the gang outnumbered the ladies, and they were all equally terrible shots.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^ Ah, I wasn't trying to say that it was a gender thing, though I can see how it might be interpreted that way...rather, my intended point was more what you said. Guns are a rarity on the show, so when they have a villain (male or female) who makes a point of toting one, they have to go out of their way to say what a bad shot the villain is to justify the lack of bloody carnage.

 

[Greg Cox]

So apparently it's "Godzilla" month on Svengoolie, with them running Godzilla movies for the next few weeks. Or so I hear.

 

[Christopher]

So apparently it's "Godzilla" month on Svengoolie, with them running Godzilla movies for the next few weeks. Or so I hear.

Indeed... Tonight is Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the vastly inferior Americanized version of the original film, and next weekend is the second film, Godzilla Raids Again, a rather dull sequel notable mainly for introducing Anguirus and the first kaiju-vs.-kaiju battle. They skip over King Kong vs. Godzilla and show the 1964 Mothra vs. Godzilla on the 18th, though their promo has it listed as Godzilla vs. Mothra, which is actually the title of their Heisei-era meetup from 1992. And February 25th is Godzilla's Revenge, aka All Monsters Attack, aka probably the worst Godzilla movie ever made. It's not even a Godzilla movie, it's a movie about a kid who dreams stock footage from earlier Godzilla movies.

Aside from Mothra vs. Godzilla, that's a pretty unimpressive selection, I'm afraid.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

So apparently it's "Godzilla" month on Svengoolie, with them running Godzilla movies for the next few weeks. Or so I hear.

Oh joy. Guys in rubber suits crushing clearly miniature buildings.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Ma Parker's never operated in Gotham for fear of Batman? Must be those scary Bat-Shadows! Note how we get a machine-gun toting villainess, and the show makes a point of telling us that she and her gang are known as the worst shots in the country!

Perhaps this pointless "bad shot" business was to offset any pre-broadcast concerns about a character based on the notorious (and deadly) Barker/Karpis gang. In any case, the "bad shot" mandate merely handcuffed Winters who was quite adept at playing evil and/or violent characters.

Further, if the theory that "they have to be bad shots because this was a kids' show" held any weight at all, then the show would not go on to have Shame (in E60 - "It's How You Play the Game") shoot Robin in the heel, and only two episodes later have the Penguin's henchmen ("The Bird's Last Jest") use a mounted machine gun to fire on the duo--and if not for the Bat-Shield, that would have been bye-bye for Batman & Robin. So, it really made no sense to claim Parker and her boys were terrible shots, since gunplay, accurate aim and hits were not a total no-no on the series.

A deathtrap that counts on Batman breaking traffic laws!

Another plot device making little sense, as the atomic powered Batmobile is known for its unearthly speeds--usually employed in the pursuit of evildoers. In fact, in E75 ("Scat, Darn Catwoman"), Robin comments--

Robin: "No ordinary car can catch the Batmobile!"

Quite true, as Batman had to use a remote control device to shut down the stolen vehicle. In short, the Batmobile's average is beyond any ordinary car, so Parker did not need to even mention rigging the dynamite for a speed the Batmobile regularly exceeds.

I was thinking from the emphasis on what a great mom Ma Parker was supposed to be that maybe this should have aired closer to Mother's Day...and then the coda establishes that it was indeed Mother's Day on the show...yet the discrepancy between that and the actual airdate is considerable.

Not so, since the series did not make a point of mirroring real world time; it was flexible in that regard.

Oh, well, at least the two-parter had Newmar's cameo and Tisha Sterling as a guest star.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Another plot device making little sense, as the atomic powered Batmobile is known for its unearthly speeds--usually employed in the pursuit of evildoers. In fact, in E75 ("Scat, Darn Catwoman"), Robin comments--

Robin: "No ordinary car can catch the Batmobile!"

Quite true, as Batman had to use a remote control device to shut down the stolen vehicle. In short, the Batmobile's average is beyond any ordinary car, so Parker did not need to even mention rigging the dynamite for a speed the Batmobile regularly exceeds.

Not the point...it wasn't about how fast the car can go, it was about how West's Batman was comically fastidious about obeying menial laws, like putting money in parking meters, so he was never going to break the speed limit when he wasn't rushing off to an emergency...and Parker had the bomb set to 5 mph above the speed limit.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Not the point...it wasn't about how fast the car can go, it was about how West's Batman was comically fastidious about obeying menial laws, like putting money in parking meters, so he was never going to break the speed limit when he wasn't rushing off to an emergency...and Parker had the bomb set to 5 mph above the speed limit.

Actually, that is the point--when one of the hallmarks of the series is the atomic-powered speed of the Batmobile, anything else (like obeying a particular law) seems like plot convenience just to create a weak cliffhanger. Robin's statement strongly points out that the Batmobile would already exceed the speed limit (no mention of circumstance), thus any villain would not even need to mention or base the timer on speed, nor would there a be a need for Batman to contradict his own, regularly presented driving habits by mentioning the speed limit to Robin.

That's where the wheels started to come off of the series--when the cringeworthy "joke" steps on the biggest, defining characteristics of the show.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I thought it was funny. Keep in mind that we usually see Batman racing to police headquarters or the scene of a crime. In this instance, he was supposed to think the case was over and was returning to the Batcave / Wayne Manor. It was very in-character for West's Batman to mind the speed limit in that situation.

I can just imagine a scene like that with other frustrated motorists passing the Batmobile (a la a scene in the 1987 Dragnet spoof), but I suppose that the good motorists of Gotham City would want to avoid a stern lecture from the Caped Crusader. He is a duly deputized officer of the law, so that would be like speeding past a cop. (Is Batman authorized to write tickets? Now I'm thinking that they may have once done a scene in which Batman does write up a ticket for a parking violation or somesuch....)

 

[Christopher]

Land of the Giants: "Rescue": Pretty good story, built around a simple idea -- the Little People helping the giants rescue a pair of trapped kids. The mechanics of the rescue are kind of all over the place, and the split-screen of the LPs talking to the kids was pretty bad (or maybe it was an actual rear-projection screen on the set, so that the kids would have something to play off of), but the tension between the rescue party and Kobick's relentless sense of duty to the state was effective. Plus I always like stories where the good guys and their regular adversaries have to team up for a common goal. And we get a bonus appearance by a post-Time Tunnel Lee Meriwether, having moved up to much bigger things (about 12 times bigger).

The Time Tunnel: "Billy the Kid": Meh. Another Western episode, their fourth in just 22 episodes, and their fifth in that era of American history if you count the Abe Lincoln episode. (Other visits to the 19th century include the War of 1812, the Krakatoa eruption, Devil's Island, and the Rudyard Kipling episode, and there are three more to come. That's 11 in all, nearly half of them Westerns -- versus 6 with 20th-century destinations. The only other centuries they visited more than once were the 13th, for Robin Hood and an upcoming Marco Polo episode, and the 16th, for Cortez and the upcoming "Chase Through Time." So the 19th century was overwhelmingly their most common destination.) And this is a pretty routine Western without a lot to make it distinctive, aside from the opportunity to see Charlie X himself, Robert Walker, Jr., as the titular outlaw. The plot requires some implausible contrivances, like Doug's out-of-character choice to shoot Billy, Billy's gang's inability to differentiate unconsciousness from death, Tony's stupidity in waltzing back into town in Billy's clothes, and Pat Garrett's inadequately explained choice to pretend Tony was Billy before dropping the act moments later. Not to mention that Garrett's stampede ploy was clearly contrived as an excuse to use stock footage of a stampede -- which I think was the same footage used in Batman's "Come Back Shame"/"It's How You Play the Game."

 

[Mr. Adventure]

So apparently it's "Godzilla" month on Svengoolie, with them running Godzilla movies for the next few weeks. Or so I hear.

The episode was pretty entertaining. I'm sure a lot of Sven's facts are on Wikipedia and what not but I enjoyed his presentation. I'd like him to show Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla.

 

[Christopher]

Kolchak: “The Werewolf”: Wow, they’re pulling out all the stops with these creative episode titles, huh? It’s surprising to see such dull episode titles in a show that actually displays the titles onscreen. Fortunately this is the last one that’s so prosaic.

This is a pretty fun one, though it’s not a very good werewolf makeup. But I guess the standards for werewolf makeup at the time were still at the Jack Pierce level rather than the Rob Bottin/Rick Baker level, so maybe it looked better to viewers at the time. I am starting to wish we’d get an episode where the authorities worked with Kolchak instead of stonewalling him, just for a change of pace. Anyway, it’s amusing that the lead female guest in a werewolf episode is Nita Talbot. (Not to mention that Dick Gautier’s ladyfriend Wendy is played by Jackie Russell -- close to Jack Russell, the punny name of Marvel Comics’ Werewolf by Night.)

There’s a bit of a timing problem with the closing narration -- Kolchak talks in the voiceover about how the evidence was lost when the ship was scrapped, but then we see that the voiceover is the playback on his tape recorder that he’s listening to while sitting next to the still-intact ship. Anyway, who is he dictating these suppressed stories to? I get the sense that the novel the original film was based on was meant to be the sort of thing that was presented as a true story that the narrator was publishing as fiction because nobody would believe it was real. Is that what Kolchak’s doing with all these other stories -- saving them up for some future tell-all book?

 

[Greg Cox]

As a kid, I used to wonder how Kolchak kept his job since none of his scoops ever saw print. I always thought that he should be working for some low-rent supermarket tabloid that would actually pay for his sensational stories. Of course, he'd still be bound and determined to someday to prove that he was right all along and get taken seriously by "serious" journalism, but, in the meantime, he'd still be able to make a living reporting on poltergeists and UFOs . .

Meanwhile, note that the werewolf was played by Eric Braeden, who had previously starred in COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT and ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES. Nowadays, though, he's best known for his long career in daytime soap operas.

As for the werewolf make-up . . . honestly, that was a bit lame even by 1974 standards. By then, we'd not only had Lon Chaney Jr, but Michael Landon in I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, Oliver Reed in CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, etc. Heck, DARK SHADOWS had featured better werewolf makeups . . . .

But, hey, you can't go wrong with a werewolf on a cruise ship.

(P.S. Don't hold your breath waiting for the authorities to cooperate with Kolchak. Not ever going to happen.).

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Too bad there was never a Kolchak & Kojak team-up, y'know, just cuz.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Oh joy. Guys in rubber suits crushing clearly miniature buildings.

This is why we can't have nice things.

As a kid, I used to wonder how Kolchak kept his job since none of his scoops ever saw print. I always thought that he should be working for some low-rent supermarket tabloid that would actually pay for his sensational stories.

While I loved the show, I used to think the same thing. I remember saying to my friends that the second-season premiere should show him be actually successful at proving one of his stories-- of course, he is still widely disbelieved, but a mandate comes down from the main office to play up the supernatural stories.

But, hey, you can't go wrong with a werewolf on a cruise ship.

Exactly. This was actually my favorite episode. I love Werewolves. And I never cared much about stuff like makeup anyway.