Life and Death

DVD, The Incredible Hulk S1 (Life and Death)

The best thing about this one was seeing Andrew Robinson's name in the opening credits, as he's one of my favourite actors from my favourite TV series ever, 'Deep Space Nine' (he played the Cardassian, Garak). I was thrilled to be able to see a younger version of the man, though I didn't recognise him in the teaser for the episode, it wasn't until he met David (David Barnard this time - he's back to using an alias again!), that I realised the doctor was him - an ironic turnaround when you know Garak's friendship with Dr. Bashir! After the initial excitement of a familiar name, I wasn't sure how the episode was going to go in my estimation, though I hoped it would be one of the better stories of the season. As expected there was no mention of Joanie from the previous episode, and as predicted, Banner just carried on going. This time he's heading for a specific location, Blanchard Metropolitan Hospital, where Dr. Stan Rhodes (named for Stan Lee?), will try an experimental procedure on him to separate his anger gene, or something like that. Unfortunately it turns out Rhodes is rather unethical, as David should have realised when he found out the man was doing this experiment without any kind of permission or proper procedure, so desperate is he for this to work.

I should have guessed Robinson would be playing a bad guy, as that's what he was famous for, but at first Rhodes seems like he cares, his ultimate goal to help people with birth defects, though whether this was his true motivation or it was for money and fame isn't certain, since he was talking to Banner when he said it. But he also shows compassion for the girls that have gone to Matrix, the shady organisation that's buying babies off women that can't afford to look after them, presumably for genetic research purposes. And then we see that Rhodes is willing to murder Banner in cold blood after being cowed by Ellen - she immediately suspects blackmail when she sees a connection between David and Carrie, their newest 'patient,' but I say people that think like that are probably the most likely to practice it and Rhodes would have been held under her thumb if he had backed out of the project. It was effective direction that had Robinson backed into a corner of Ellen's office, and, despite being the taller of the two, his body language and discomfort with the situation leads him to almost crouch in that corner as Ellen stands powerfully over him, an effective shot.

There are other well directed scenes, but there was one technical problem I spotted quite early on: a shot of Carrie Taylor talking to David by the road was spoiled by the juddery camera which was most distracting. Otherwise I liked what they did with the Hulk experiencing the effects of the drug Rhodes gave Banner to kill him, it being so powerful that even the mighty giant has sight blurring in and out, staggering slowly along until his anger leads him to burst out after smashing through the side of a lift (though the shot of him going through a wall looked suspiciously like a reuse of the shot from 'The Final Round' - in the brief instant you see him he's not wearing the shirt he had on). This is the first time we've seen the Hulk really affected by anything - though he's been injured before, the effects don't usually last long, but it took two Hulk-outs (the first a long one), before Banner recovers from the deadly drug. Another first is seeing Hulk smile, which goes a long way to making him into a hero rather than a villain, in line with the sympathetic line they take with him in this series. He's protected women before and tends to react calmly to children, but the baby actually made him happy!

That scene where the police arrive and don't know what to do was good fun, ending with Hulk putting his hands against the wall, as ordered, and the wall being punched out! Again, I wondered if some of that sequence was reused footage from the second pilot 'Death In The Family' as I believe he jumped off a balcony in that also. When we hear that David called Rhodes 'last week' it made me connect this with the '747' episode in which he was trying to make an appointment with another doctor, but they weren't the same people as that one was off to Europe for several months, and more than a week would likely have passed between the several episodes that have happened in between. It's a shame there couldn't be more continuity, but the mention of the places he's been to or just come from are about all we get. That, and McGee poking his nose in! I thought this might be another episode not to feature him, but we get a close call at the end where Banner has to thrust his head into a water fountain at the hospital to avoid the reporter who's on his way to interview Carrie! There is a little continuity in Banner's touching conversation with her when they first meet and talks about the wife he lost, the event that began this whole series off. We also learn that he has, or had, a sister.

It's sad that such scenes are rare in the series as they make the episode more than just action or a familiar story, but in this one we didn't get enough of the personal stuff to improve an otherwise average episode. There was a good stunt when Rhodes is pushed down a flight of stairs (and was far less noticeable a stunt guy than when Banner made the same fall just before, or rolled down the bank near the hospital!), and the idea of showing each hand's changes as he claws his way back up the stairs worked. We also get a rare point of view from the Hulk, as mentioned above, but also during the metamorphosis. The two Hulk-outs both feature a door being taken out, and a wall, but the episode wasn't exciting, being about drugs and medicine in surgery than chases and action, though it did seem to have a social message for those with babies they don't want, talking of aid and assistance for such people. There were also a couple of good lines when Banner sidesteps the question about why he's going to the hospital by saying it's nothing to get worked up about! And then when Carrie says that he's alone, like her, he agrees, sort of, knowing he's never alone with the Hulk inside.

I don't know whether there was a news story about babies being given up or something similar at the time of the episode, but that's the only way I could account for the unlikely added titles on screen when they're dropped off in town at the beginning: 'All characters, organisations, and events in this story are fictional.' That's followed by the place name coming up: 'Marysville, Oregon,' so maybe they were trying to distance themselves from something, or cover themselves, I don't know. I also had a thought for the first time, though I've seen the opening credits so much now - could the deep-voiced narrator telling Banner's story be Lou Ferrigno? I was thinking it sounded like a black man, and then I was thinking Ferrigno must have quite a deep voice, but it remains uncredited. The episode remained rather bogged down, and careful (they feature a conscientious doctor at the hospital to counterbalance Rhodes' malpractice), and either ideas were running low, or funds were, as there aren't the spectacular moments found in some episodes. The writing didn't come to the rescue, so we have another interesting enough story, but nothing more. And I was hoping for so much with Andrew Robinson guest starring!

**

The Changeling

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S6 (The Changeling)

A reality-bending story from the mind of none other than Christopher Judge, and I think it was nice of him to bring back his buddy Michael Shanks to enhance the poignancy of it all. The story could easily have done without Daniel Jackson stopping by to lend moral support (he could do nothing more, as we've seen before when Jack was being tortured in 'Abyss'), but whenever he glides into a story his caring support makes it special (even more so here as I think this is the first time he's appeared to anyone other than Jack). The piano music that calls back to his death/ascension last season adds an emotive tone to a series usually lacking on that level, and though his appearances in this one are fleeting, they have good reason to be there as a guide in Teal'c's mental realm as he tries to reconcile a fictional life incorporating his SGC colleagues and Bra'tac in the Fire Service (of all things!), with his 'real' life with the SG-1 team, and visions of Apophis coming to haunt him and taunt him about a fear of death. But Teal'c has never been afraid to die, being a good warrior, so it makes sense that the real fear is about keeping Bra'tac alive.

It takes a long time before we get a 'real' moment in the episode, when the camera pans over the battleground slaughter of many Jaffa, as if voyaging into some historical painting - the story had more depth than the average episode, and that seemed to be reflected in all departments. I already commented on the affecting music, but the episode begins with an elaborate camera move as we're whisked through a hospital past all kinds of people and into an operating theatre where Apophis prepares to remove Teal'c's symbiote. There are other shots that show mastery of the visual art, such as the simple walk and talk between 'T' and Dr. Jackson in the grounds of the hospital where he's recovering from an operation to remove a kidney for 'Brae' (not to mention the actors having to perform such a long scene without cuts); or on the stairway walk and talk between General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser, using a well-known piece of set in a new and exciting way.

Being written by Judge it's no surprise it focuses on his character as central fulcrum of the story, but it was so well devised and so different, a true science fiction short story, that it makes me want to see more episodes written by him (I know he did a few). There are the usual little touches, such as Siler being one of the firemen who opens the shutter at the station, and Walter the radio dispatcher, so we're reminded of the world we're in, yet it's a completely skewed world. What if… 'Stargate' was actually a Fire & Rescue show? It was interesting to see what an American Fire Service looks like, though they seemed very slow in getting out the door! Not only do we get a heroic tale of mental resilience in the face of near death in a last-ditch effort to save a friend and mentor, we're also treated to a more naturalistic acting style from Judge who gets to be a normal human without the mascara or forehead symbol. He always does an excellent job as the alien warrior of few words that is Teal'c, but he's a revelation in the role of someone flitting between this recognisable personality and a casual-speaking, ordinary American Joe. We know that this isn't reality and there's going to have to be a reason for why he's dreaming this other life, and we're hoping it's going to be a legitimate one, not a halfhearted excuse to do something different, but the quality of the episode is such that you don't really mind if it ends well because you're too busy responding to this make-believe world, and Daniel, and then it turns out to be so important.

I think I guessed the solution to be Teal'c fighting to stay alive and seeing these visions as a way of staying resolute and resilient, as that's usually the reason for such alternate lives when presented in a dream-like way, as opposed to more action-oriented stories of alternate timelines and such, but I had seen it before, long ago, so maybe that had something to do with it, and I didn't predict that it was all a dream, even the SGC scenes. I'm pretty sure there is an episode in which Bra'tac really does die, so I was thinking it might be this one, though thankfully not, as he remains a powerful presence opposite Teal'c. Being critical I could point to the end where things fall back into the technobabble/lore of the series, talking about spare symbiotes from the Tok'ra and a meeting of Jaffa (the reason it all happened), but even that featured a cameo from Jacob to enjoy, and it leaves us uncertain about Teal'c's future - did he really lose his symbiote and now lives on Tretonin from the Pangarans, or was that just a possibility? If he has lost 'Junior,' as O'Neill says, that should be interesting. But a touching, mysterious and worthwhile episode, more than we've seen in a while this season.

***

Never Give A Trucker An Even Break

DVD, The Incredible Hulk S1 (Never Give A Trucker An Even Break)

Well, that was an odd one! An episode that would have been spoiled by the teaser showing the death threat David delivers to Teddy if it hadn't all been so comedic. Maybe they felt that after such a serious story as McGee catching up with the Hulk they should do a 'Smokey and The Bandit'-style car chase in the country. In some ways this wasn't the series to do something like that on because unless Banner's driving he's not in control (a metaphor for the creature?), and if the hero's not in control he's just a passenger, literally… At the same time he makes that crucial decision to get involved and not walk on by (would have been a long walk!), so while he isn't the mover and shaker so much, depending on the feisty Joanie for that, (except the bit where he does drive at the end, and crashes!), he's still there by choice, something that couldn't be said initially when he gets involved under good intentions, duped by the girl. He's quick to forgive and just seems to enjoy the company of this madcap trucker girl, something else that adds more than the usual level of comedy to what, I suppose, is generally a fairly bleak tale of a man searching for answers, though Banner is a warm, friendly person which stops the series from being depressing to watch.

With crazy chase antics, inept and laughable bad guys that never had an ounce of threat in their makeup (except when Teddy orders two of his employees to hold Banner - he should have explained that he was only a hitchhiker), and a 'Wacky Races' mentality, not to mention musical cars where first Joanie, then the baddies, then David, each take turns jumping in and driving either the car or the truck, it's a little hard to feel sorry for Banner in the usual way. Perhaps that's why the traditional ending of him walking forlornly along the highway is inverted so that it takes place at the beginning and other points during the episode, and instead he's allowed the first happy ending he's had in a long time. He's not likely to hang around with Joanie for longer than the promised meal, I can imagine him just moving right along again, but we've not seen things end in a positive way before. Even McGee, who naturally sniffs out the latest sightings of the Hulk, only gets the briefest of mentions that he's asking questions in the area, so it's very much an episode that's turned on its head compared with the norm.

I liked that the travelling has a continuity to it - David admits he's coming from Las Vegas, where the previous episode was set, and is now going through Nevada. It makes the series feel like one continuous whole. It's also good to see that details were being kept in mind, such as the fact that when he's Hulk he does have those cream-coloured trousers rather than standard 'Hulkwear' denim. He even gets in a line about needing to buy stretchy shirts, as well as bringing out a second shirt from his bag after the first Hulk-out. I'm sure people can understand, even today, the frustration with technology that makes him change this time, though I'm sure it wouldn't be as satisfying to throw a mobile phone to the ground in anger than biff a pay phone into next week and burst the entire booth apart! I'm surprised Joanie couldn't use a CB radio on her truck to call for assistance, but it's not the sort of episode where you question why things happened, they just do, often to the sound of banjos and harmonicas. I give them credit for some very dramatic camera views during the chase scenes with the camera presumably bolted out on a rig so you get those views from the corner of vehicles. The destruction of the truck lacked lustre, but seeing the Hulk atop the hill gurning and roaring, and waving his arms about at the destruction made even that moment funny.

That's it, though - it wasn't much more than funny. As jolly a ride, and as unexpected as Joanie was, I would have liked some fear to the proceedings, like when she's trying to use the phone as the truck speeds up. I thought it was going to smash through all the picnic tables and take out the phone as they just drove away by the skin of their teeth, but it didn't happen (though the crushed hubcap was a nice touch). There was no alias again, just David, and it's two Hulk-outs for us this time. The second had already been preempted by the teaser showing us Hulk swinging a telegraph pole into the truck, but it was fun seeing him hurl Teddy's men around at the warehouse. This Hulk is more believable as a character compared with more modern iterations because he can't do 'anything,' he has his limitations. He can't run faster than the truck to catch it up, or stop it when it threatens to run him down, instead pushing the car into its path. And, just like the action figure I have of the character from the nineties, he bends a steel bar! But what about Mike, Teddy's associate: did he die leaping from the truck? It was unclear.

**

The Set-Up Part Two

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S2 (The Set-Up Part Two)

Why use the opening credits and music that would be used for Season 3 in not only a Season 2 episode, but the second half of a two-parter? A very strange decision, and one that makes me wonder if this was the way it was on original transmission (it shows clips from episodes still to come), or some kind of bizarre mix up on the DVDs. It's about the only thing I was wondering about in the early part of the episode as, far from the shocking opening to Part I, this has nothing to grab you, being a continuation of S&H's quest for evidence about Terry Nash's story, to prove what they already suspect. It's another point in my favour when I suggested in Part I that this would have made a better TV film rather than two individual episodes. They're going over the same ground, when they've already given us a recap of what happened previously. The only reason to show them going through pictures at the bank (fascinating that they could only capture one picture every few seconds rather than rolling film, which shows how far we've come in technology today), was for the drama of them having to get out when they realise film has been cut. It was a passable stab at generating tension, but the worst that happens is a pointed remark from Thistleman the Bank Manager, and Nash finding it hard to keep a straight face.

What's missing from the story now is the mystery and Nash's uncertainty over himself, his past and whether anyone will believe him, but this is made up for with spectacle, Part Two proving to be much more the action half of the story, since they'd already had the, yes, set-up. We're treated to a massive explosion outside the Medical Arts Centre when Debra, the assassin prepared at the end of Part One, tries to take out all three in one go by blowing up her car as they're trying to help her with it. It was creepy, knowing she was a threat against them, yet acting the part of a friendly young lady in need of assistance, a honey trap if you will, but I thought she was more a part of the story than this one scene - I was expecting her to show up as one of the 'patients' at the remote castle base in the desert, perhaps make another attempt, but her role was introduced purely for a cliffhanger ending, proving to have no further impact on the story whatsoever! She was one of the many loose ends that were left unresolved in an episode that, again, ran a full forty-eight minutes, and yet had time for S&H and Nash to wander around to various places.

One thing she did achieve, which a few have tried before, but none succeeded, was in blowing up Starsky's prized motor: the Torino was the best of the three explosions in the episode (I almost felt I was watching an episode of 'BUGS'!), and was quite horrifying to see the iconic vehicle caught in the blast radius and erupting in a ball of fire, then kindling like a struck match and roaring with angry flames, or it should have felt that way - in reality you're not even that sure it was meant to be a big thing as Starsky's more surprised than shocked about it, and no one mentions it again, except when he's talking to Dobey on the phone. I wondered if there was a scene cut out or not filmed because he seems to have burnt hands as if he'd charged in and tried to put out his car or gone too close, in the episode as it stands there being no indication of when he might have been burnt.

Again, there's another stab at heightening the paranoia when Hutch starts to realise there's something wrong with the girl. It's one of the more effective moments in the episode, but after that S&H step out of their characters' remit, becoming wanted for Federal arrest (continuing to hang out with Durniak's killer wouldn't have helped their case), which Dobey warns them about, and going even further by kidnapping a Bank Manager in his own car park! I know security may not have been as strong in those days, but you'd think somebody would have noticed two men getting into his car just as he drove up, and leaving immediately! I will say that Thistleman had a conk ripe for grabbing (a curiously fitting form of violence for Starsky), and (as any nose-related grabbery does), made me think of 'The Karate Kid Part II.' I liked that Dobey helped them, though it would have been his own career on the line if the FBI found out - that's another missing piece of the episode, the FBI man called Wilson who looked to be introduced for a reason in Part One, but doesn't even appear in this one. He wasn't essential, but why have him in Part One at all if he's not going to be a thorn in S&H's side? S&H are shown to be working outside the law when they have to avoid police, specifically at the bowling, Starsky using a bowling ball as cover when the cops walk past!

What were they even doing at a bowling complex? Starsky just suggests it out of the blue, and, while I can imagine it was one of the few places open at night, it seems more likely that they had the option to shoot in it and so decided to set another scene there and make it worthwhile, regardless of making sense in the context of the story. I suppose it was more comfortable than the dockside shack or wherever it was supposed to be that they meet up with Dobey in. I enjoyed the Captain's usual dismissive orders to Huggy (the first time we've seen him since he was partnering the Turkey, yet no mention is made of the venture!), this time to watch his car while he meets with his men! There were a couple of lines, one by him and one by Hug in the episode that sounded odd. One was when he responds to S&H mistaking him for Huggy in the gloom of the shack by saying that 'of course we all look alike, I know' ironically, though he and the Bear look about as different as could be! The other is when Hug says a word S&H look askance at him for and he replies that 'the English language is not the exclusive property of the white man.' So there was definitely some social commentary going on, I think it was just situated oddly and out of the blue.

If Part One, and much of the first half of this episode was 'Mission: Impossible,' the second half turns into classic James Bond with a remote castle hideout to infiltrate using rickety technology and a crazy pilot (though if it had been Bond the Baron would probably have been female!), to get them there. The Baron, whom I was so sure was called The Black Baron (as opposed to The Red Baron), though this never happened, was the only wacky character in the episode, unless you count Thistleman's cowardly ways, or Terry's poor acting at being embarrassed, and was great fun to boot, with his leather jacket and old-fashioned flying gear, unstable old plane, formal way of talking (in-between bouts of uncontrolled laughter), and motto to always be prepared! I can't imagine an episode like this where Starsky bursts out into a corridor toting a sub-machine gun in each hand, or blowing a hole in a wall with grenades to escape from a room, everyone dashing around firing, escape helicopter being shot down in a blaze of destruction, in Season 1! It's very much in the chaotic, large canvas style of this season, that chaos humour seen again when S&H show discomfort in the plane's construction and the pilot's ability while The Baron is wildly enjoying himself.

It's the better part of the episode, but I'm not sure that flying low over this remote stronghold in the middle of nowhere with a noisy, sputtering plane, was the best idea (not to mention wheeling off and landing not too far away!), as that should have alerted the guards. But, just as they resemble Bonds frequent adversaries of besuited, gun-wielding goons, they also show the same level of intelligence as his armies of enemy cannon fodder, getting themselves knocked out (the guy whom Starsky whacks with his gun had been a heavy in at least one previous episode, so he may have been a stunt guy), shot, or blown up (in the case of 'George' in the helicopter). It raises the issue, though, of good guys killing. It's not often that S&H are forced to shoot someone to the death, and only in a defensive situation, they can usually wing the villain and then put the cuffs on, but in this it's much more cartoony and Bondian, with people being shot and dropping all around. Because they're all in suits, though, they don't feel like real people, and I suppose one reason to kill off the main baddie, the instigator, was so that some mystery was left as he couldn't be interrogated for the good guys to find out about the organisation.

It's one thing for S&H to shoot people, but then Hutch lets Terry Nash have a gun after holding him down and slapping him out of a reversion to his psychotic programming, after he's seen a picture of his 'wife' which had set him off. Feeling better? Okay, now here's a gun. And then, when Nash wants to pay them back, rather than Hutch saying no, we can't have you going for revenge, he just says not with suicide, as if it's okay, as long as he takes care of himself, which then leads to Nash taking out the 'copter! I know they were fighting for their lives against well-equipped syndicate heavies who were on their own turf, but it's not their normal MO. You could say that they're not operating as police officers because officially they're suspended after the arrest warrant, but even so…

In one of the weakest endings we've seen, prompted by them wasting time earlier in the episode, they have the briefest and most contrived of concluding scenes, a quick wrap-up with a semi-jokey ending in which neither the explanation or humour works! They have Dobey take on this aloof attitude to what had happened so they can spell the main points out, in the midst of which the Captain flumps down as if giving in, and says the future is Nash's, to which he replies that it's the past he's interested in. Wah, wah, wah, waaaaaah… At the same time they're laying groundwork for a sequel by saying that more brainwashed people could be out there, but the worst thing is, it was never dealt with again. I wasn't bothered either way about whether Nash returned because I didn't dislike, or particularly like him - he was merely a tool, a kind of neutral character, very level without being completely unemotional. I also thought he was going to be revealed as a former soldier (like Jason Bourne), because of that meeting with the guy in the street in Part One, and that they mention how he knows how to handle a gun, but this was just another loose end that remained unexplained. I also thought it would turn out he didn't actually kill Durniak (perhaps confusing the story with 'The Dark Knight' and its false attention to an upper window during Gordon's assassination), but he did. So he was a murderer, even if he was acting under someone else's influence!

The biggest irritation is how many of these plot points remain in the dark: the cashier in the bank appeared to be under duress when she said Nash hadn't been there, so were she or her family threatened, or was it a payoff, or was she working with Thistleman? We don't know. Where did Debra the assassin go and was she ever tracked down? We never find out. The same for Part One's phoney FBI agent, Oliver - no details. Nash's real identity and past, and whether he'll remember pre-brainwashing? Nope. The biggest might be the set-up for a Mr. Big behind it all, whoever George was talking to on the phone and recommending the West Coast operation be shut down (at least we know where in America Bay City is), and something that could have been dealt with again. We can take from that, that they never troubled S&H's area again, but it could easily have been a bigger thing they have to confront again, the series' equivalent of a secret, recurring enemy, something they didn't tend to do. And why is Nash not immediately arrested for manslaughter if nothing else? I can't say it was infuriating because the stories weren't so good that leaving things hanging meant much to me, and it was an okay two-parter, though the weakest of the three they had done by this time.

There are no references, except for when The Baron calls the dozy guy on the bed at the castle, Sleeping Beauty, but it was fun for me to recognise Jerry Hardin playing the role of the psychiatrist, Hank - he would famously play Samuel Clemens in the two-part 'TNG' story 'Time's Arrow,' and a couple of other roles on that and 'Voyager.' This was one of the rare episodes to feature the title on screen, something they didn't bother to do for Part One, with a narrator announcing it as the exciting conclusion. Another out of place moment was the freeze frame over Debra's face when they meet her, with George's words about killing them spoken over it, because we'd just seen in the recap who she was and we didn't need another reminder! After the good horror music recently, they went back to the discordant percussion, which was disappointing, as well as letting someone loose on one of those Jamaican steel drums for no apparent reason. And I wonder if they paid that squirrel to get it to run across the Catholic school car park on cue - the wrangler wasn't getting it back, that's for sure! A bit scary for three strange men to walk through a girls school unannounced, though!

**

The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas

DVD, The Incredible Hulk S1 (The Hulk Breaks Las Vegas)

For a man on the run, Banner so often gets involved with things that it would be hard to keep a low profile in, but then, that's why he's a hero, it has nothing to do with him turning into a green superhuman. With this one we come to the question that's been posed since the pilot: will Jim McGee, reporter at The National Register finally uncover his identity? It looks like the game is up several times, and there's a great tension running through between Banner's wish to help, and his need to keep away from his reporter nemesis - this time he's forced into making contact, even saving him! Those things alone make the episode highly watchable, but they should have made for a better episode. Unfortunately the extraneous characters and running around don't do the drawn-out story many favours. We have a Mr. Big called Edler who just happens to run the casino that David's been working at for a week during his stay in Las Vegas (did the Hulk really break Las Vegas? Does one gambling table count?), and he keeps being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or needing to be in that wrong place.

A certain Ed Campion has evidence against Edler (what exactly, I'm not sure), so ends up in a hit and run, and who should be close by but Banner, who rather than keep out, of course uses his medical knowledge to assist. I must say I'd have thought the ambulance man and the doctor he meets at the hospital would have pressed him on his detailed knowledge of medicine a little more, rather than just assuming he was a very gifted amateur! The episode mainly revolves around this evidence and who's got the key to the locker in which it's hidden. McGee gets pulled into the story quite naturally through a fellow reporter and (presumably), his wife, who appear to be friends of his, or at least friendly colleagues. Not that you'd know it from the way McGee coldly reacts to their harassment, barely any comfort to Wanda and no obvious intention to visit Ed in the hospital where he lies in a coma! For McGee the story is the only thing that matters. The only flash of humanity we see in him is when he's excited to finally be confronted by the Hulk and doesn't want to frighten the creature off, and then it's more like professional curiosity than concern for himself, Wanda, or the creature. On the other end of the scale he has a sharp tongue when the hotel reception clerk proves not to have much of an eye for detail, not remembering the man who left McGee an envelope (Banner).

I really thought this was going to be the episode when McGee realised Banner was alive and well - if he's been going to all the locations the Hulk had been seen then he must have made the connection with this mysterious man called David that keeps cropping up under different surnames (this time Banner doesn't even use a new cover, only going by his first name), especially as he likes to interview all the people around the scene. It's amazing that Banner was able to keep working at the casino after the events - as his friend Cathy said, McGee had been around bothering people with questions a lot, so how come Banner didn't move on immediately? When he's forced into a car by Edler's man, Lee (whom I was wondering about being a relation of Michael Dorn's, as there was a similarity there), which already contains McGee, you think the game is up, but no, true to form, the reporter didn't go quietly and got socked! And earlier when Banner has to get to McGee to warn him of impending danger. But what would happen if he did know the creature was Banner? How would he react? Will he now have a better opinion of it after it clearly saved his life from both the quarry pit and the thugs? Probably not, knowing his type, but I hope it makes him more dedicated to track it down as his integration into the episode made it better than it might have been.

Technically, the episode wasn't as impressive as 'Terror in Times Square' where we got to see Hulk dashing through New York - this time we're only treated to some obvious back projection, both in the Hulk's run, and some in-car views, which is a shame, but I suppose Vegas isn't as iconic in terms of its city aside from tacky blinking lights. The Hulk-outs weren't done badly, but the best moment within them was by far when the bully, Edler, who's just beaten Banner over a bannister in a surprisingly brutal and one-sided fight, taunts David who he's seen fall down the stairs into darkness, and then this big shape looms up and he gets his own medicine right back! The second Hulk-out was more urgent, but the fine gravel that was poured over Banner and McGee by Charlie (played by Charles Picerni who I know well from multiple roles on 'Starsky & Hutch,' most notably as Starsky's stunt double!), looked like more of an inconvenience than a life-threatening situation (though I wouldn't encourage an open-mouthed roar of displeasure just when it's being tipped over you as Banner lets forth!). I wonder how Banner recovered from his bullet wound? Maybe in shrinking back to his normal dimensions the bullet popped out, or it could have just been a graze…

The point of the story was a bit incidental, with everything revolving around a document in an envelope rather than more personal danger, but I suppose there're only so many of these situations you can put Banner into that he can help out, yet not reveal himself. I don't see the formula changing, though, and that's the way it is, but it must grow into something else to have lasted for five seasons, or whatever the number is? I liked that Banner was seen to deal with the repercussions of becoming the Hulk, such as when he has to talk to police officers who move him along or borrows clothes from a kindly mechanic - it shows that it doesn't always work out simply for him, the real world after effects need to be dealt with. And as ever I should have guessed that he would lose the slot machine, friend Cathy let him have one last go at, just before it's time for him to be moving on. He always makes new friends, but he can never keep them, and that bittersweetness is what makes the series more than just a standard action or detective show.

**

Forsaken

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S6 (Forsaken)

You sensed immediately that things were not as simple as they first seemed, but you could also say that this was hardly the most complex of stories. Maybe because it followed a clips show, or perhaps I was just in the mood for a basic, but outdoor sci-fi story, this one worked fine for me, though when I originally saw it I felt it was pretty average. The ship that had crashed into a planet looked okay (not as good as the 'DS9' one from 'The Ship'), even though you could tell that only part of it was real and the rest CGI extension, but the internal set on a slant showed a bit of effort had been expended, and the exciting shootout between marauding aliens looked good, partly thanks to some different weapons, partly because it came out of the blue, and also because it's usually fun to see alien weapons fire in a lush woodland setting!

In sci-fi terms it wasn't trying particularly hard, it's a straight-up story of a prison ship having crashed on an alien world (three years seems a long time for both parties still to be living within a short walk of each other!), the prisoners gaining control and their jailers, the alien Serrakin, being forced out and most of them killed. I was interested in the trio of humans, a people descended from Celts of the Hebrides (hence their world being called Hebridan), as well as the good news that there are other benevolent aliens out there who have fought the Goa'uld to emancipate another race, as the Serrakin did for the Hebridans, thus creating an intermingled culture. It strikes me that the interracial issues would have been a ripe vein to tap, but there's really no racism dealt with, it's simply that the prisoners were bad'uns who got out in the crash and took over the asylum.

The B-story, if you can be generous enough to give such a short deviation that monicker, is Jonas dealing with the injured woman of the trio, Reynard, who is so thrilled that he saved her in the attack (I must admit I didn't notice him do anything, but it could have been the slightest hint that he pulled her out of the line of fire and she would have still hero worshipped him, insincerely as it turned out), she wanted him to know it! If there's ever an alien woman injured on a base Jonas will make a beeline there, it seems (if this and 'Frozen' are anything to go by!) - it did rather appear that they left out his plan to trap her so we could get the 'surprise' at the end, one of a couple of times when you could telegraph what was going to happen. The other being when Pender is no longer in visual range during his, O'Neill's and Teal'c's hunt, so you know he's going to show up and deal with Carter, who really should have been more guarded. You can see these things coming, but despite this I was in the mood for a simple concept that looked good and played well, with the team all working together and a glimpse into a larger universe with the background of the Serrakin/Hebridan history and the team off on an alien world, and this ticked the boxes.

'Captain' Aden Corso was a bit of a Captain Kirk (the modern JJ Abrams version from the films), being quite sleazy and cocksure, though less trustworthy. It was frustrating whenever O'Neill's plans or actions were messed up by Pender, such as when he kills one of the attacking aliens whom Jack wounded, or stops him from talking to the other one when O'Neill catches it looking at the dead body, so it's pretty clear that they're going out of their way not to have any dialogue with these people or let anyone else do so. The design of the creatures was simple, but effective, although it did have the effect of making Unas come to mind, so I was waiting for these to be another branch of that race, but they weren't. It's also a shame that this Celtic people that apparently were related to Scots all spoke with an American accent - maybe they thought viewers wouldn't understand their dialogue otherwise? And the way it started with that telescope in a leafy environment I thought we might be at O'Neill's home. We weren't, and it didn't make sense that he wasn't interested in the astronomy that Carter was talking about or realise he'd not be able to see anything in the day! A case of forgetting character details? Finally, I wondered how this alien was going to get his ship back home without his crew of eight - they must have all served a purpose!

***

The Set-Up

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S2 (The Set-Up)

I don't remember exactly how this two-parter ends, but then I didn't remember how it began, either, and had it mixed up with Season 3's 'The Plague,' so when it started so startlingly I was a little surprised. I had this down as a notably average episode so I didn't expect it to open so strongly with Terry Nash's wife being mercilessly blasted by two besuited assassins, rather similar to how the series itself began. Then you have that serious and impassioned speech from 'Dr. George Stegner' and Nash sneaking out of his hospital room and it begins to feel a little 'Mission: Impossible'! Only after all that intriguing, erm… 'set-up,' do we get to S&H, and in marked contrast to other recent episodes the comedic element has been inverted - they had been seemingly getting it out of the way in opening scenes before more serious stuff happened (e.g: 'Nightmare' and 'Bloodbath'), so to have such a heavy opening and then some lighter scenes was another thing that set things askew. As we find out, things are much more askew than we realised, though early on I had the faint memories that he never really had a wife and it was all, erm… a set-up. Obviously.

I kind of liked how it started and got going, intrigued by the nightmarishly slow-motion assassination and George's more powerful acting than we're used to, enjoying the fun of S&H pretending to be truckers, Starsky revelling in 'Americana,' Hutch getting the wrong end of the stick when the burly trucker comes over, and even more when we finally get to the bottom of what links the opening with S&H's current situation: Joseph Durniak, former crime boss. What was most interesting here is that we get an oh-so-rare and all-too-brief glimpse into one of the main characters' backstory, hearing that Starsky's Father had been shot by gangsters when he'd been only a boy, as well as that he and Jo somehow knew each other quite well, even though Jo stood for everything Starsky's Dad fought against. He was evidently fond of him enough that he paid for the funeral, and he calls Starsky 'Little Davy.' There's the implication that his Dad was a police officer or involved in law and order somehow, but it's all so tantalisingly little to go on, teasing us with titbits we don't usually have on the characters and their lives. That's without mentioning that Hutch says he and Starsky have been partners for about seven years, though we may have had that information before - we knew that two years before Season 1's 'Pariah' they were in uniform.

What began as an episode that draws you in, eventually suffers from something they tend to have trouble with in this series whenever they stretch a story over more than one episode: things get drawn out, the pace suffers and we're left wondering if it wouldn't have been better to condense it into just the one after all. Actually, I felt like it could have been a TV film or a slightly longer episode of the series (like the pilot), as it had that feel to it, and I wanted to see the whole story in one sitting. It was, in fact, slightly longer, clocking in at forty-eight minutes when usually episodes are around the forty-five minute mark. They could easily have kept it to the usual running time and increased the sense of urgency, which really drops off after Durniak is killed. The episode had suffered long panning shots several times and a very definite unhurried approach, part of which works when you know that Durniak is going to die and S&H are going to fail, enhanced by Jo's sense of his impending doom, that they won't be able to protect him, that the gangsters he's going to testify against will get to him. If anyone was going to stop them it was going to be S&H, but it's about them failing, though we don't get the full force of it as we do sometimes. It's after that that things slide.

Terry Nash, the guy that has apparently shot dead Durniak after his information from George decides to get in contact after he hears on the news that his target, whom he was told had killed his wife, was actually going to be a witness to indict sixty gangland killers. So he doesn't exactly hand himself in, but wants to find out more. Good job it was S&H that came along instead of just any old coppers who might not have believed him and might have dragged him in for obstructing an investigation if he didn't tell them what he knew. It does seem odd that S&H so readily believe him, even when we're taken through all his imaginary life, with the North Tower Hotel he stayed at empty; St. Damien's Hospital actually being Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Girls School; there being no record of his doctor or of any death as he describes it where his wife was supposed to have been murdered. Even the bank won't corroborate his visit or account. In the 'Mission: Impossible' style of things not being what they appear, it's good, but it just takes so long for S&H to wander around gathering up all this false evidence before they think of the hidden cameras at the bank, and the already lost pacing drags on.

It could easily have just dealt with Nash's fake life quicker and got to the real culprit, but then they… erm, 'set-up' another element at the end with this girl, Debra, being told a similar story to Nash by the same 'George' we saw before. It's meant to be a thrilling end, but it felt artificially extended. S&H were too ready to believe this stranger and hang out with him - yes, we, the audience have got to know Nash a bit, but they hadn't, and yet before long Hutch is saying they can all stay over at his place for the night (though we don't see it). I can understand they want to keep this guy close at hand and are playing a hunch that there's something fishy going on, and with very little leads to follow up on he might be their best bet, but it's playing into FBI man Wilson's hands, sticking so close to a guy that was at the scene of Durniak's murder! It could be because I'd seen the episode before so I wasn't so easily fooled, but everything seemed so much of an, erm… 'set-up,' down to the photo Nash holds of him and his wife, which is clearly doctored, with a split down the middle; cine-film of the pair (who was holding the camera for that, then?); and when an old associate, Steve Reynolds (1966, 3rd battalion Khe Sanh), recognises him in the street, calling him Buddy Griggs. We're supposed to be piecing all this together that this guy isn't really who he thinks he is and his memories are impaired, but the mystery is off.

It's farfetched that Nash (or Griggs - the moment reminded me of a similar scene in 'DS9' episode 'Tribunal' when O'Brien bumps into an 'old friend' from a previous ship), would just go off and try to kill someone because his wife was murdered, but I suppose if brainwashing is part of the mix, and the sixties and seventies often dealt with this 'science' as if it was a dangerous reality, then he could be tricked into anything. At North Tower, the fake guard's lack of concern for a guy that just walked past in a shredded and bloodied jacket (after he just asked him if he was alright!), would can be explained away if the guard was part of the… erm, set-up, which he must have been. It wouldn't explain some of the technical issues in the episode, such as the photographer who captures S&H and Nash on film - apparently able to take photos and cine-film from what looked like an ordinary camera, but more cleverly, shown to be snapping from close to the building, yet gets images and film from the three men going towards the building! He wouldn't have been able to shoot that angle from where he was. Unless we're meant to believe he was only taking photos and someone else was taking cine-film, but it's shot in a way that we're made to think it's him! Also when Debra's watching the footage it zooms in on the image on the projector screen, while the camera is moving away as if it had been matted in and couldn't quite be synched! Also odd to have a narrator at the end: "Next time on Starsky & Hutch, the conclusion of 'The Set-Up.'"

There are various connections and references, not the least being S&H undercover again; this time as truckers with the handles the Puce Goose and the Blond Blintz; as well as Hutch undercover as a waiter who brings Durniak and Starsky the room service breakfast. As a trucker, Hutch seems carefree and happy, maybe a change of career was in order, going so far as singing 'Black Bean Soup' (still going around my head now!) - after two weeks of driving around (from El Paso to Fresno they tell the guard), you'd think he'd be tired of the role, but it looks like both he and Starsky were enjoying themselves! Dobey (whose password to enter Durniak's room was very fitting for him: "Come on, Starsky, open this door!"), mentions Don Quixote; the 'Newsworld' magazine sounded like a made up name, but the Washington Post is real, I think. S&H running up against someone in authority (Wilson), who doesn't trust them or approve of their methods is fairly common, though we haven't seen it for a while; and Hutch does a car boot takedown in grand style on the thief fleeing from the Webster hotel.

The photographer at the end is another clue that things aren't all fine and dandy - he shows up earlier at the scene of Durniak's assassination outside the Freemont Hotel and points S&H in the direction of the Webster. The bank manager, Thistleman, who we see very briefly standing in the bank, may have been the same guy who was looking for his golden eagle coin at the end of the previous episode - as actor Darryl Zwerling is credited as 'Man' in that one, and his name is one that comes up at the opening credits of this (it's annoying when they don't include the character's name with the actors, though they usually only do it when it's a two-parter), I don't know who else each character could have been in their respective episode. In this he doesn't have a moustache, but I'm sure this is the one that I was racking my brains over trying to remember where else I'd seen the guy at the end of 'Huggy Bear and The Turkey.' No doubt he'll be more obvious in part two. I just hope that this one wasn't all just… erm, 'set-up' for the conclusion.

**

Disclosure

DVD, Stargate SG-1 S6 (Disclosure)

It's a clips show. What more can be said? But seriously, episodes made to save money by relying on clips of other episodes do seem ultimately rather pointless - we watch a series to see new stories, not get a reminder of old ones. While that might have been a nostalgic and fun revisit of fondly remembered moments before it was possible to watch any TV episode on demand, in the days when we can easily get hold of almost anything, it's more of a time waster. Did they really need to get that exact quotient of episodes? Could they not have skipped one if they had to save money? Or even get the cast in a room and do a stage play - 'Twelve Angry Men' is a thrilling film and that all happens in one room! But for that you'd need extra high quality writing, perhaps not available for TV? It follows in the tradition of the series, right from Season 1 with 'Politics,' to 'Out of Mind' with 'Divide and Conquer,' 'Threshold' and 'The Sentinel' suggesting they might be, but fortunately weren't, clips shows, so at least it had been a while since we last got one of these.

Regardless of the format I suppose I ought to at least provide an opinion on the new material contained in the episode. It doesn't feature any of the main cast, except General Hammond, so I think this is the first one since Jonas joined up that doesn't include him. I wonder if the actors enjoyed having a little holiday? The episode starts with a bombshell: several of the 'big' nations have been summoned by the USA for a secret meeting at the Pentagon. They include representatives of the UK, France, China and Russia. The title gives it all away, but not until I saw the various countries represented did I realise this was the big moment I'd been waiting for; the day when the Stargate became public knowledge the world over! But it didn't quite transpire like that. It was great to see the question of why the US hadn't informed other nations about such a life-changing revelation as the Stargate and the advances in technology it led to, something I've been wondering about even in recent reviews: why do they not at least have teams from their allies? Well, the answer is… I'm still not sure, but I had to agree with China, in about the most realistic moment of the story, who are horrified with the shift in the balance of power that America now has with space-capable vehicles and high-powered weaponry. This is how most would react, I think, when confronted with such an incredible story.

That the other nations would agree to keep everything quiet just because an alien (Thor), makes a guest appearance and assures them that Hammond and the team are the best bet, was farfetched, and I was expecting him to brainwash them to forget, as the most logical way out of such a hole. But no, even China now believe that the Stargate programme is in safe hands! Totally ridiculous, but this is an American programme, so of course they had to come out on top! It doesn't look like we'll be having any English SG teams any time soon, even if, as was indicated, each of the representatives were able to convince their governments that it's best to keep it all quiet for the foreseeable future. The reality would be that it wouldn't be up to one ambassador, and the Chinese government weren't going to sit on this thing. Nor would anyone, I think, but we're living in a fictional world here, where political realities don't have too much weight. Take Senator Kinsey, the old goat, this time trying to take control of the programme by manoeuvring the NID to be voted into control which he'll soon be overseeing. Would such a man be able to survive politically, and would the other nations be any happier with a different branch of the US government being in control? I wouldn't have thought so.

In a way this would be an ideal episode for a new viewer to start with, as it deals with the main points about the Stargate programme, reminds about several adventures that occurred, as well as the advancement in manmade technology. It would be ideal if it weren't so dull, with five men in a briefing room being given a video presentation by Major Davis. That's the main problem with this so-called episode: it's dull, even chucking in some exciting clips from past episodes didn't wake me up, and it's such a shame that such an important issue of the series as the secrecy (or not), of the whole organisation could be wasted in a non-episode. The only other little glimmer of interest for me was that Michael Shanks makes another return - yes, we see him as Daniel in old clips, but also we have him doing the voice of Thor again, so that was a nice addition, though hardly worth the price of admission. Eminently missable.

*

Huggy Bear and The Turkey

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S2 (Huggy Bear and The Turkey)

A different kind of an episode, this one, and there's a reason for it: it was meant to be what is known as a 'backdoor pilot,' an opportunity to spinoff a new series using an existing series' money and exposure, kind of a cheat in some ways, but one that in this case leads me to wish it had become a vehicle for Huggy (and to a lesser extent J. D. Turquet). The only other backdoor pilot I've (knowingly) seen is the original 'Star Trek' story 'Assignment: Earth,' but I wasn't that bothered with the absence of that particular series as it would have been just plain weird to have a spinoff set in the 20th Century, but was connected to Trek (of course Trek eventually got its spinoff deserts in spades!), whereas I would have loved to see where the wacky characters and odd couple dynamics of this version would have gone while still inside the 'Starsky & Hutch' world. One thing that would surely have been different would be S&H's penchant for coming in at the end and saving Huggy and his buddy, but we get a taste of where things might have gone in Huggy's more physical role in comparison to his usual laid-back demeanour. He rarely looks happy or relaxed, which may have led to him becoming a different character from the cool, in-control Bear we knew.

J. D. 'Turk' Turquet (the imaginatively named of the title), had rather stolen some of Hug's thunder in regard to characteristics - he was the one being cool and with his drawl he had more the impression of being the chilled out one, even when put into zones outside of his comfort. That's something that would have made the series interesting, its mix of black and white cultures, something that S&H didn't have because although they were different personalities they both understood each other and lived in the same world, whereas you get a different kind of bickering from Hug and Turk, one that stems from their desire to work together, but with widely different tastes and experience. Perhaps this was all too ahead of its time for the audience of the day, or perhaps it was the uncertain footing in the very un-p.c. twists that counted against it, I just don't know what it was that stopped this from becoming a series in its own right, but I would have watched it!

How does Huggy's character change for his semi-first starring role? I say semi because he'd already featured heavily in Season 1's 'Kill Huggy Bear,' (this wasn't his last either, as Season 4's 'Huggy Can't Go Home' testifies), but as I've discussed many times in these reviews once he lost his base of operations; his own bar and restaurant, he was reduced in stature, so it was wonderful to have a Huggy heavy episode again. I already mentioned he seems strained and out of his ordinary easygoing manner, possibly because he's in the thick of the action, but he also gets fewer of the best lines, and when you're used to every other sentence coming out of a character's mouth being gold you notice the change. I'm not saying I didn't like Hug in this, I did, but it was more an anomaly seeing him out of his depth in some degree and constantly hounded by goons. But he also gets to show his action man credentials such as when he kicks Sonny Watson's gun out of his hands or has a fake fight with his partner in order to fool Sugar and Milo.

I wasn't sure where Turquet came from, he was right out of the blue as if Huggy had known him for ages, but of course we've never heard tell of him or seen hide or hair of the guy before. Saying that, I felt they did a good job with casting the actor as it must have been difficult to replicate the kind of buddy cop feel that S&H instantly had and find someone suitable to play off Huggy, but who was also very different. He's as much a silly buffoon as Huggy can be so the series would probably have been more cartoonish and fun even than Season 2 of 'Starsky & Hutch,' which is saying something (they might even have got to 'Dandruff' levels of ridiculousness in half the time!), but somehow the mix of odd characters in their world and slapstick action (Leotis dropping the heater on the advancing heavies and them rolling down the stairs in a heap springs to mind!), worked. It was never going to have the depth of something like 'Nightmare,' or likely to play up the creepiness like 'Bloodbath,' (though you know an episode would have eventually happened with one of them having to track down their kidnapped partner!), but the tension between two cultures and each having to fit into the other's when following up leads would have provided plenty of entertainment. Tension isn't perhaps the right word, there's very little of that here, it was more of a comedic confusion and misunderstanding.

I imagine it might not have been as accepted today as, for example Turquet doing an impression of a black man in order to fool a blind old woman, but it was undeniably funny, and somehow inoffensive because it was done with good intentions. The potential for suggestions of racism go both ways, though, as Blind Bessie apparently doesn't like 'honkies' (presumably white people, unless it just meant southerners, I'm not up on my lingo of that time!), which is the cause of Turquet's attempt at a black impression. You can also draw attention to the way the blind woman is played, clattering about her home crying out "Don' help me! Don' help me!" while dropping things or whatever, as making blindness seem like foolishness, except they do counterbalance that at the end of the scene when we realise it's a bit of an act and she knew all along that Turquet wasn't genuine. Actually these twists along the way make the episode better than if it had been a straightforward detecting story, as done so many times before and since - the mixing of two cultures was the uniqueness of the idea, especially for the time. But don't even start on the return of the series' penchant for men dressed as women!

Maybe there were some stereotypes and slightly negatively shaded messages of that era, but there were also good ones too: the most obvious is Huggy's refusal to carry guns, something Turquet's obviously reluctantly gone along with in the partnership - as Hug says, if you carry one you know what'll happen, something that very definitely sets the pair apart from S&H who of course always carried a gun, one of their most important pieces of equipment. This shows that the stories would have had to be different in tone as well as coming to them from the different angle of private detectives that don't have the law to back them up as opposed to serving police. A less obvious message is that everyone has their skills and place. Leotis, another of Huggy's many cousins (and, I think, the only one we actually ever meet), was a nice lad, but clearly had issues - he tended to take what people said literally (as in the water heater rather than 'heater' meaning gun), no doubt he'd be diagnosed with something today, but Huggy and Turk help him feel better about himself, and it's not hard when we realise he's actually something of a genius with numbers and has a brilliant brain in that regard! I would hope Leotis had been part of the main cast if it had gone to series.

Another character that might have been a main or recurring character was the woman at The Pits (I think she must be the one credited as 'Scorchy' as there aren't many female characters), who gets Hug and Turk the Foxy Baker job, or at least, passes the information over to them. She might have been a Captain Dobey-like figure (who, incidentally, doesn't appear), there to provide a matriarchal presence for them to get work or leads from. I may be reading too much into her brief appearance, but we'll never know. It's interesting to me that they meet at The Pits because I felt sure Huggy's place was called that, but I may be mistaking different times in the series' run as I believe his place was just called 'Huggy Bear's' so maybe he gets The Pits later, unless I'm imagining it.

In keeping with this being a 'Starsky & Hutch' episode we get a plethora of wacky or weird characters, more, in fact than most recent episodes of the series, but this setting, more fun and lighthearted (as much as murdering wives and dangerous criminals can be), seemed to be perfect for those characterful oddities. The villains are represented by Bad 'Dad' Watson and his son Sonny with their band of goons, none of whom are in the intelligent enemy band, but provide enough danger for the newly minted detective duo to handle, especially as they have guns and aren't afraid to use them. 'Dad' is a rasping, coughing baddie grasping an oxygen mask and spluttering into rage, but it's his son who's the real villain of the piece alongside Foxy Baker, the woman who brought them the case originally. I'm not sure it made sense for her to do that, but she did at first try to ask S&H, adding more chaos to an already chaotic scene, another in this style that's becoming beautifully common this season and that emphasises the humour all the more - Starsky dressed as an old lady is on the back of a fleeing goon, while grabbing onto railings to try and keep him there, then Hutch rushes out in a beard that's falling off and tries to handcuff this large criminal, and that's the moment Foxy chooses to appear and ask for assistance!

Just as Aesop Aquarian in 'Bloodbath' could have been the name of the character the actor played as well as his own name, Fuddle Bagley could easily have been used for his character, Walter T. Baker, such a perfect name for the role! Walter T. is a gibbering idiot who keeps repeating his catchphrase "We all gonna die! Die! Die!" but he's also somehow endearing for his utter helplessness and lack of courage. It leads to a good ending with Leotis slinging him over his back and leading them all up onto the roof to escape from the approaching Watson gang by using a plank or beam across the gap to the next building. It was shot very effectively with views glancing down to the distant ground and even a shot looking up at them making the crossing. Such a thin bridge made my fingertips and feet tingle, and it led to a fine little finale, even if, as discussed, S&H dash in to save the day - well, it was their series. I wonder if they enjoyed having more time off since they only make appearances at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end!

The episode freeze frames on Huggy and Turquet and you think that's it, it's finished, but no, we then go to a final final scene with them at police HQ where a man wanders in who needs help locating his 1854 golden eagle coin and they snap up their next case, but again, it ends on a freeze frame with the guy speaking after it's frozen asking them which is the Turkey, perhaps a reference to the usual Starsky/Hutch name mix-up? That guy was definitely in at least one other episode, but apparently this was his first role in the series so far, but I feel sure he played a bank manager of some kind and I thought it was Season 1. Either he wasn't credited, or it's a later episode. One actor who'd go on to be in a couple more episodes was Blackie Dammet, who played Sugar (named perhaps because of his sweet tooth - at least twice we see him scoffing a chocolate bar), his long, thin, sharply distinctive face always most memorable to me from 'Murder Ward' when he stalks a drugged Hutch with a large knife. I assume the "Nola" that Huggy threatened to play on Doc Rafferty's molar, was a well known song, plus we see Hug and Turk eating a KFC bucket, Walter T. is described as the black Bugs Bunny, and Huggy does an impressive impersonation of Laurence Olivier!

The list of crazy people could stretch to practically the entire cast (look out for the Buddha-like drunk guy sitting on the steps near Lady Bessie's place - he played another drunk who dies from bad booze, but I can't remember the exact episode), and we instantly know we're in a room of bad people because once again, 'Dad' Watson's office is carpeted in evil red! The old Bayshore Amusement Park, a funfair, is likely the same location used in 'The Psychic,' and even though their involvement in the episode is minimal, S&H are seen twice undercover: once as the old couple at Caplan's Laundry and Dry Cleaner's, and as hairdressers Mr. Marlene and Mr. Tyrone (personas later reprised in 'Dandruff,' though fortunately not in full manic character here, evidently still a work in progress!). Shots from that hairdressing scene would later be used in the credits montage (specifically Hutch in those orange glasses on the phone, and Starsky gleefully mussing up that poor woman's hair!).

The action isn't badly handled, what there is of it, with some in-car views during the slightly pointless car chase scene (they love speeding up that steep hill - or down it, I'm sure it's been used before), and the stunts worked well, the highlight being the moment Leotis hurls a wooden bench into the windscreen of Sugar and Milo's van as it tails Hug and Turk, forcing them to crash into the side of the road, sending a rack of clothing flying and a guy dashes away at the last second as they plough towards him! It's also good to hear Huggy's surname used (Huggy Bear Brown), so although we don't get to know a lot more about him, we get that, and his cousin (and his or Turk's interesting choice in decor at their office, which features a poster of feet!). There aren't even that many mistakes or problems that I could spy, but after Huggy was shown to be against guns I can understand why he'd throw away the weapons taken from Sugar and Milo, but maybe not the best idea to chuck them on the ground at a funfair where anyone could find them, though I suppose the police were on the way so they would have picked them up. Fuddle Bagley also fuddles one of his lines, though the character was partially drunk at the time so saying his wife made him rob 'Sam' 'Dad' Watson can be forgiven. And the sound of traffic at the funfair was clearly audible, so not the most secluded spot to leave those criminals!

On the whole, though, this was a good episode, but whether that was due to it falling in the series' strongest period of creativity and success (Season 2), or whether it was down to the chemistry of the two leads, I can't be sure. I wonder if it had gone to series whether S&H would have cameoed in it now and again, and how his own series would have affected Huggy's role in this one - would he still have been there week to week? Either way, the character deserved his own vehicle, so it's a shame nothing came of it, but it once again displays the risks and creative decisions that ran through this season, making it the best, in my opinion, and if this isn't necessarily one of the top episodes of the season, it's pretty enjoyable and a bit of a novelty.

***