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50th Anniversary Viewing (Part 2)
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Super Friends
"The Baffles Puzzle"
Originally aired September 15, 1973
iTunes said:
Professor Baffles has embarked on a crusade to destroy all literature, art and music with a chemical he has developed. His two accomplices use Professor Baffles' crusade to extort money from the U.S. government.
On a quiet day at the Hall of Justice League (as it's identified both in the narration and in-story this time), Wendy and Marvin are studying at the library when they make the acquaintance of a man named Mr. Mergen (Wiki identifies his voice actor as Casey Kasem, but it sounds like Olan Soule to me), who informs Marvin that "photosynthesis" beings with a P, not an F. Wonder Dog, apparently smelling almonds, which he's allergic to, has a sneezing fit, following which the kids find that an entire shelf's worth of encyclopedias has vanished.
Wiki edited for tense consistency and minor style business said:
Colonel Wilcox [John Stephenson, who apparently does anyone with a mustache] from the Secret Department of Investigation (SDI) calls upon the Justice League to help prevent Professor Baffles from carrying his threat of stealing French lithographs.
Specifically, they get an SDQ from the SDI; and Baffles takes credit for the missing encyclopedias.
The Super Friends stake out the American Museum.
Aquaman relegated to asking fish in an adjacent river if they've seen any suspicious boat activity...
Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog along with Superman, disguised as Clark Kent, keep an eye on things from inside the museum.
This might be the first episode that I saw, as I vaguely recall a scene with Clark Kent.
At the museum, Wonder Dog starts sneezing because he smells almonds in the air, and while all the commotion is going on, the paintings go missing. Professor Baffles now threatens to steal a hefty shipment of $5 million in cash. The Justice League must now make sure the money shipment makes it to Hawaii.
Superman once again doing stakeout as Clark, before changing identities at the sign of crooks.
The Super Friends thwart an attempted heist by a gang of crooks and safely got the shipment onto a ship.
In addition to Superman carrying the crooks' car to the police, Batman and Robin tow a bulldozer that's blocking a tunnel with the Batmobile.
On the ship, the junior members run into Mr. Mergen, a man they met earlier at the library. Wendy starts having suspicions about Mr. Mergen and she, Marvin and Wonder Dog follow him.
Follow him off the ship, specifically.
Meanwhile, the Super Friends decide to check on the money and find almond residue. They come to the conclusion that Professor Baffles made the money disappear with a chemical solution.
Superman also uses his X-ray Vision (not identified by name) on a couple of occasions, including to check on the shipment and find it gone. As the Super Friends on the ship (Wonder Woman staking out its destination), we get shots of Batman without his chest symbol. They work out that the solution that's been making things dissolve creates the almond odor.
The junior members catch up to Mr. Mergen to find out he is actually Professor Baffles.
The Wonder Gang stow away in the back of his van, which takes them to Mergen Chemicals, where they eavesdrop on a couple of heavies, Mr. Dabney and Mr. Darby (Norman Alden and Frank Welker), who address Mergen as Prof. Baffles and seem to be influencing his activities.
Professor Baffles reveals he is going to make humans non-corrupt again by making books, paintings, music, and other bad influences go away.
Mergen/Baffles expresses that human history has been a bad influence on humans. Try to figure that one out.
Mr. Dabney and Mr. Darby, the two brutes Professor Baffles works for, hold Professor Baffles captive as well after he refuses to have anything more to do with them.
Wendy and Marvin expose that D&D have been profiting from his crusade with the ransoms. We learn along the way that glass is the one substance immune to Baffles's solution...conveniently for his ability to keep it in beakers and test tubes.
Wonder Dog escapes and warns the Super Friends that Wendy and Marvin need to be rescued.
Through charades, natch. "Galloping goslings, Batman!" The World's Finest team of Superman, Batman, and Robin converge on Mergen Chemicals, to find a rhyming clue written on a blackboard that cryptically directs the Super Friends on four wild goose chases designed to defeat them. Apparently this is all Dabney and Darby's work, which seems way too smart for the crude-acting thugs.
Aquaman investigates a submarine where none should be (How would he know that?), finds himself ensnared by steel cables, and calls on whales and moray eels for help. Superman checks out an abandoned balloon in a thunderstorm.
But instead of Wendy and Marvin, Superman finds Kryptonite...that material from the planet of his origin which robs him of his powers and weakens him dangerously.
I distinctly remember seeing this scene on a different occasion, and it being my first exposure to Kryptonite. This was quite the installment for picking up some basic Superman lore! Wonder Woman is drawn to a beacon in the Andes, where a stairway leading underground turns into a slide, trapping her in a pit. Batman and Robin are investigating a cave when the Boy Wonder (or Teen Wonder as they were calling him in the comics by this point) trips over a wire with his little green bootie, triggering an avalanche.
Meanwhile, Dabney and Darby are holding Wendy, Marvin, and Baffles at an abandoned amusement park, but while the hoods are collecting a $1 million ransom from Col. Wilcox in the woods, they escape from the ticket booth where they're being held with the help of a vial of Baffles's solution. When the hoods return, the prisoners are trapped in a monkey cage.
While Aquaman directs his marine friends in freeing him, the Kryptonite is rocked out of the balloon and Superman frees both Wonder Woman and the Dynamic Duo. On to this week's climactic clip:
In the coda, Baffles is made to see that he was blinded by his crusade and that no one man has the right to change the world.
Interesting thing about Wonder Woman's involvement in the cartoon, which I dug up with a bit of searching last week, is that in the preceding year, she'd just come out of her years-long phase as Emma Peel-inspired non-powered agent Diana Prince, Wonder Woman; and wouldn't rejoin the League until 1976, after a two-year arc in her own bimonthly book of proving herself by performing twelve labors under the supervision of various JLAers. I'm not sure why a founding member would have to go through all that trouble for taking a sabbatical, but one of my earlier comics was the issue of
Justice League of America in which she was formally reinstated.
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Star Trek
"Yesteryear"
Originally aired September 15, 1973
Wiki said:
Spock must travel to the past to rescue his younger self from danger.
This of course is the episode of the animated series that tends to be held in higher regard than the rest for its insight into Spock's backstory and the return of Sarek and Amanda...the former played again by Mark Lenard, though the latter is voiced by Majel Barrett.
Captain's log, stardate 5373.4: We are in orbit around the planet of the time vortex, the focus of all the timelines of our galaxy. Our mission is to assist a team of historians in the investigation of Federation history.
When Kirk and Spock return from Orion's ancient past via the Guardian, they find that nobody remembers Spock, who's been replaced in the timeline by an Andorian named Thelin (Doohan).
They find that Spock was killed at the age of seven during his kahs-wan maturity test, and that Amanda also died later. The historians on the Guardian's planet were observing Vulcan history while Spock was in the past, and they work out that Selek, a cousin who saved young Spock during the test, was himself Spock, who was out of the timeline and therefore didn't exist when the historians were studying Vulcan. Holy observer effect! Or maybe I should say Schrödinger's Spock! Spock goes back into the Guardian to fulfill his role as Selek. (Doohan's reprisal of the Guardian's voice is very disappointing...it sounds nothing like his original performance, and more like a generic cartoon ghost.)
The first thing Spock comes upon is his younger self (uncredited Billy Simpson) being picked on by the other Vulcan boys for being an "Earther" who doesn't know the neck pinch yet. Spock is getting it at home, too, from Sarek, who sternly lectures him about his behavior, including fighting with the other kids. Spock introduces himself to Sarek as Selek, a traveling relative, and has a good talk with Amanda while Spock is being chastised by Sarek. We also meet Spock's sehlat, I-Chaya, who was mentioned in "Journey to Babel". Spock finds that something's already wrong with the timeline, as the planned timing of the ritual doesn't match his memory of when it happened.
Personal log, stardate 5373.9, subjective time: The timeline seems to have changed again. Yet I do not believe I have done anything to disrupt it. My memory is quite clear regrading the date my cousin saved my life, and it is tomorrow. The kahs-wan ordeal is an ancient rite of warrior days. When Vulcans turned to logic, they reasoned they must maintain the tests of courage and strength to keep pure logic from making them weak and helpless.
When young Spock slips out at night to take the test ahead of schedule, followed by I-Chaya, elder Spock's memory is jogged regarding the circumstances.
Personal log: The boy Spock should be moving toward the Llangon Mountains. He...I...had much to prove to myself. The personal ordeal upon which I embarked was meant to determine the course my life would take.
Young Spock must survive in the wilderness for ten days with no food...no water...but more clothes than he wears around town. He's soon pounced upon by a dragon-like le-matya, which I-Chaya attempts to fight off. Animated Spock, who's his own stunt double, leaps onto the attacking creature and puts it out with a double nerve pinch. But the dual Spocks find that their victory is not without cost.
Personal log: Something unexpected has happened again. The sehlat, I-Chaya, was struck by the poisonous claws of the le-matya he fought. He is dying, unless we can find a healer, and soon.
Young Spock runs off alone to the house of a healer (Doohan), while elder Spock touchingly apologizes to his old friend. Upon examining I-Chaya, the healer gives young Spock a choice of painfully prolonging the sehlat's life, or putting him out of his misery. Heeding some wisdom from elder Spock about all things needing to pass, young Spock stoically chooses the latter.
Back in town, young Spock goes to neck-pinch rumble with his schoolmates, and Selek says his goodbyes while requesting that Sarek try to understand his son; then returns to his present, where he beams up with Kirk to find McCoy bickering with him as usual.
The thing that strikes me about this episode in immersive retro context is that it reminds me a lot of
Kung Fu...like an extended Caine flashback episode. I wonder if there was any influence, acknowledged or not.
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All in the Family
"We're Having a Heat Wave"
Originally aired September 15, 1973
Season 4 premiere
Wiki said:
As the Bunkers go through a September heat wave, Archie fumes after finding out that a Puerto Rican couple is planning to buy the house next door.
NOTE: Effective this episode, Vincent Gardenia and Betty Garrett become semi-regular cast members.
Gloria and Mike are in cutoffs, and Mike is hotly on Archie's case about Watergate, being outspoken that Nixon is fully involved. The Bunkers have an air conditioner in the window, but Gloria tries to stop Archie from using it to conserve energy and prevent brownouts. When he switches it on anyway, it blows out.
Mike: Arch, I got a great idea--why don't you hire one of Nixon's plumbers?
Later Mike: Your main trouble is your brain is so closed, a new idea couldn't break in, even if it had the help of Hunt and Liddy!
The subject changes when Mike catches Archie looking at a petition to keep a non-white family from moving into the house next door. When Mike and Gloria point out that they get along fine with the Jeffersons...
Archie: Because one c****** family is a novelty, two is a ghetto!
When Henry comes over to confront Archie about the petition, Archie argues that it's in his interest to sign the petition, too, in order to keep property values from going down. Then Alfredo and Maria Estrada (Victor Argo and uncredited Edith Diaz) come to the door asking about the key to the house, as they're planning to buy it. Henry is at least as put off by Archie at the idea of a Puerto Rican family moving in, and takes Archie aside to sign the petition.
While Mike and Gloria chastise Archie for scheming with Jefferson to keep the Estradas from moving in by discouraging them from buying the house, Archie and Henry act like best buddies.
Mike: Look at this, it's like Nixon and Brezhnev all over again.
Archie and Henry are toasting their success when they realize that they don't know if the new new neighbors will be white or black. A woman (Garrett) comes to the door asking to use the phone, which Archie had just accidentally pulled the cord out of, and offers to help him fix it, whipping out a tool kit. She introduces herself as the new neighbor, Irene Lorenzo, and calls in her husband, Frank (Gardenia). Archie's a bit put off when he learns that Frank is the one who does the cooking. Mike brings to the Lorenzos' attention that the Estradas already had a deposit on the house, so the house may legally be theirs; but Henry arrives to report that the Estradas got a good deal on a house on the next block. Archie's making a comment about the Irish ethnicity of the real estate agent when Irene protests that she's Irish; and Frank offers that he's Italian. (I was married to that combo!) The Lorenzos leave on bad terms and the phone is working again.
In the coda, Archie and Edith are playing cards in the kitchen with the door open, and Archie loudly complains that he can hear Frank singing.
This episode is making me second-guess my choice to favor
Emergency!, as it's loaded with the sort of in-the-moment topicality that I was afraid of missing. Still, I could get caught up in hiatus season by the time we get to Nixon's resignation...
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M*A*S*H
"Divided We Stand"
Originally aired September 15, 1973
Season 2 premiere
Wiki said:
A psychiatrist (Anthony Holland) is sent to the 4077th to examine their behavior and decide whether they should be reassigned.
As General Clayton assigns Captain Hildebrand (Anthony Holland) to secretly assess the 4077th for the effects of stress on the unit, he gives new viewers a good intro to the show, going over each of the regular characters, played over sometimes-contrasting scenes of them--including Hawkeye and Trapper losing at strip poker to one of the nurses. When Hildebrand reports to Blake, the captain's first impression of the unit is made by Klinger dropping into the office. Only Blake is supposed to know Hildebrand's assignment, but as a bad assessment would mean breaking the unit up and reassigning the personnel, Blake sneaks around at night to warn Hawkeye, Trapper, Burns, and Houlihan...but Hildebrand overhears Radar reporting to Blake about his own effort to spread the word.
Hildebrand sits with Blake, the surgeons, and Houlihan at mess, where they all make a show of being complimentary of one another. But the captain later observes as Burns and Houlihan are making rendezvouses, and Hawkeye and Trapper are pulling pranks on them. He assembles them all in Blake's office to chastise their immature behavior, at which point the guys and the couple freely air their grievances with each other. Then--rather predictably, as we saw this story resolution used twice in Season 1, including the pilot--casualties are brought in and Hildebrand gets to observe the surgeons in no-nonsense mode, working like a fine-oiled machine. When Clayton drops in for Hilebrand's report, he finds the captain in the Swamp, drunk on home-brewed gin, and with a new perspective on the situation.
Capt. Hildebrand: In my short stay here, I have seen textbook examples of neuroses, psychoses. I have seen voyeurism, fetishism, and a few "isms" I've never even heard of. And let me tell you this, General: These impossible people are in an impossible place, doing totally impossible work. They're mad, quite mad, all of them...and the only act I can think of that would be madder still would be breaking them up!
Hawkeye and Trapper belatedly realize that they've blown another chance to get out. In another déjà vu bit of business, the coda is a cast roll call played as a PA announcement.
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The Mary Tyler Moore Show
"The Lars Affair"
Originally aired September 15, 1973
Season 4 premiere
Wiki said:
Phyllis discovers that her husband is having an affair with Sue Ann Nivens, the star of WJM's "Happy Homemaker Show". First appearance of Betty White.
In 1997, TV Guide ranked this episode number 27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.
And as previously noted, for some reason Catchy just skipped this historic episode while airing Season 4 (recordings of which are still in progress).
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The Bob Newhart Show
"The Last TV Show"
Originally aired September 15, 1973
Season 2 premiere
Wiki said:
At the prodding of his patients, Bob reluctantly accepts an offer to allow TV cameras into a group therapy session.
The season opens with a therapy session assembling several of the usual suspects--Mr. Gianelli, Mrs. Bakerman, Michelle Nardo, Elliot Carlin, and Mr. Peterson. Bob's getting calls at the office and at home from Mr. Conover, the producer of a public television program called
Psychology in Action, but he's not interested. Jerry tries to encourage him to do it for the publicity; and while Bob doesn't want to compromise the privacy of his patients, Emily asks if he's asked them about it. Having found out from Carol, they're all sore at him at the next session, thinking that he's ashamed of them. Learning that they all want to do it, he relents.
Bob also relents on wearing a plaid sport jacket after some varied comments about it. Howard, Jerry, and Carol assemble at the Hartleys' to watch the show, though Jerry brings a portable because the show is on against a football game...in addition to
Gunsmoke, which Mrs. Bakerman belatedly realizes she's also missing. On camera, things start off bad with the announcer getting Bob's surname wrong; and the patients all clam up from not wanting to discuss their personal issues while people they know are watching...including some of the people they have issues with, like Michelle's father and Mrs. Bakerman's boss. The only one who does speak up is Mr. Peterson, who makes a spectacle of himself when he loses his voice describing how he stood up to his wife. Ultimately, Bob tries to fill time as the patients are unwilling to contribute anything that they would at a normal session. When Bob gets home, everyone tries to spare Bob's feelings.
Bob: You don't have to be polite about it, it was horrible. It was probably the worst program ever on television!
Howard: No it wasn't, the fourth episode of My Mother the Car was!
We learn that Bob filled the hour by talking all about himself. At the next session, the group apologizes for letting Bob down, Michelle having found out after the fact that her father was watching
Gunsmoke.
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Really? Sounds like a strange visitor from another planet.
If I can trust the closed captioning's spelling, but it sounded right. A quick search couldn't turn up any literary/cultural relevance, unless it was a mispronunciation of Zola.
It didn't seem like they enough to warrant a warrant at that point, but I could be wrong.
Again, the Chief makes these things happen!
They do on rare occasions-- at least I recall Hawkeye saying it once or twice in serious moments-- but then there's also
this.
Shudders. Sounds like another case of a spinoff that was basically trading in on the concept of it being a continuation of a familiar character, but was effectively a new vehicle for the actor.
Is that the Mayberry guy? I never really watched that.
Yeah, I had to look the character name up, but that was the role I was thinking of when seeing him here.
