MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[JD]

Good point! Why pull the series when WW is getting more hype and publicity than she's had in years? And Lynda Carter is bound to be in the spotlight, too.

The mention of Lynda Carter reminds me that she's been on Supergirl, which could also be bring her and the show more attention.
EDIT: Since I decided to expand to things not on MeTV, I'm gonna go ahead and post my thoughts on The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. I've been really enjoying both shows, the stories have been pretty good overall, although both have had their occaisional cheesy moments, but that is pretty much to be expected from '70s shows. I was surprised when I saw that Star Trek: TWOK-TUC executive producer Harve Bennett was a producer for them.
The only thing that kind of bothered me at first was how low key they tend to be. I was expecting a lot more big stunts, and crazy fight scenes, but overall the action scenes tend to be pretty simple, and the stunts are pretty much just the occaisional fast running and lifting heavy things.
I just watched The Bionic Woman episode, Assault on The Princess, and it was pretty good.
The overall story with Jaime's search for the Iceman was pretty interesting, and they managed to not make who he was obvious.
I liked Lucky, he was a cool ally for Jaime, and they managed to give him just ambiguity to make you wonder if he was actually trustworthy or not.
Mr. Ramirez, who first Jaime ran into in another episode where she was undercover as a flight attendant, was a pretty fun addition to the episode. I wouldn't mind seeing him pop again some time.

 

[Greg Cox]

We can probably expect lots of nostalgic "Looking back at the original Wonder Woman" articles and features.

As, somewhere on Paradise Island, Cathy Lee Crosby waits sadly for the phone to ring.

 

[Christopher]

The best episodes of BSG1980 are the first episode "Galactica Discovers Earth"[two parter] and the last one "Return Of Starbuck".

"Galactica Discovers Earth" was actually a 3-parter. They threw in a random hourlong time-travel digression in parts 2-3, though, so it would've been a 2-parter if they'd left that out.

In my blog reviews of Galactica, my list of 1980 high points consists of "The Return of Starbuck," period. Of the remaining episodes, "The Night the Cylons Landed" was the most entertaining for me.

As someone who was young and easily frightened when the show began, I can appreciate the show trying to make the Hulk seem like more of a hero and less of a horror...but it would have been nice if they'd splurged on more impressive feats of strength than just having him toss thugs around harmlessly.

It was already a very expensive show thanks to all the stunts and destruction effects they did, as well as all the location shooting. They were "splurging" about as much as they could. And the violence was harmless because TV censorship on violent content was much stricter then. Even in instances where we had a malevolent creature, in "Dark Side" and "The First," the creature-on-human violence wasn't much more pronounced than what we normally got.

 

[Galileo7]

"Galactica Discovers Earth" was actually a 3-parter. They threw in a random hourlong time-travel digression in parts 2-3, though, so it would've been a 2-parter if they'd left that out.

In my blog reviews of Galactica, my list of 1980 high points consists of "The Return of Starbuck," period. Of the remaining episodes, "The Night the Cylons Landed" was the most entertaining for me.

Right. Three part pilot episode.
Two part "The Night the Cylons Landed" episode.
http://epguides.com/Galactica1980/
The best tech change in BSG1980 was the Colonial Viper now having two seats and storage for one Turbine[flying motorcycle, like the Return Of The Jedi(1983) Speederbike, but with wheels for non-flight mode]

 

[RJDiogenes]

If they're smart it'll be Star Trek. It's been a part of the Saturday night schedule for quite a while now, and pulling Wonder Woman just a couple months before the movie comes out would be a mistake.

That's true enough.

I wonder if they'll include BSG1980 as part of the run? I'm tempted to check it out, just to see if it's really as bad as everyone says.

It really is. Although I do remember appreciating the "Return of Starbuck" episode that's been mentioned.

 

[Christopher]

Land of the Giants: "A Place Called Earth": Now we see LOTG starting to undergo the same kind of concept drift as The Time Tunnel before it, when Irwin Allen's writers started to wander off of the series premise and use generic sci-fi plots that could've been (and sometimes were) done for another of the Allen shows. When The Time Tunnel drifted, it did stories about alien invasions; since LOTG is already about aliens, we get a story about time travelers instead.

The premise isn't very coherent. Time travelers Olds (Warren Stevens) and Fielder (Jerry Douglas) are sent on a routine historical survey mission from a future HQ that reuses some generic consoles from The Time Tunnel (I think), although their timeship is the Space Pod from season 3 of Lost in Space. (And of course, their future clothes are silver, and probably recycled from a Time Tunnel episode.) But they have plans to conquer the future by wiping out 20th-century humanity with a plague and breeding a docile race of survivors on another planet. They choose the giants' planet, yet are somehow surprised by the fact that it is gigantized. How could they not know that? Doesn't the planet still exist in the future?

Also, the chronology is all screwed up. Their native time is simultaneously said to be the year 5477 AD, the year 5032 of the Atomic Age (which would be 6977, dating from Hiroshima), and exactly 5000 years and 120 days after the time of the episode (which should be 6984-5). Did nobody in the entire production bother to do some basic arithmetic? Or maybe the script was originally written with the correct arithmetic -- say, 5477 AD = 3532 AA = 3492 years, 120 days in the show's future, but the director or some executive or other thought that would confuse the lowest-common-denominator audience they were targeting and overwrote the original numbers with variants of "5000 years."

Also, the giants seem tacked onto this script, making me think it was a more generic script that was rewritten to fit this show. Surely there was a better way to mesh its concept with the premise of the series. Why wasn't Olds fascinated by the potential of the giants for helping him conquer Earth? He could've recruited them as his allies and soldiers, used them to conquer Earth in the past. Okay, so he didn't like to share his power, but he had no trouble getting rid of giants who got in his way.

As soon as the episode introduced the third time traveler assigned to track down the first two, I knew the episode wouldn't even let our characters save the day, instead resorting to an ending where the problem was solved for them. After all, the villains' powers were far too advanced for the Spindrift crew to cope with. The episode actually did a pretty good job of letting Steve and Dan outwit the men from the future, which was cool, but then it went for the copout ending after all. Really, Olds and Fielder would still have been stopped even if our heroes had never gotten involved at all, so it feels kind of pointless.

 

[Galileo7]

Land of the Giants: "A Place Called Earth": Now we see LOTG starting to undergo the same kind of concept drift as The Time Tunnel before it, when Irwin Allen's writers started to wander off of the series premise and use generic sci-fi plots that could've been (and sometimes were) done for another of the Allen shows. When The Time Tunnel drifted, it did stories about alien invasions; since LOTG is already about aliens, we get a story about time travelers instead.

The premise isn't very coherent. Time travelers Olds (Warren Stevens) and Fielder (Jerry Douglas) are sent on a routine historical survey mission from a future HQ that reuses some generic consoles from The Time Tunnel (I think), although their timeship is the Space Pod from season 3 of Lost in Space. (And of course, their future clothes are silver, and probably recycled from a Time Tunnel episode.) But they have plans to conquer the future by wiping out 20th-century humanity with a plague and breeding a docile race of survivors on another planet. They choose the giants' planet, yet are somehow surprised by the fact that it is gigantized. How could they not know that? Doesn't the planet still exist in the future?

Also, the chronology is all screwed up. Their native time is simultaneously said to be the year 5477 AD, the year 5032 of the Atomic Age (which would be 6977, dating from Hiroshima), and exactly 5000 years and 120 days after the time of the episode (which should be 6984-5). Did nobody in the entire production bother to do some basic arithmetic? Or maybe the script was originally written with the correct arithmetic -- say, 5477 AD = 3532 AA = 3492 years, 120 days in the show's future, but the director or some executive or other thought that would confuse the lowest-common-denominator audience they were targeting and overwrote the original numbers with variants of "5000 years."

Also, the giants seem tacked onto this script, making me think it was a more generic script that was rewritten to fit this show. Surely there was a better way to mesh its concept with the premise of the series. Why wasn't Olds fascinated by the potential of the giants for helping him conquer Earth? He could've recruited them as his allies and soldiers, used them to conquer Earth in the past. Okay, so he didn't like to share his power, but he had no trouble getting rid of giants who got in his way.

As soon as the episode introduced the third time traveler assigned to track down the first two, I knew the episode wouldn't even let our characters save the day, instead resorting to an ending where the problem was solved for them. After all, the villains' powers were far too advanced for the Spindrift crew to cope with. The episode actually did a pretty good job of letting Steve and Dan outwit the men from the future, which was cool, but then it went for the copout ending after all. Really, Olds and Fielder would still have been stopped even if our heroes had never gotten involved at all, so it feels kind of pointless.

An upcoming LOTG "Home Sweet Home" episode is a sequel to this episode. The Spindrift crew members use the [Lost In Space Spacepod] Time machine left behind from this episode to travel back to Earth.

 

[Christopher]

An upcoming LOTG "Home Sweet Home" episode is a sequel to this episode. The Spindrift crew members use the [Lost In Space Spacepod] Time machine left behind from this episode to travel back to Earth.

And that's a rehash of the Lost in Space episode "Visit to a Hostile Planet," which also involved the crew getting back to Earth in the past. They'd do that again with another time-travel plot, rehashing LiS's "The Time Merchant" -- where the characters were sent back to the events of the pilot and given a chance to prevent their original stranding -- as LOTG's penultimate episode, "Wild Journey."

One thing I forgot to mention is that they didn't do a very good job hiding Heather Young's pregnancy this week. If I hadn't been told last week that that was the reason for her absence, I might've caught on this week, where her baby bump is fairly visible in her first scene.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

"Dark Side"--Such a good, concept-based premise that had so much more potential than how it was realized in the mundane situation of this episode....

If by mundane, you mean the family drama part, I counter that the contrast of a twisted, sexually predatory Banner to a regular family was one of the reasons the story worked; how an out-of-control evil weighs on all things normal is far ore effect than Banner suffering from a dark side opposite (on confronted with) random villains or even McGee, since we know how a dark Banner would deal with both...and it becomes a very different series at that point.

I've brought this up before, but Banner making tapes while pursuing his cure research is such a wasted opportunity for the show...and here he presumably leaves his tapes behind in his room...!

.Well, its not as though it would leave clues for anyone else, since all of his on-screen live recordings or playbacks do not offer juicy details such as his real name, background or anything else. In theory, the tapes gain value if someone suspected Banner's true identify and was always one step behind him (no matter what alias he used) instead of McGee's chasing Hulk sightings, and asking questions about a generic stranger.

I always found the tribal imagery to be an odd choice. Here you've got a guy who already transforms into a big, green rage monster--the "raging demon that dwells within him," as the opening narration tells us every week--but the more aggressive side of his personality is symbolized by something else, and something much more ordinary.

Note the chalkboard in David's room--the word "primal" in reference to a part of the brain he was attempting to treat figured prominently, and acted as the audience's point of understanding how Enzyme 7 pulled his brain back t a remote, primal stage of human existence. Remember, the point of the episode was how David was altered more than the Hulk, and for human David, the tribal flashbacks represented the drug's devolutionary effect on his mind.

One might infer that Banner always had this part of him buried somewhere deeper inside than even the creature, perhaps informing the rage/anger that often triggered and motivated that "raging demon".

Banner tends to become frustrated, but he's not presented as an inherently angry person, the very reason why he always feared what the Hulk might do--the opposite of his true, peaceful nature.

I have my issues with this episode's realization of its premise, but Banner going all Dr. Jekyll in his rented room is a classic moment; Bixby milks his opportunity to chew the scenery for all it's worth.

That's the befit of having a truly talented actor in a superhero production, as opposed to a "headshot" actor not contributing much, other than showing up to fill a spot--the problem with far too many superhero TV series and movies over the decades.

Whose only purpose in the story, it seems, is to give Evil Midlife Crisis David some sporty wheels so he can do his embarrassingly awkward Rebel Without a Cause schtick in the climax....

Eh?

I confess: I don't actually watch STAR TREK on MeTV. I like the idea of TOS still airing on regular TV, but I know all the episodes by heart and have them all on DVD if I want to rewatch them. I prefer checking out stuff like LAND OF THE GIANTS or THE NIGHT STALKER that I haven't seen in decades . .. . .

Agreed; I have no reason to watch TOS various cable broadcasts at all, but the fact that is still a part of the 21st century entertainment landscape--often treated as a TV history jewel--is satisfying.

If they're smart it'll be Star Trek. It's been a part of the Saturday night schedule for quite a while now, and pulling Wonder Woman just a couple months before the movie comes out would be a mistake.

I see your point about W.W., but honestly, who needs to see another run of Lost in Space or Voyage to the Bottom f the Sea on the ME-TV line-up? Removing either would open up the schedule for something not as one-note.

I wonder if they'll include BSG1980 as part of the run?

They should consider it, if ME-TV seeks to fatten the overall Galatica-verse so it does not seems so much of a "here today, gone tomorrow" type of series.

 

[Greg Cox]

Agreed; I have no reason to watch TOS various cable broadcasts at all, but the fact that is still a part of the 21st century entertainment landscape--often treated as a TV history jewel--is satisfying..

I assume the audience for the MeTV broadcasts is not us hardcore Trekkies, who post on Trek message boards and such, but casual viewers who recall TREK fondly from days gone by, along with other vintage TV shows, but who probably don't have a boxed set of DVDs on their shelf and who can't name all the episodes by heart.

(Certainly, that's my impression from visiting the the MeTV facebook page and website.)

Which certainly helps to keep TREK alive in the popular consciousness, especially if some of those casual viewers are watching the reruns with their kids or grand-kids.

 

[The Old Mixer]

H&I is now keeping TOS and the rest of the TV franchise alive in the popular consciousness six nights a week, so the weekly Me slot might be put to better use with another series.

 

[Noname Given]

H&I is now keeping TOS and the rest of the TV franchise alive in the popular consciousness six nights a week, so the weekly Me slot might be put to better use with another series.

BBC America now shows 6 TOS episodes every Friday (pretty much uncut too as they have a run time of 70 minutes including commercials) from 1:00PM - 8:00 PM PST (4:00 PM - 11:00PM EST.)

 

[JD]

I see your point about W.W., but honestly, who needs to see another run of Lost in Space or Voyage to the Bottom f the Sea on the ME-TV line-up? Removing either would open up the schedule for something not as one-note.

I hope it's not one of them, I'm usually sound asleep by that time. I don't have a DVR so unless they're streaming on their site, live is the only way I'll get to watch it.

H&I is now keeping TOS and the rest of the TV franchise alive in the popular consciousness six nights a week, so the weekly Me slot might be put to better use with another series.

They're also on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

La-La Land Records is going to be releasing a limited edition three CD soundtrack set for the Lynda Carter WW series.

 

[The Old Mixer]

This week, on The Incredible Hulk:

"Deep Shock"
Originally aired December 12, 1980

While working at a power plant, an electrical accident endows David with the ability to foresee the future—including the Hulk's violence.

Preview Link


Events in the news the week the episode aired:

December 8 – John Lennon is shot dead outside his apartment in New York City by Mark David Chapman.
December 11 – CERCLA is enacted by the U.S. Congress.

Millions of Americans learned of John's death from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football.

Additional news coverage from that night and the next morning.





"Twist and Shout," The Beatles

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(Charted Mar. 14, 1964; Reached #2 US on the historic week of April 4, 1964, when the Beatles held the top five spots on Billboard's Hot 100...along with seven other positions down-chart)

"A Day in the Life," The Beatles

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(#26 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time; From Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, #1 on the US album charts the weeks of July 1 through Oct. 7, 1967)

"Revolution," The Beatles

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(Charted Sept. 14, 1968; #12 US; B-side of the #1 single "Hey Jude")

"Imagine," John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band

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(Charted Oct. 23, 1971; #3 US; #7 AC; #6 UK in 1975; #3 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

"(Just Like) Starting Over," John Lennon

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(Charted Nov. 1, 1980; #1 US the weeks of Dec. 27, 1980, through Jan. 24, 1981; #17 AC; #1 UK)

_______

 

[RJDiogenes]

Millions of Americans learned of John's dea h from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football

I learned about it the next morning when I grabbed the Boston Globe from the front porch. There's a moment I'll never forget.

"Twist and Shout," The Beatles

"A Day in the Life," The Beatles

Their entire body of work is like it's part of the DNA of my generation.

"Revolution," The Beatles

This is probably my favorite Beatles song. "But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao/ You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow." A lost message in the Age of Extremism.

"Imagine," John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band
(Charted Oct. 23, 1971; #3 US; #7 AC; #6 UK in 1975; #3 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time)

It should be on the Human Race's 10 Greatest Songs of All Time.

"(Just Like) Starting Over," John Lennon

Looking past the tragedy and the irony almost forty years later, his final works were very different and domestic. Kind of sweet in retrospect, and it makes you wonder where he would have gone had he lived. In fact, I often wonder what he would make of the ensuing generations and what they did to his dreams.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

The Incredible Hulk
"Deep Shock"--

At the soon to be fully automated Tres Lobos Power Plant, elderly shop steward Edgar Tucker tries to ease the grumbling of co-workers upset at the announced job cuts. One of the workers aims his complaints at the fact the plant can hire "new guy" David Benton, while claiming to be moving beyond the need for employees. While Tucker and David move a piece of machinery, Tucker suffers a labile angina attack; racing to help, an electrical cable is severed by the loos machinery, its sparks showering David...the pain causing Banner to transform into the Hulk as he crouches over the unconscious Tucker. The Hulk grabs the flailing, sparking cable, instantly electrocuted--bolts running from the cable into the Hulk's head. The creature passes out, falling to a pile of boxes below. By the time the other workers arrive, the Hulk has transformed back to David.

In the emergency room, David is wheeled in with no heartbeat--but thanks to Dr. Louise Olson and a defibrillator, his life is saved. Waking up, after two days in a coma, Dr.Olson tells Banner of the trauma he's suffered, but has no explanation for the ringing in his ears, which seems to trigger strange visions of a hallway with explosions going off, the Hulk moments from throwing Tucker & a couple from an old photo... The next day, Dr. Olson explains David's test results, and a few unusual details...

Dr. Olson: "You surprised me yesterday.--the medical jargon."
David: "Oh, well...I...used to work in a medical library."
Dr. Olson: "You may wind up in one again. Your case is one for the books. One, you're alive, And two, you show none of the corollary symptoms of severe electrical trauma."
David: "Then my heart is functioning normally?"
Dr. Olson: "..and your resistance is normal also. Plus, there's no evidence of brain damage. You must be made of pretty stern stuff. Pretty interesting stuff--I've never seen anything like it."
David: "I'm out of danger?"
Dr. Olson: "Physically, there's nothing much to worry about. But we always have to watch for other complications in cases like yours."
David: "I'm sorry--I don't follow."
Dr. Olson: "We know from your EEG that your brain was abnormally active during the coma. We ran a spinal tap the first day, and it revealed an inordinate quantity of phenylethylamine. Now, this is not harmful in itself, but its sometimes an indication of other problems."
David: "Psychological problems."
Dr. Olson: "Yes. Its associated with a tendency to split personality syndrome. Have you ever suspected anything like that? I'm not a psychiatrist, I'm a neurologist, but uh...you might consider... "
David: (abrupt) "May I leave the hospital today?"
Dr. Olson: "I'd rather you stay a few days. You shouldn't be on your own."
David: "Why not?"
Dr. Olson: "The plain truth is really know very little about the psychological side effects of deep shock. You shouldn't be unduly concerned, but there is a possibility of an emotional reaction. You might find yourself suddenly crying for no reason. And a few cases, even reported hallucinations."

At Tres Lobos, the security guard who spotted the Hulk reads the National Register. His greed leads to a phone call...

Olson releases David--only if he stays with Tucker. Banner agrees, and is later shocked to see the same photo (the couple) of his vision sitting on a table at Tucker's home. One of David's co-workers explains that the subjects in the photo are Tucker's son and wife--both killed in a head-on collision some time ago. The co-worker plans to lead a strike against Tres Lobos, using the scandal of the accident as leverage. Tucker disagrees with the tactic, feeling any rash decision will cost the workers what few bargaining chips they have. That night, David's tinnitus accompanies the same visions: the hallway & the Hulk violently throwing Tucker into a wall of machinery....

A day later, David's vision predicts Tucker being terminated from his job, and (on the job) Tucker dropping his angina pills. Sure enough, David is witness to both events, and during another job, Tucker suffers from labile angina once again, dropping his pills, but his pain subsides. In the face of his health troubles, Tucker is determined to stay on the job long enough to strike a blow for the employees. At the hospital, Dr. Olson assures David Tucker will be fine if he reduces his stress/work load, she cannot give him much of a pathway to understanding / curing his psychic vision issue--

David: "I was over at the medical library, but I could find very little on electro-trauma. Now, do you know of any existing documentation connecting deep shack with precognition?"
Dr. Olson: "There's very little documentation, period. I do know of one case--an apparent psychic in New England who worked with the police. He claimed to have had no special abilities until after he survived 60,000 volts."
David: "Well, then the same thing could have happened to me."
Dr. Olson: "If it has, there's nothing supernatural about it. We're all able to project the future in little ways we can't explain. It's common to be thinking of someone and have the phone ring a minute later."
David: "I'm afraid that my projections are just a little more detailed than that."
Dr. Olson: "Well, perhaps there's something special about your body chemistry. Something that reacted to the deep shock you took. If we could run a few more tests..."
David: "Well, no, now wait. You know, it could be the phenylethylamine."
Dr. Olson: "If that's the case, then the condition could be temporary."
David: "Yeah, I hope so. That psychic in New England...he still works with the police?"
Dr. Olson: "He committed suicide two years ago."

Disturbed, David leaves the hospital--narrowly missing McGee, who was told the plant shock victims--one who might be the Hulk--were treated there....

At Tucker's home, a gathering of disgruntled employees leads to Tucker being accused of setting himself up early retirement & a full pension while the others are hung out to dry with coming unemployment. That evening, David tries to sleep, but is rattle--once again--by visions of the Hulk attacking Tucker--possibly killing him. Unable to risk such a terrible outcome, David leaves a note for Tucker, and prepares to leave town. Finding the note, and feeling as if all of his plans (and loyalty to his co-workers) have gone up in smoke, Tucker solemnly places the photo of his deceased wife & son in his shirt, goes to work and lies to gain access to the plan generator control room. Locking himself in, he demands the presence of Buchanan, the plant boss; as this drama unfolds and becomes a news story, David (hitching a ride out of town) hears the radio announcer mentioning his name--the police hoping he can convince Tucker to surrender, but the man in question has other plans--

Tucker: "All you've gotta do is get on TV and promise no layoffs."
Buchanan: "You know I can't do that. I don't have the authority."
Tucker: "Then get it!"
Buchanan: "Edgar..."
Tucker: "Look through the glass, Buchanan! Look real close! Right now, I'm going to start shutting down the breakers. You can kiss your super-automated whiz-bang goodbye!"
Buchanan: "You know--you won't stand much of a chance in there, when it goes!"
Tucker: "That doesn't particularly bother me none."

Still suffering from the visions, David hesitates calling the police, but is eventually found by one of Tucker's friends and taken to the power plant; hearing that the other man from the shock incident is on the scene, McGee speeds to the plant.

David tries and fails to convince Tucker to give up. Fearing his visions will come true, David reluctantly tries to enter the control room (to shut down the all-important CX-Eleven component) from a vent shaft--as the generators near the overload point. The shaft grows hot to the touch--that, and yet another electric shock quickly sends Banner to Hulk mode. Breaking into the control room, the Hulk--as David's visions predicted--grabs Tucker, and prepares to throw him into a wall...but his own condition reminds him of the likely outcome, so the Hulk gently places Tucker on the floor, destroys the CX-Eleven component, thus shutting down the generators. With McGee watching, the Hulk breaks out the room, and plant.

Back at the hospital, David tells a pleased Tucker that thanks t the generator's damage, Buchanan needs a work crew to repair the entire system,--only this time, the workers have their job & benefits package in writing. After saying his goodbyes to Tucker, David receives his test results from Dr. Olson--

Dr. Olson: "We just got these back from the lab. All indications are normal. And the phenylethylamine's almost gone."
David: (very pleased) "Yeah!"
Dr. Olson: "Are you still bothered by the tinnitus?"
David: "Free and clear!"
Dr. Olson: "And the dreams?"
David: "Well, they haven't returned."
Dr. Olson: "Well I guess I'm about to lose a patient. I'd like to write an article on your case. Will you be staying around?"
David: "Unfortunately not, but thank you for everything, doctor."

...and David hits the road again...

NOTES:

This is not a cure-related episode, but the effect granting David semi-psychic abilities must come from his condition.

We see the Hulk is capable of absorbing a level of electricity that would fry an ordinary human--another TV Hulk power detail to explore one day. Typically sharp, TIH uses real medical information to carefully place the brakes on the more fantastic story elements (with the exception of the Hulk himself), such as psychic vision.

The preview teaser ended with clips leading viewers to believe doctors could not revive Banner.

David's face was caught by a news camera, so this could be the first time since season two's "Stop the Presses" that Banner was captured on film. If only McGee could see what TV viewers did that afternoon!

When Buchanan tells McGee, "there's your story" regarding the Hulk saving the plant, the expression on McGee's face was especially sour--as if he desired a different (possibly more destructive) outcome.

GUEST CAST:

It is beyond argument that Sharon Acker (Dr. Lousie Olson) is best known to fantasy TV fans as Odona from "The Mark of Gideon"--a third season episode of Star Trek. Other credits--

• Encounter (CBC, 1952-61) - I'm only listing this Acker credit from the Canadian anthology because of frequent appearances by William Shatner, Barry (Space:1999) Morse and Patrick (The Avengers) Macnee.
• The Stranger (Bing Crosby Productions, 1973)
• Galactica 1980 (ABC, 1980) - "Galactica Discovers Earth: Part 1"
• Threshold (Paragon Motion Pictures, 1981)
• The Powers of Matthew Star (NBC, 1983) - "Brain Drain"
• Whiz Kids (CBS, 1984) - "Father's Day"

Tom Clancy (Edgar Tucker) - No, not that Tom Clancy, but one of the vocalists from the once-famous Clancy Brothers musical act.

• Studio One in Hollywood (CBS, 1957) - "The Night America Trembled" - The first dramatization of the panic caused by the Welles / Mercury Theatre players' radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. This film would influence the Anthony Wilson / Nicholas Meyer screenplay for the TV movie The Night That Panicked America (ABC, 1975), covering much of the same territory.
• The Ghost of Flight 401 (ABC, 1978)
• Full Moon High (Filmways Pictures, 1981)
  
• Computercide (Paramount Television, 1982)

Stephan Giearsch (Mr. Buchanan) -

• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (NBC, 1963) - "Diagnosis: Danger"
• Carrie (United Artists, 1976)
• Blue Sunshine (Ellanby Films, 1977) with Mark (Lost in Space) Goddard and Zalman King
• The Greatest American Hero (ABC, 1982) - "Its All Downhill from There"
• Tales of the Gold Monkey (ABC, 1983) - "Ape Boy"
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (NBC, 1985) - "Breakdown"
• The Twilight Zone (CBS, 1986) - "A Small Talent for War"
• Werewolf (FOX, 1987) - "The Black Ship"
• Spellbinder (MGM, 1988)
• Tales from the Crypt (HBO, 1990) - "Lower Berth"
• Megaville (Live Entertainment, 1990)
• Dark Shadows (NBC, 1991) - recurring as Joshua Collins / Prof. Michael Woodard
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (Syndicated, 1991) - "A Matter of Time"
• Legend of the Phantom Rider (Seed Productions, 2002) - with Denise Crosby

Edward Power (Frank) -

• Empire of the Ants (AIP, 1977) - TOS trivia: the film co-starred guest stars from Star Trek time travel episodes--Robert ("Assignment: Earth") Lansing and Joan ("The City on the Edge of Forever") Collins
• The Incredible Hulk (CBS, 1978) - "747"
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (NBC, 1980) - "Buck's Duel to the Death"

 

[publiusr]

I had no idea that Ric Drasin was Demi-Hulk--I thought it was Lou himself minus the paint.

“Prometheus”: The first and smaller half of the fourth-season premiere (filmed as the third-season finale) which is as epic and sci-fi as the show ever got. It actually fakes us out pretty hard by making us think we’re about to see the Hulk vs. aliens. Instead, it’s just an asteroid that happens to be highly cylindrical and almost seems piloted in its descent, so that the government will respond as if it’s a UFO when it actually isn’t. That’s a bit of a cheat.
.

I'm not so sure. I rather liked this particular take of mistaken identity (something that normally doesn't sit well with me when I see even fictional characters accused of things they haven't done. We see footage that I've seen in Battlestar Galactica of rockets and other tech exploding--almost as if they recovered things in the past. The footage was probably from Operation Crossbow
http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article.html?isPreview=&id=202092|75723&name=Operation-Crossbow
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mhgoQJJhB...ted_V2_being_moved_in_underground_factory.jpg
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FBSc9L_e...ABm0w/dbRNkKvjofI/s1600/Feuerlilie_Rakete.JPG

I swore I have seen that effects footage before. The actual space body I thought was from the movie METEOR but I'm not so sure now.

“

that’s an amazing location they found, and the awesome thing about older shows is that when you see something like this, you know it’s not CGI -- they actually did it for real, in full scale. They really blew the budget on this one. I’d really like to know what that vast facility actually was.

I think that may be a water treatment plant with the computer sets moved out of the usual studios

“
Honestly, I’m kind of mad at Katie for telling half-Hulk David not to trust McGee, because I believe Jack was sincere about helping him find a cure.

Banner would have gone. She did Demi-Hulk a disservice.

Oh, well, if nobody else is waiting, I guess I'll go ahead...

Hulk: “Dark Side”: Kenneth Johnson always saw this show as his take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and now Nicholas Corea makes that more literal than ever, with David’s latest experiment bringing out an actual evil side and giving Bixby a chance to play a villain. It’s a pretty effective twist on the format, though budget limits and broadcast standards could only let it take the evil Hulk’s rampage so far. .

I swore I remember McGee being in this one--perhaps voice over work in a commercial--about this Hulk attack being more savage than usual. The eating of meat as a sign of the savage--that goes a long way back. I remember an unrelated program about rich folks eating in a soup kitchin--and how just seeing someone else eat builds rage in some folks--interesting

Kolchak: “The Trevi Collection”: It’s hard not to wince at older portrayals of “witchcraft” and occultism,

It was the haunted mannequin thing that got me as a kid, Ugh! The things they had in the 70's...

 

[The Old Mixer]

David Benton

Third use.

the pain causing Banner to transform into the Hulk

-42:13--The Plot-Driven Early FHO is back!

David: "I was over at the medical library, but I could find very little on electro-trauma. Now, do you know of any existing documentation connecting deep shack with precognition?"
Dr. Olson: "There's very little documentation, period. I do know of one case--an apparent psychic in New England who worked with the police. He claimed to have had no special abilities until after he survived 60,000 volts."
David: "Well, then the same thing could have happened to me."
Dr. Olson: "If it has, there's nothing supernatural about it. We're all able to project the future in little ways we can't explain. It's common to be thinking of someone and have the phone ring a minute later."
David: "I'm afraid that my projections are just a little more detailed than that."
Dr. Olson: "Well, perhaps there's something special about your body chemistry. Something that reacted to the deep shock you took. If we could run a few more tests..."
David: "Well, no, now wait. You know, it could be the phenylethylamine."
Dr. Olson: "If that's the case, then the condition could be temporary."
David: "Yeah, I hope so. That psychic in New England...he still works with the police?"
Dr. Olson: "He committed suicide two years ago."

December's Mixer thought that the discussion with the doctor about his psychic powers seemed a little too casual and matter-of-fact.

It seems odd that they'd do another psychic episode so soon, even including the angle of establishing another psychic who'd been working with the police...and committed suicide two years before...which is a particularly macabre coincidence, as our previous psychic, Bixby's ex-wife, would commit suicide two years after her episode.

The premonitions do keep the Hulk in the middle of the episode, though.

David (hitching a ride out of town) hears the radio announcer mentioning his name--the police hoping he can convince Tucker to surrender
[...]
Still suffering from the visions, David hesitates calling the police, but is eventually found by one of Tucker's friends and taken to the power plant; hearing that the other man from the shock incident is on the scene, McGee speeds to the plant.

It seemed odd to me that everyone would go to such lengths to find David specifically.

And McGee hears David's name on the radio, after which he turns around, clearly realizing that this Benton guy is likely John Doe...so it stretches credibility that he hasn't made the "David B." connection by now.

that, and yet another electric shock quickly sends Banner to Hulk mode

-04:49. I noted that the show seemed to be going out of its way to use new generic transformation close-ups this season.

Breaking into the control room, the Hulk--as David's visions predicted--grabs Tucker, and prepares to throw him into a wall...

And this part makes no damn sense. When David was having visions of the Hulk looking like he was going to kill Edgar, the natural assumption was that we weren't seeing the circumstances behind the Hulk's actions, and there'd be some sort of explanation for his unusually aggressive behavior when we did. But no such explanation was forthcoming. The Hulk was rarely so threatening to the bad guys, never mind somebody whom David was friends with.

If one wanted to rationalize, one could make a connection with last week's episode...a momentary recurrence of the Hulk's behavior when David was temporarily evil. Alternately, and more specific to this episode, maybe it was some sort of paradox...the Hulk thought he had to pick up and throw this guy because he remembered David's visions of the Hulk picking up and threatening to throw this guy. Hulkie see, Hulkie do.

so the Hulk [...] destroys the CX-Eleven component

Which he identifies by the label! Hulk...READ!!!

With McGee watching, the Hulk breaks out the room, and plant.

When he was busting out of the room, it looked like an alternate shot of him busting into it from the tunnel.

...and David hits the road again...

In what looked to be an episode-specific LM, but one disconnected enough that it could have been reused in later episodes.

This is not a cure-related episode, but the effect granting David semi-psychic abilities must come from his condition.

Mmmm...I don't think I'll be counting this as condition-related though...if that were the case, every episode in which he heals quickly or something would be condition-related. Just schlepping at the power plant.

No, not that Tom Clancy

Somebody needs to tell IMDb.

I learned about it the next morning when I grabbed the Boston Globe from the front porch. There's a moment I'll never forget.

I was a callow grade-schooler with almost no knowledge of the Beatles and wouldn't have known who John Lennon was. My only first-hand memory of the event is from probably a few days later, when people were doing a headlight vigil. I asked why everyone had their headlights on in broad daylight, and my sister told me that one of the Beatles died.

I think that year was probably the first time I'd heard this on the radio, even though it had been released in 1971:

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I was much more affected on the seventh anniversary of John's death...the first to come up after I'd become a fan.

This is probably my favorite Beatles song.

"Norwegian Wood" for me. But it looks like I lucked out with this selection. Thanks to the Fab Lawyers, availability of Beatles videos using the original music is very scarce on YouTube, and lots of good stuff isn't on their own Vevo. I picked the three most John-centric songs that best represented him at different points of his and the band's evolution. Given the choice, my first three picks to represent his work with the Beatles would have been "Help!," "In My Life," and "Strawberry Fields Forever."

It should be on the Human Race's 10 Greatest Songs of All Time.

It is the highest entry on the Rolling Stone list that doesn't contain the phrase "Rolling Stone" in either the song title or band name. (The highest Beatles song is "Hey Jude" at #8.)

Funny thing about "Imagine"...when I first heard it, I thought it was about the beautiful-sounding thing ever...but over the years, it became too overplayed for me. It is, however, undeniably his signature song.

_______

And in case anyone was wondering, here are some songs that were entering the charts the week that this episode aired:

"Ah! Leah!," Donnie Iris

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(#29 US; #19 Rock)

"A Little in Love," Cliff Richard

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(#17 US; #6 AC; #15 UK)

"I Ain't Gonna Stand for It," Stevie Wonder

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(#11 US; #20 AC; #4 R&B; #10 UK)

"Same Old Lang Syne," Dan Fogelberg

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(#9 US; #8 AC)

So...Hulky Holidays, I guess...see you guys next week in 1981.

_______

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was a callow grade-schooler with almost no knowledge of the Beatles and wouldn't have known who John Lennon was. My only first-hand memory of the event is from probably a few days later, when people were doing a headlight vigil. I asked why everyone had their headlights on in broad daylight, and my sister told me that one of the Beatles died.

Lots of vigils, lots of tears-- and a few sneers from triumphant Hippie Haters.

"Norwegian Wood" for me. But it looks like I lucked out with this selection. Thanks to the Fab Lawyers, availability of Beatles videos using the original music is very scarce on YouTube, and lots of good stuff isn't on their own Vevo. I picked the three most John-centric songs that best represented him at different points of his and the band's evolution. Given the choice, my first three picks to represent his work with the Beatles would have been "Help!," "In My Life," and "Strawberry Fields Forever."

All great stuff. My secret alternate favorite Beatles song is "Paperback Writer," for obvious reasons, but that's more McCartney than Lennon.

Funny thing about "Imagine"...when I first heard it, I thought it was about the beautiful-sounding thing ever...but over the years, it became too overplayed for me. It is, however, undeniably his signature song.

Yeah, I suppose that's true, that it's become overplayed. Better than being forgotten, though.

"Ah! Leah!," Donnie Iris

I forgot about this one. It's not a great song, but it has a nice, nostalgic sound-- I think I'll save it to my MP3 folder.

"A Little in Love," Cliff Richard

Forgot about this one, too, and it's definitely forgettable. Just kind of a generic radio song.

"I Ain't Gonna Stand for It," Stevie Wonder

And forgot about this one, too. Bad week. Kind of catchy, but far from his best.

"Same Old Lang Syne," Dan Fogelberg

Now this is a different story. Just an amazing song. At the time, I found it very poignant on its own merits and because I had just had a similar experience (a year after I graduated from high school-- amateur!). Thirty-seven years has exacerbated the poignancy to heartbreaking.

 

[Christopher]

Hulk: “Deep Shock”: I’d forgotten about this one. Until this rewatch, I’d thought “The Psychic” was the only episode of the series that dealt with the premise of paranormal abilities. This time David himself gets the premonitions, though only temporarily. It’s rather a coincidence, except the episode seems to ignore “The Psychic.” You’d think David would have mentioned his past experience with a psychic to Sharon Acker’s doctor character, or that he might’ve tried to contact Annie for help or advice.

Otherwise it’s a fairly unremarkable episode, aside from the atypically early first Hulk-out, even preceding the episode title and credits. And a rare case where we don’t see the “Banner-in” -- there have been some where it’s happened offstage between scenes, but this is a possibly unique case of David changing back offscreen and unchorused within a continuous scene. (Well, possibly unique to the series; it did happen in the revival movies, but that doesn't really count because they didn't use the Startling Metamorphosis Chorus at all.) It does offer a novel twist on David’s fears of the Hulk hurting someone.

And it gives a good look at the mechanics of how the Hulk is motivated by David’s emotions and goals. It’s David’s days-long fear of hurting Edgar that makes the Hulk stop before he does, and we clearly see that the Hulk at least subconsciously remembers the instruction to do something about the unit with the flashing red light. We’ve known this all along, of course, but we’ve never seen it illustrated quite so clearly.

Still, it might’ve been more interesting if McGee had taken more of a hand in the climax. He’s the only one there who knows that there’s a decent man inside the Hulk, so he could’ve been in a position to talk the Hulk down and convince him of the urgent need to shut down the unit. That would’ve been a nice place to take the story, McGee actually reasoning and cooperating with the Hulk. Too bad they didn’t think of that.

Also, McGee clearly knows that the guy he’s looking for went by David Benton. By now, he really should’ve been able to figure out that it’s Banner.

December's Mixer thought that the discussion with the doctor about his psychic powers seemed a little too casual and matter-of-fact.

Not by '70s standards. At the time, there was a widespread belief that there was scientific validity to psychic phenomena. There had been experiments purporting to show their existence, and they hadn't yet been debunked as either inept experimental design or deliberate fraud.

And this part makes no damn sense. When David was having visions of the Hulk looking like he was going to kill Edgar, the natural assumption was that we weren't seeing the circumstances behind the Hulk's actions, and there'd be some sort of explanation for his unusually aggressive behavior when we did. But no such explanation was forthcoming. The Hulk was rarely so threatening to the bad guys, never mind somebody whom David was friends with.

Maybe somewhat. But David was always afraid that there would be some instance where the Hulk got someone killed by accident because he didn't have enough control. It's actually rather implausible that he never accidentally killed someone before; after all, he's thrown a lot of people around, and realistically they wouldn't all know how to take a fall like a professional stunt performer. And didn't this guy have a heart condition or something? So a throw that might've just dazed a typical bad guy could've been fatal to Edgar.

Which he identifies by the label! Hulk...READ!!!

As I said, I think it was just the flashing red light that he subliminally responded to.

Mmmm...I don't think I'll be counting this as condition-related though...if that were the case, every episode in which he heals quickly or something would be condition-related. Just schlepping at the power plant.

And the premise of the episode was that psychic premonitions were a medically established and understood phenomenon, already proven to exist in other people. So I don't think it was meant to have any connection to David's specific "condition" -- except in the sense that being the Hulk enabled him to survive an unusually large shock.