I figured that the tape was made of a special material that dissolved in water. According to Wikipedia, it was first described in the 1820s and well-understood by the 1860s.
Yeah, I saw that, but it's less dramatic...and the last time the method involved dissolving a tape in the sink, acid was used. Ah, I was looking under "Mercury poisoning" and wasn't getting the historical context in that article. I'm not sure if the symptoms match what the photographer in this episode was going through, though. Basically, he was dying...they had an actor well in his 60s playing a character who was supposed to be around 50. There were no behavioral symptoms. And Caine talked about it affecting bone marrow. Nevertheless, it seems that they did indeed know that exposure to mercury fumes wasn't good for you in that era. Forgot to mention that H&I is finally getting around to playing the third episode of Batman Season 3 in a couple of weeks, following the third part of the Londinium saga.
How so? It was all part of an overall liberalization of society. Man, they could have written lyrics to the Mission: Impossible theme. They should have dubbed it over. If I ever heard that before, I don't remember. Ah, one of their classics. The middle-finger shots were probably late in the day. Technically, yes, although I'm not sure Caine would have known. Interestingly, the history section of the Wiki starts of with its "medicinal" use in ancient China.
H&I has a new Fall schedule posted that takes effect 08/28. Most of their lineup (including TIH and the Trek shows) is unchanged, but they're removing Kung Fu and TMFU from their current late weeknight slots...and adding two episodes of The Rat Patrol per week. Guess I'll be watching the whole thing. That sort of generalization I'd agree with.
Catch-Up Viewing _______ The Monkees "The Spy Who Came in from the Cool" Originally aired October 10, 1966 Guest-starring Arlene Martel as foreign spy Madame. At one point in the episode, she and her partner, Boris (of course), assume Sonny & Cher-style disguises and take on the impromptu singing personas of "Honey & the Bear". At one point, Micky does a brief Maxwell Smart impersonation; he also does something vaguely Q-ish in a spy training scene. In addition to spy spoofery, there's a brief I Dream of Jeannie gag. This one features four songs. In addition to "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" (in the video sequence I used for my post about the last episode--and at least one of the female extras here was in the party scenes of that episode wearing the same outfit) and "Saturday's Child," we get two new songs, each written and sung by Mike Nesmith: "The Kind of Girl I Could Love," in a performance scene...with Madame and Boris sporting the aforementioned disguises. "All the King's Horses," used in the background of another scene, in which Madame starts a new dance move based around TV fu knockout chops. _______ Mission: Impossible "The Short Tail Spy" Originally aired December 17, 1966 The recording scene reuses footage of Dan in a theater from a previous episode, which involves a reel-to-reel tape. And it reuses the "usual manner" from that episode as well. This is another small-team episode, but with a more IMF-y scheme than the generic spy fi business that we usually get with those. The guy they're protecting is sort of like a contact in the field in that they have somebody to whom they can deliver exposition about the plan. And this time Cinnamon's the complication, though she comes through in the end. The Rat Patrol seems to be everywhere these days...that's where I recognized Hans Gudegast (later stage-renamed Eric Braeden) from...he was the starring antagonist, Hauptmann Hans Dietrich. "The Traitor" Originally aired April 15, 1967 Back to vinyl, but the self-destruct mechanism isn't timed to the breaking of the seal (even though a seal is still broken)... Right message, wrong medium! How convenient that our side knows all about the the cryptographer, but his own country's embassy staff (led by Malachi Throne) doesn't know the cryptographer from Rollin. This installment is the show so much more in its groove than in the first half of the season. We have an elaborate heist scheme; and a full team plus a guest agent with a skill set that adds pizzazz to the mish--the show could've done worse than a couple more episodes featuring Eartha Kitt snaking through ventilation shafts. Willy gets his usual role of lugging something and/or someone around...this time, it's a piece of the ventilation shaft with Eartha's character hiding in it. And there are good tension moments, including Rollin's narrow escape. In the Not-So-Disavowed category, there's a bit of direct cooperation with the police in the climax. "The Psychic" Originally aired April 22, 1967 I don't think the drive-in theater where Dan gets the mission from a window speaker is "abandoned"...it's just daytime. My DVR recording self-destructed for five seconds, so I had to pull the quote from IMDb. The mission features a full team minus Dan, plus two guest agents. Richard Anderson's character is on the team specifically because he knows the subject. That's usually Dan's excuse not to be on the team. This is perhaps an overly complicated scheme, with the titular element seeming randomly tacked on to what was essentially another Casino Royale-style gambling operation. It's clever, though, in that Barry Sullivan's character is goaded into playing the game because he knows it's fixed and thinks he can take advantage of that, but the fix that he knows about is just a lure into the real scheme. And the story is well-paced...it flew by for me, and I have trouble getting through some hour-long shows in one sitting. ***coughTMFUcough*** Barney's mirror trick is pretty nifty...Cinnamon demonstrates the ability to do underhanded things while not setting off the German shepherd...and Willy's role is to play the henchman of Rollin's shady syndicate character. Now that's making good use of his skill set (however briefly)! _______ So that's all of the M:I back-viewing that I had...though I still haven't seen the first seven episodes that aired in 1967, if those ever come back around on Decades. Now that I'll have two episodes a week each of The Monkees and The Rat Patrol for catch-up viewing, I think I'll let The Monkees pile up for a bit while TRP catches up, then sync the reviews for those. Throw in four pre-finale Fugitive episodes from the same TV season, which are scheduled to record off of Decades this week. In the meantime, I'm going to try to plug through as much Kung Fu as I can manage before the anniversary of the '67-'68 TV season starts. _______ Last Week's 50th Anniversary Viewing _______ Dark Shadows NOW IN COLOR ALL WEEK LONG! Tune in this week as Burke shows us what a dick he is. Episode 301 Originally aired August 21, 1967 At the Old House, Barnabas doubles down on last week's climactic assertion that he must destroy Burke Devlin. Willie talks him through the potential consequences, and and is successful in convincing his master to wait for a bettah time. Meanwhile, Burke is saying goodnight to Victoria at the Great House when Elizabeth invites him into the parlor to tell him that she's decided to sell him the Seaview estate. Roger's off this week, so the brandy is theirs for the imbibing. Later, Liz and Vicki engage in some girl talk about Burke's proposal. Vicki asks Liz to help her decide, but Liz declines. Maybe Vicki should have asked Willie, he could have walked her through the potential consequences step-by-step. At the Blue Whale, Burke is yukking it up with a couple of extras who are literally being paid to laugh at his jokes when Barnabas comes in. Under the guise of polite conversation, Barnabas probes Burke about his plans. Then the two of them start dancing around the subject of their rivalry, using similes about card games and duels. As they wrap up their conversation, Burke reminds the audience of the cover story that Barnabas recently gave him about his life in England...and as soon as Barnabas leaves, Burke uses the pay phone to make a call to London. Episode 302 Originally aired August 22, 1967 At the Old House, Barnabas is looking through the family portrait album while sporting a pimpin' new smoking jacket (which can partly be seen in the IMDb photo for the episode). When Dr. Hoffman comes up from her lab to remind her host about his latest injection, he notes to her how Jeremiah Collins bore a striking resemblance to Burke. When Hoffman brings up Sarah, Barnabas is initially reluctant to admit to the existence of her ghost. Hoffman presses for details of the circumstances under which Barnabas encountered Sarah, and learns of his visit to Maggie's room. (What is it about Frid and Hall that they always stumble all over their lines when they have a scene together?) At the Great House, Liz and Vicki are engaging in girl talk about Burke's proposal when Undercover Hoffman drops by to ask what Liz knows about Sarah Collins. Liz notices when Hoffman evades questions about herself. Cut to Burke and Vicki on the Smooching Terrace. He gets very defensive when she starts questioning him about his past. (Are the details of his pre-Barnabas plotline not general knowledge?) Despite his behavior, Vicki concludes the scene by accepting his proposal. Barnabas makes a social call to the Great House while Hoffman's still there, so that he's conveniently present to hear the news from Vicki. His reaction is to emit a Seinfeldesque "Jeremiah...!" As Barnabas leaves with Hoffman, Liz notices the change in his mood. Outside, Barnabas expresses an intensified dedication to continuing Hoffman's treatments so that he can be free to pursue Vicki. He'll be changing that tune before the week is out. Episode 303 Originally aired August 23, 1967 Now Burke's using Doc Woodard's phone to check into Barnabas. Burke seems to be a character of means, but he's evidently lacking his own phone prop or a home set to keep it in. He proceeds to question Woodard about Maggie's case, particularly her neck wounds. At least Woodard has enough medical ethics this time around not to let him see her files. Burke shares his working hunch that Maggie's abductor isn't some random maniac, but a seemingly respectable member of the community. At the Evans home, Maggie is expressing her frustration to Joe about being cooped up for her own protection. While the couple is enjoying a game of cards, Burke comes by to stir things up. He fills in Maggie and any latecoming audience members about how she'd been close to identifying her abductor before her recent memory loss. At Collinwood, Vicki is listening to her music box because Maggie's vague memory of music came up. Burke comes by, because that's his thing this week. She plays the music for him, and he makes the connection with Maggie's description of it. Episode 304 Originally aired August 24, 1967 Burke comes calling at the Old House first thing in the morning and insists on seeing Barnbas, forcing his way in past Willie. After barging around the house for a bit and asking some pointed questions, Devlin barges back out in a huff. At the Great House, Hoffman and Vicki are just now remembering the bonnet that they found a couple weeks ago. Hoffman arranges to go for a walk with David, with the ulterior motive of trying to find Sarah. On the outdoor set, the undercover doctor questions the boy about his mysterious playmate. When they wander away from the bonnet for a bit while looking for her, they return to find it gone. After they return to the house, Burke comes calling, and uses the opportunity to question Hoffman over a smoke. She evades his questions about things like how Barnabas is never seen during the day, while learning how close he is to the truth. Back at the Old House, Hoffman and Willie compare notes about Burke's investigation. Yeah, she really said that. All this investigating doesn't stop Burke from taking Vicki to the ever-swingin' Blue Whale. But unwilling to veer far from his oh-so-precious storyline now that he has one, Burke implores upon Vicki that she must stay away from Barnabas Collins. Episode 305 Originally aired August 25, 1967 David's playing on the outdoor set when Sarah appears. They have a breezy chat about how mysterious she is, then David says that he has to go home for dinner. Sarah promises to show him a special place to play if he doesn't go. At the Old House, Barnabas isn't feeling well, and believes that Hoffman's experiments are responsible. When Hoffman drops by, she's pleased with this sign of progress. Before Barnabas follows the ambiguously good doctor down to her lab, he shares his apprehensions with Willie... Yeah, he really said that. Hoffman tries to make Barnabas understand that she's making great progress, but he believes that she may be telling him what she thinks he wants to hear. He threatens to stop the experiments if they make him any weaker, because he needs all of his undead strength to deal with his new arch-nemesis, Burke Devlin. Believing, like Willie, that the Jason McGuire solution won't work this time around, Hoffman asks for the chance to lead Burke off-track. Now on the cemetery set, Sarah leads David into the mausoleum. She shows him the entrance to the secret room, which does manage to impress him. She insists that he should open the coffin there, so he does...to find...? In his dealings with Sarah, David seems to have forgotten his previously voiced speculation that she might be a ghost. _______ 50 years ago this week: (As any good Beatles aficionado knows, they were in Bangor, Wales, with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the time.) New on the charts: "Get Together," The Youngbloods (#62 US; #37 AC; re-released in 1969, it charted on June 28 and reached #5 US) "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil," Jefferson Airplane (#42 US) "Expressway to Your Heart," The Soul Survivors (#4 US; #3 R&B) And new on the boob tube: The Fugitive, "The Judgment: Part II" Dark Shadows, episodes 306-310 _______
Yep. Actually, it makes sense in-series, as the entire process of trying to brainwash Maggie peaked quickly--Barnabas was trying to transform her as soon as possible, to prevent the Maggie side asserting herself and doing exactly what happened (murder attempt / escape, etc.) Makes perfect sense, as Sam has legal control over Maggie, and now that the world knows she's alive, there's n point in hiding her away (from Woodard's prying mind). I thought Vicki and Your Favorite Burke did, along with Carolyn and Young George Lucas (Buzz)? This is still the point in the series where Barnabas was supposed to be staked (eventually), so his unrepentant villainy is ramped up for all its worth. The casual, "don't care" style of Hoffman where basic social graces are concerned. Hall was great at adding little quirks like that to build Julia. For all of the focus on Barnabas, the set up of Sarah as a "lost", tragic figure was a compelling supernatural element al on its own--long before the 1795 arc explained her fate. Barnabas' desperation--and frankly bold move to go to the Evans' house--illustrated just how far he was willing to go, as we can assume that if Maggie remembered anything, Barnabas might feel he need to kill everyone in the house. I thought her ability to stop the ordinarily single-minded vampire was a very nice scene. He's now dealing with something the cannot possibly control, or frighten away. Original Burke is jealous. By this point in the series, Hoffman is undoubtedly a fascinating character, but her puppeteer/liar act almost pushes her toward the "I hope you get yours" category previously occupied by Jason. ...and pissing off Barnabas with her obvious "make you squirm with what I know" act.. Talk about cock-blocking.... Probably wondering if vampirizing her so soon after Maggie's ordeal is not so wise an idea. ...and exactly how would the future of Vicki & Burke go with his trying to destroy the people she's come to care about? Well, the whole stake-in-the-heart business was not symbolic (depending on the writer) as much as it was suggesting the heart is functioning in some way. Regarding her continued blocking of the genitalia, she has a certain amount of leverage, but would anyone forget that he is a creation (or re-creation) of the dark arts? You could sense the never-going-to-happen-ness coming a mile away... "Hey Mixah--you still gotta problem with my New Yawork accent?" --Willie Loomis ...and with that, we will see his demands for Julia to complete her experiment....which will lead to an unexpected outcome for a few characters...
Ooh, nice. I'm waiting for him to have to eat it. Indeed. The first season is starting to sound more interesting than I thought. "Sure, you can film your scene at our our drive-in, just please include a little PSA for us...." Interesting. Something about their off-screen relationship, maybe? One of the all-time great classics of the era. I'm not familiar with this one. It's okay. Nice and catchy and clever. "Much too crowded."
If they did, they didn't dwell on it so romantically. Whenever I'm underwhelmed by Anthony George's performance, I repeat a mental mantra..."It could be Buzz...it could be Buzz...." And that can seriously spill the beans on him if so inclined. I thought it was about wanting to woo her rather than force her. He's actually soft for her and doesn't see her as an object like he did Maggie. Spoiler alert! Is that him? I nevah woulda recognized 'im! "This recording would go nice with some salsa or bean dip. Good luck, Dan." Caught a bit of Season 2 in the background last week, and saw that Peter Graves hits the ground running with at least two reel-to-reels that self-destruct in five seconds in a row! It's a mixed bag at best. The first half has too many examples of generic spy fi stories that don't feel like M:I episodes. Indeed. Very sign o' the times. Noteworthy for being their third most successful single under that name, after the two immortal classics that need not be named from earlier the same year. I'll say this, the song definitely helps one to imagine what the Frisco psychedelic scene must have been like. _______ Meant to mention that starting Labor Day, Decades is going to be adding weekday airings of The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show to its lineup. Also, on Friday they were doing a "Summer of Love" theme for the portion of the day not covered by Rat Patrol, which included some coverage of the movies of the era, which included showing The Graduate...so I've got that squared away for December.
It definitely has that psychedelic sound. When it started playing, I thought I knew it, but soon realized I didn't. That could be very interesting.
I'll have to check it out to see if things are chronologically organized enough that they might be practical to fit into the 50th anniversary business....
Laying on the NBC connections. Early on, many of the scenes requiring extras were shot back-to-back, hence some of the same background players wearing the same costume. Willie in Unsung Hero mode again. I would need to keep count of the number of times he's successfully stopped Barnabas from making what could have been a self-defeating mistake. Yes, because now would be 'da woist time. ...yeah, such as accepting Burke's proposal places Devlin's head on the chopping block. Well played by both actors; you could feel the needling and ultimately, tension as Burke makes that call. Interesting how Barnabas is so honest about the visit to Maggie's rom, and all but spills why he dislikes Burke. Then again, he still intends to kill Julia, so telling her (and knowing she's too secretive to share what she learns) poses no security threat. They were (often) the recipient of a mouthful of important dialogue, and each (at this point) seems to be trying not to be run over by the presence of the other. They were to Sam Evans, Jason, Willie, Liz and Roger, and its clear Liz and Roger hid certain details from Vicki, since they were not going out of their way to warn her against dating him. Insightful on Burke's part; he could be thinking the mystery person would need to break the defenses of potential victims by being familiar, or even appealing, instead of some shifty, heavy breather type. Burke in full-on meddler/asshole mode. He's a meddler, but i'm sure some of the audience wanted him to put it all together and do something. Note the expression on her face as he's fishing around. Nice to see them working together for a change. David does not quite get it, but Sarah is leaning on him as her only true peer, and desires to share as much time with him as possible. Sort of sad, as she's friendly with just about anyone she encounters, but only has one person she can truly relate to.
...yet he's still pulling all of the "absorb Josette's essence" routine, by talking to her about the past, and giving her the music box. Yeah, youse ain't kiddin! Dats him from the 1897 arc as Carl Collins.
Interesting...last time I described him as a meddler (when he was trying to intervene in the Jason/Liz blackmail/marriage scandal), I believe you defended him. Here, I'm willing to give him a little more benefit of the doubt, though his methods may be ham-handed at times (and he really needs to get his own phone), because he thinks he's on to who was responsible for Maggie's abduction and various other assaults in Collinsport. Is he, though? I get the impression that with Vicki, he's found more somebody who could truly replace Josette for him rather than just impersonate Josette...thus he's trying to woo her to the dark side rather than brainwash or coerce her.
Back then, he was not as much of a threat--just trying to prove his alleged loyalty to Liz, and stand between Willie's lust and Vicki & Carolyn.So, he was not that bad. Now, he's pretty much acting as full-time P.I. with only one case--Barnabas--and is willing to push, bully and force to any degree that will reach a preconceived conclusion. But that's not really appreciating Vicki for herself, and still trying to drape Josette's character and interests on her.
Not necessarily, from what I've seen. I think she started in his mind as "Josette replacement #2," but his interest in her specifically has evolved. Hence his inability to bring himself to bite her on more than one occasion.
It seems that my opportunity to include Ironside has not been lost--Cozi is getting it. The flip side: It looks like they're dropping The Avengers. I'd been keeping an eye out because my DVR had missed an episode from the last season.
Too bad about The Avengers. I think I had already seen most of them anyways, but it's sad that it won't be on for people to stumble onto.
Kung Fu "The Demon God" PC 166259 Originally aired December 13, 1974 The first of three episodes directed by David Carradine, the main story here is with Young Caine, who experiences flash-forwards to his adult self in a parallel situation. In the Young Caine storyline, a hauty young prince poisons Caine and tries to coerce him with his life and bribes, I wanna slap the prince around, or see Caine slap him around, but that's probably intended. He gets his in the end, being taken into the temple as his father's dying request. Too bad we never saw what became of him there. (Or at least, I assume we didn't....) Young Caine seems more canny in this situation than usual...I guess he's growing as Radames Pera does. Suffering in a cave from a scorpion bite, adult Caine is tempted by an Aztec priest who appears out of nowhere and his followers to accept and be sacrificed to a pagan god. It's hard to tell if this is all supposed to an hallucination or if it's more mysticism on the demonstrative side. The cave scenes are trippy but a bit tediously repetitive. Adult Caine chooses to save the scorpion...a parallel to the forgiveness that the prince comes to ask of Young Caine. Costuming continuity point--Adult Caine's shirt gets badly torn up, which includes his deliberately tearing off a piece of the already-tattered garment to use as a bandage. To be continued in two episodes.... "The Devil's Champion" PC 166260 Originally aired November 1, 1974 And this would appear to be our official first all-China episode in production order. Soon-Tek Oh plays the challenger, and Richard Loo is also back as the Weapons Master. It's unusual to have an episode that focuses so much on the masters as characters in a way that doesn't revolve around teaching Caine. Master Kan even gets a full name: Chen Ming Kan! Young adult Caine having visions is a major plot point, and there's some Pretty demonstrative mysticism, again played trippily--the "devil" powers his champion from afar, Caine defeats him through passivism, which causes the evil one to grow old. I don't think we ever learned what the bad guy's grudge was about. "The Garments of Rage" PC 166261 Originally aired November 8, 1974 I thought the title of the episode would be a coincidence, but this really is an episode dedicated to Caine gaining his final set of duds (his acceptance of which as a gift from the antagonist plays a symbolic role in the story). And talk about good continuity in production order! I was confused at first because the opening scene was a dream sequence in which Caine had his whole shirt back. Then when the Chinese railroad workers found him lying in a daze, I assumed that we were picking up in medias res with something having happened to Caine offscreen. It wasn't until I got a good look at his shirt that I realized that this was a direct continuation of where "The Demon God" left off. Compare and contrast to airdate order, in which "The Demon God" aired three episodes after "Garments of Rage". Alas, Caine encounters still another Shaolin priest in the American West from the very same temple. Talk about small world syndrome! It was worthwhile in that Caine has to fight not just any ol' random Shaolin, but a Flashback Master of the Week. But that being the case, the climactic duel should have been more epic...Caine wins a little too easily for my money. Caine reluctantly opposes his former master once he's motivated by the death of James Hong: The Legend Continues. And Kwai Chang's ways set an example for and change the outlook of a major guest character played by James Olson--Jeepers, Mr. Caine! Caine's wanted poster turns up in Jimmy's hands as leverage to get his help in finding the saboteur. The angle of the kid who could identify the saboteur doesn't go anywhere, even though one scene has him noticing Master Lee with Caine. "Besieged: Death on Cold Mountain" PC 166262 Originally aired November 15, 1974 This all-China two-parter consists of the other two episodes directed by David Carradine. There are brief framing scenes of Master Kan telling the story to young students, though the end of the second part is noticeably lacking a closing bookend. This story has a very lighthearted and larger-than-life flair that seems inconsistent with the usual tone of the series. In particular, a good part of the first episode plays as a sort of buddy comedy between Tamo, an old hermit whose strength, fighting skill, and boisterous behavior are all dialed up to 11, and Master Po, who gets a lot to do. The warlord and his captain repeatedly describe Po as "the fat one," but he looks pretty trim out of his usual robes. Now that Kan has a full name, characters from outside the temple can't get enough of using it. Too many story beats in the first part rely on everyone not noticing that Barbara Hershey (in a relationship with Carradine and being billed as Barbara Seagull in this phase of her career) is a girl. "Besieged: Cannon at the Gates" PC 166263 Originally aired November 22, 1974 The recap of the previous episode's events is delivered by Master Kan to the students. This episode centers more on Hershey's character, Nan Chi, who is enjoyable...but one definitely gets the sense that Carradine is directing with one hand here. And her death scene being so awkwardly long with comic relief beats of the warlord serves as a good example of why his directing resume is so short. I guess that technically this story doesn't contradict the later-set China episode in which Caine loses his "innocence"...but it does emotionally undermine it. Richard Loo's back again as Master Sun in this part. Richard Narita's bald cap is really bad...he looks like a damned Talosian! What, is he hiding an afro in there? At one point, Caine does a stealthy nerve pinch on a guard...have we seen him do that before? _______
Good thing Master Kan never showed up. I imagine the tone is to give it the air of a fable told by Kan, rather than something we are supposed to be literally witnessing. I love those guys. I think that should be Kan at the end of the middle quote, though. He's like a vampire on Dark Shadows. Not that I know of, but it would have been awesome if he used it on William Shatner.