^ That's interesting...did they actually use that name in the film? All these years, don't know how many times I've seen it, and I never caught that.
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50th Anniversary Catch-Up Viewing
What was going on the week these episodes aired.
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Batman
"Batman's Anniversary"
Originally aired February 8, 1967
Xfinity said:
The Riddler ruins Batman's anniversary celebration by going on a criminal rampage.
"A Riddling Controversy"
Originally aired February 9, 1967
Xfinity said:
Riddler plans to destroy police headquarters.
H&I displayed an Adam West tribute card before each of these episodes.
Yeah, some of Astin's blatant attempts at being Gorshinesque seem really half-assed.
The underwater fight is rather novel, if too obviously fake.
Thunderball this ain't. There's a nice little blink-and-you-miss-it touch outside the bank of Batman tapping his cowl ear as if there's water in it.
The cake quicksand isn't very convincing either...
Tarzan this ain't. Couldn't Batman have just used a Batrope before his utility belt went under?
Sign o' the times: Aquilla's appearance is an obvious Fidel Castro spoof.
The telegram courier said:
Someone here called Batman?
A little Marvelesque touch, when citizens act blase about superheroes.
That last riddle that helped them put together the "Noman" clue is really well-known...though I'm sure that I was first exposed to it via this episode. And Batman reading clues while driving--How's that for driver safety?
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The Wild Wild West
"The Night of the Vicious Valentine"
Originally aired February 10, 1967
Xfinity said:
West and Gordon encounter a society lady who plans to change the United States into a monarchy and reign as its queen.
It's maybe a bit soon to say for sure, as I've never seen much of this show, but already I find it more watchable than TMFU. It definitely has its own quirky style that makes it seem like less of a knock-off of other spy-fi productions. In particular, the Old West tech on the show sort of reminds me of the stone-age tech gags on The Flintstones.
The villainess of the story, Emma Valentine, is played by
Bewtiched's Agnes Moorehead, and has, among her other resources, an Old West matchmaking computer that uses red paper sheets with heart cutouts in them as punch cards.
One of the underlings in her scheme of arranging marriages to kill the husbands for control of their wealth is played by none other than Trek legend Sherry Jackson. Her character is way too obviously a good girl at heart from the first time that we see her. And in one of her scenes, she comes to see her husband about her dress on the day of the wedding...and they don't even make the usual comment about the groom seeing the bride being unlucky.
In the climax they make a point of showing Valentine getting away, as if they're setting her up for a return appearance, only to tell us in the epilogue that she'd been apprehended.
And they have a blockier-looking variant of
THE CLOCK on Jim and Artie's train!
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Tarzan
"Basil of the Bulge"
Originally aired February 10, 1967
Xfinity said:
A native chief and a corrupt government official capture Sir Basil Bertram before he can arrange tribal treaty.
Yet another Jai episode with Tarzan bookends...they're not even together in the opening one.
This episode guest-stars Sam's other parent, Maurice Evans, as Sir Basil, an old general who's fixated with his past glories. It's really an unengaging mess of an episode, filling time with, among other techniques, early omniscient viewing of the villains plotting their scheme, as well as cheap flashbacks (audio only the first time, then adding some superimposed stock footage later) of Basil's battlefield experience. It looks like it might pick up a little when Jai and Sir Basil start reluctantly working together, but we don't get enough of it. It just teases us with the idea that there might be a half-decent story in there somewhere, waiting to come out.
The general's climactic glory moment is unconvincing, both in the setup and the execution; he uses no great tactics other than setting up some fires to hedge in the raiders; otherwise, having the villagers come in and beat them up with common implements just seems a little too easy.
TOS guest: Warren Stevens (Rojan, "By Any Other Name"; not to mention Doc Ostrow in
Forbidden Planet) as the corrupt government official
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Last Week's 50th Anniversary Viewing
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Dark Shadows
Episode 251
Originally aired June 12, 1967
IMDb said:
Barnabas locks Maggie in an Old House basement cell and informs her that he will wait until she becomes Josette.
The week begins with a recap of last week's closing segment, involving
Maggie,
Willie, and
Barnabas in the basement.
Barnabas Collins said:
Be careful, it's very sharp.
Barnabas begins to choke Maggie when Willie intervenes, putting his own life on the line to save her.
Barnabas said:
You're assuming that I'm not clever enough to cope with idiots. Unfortunately for you, I am.
Barnabas's attempt to see Willie's hand is interrupted by
Victoria knocking on the door upstairs while simultaneously turning this into a four-character episode. She brings news of a curfew imposed by the sheriff, and the two exchange talk of Maggie's mysterious fate...while downstairs, Willie convinces Maggie to go along with his plan. Maggie mentions a couple of times that Barnabas intended to turn her into something "monstrous" and "inhuman" without dropping the V-word. Upstairs, Barnabas seems interested in Vicki's reaction to the music box.
Back in the basement, Barnabas declares that Maggie is no longer worthy of being Josette, and that he intends to see that she dies a slow and agonizing death. Willie buys her time by convincing Barnabas that she's worthy of being given another chance, so the lord of the manor locks her in the basement's metal-doored cell while he contemplates her fate.
Barnabas visits the Great House, ostensibly to apologize to Mrs. Stoddard for not being around for her plot line, but she's not in the episode and he's clearly more interested in gauging Vicki's reaction to another Collins family heirloom. He invites her to drop by his place more often.
Returning to the Old House's basement, Barnabas declares that he'll leave Maggie in the cell until she begs to be his bride, prompting hysterical cries that she'll lose her mind locked down there....
Episode 252
Originally aired June 13, 1967
IMDb said:
Carolyn and Elizabeth argue over Elizabeth's approaching marriage. Carolyn begins dating a hippie motorcyclist named Buzz.
At Collinwood, a displeased
Carolyn catches
Elizabeth on the phone attempting to hasten her wedding arrangements. Carolyn tries to get the truth out of her mother regarding Jason's hold over her, but Liz's relentlessness drives her away.
Roger and Victoria are in the room with
THE CLOCK, reminding us that David still exists somewhere offscreen, when Carolyn comes in to commiserate with them.
Roger Collins said:
Each individual reserves the right to ruin his or her life as quietly or as flamboyantly as he chooses.
Somewhere between Roger's comments and her mother's, Carolyn gets the notion to commit a desperate act of spite and calls the
Buzz guy mentioned up in the box. We haven't met him yet, but he's about to become a short-term recurring character.
At the Blue Whale, which is swinging again with what sounds like something vaguely calypso-ish this week,
Joe shares a drink with Vicki while reporting having sighted Carolyn on Buzz's motorcycle, when the inebriated new couple roll into the joint and make an embarrassing show of their forced new relationship. Given what I've learned of Mitchell Ryan's departure, I strongly suspect that Joe is substituting for Burke here...he even seems eager to rough Buzz up, which is usually ol' lantern jaw's M.O. And some would wonder how I ever got them confused!
Buzz brings Carolyn back to Collinwood with the aid of very unconvincing sound effects (sort of like somebody in the room is holding a running weed-whacker perfectly still). Unable to convince her new boyfriend to break the show's budget by riding his chopper into the Great House, Carolyn is putting on some swinging Sixties music and raiding her uncle's brandy when Liz comes in, just in time to have her nose rubbed into the situation.
Dark Shadows Before I Die said:
Suddenly Burke Devlin looks like a real catch.
Episode 253
Originally aired June 14, 1967
IMDb said:
Maggie gives Willie her ring as a bribe, hoping that it will lead to the discovery that she is alive and being held captive.
In the basement cell at the Old House, Maggie's internal voice-over is trying to help her cope with her too-quickly telegraphed plight of potential insanity when Barnabas comes down to visit. He tries to reason with her, and leaves the music box with her after she realizes that she needs to play along; but Barnabas won't agree to delivering the aforementioned ring to her father to let him know that she's alive.
At the Great House,
David makes an appearance to prove that he really is still in the cast, unlike some people we could mention.... Vicki reluctantly agrees to let him go out even though it's after dark. The boy also reminds us that he knows perfectly well who Maggie is, even though he didn't recognize her in Josette's veil.
Back in the Old House basement, Maggie enacts a more wily plan by letting Willie have the ring without telling him why. Willie's usual fear of Barnabas takes a backseat to the love-light that he gets in his eyes for potentially valuable jewelry.
Upstairs, David literally breaks in and starts his customary whining for Josette, which is interrupted by an angry Willie. The boy treads on dangerous ground by accusing Willie and Barnabas of conspiring against Josette. After Willie physically throws him out, David finds the ring, which Willie inadvertently dropped outside.
Back at the Great House, David gets a toothless scolding from Vicki, who's clearlly oblivious to what an enabler she was in the first place, when she notices the ring and finds an inscription inside. Barnabas comes over just in the nick of time to apologize for Willie's rudeness. Barnabas spies the ring and takes possession of it, passing it off as one of his family heirlooms. He wastes no time in returning to the Old House and letting Maggie know that he has the ring, sending her into despair....
Episode 254
Originally aired June 15, 1967
IMDb said:
A rebellious Carolyn announces that she will marry Buzz on the same day her mother is scheduled to marry Jason.
Carolyn and Elizabeth are still arguing, with Vicki getting caught up in the plot regurgitation and wheel-spinning. Vicki is intuitive in guessing that whatever Jason is holding over Liz may not be as bad as Liz has been led to believe it is.
Since you can't see the life preserver, I'll fill you in that the next scene takes place at the Blue Whale, where
Jason is grilling Willie about his latest errand for Barnabas. Things briefly get a little warmer between the former cohorts when Jason fills Willie in on his scheme to marry Mrs. Stoddard...but then Jason has to ruin the mood by pressing that he wants in on whatever Willie's up to with Barnabas. Carolyn and Buzz come in, the former trading insults with Jason as he leaves. Later, as they're leaving, the couple run into Joe coming in. This scene may actually have been Joe's on paper, since Maggie is brought up. Nobody seems to have a high opinion of Buzz...for the characters, it seems to be a matter of class and hygiene. For me, it's that he's such a cheesy, poorly realized character. The actor's delivery makes me cringe.
At Collinwood, Jason is pressing Liz to set the date as soon as possible, when Carolyn and Buzz come in and Jason seizes the opportunity to announce the date. Two weeks from today...is that when I can look forward to this tedious storyline ending?
Episode 255
Originally aired June 16, 1967
IMDb said:
Sam tells Barnabas that Maggie is thought to be dead. Maggie hears a strange little girl singing outside her cell.
At the Old House, Willie expresses concern to Barnabas for Maggie's welfare. While at the Blue Whale,
Sam is knocking 'em down when Joe comes in to learn that Sam is planning to take the finished painting of Barnabas to the Old House.
Sent to fetch Maggie from the basement, Willie implores upon her that she must make Barnabas believe that she wants to be Josette. Maggie tries to play along with her captor's delusions, but eventually asserts her true identity...just as her father comes knocking. Maggie is allowed to hear Barnabas's conversation with her father from the top of the stairs, under the threat that if she reveals herself, Barnabas will have to kill them both.
While Sam is delivering the portrait, Joe comes by to inform Sam that the police have found a badly decomposed body that could be Maggie's. After they leave, Barnabas presses the point to Maggie that everyone already thinks she's dead. Returned to her cell, Maggie is falling into despair when the show's newest character, that ectoplasmic l'il scamp
Sarah Collins, sings "London Bridge" just outside the door to keep her company.
At one point Maggie refers to Barnabas as "the living dead"...so close.
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50 years ago this week:
June 18 – Eighteen British soldiers are killed in the Aden police mutiny.
June 23 – Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey, for the 3-day Glassboro Summit Conference. Johnson travels to Los Angeles for a dinner at the Century Plaza Hotel where earlier in the day thousands of war protesters clashed with L.A. police.
A holdover from last week:
"Silence Is Golden," The Tremeloes
(#11 US; #1 UK; Check out the jacket on the bass guitarist)
New on the charts in the current week:
"Don't Go Out into the Rain (You're Going to Melt)," Herman's Hermits
(#18 US; Their final Top 20 hit in the US)
"White Rabbit," Jefferson Airplane
(#8 US; #55 UK; #478 on
Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
"A Whiter Shade of Pale," Procol Harum
(#5 US; #22 R&B; #1 UK; #57 on
Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)
And new on the boob tube:
- Dark Shadows, episodes 256-260
- The Saint, "The Gadic Collection" (UK season finale)
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Caught part of a
Laugh-In on Decades that had this bit in it:
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As part of their 1967 thing, Decades is going to be doing Daily Binges of a part of M:I Season 1 that I didn't cover and
Hogan's Heroes...but both using episodes from earlier in the year than I'll have already covered in the Catch-Up Viewing by that point. Think I'll pass in the interest of making forward progress and having the Catch-Up business done in time for the next TV season.
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It's only about a century too early for Dylan--they ain't a-changin' that fast! 
