Patriot

DVD, Smallville S10 (Patriot)

Beginning as a fascinating quandary for our super friends, it ends in soap territory with Lois' oversensitiveness to Clark not telling her what he was doing all the time, small fry in the face of the greater challenges being faced, but at least it leads to her admittance into the hallowed walls of Watchtower as member of the regular band, all four of the remaining main cast, Clark, Lois, Tess and Oliver, banding together against Clark's fears of an evil nature that has infected the world and is working on the people's fears and hatreds to bring out their dark side. The suggestion is that General Slade, the guy appointed to oversee the implementation of the Vigilante Registration Act, went so far off his 'marching orders' as to torture and imprison the only guy fool enough, or brave, to dob himself in and sign up as an experiment to see what would happen, so Clark didn't put himself at risk: Oliver Queen. It made sense of his recent exposure, already having revealed his name to the world, but his cooperation puts him, and Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, in danger, and only Curry's wife Mera, and the intervention of Clark prevents Slade from continuing his tortures.

Directed by Tom Welling it's a big story, zipping here, there and everywhere in a global narrative, but consequently losing focus and being held up by a few inconsistencies and dumbings-down. Take Slade's underwater base (or was it the above ground one in Alaska, I wasn't keeping track) - he somehow has exactly each type of defence against the powered-up people that come, even including a Kryptonite cage for Clark, should he just happen to walk down a particular corridor at a particular time, which he did. Somehow he was too slow to act before the cage bars came down around him, when he's supposed to be faster than a speeding bullet! In that case I can grant that the sudden burst of Kryptonite radiation beaming down from above was enough to prevent him super-speeding (in which case, why didn't the blast injure him in his weakened state?), but what about when Curry sends a wave his way to blast him into the pool, he should have been able to dodge that, no sweat, and would water really have any effect on him, even the strongest current? It also irks me when a character is introduced and little to nothing is explained about her, beyond the fact she's the wife of Aquaman. Where did she come from, what's he been up to all this time when previously we had the impression he was acting as one of the Justice League of America and carrying out missions across the world that we weren't privy to? We get a load of dialogue about Mera supporting him, etc, but it's all rather general - are we supposed to read comics and know all about her backstory from that, because that's not fair, you need to give the TV audience all the knowledge.

The other thing is, I've never felt the actor who plays Aquaman was that good, always super serious and speaks out what he has to say like reading a script. Maybe some of the writing didn't help, but his style of delivery and the complete lack of irony or anything beyond the absolute basic was beyond him. Welling does a good job in a similarly serious role, often coming across as the overgrown boy scout, standing up for Truth, Justice and The American Way (which he wants to do again by supporting the government he believes in), but yet he manages to inject some charm and vulnerability, something into his character that made the series last this long. Something tells me that Aquaman's series wouldn't even get to series from a pilot. That something being actual fact that it didn't when they tried to do a spinoff! In Aquaman's favour he is at least the latest returnee to the series, continuing the season's tradition for reunions, which is what you want to see. He's just not that great of a character, and yet he should be. Maybe it's because he's too 'out there,' whereas the series has managed to keep most of its heroes grounded. Like Green Arrow, whom we know is merely human, just uses tech like Batman, and keeps himself in top shape to pull it off. That's why it's ironic that he's the first to brave the VRA, when he's not even one of the super-powered guys running around out there giving America pause for thought.

The idea of the VRA isn't such a bad one, were it attempted in an ideal world where the people's motives were good. But when motivated by fear of the other and the unknown, it only becomes a failure in double-quick time. Or is it? We only saw the Slade version, and we're told that maybe the government wasn't aware of the approach he was taking, not having any intention of working with, or training up, an elite force to deal with terrorism and such, only a ruse to lure in the unsuspecting to take them down, though not before getting them to spill the beans on their friends' identities and whereabouts. If the episode had been concerned only with the Act and its implications it might have made it into the upper tier of the season, but though it talks a good talk to begin with, throwing up all this stuff about the will of the people, and whether these self-made heroes have the right to do what they do simply because they can, or whether they're acting against the law of the land, it doesn't explore the idea fully, degenerating into treacherous General Slade's torture chamber, then seeing him somehow survive the explosion of his facility with nary a scratch on him, except for the replacement of his eye with some robotic thing. At least Michael Hogan has had experience acting with only one eye, as his character, Colonel Tigh in 'Battlestar Galactica,' would attest - shame he didn't get to share any scenes with Alessandro Juliani, another veteran of 'BSG.' I just hope he wasn't typecast into playing one-eyed angry guys for the rest of his career!

I've suspected the budget for this season had been reduced, and in some ways I do think it was for the best because it forced them into writing more dialogue-heavy scenes, and seeing the characters thrash things out verbally has generally improved the quality of the writing this season, especially when it's Lois and Clark. But it hasn't got rid of some of the stupidity and lack of logic - like Slade knowing about Lois' pro-Blur stories, but he doesn't know anything about her history with Queen. Or Tess is told about events, is surprised about Oliver being the one to tryout for the VRA, yet the press conference with Slade and Queen is happening a few seconds later in her own building, The Daily Planet! What, she didn't get the memo? It was an episode that showed promise, but didn't quite manage to live up to it, and became too much about Lois' feelings of being left out when in comparison she looks a bit petty when her boyfriend is dealing with such heavy stuff. And Clark's revelation about the darkness taking over the world appears to stem from Slade sporting an Omega symbol on his skull, from which he extrapolates an awful lot. The meat of the ideas was in the need to stand up and not stay on the sidelines in order to effect change for the better, the legality and morality of obeying the government, its own approach to finding a way to deal with vigilantes, and the tug of war between those viewpoints. 'Smallville' isn't here to give us philosophical commentary, but whenever it does peer down the rabbit hole I wish it had the courage to step down there a little more, and not just fall back on explosions and evil villains.

**

Space Seed

DVD, Star Trek S1 (Space Seed)

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Yes, for it is he, Noonien Singh (as opposed to Noonien Soong, the creator of Data, though 'Enterprise' showed there was actually a connection between those two disparate strands of Trek lore), the space seed who is planted on Ceti Alpha V instead of being sent to a correctional facility like the Tantalus Penal Colony we saw in 'Dagger of The Mind' - that for the best because Khan would have been running the place within a week! But while his magnetic, domineering personality rules the episode, it's really just the final third that I found to be compelling - for much of the story I was wondering why this is considered one of the finest in the series, beyond its obvious leaping off point into a great Trek film fifteen years later. When you know the whos, the whats and the whys, you're merely waiting for Khan to strike, and though he doth joust verbally with our good Captain, he isn't, as the simplifying Hollywood view of his character appeared to suggest in 'Star Trek Into Darkness,' the Joker to Kirk's Batman. The fault for that impression comes with 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' when Kirk can only win with great personal loss against this crazed, vengeance-addled supermaniac. But what Khan is, and what the shrewd Harve Bennett saw in him and his story, was a great character. Much like the Romulan Commander in 'Balance of Terror,' Khan is more than the script makes him, the actors bringing so much more to turn the pages into a deeper character through their performances. So much of 'TOS' is recalled in a kitschy way, but these two examples are where the serious Shakespearean drama came from, whose roots spread and flourished in 'TNG.'

A lot of what is to happen is telegraphed early in the episode: ship's historian Marla McGivers is slow to respond to the Captain's orders for her to join the Landing Party and doesn't seem at all thrilled with the prospect of using her skills, which we get the impression she rarely does on the Enterprise (Kirk even saying it will give the historian something to do for a change!), though it's not such a strange position to have on a starship when you consider the law of parallel planet development which gives rise to various Earth-like cultures at varying degrees of our history. Even so, McGivers prefers staying in her quarters to paint portraits of great war leaders and dictators of the past, so much so that she immediately starts on a painting of Khan once she knows who he is, the only time we see this apparent Sikh with a turban! And with Khan himself, who takes the measure of each man he meets, the first encounter between him and McCoy, who shows no fear when his patient grabs him by the throat and holds a scalpel to it. He made the right move, for Khan is impressed with his coolness, respecting those who show no fear, though you know were it but for his knowledge and confidence in his own power giving him a sense of unquestioned choice over who will live and who will die (and the small matter of DeForest Kelley's contract), he could have killed the Doctor without hesitation.

The same can be said of his meeting with Kirk, both talking to each other as equals, his language and attitude that of a man who expects to be obeyed, even though he's not currently in a position of power. He has an ease of complete belief in himself and his rightful position, and for once Kirk comes up against someone as strong-willed as himself. I can't imagine him talking one of Khan's computers to destruction if he'd built one! Strangely, the only other main character Khan fails to appraise, or have much to do with at all, is Spock. Though going by the 'Into Darkness' writers you'd expect the pair to degenerate into a thumping match. You would have thought that Khan would show surprise at seeing an alien, but perhaps he assumed Spock was a misshapen human, or he may have read further afield than the tech manuals as he sits in Sickbay doing a Gary Mitchell, bar the levitating coffee cup and silver eyes. Spock remains quite mild, when in fact you would like to see him test his physical prowess (though we hadn't yet seen him go full ancient Vulcan in episodes like 'This Side of Paradise' or 'Amok Time'), against the 'selective breeding' and 'controlled genetics' of the supermen - when Kirk finally does, in a vicious and brutal fight in Engineering (unfortunate that the stunt doubles look very little like the characters they're supposed to be!), Khan claims five times the strength of a normal human, and we know Vulcans have three times the strength, but I suspect Khan was boasting, not averse to a little deception to try and shake Kirk's resolve, perhaps.

I would say, as much as the earlier mystery keeps the focus of the episode on target, when you know the answers it can drag a little, especially all the stuff with McGivers and her seeming lack of dedication to her duty and her people, judgement clouded by indulging an attraction to men from a romanticised past that apparently even Kirk believes, describing them as more adventuresome and bold than people today (perhaps a comment on technology as the writers of the Sixties saw it, curtailing the instincts of humanity in the future, against the general grain of Roddenberry's utopian vision which had not yet quite reached full fruition). She's quick to throw off the mundane shackles of her existence aboard the Enterprise, the implication being that her position as historian doesn't fulfil her and wasn't what she'd hoped it would be. Granted, Khan's will is iron, and he's more than comfortable using every kind of manipulation with this young woman, be it physical or emotional, but Khan's flaw was his own conceitedness, believing as he did in his own superiority. It brings to mind something Bashir said in 'Statistical Probabilities' (ironically, another episode dealing with genetic modification of humans), to another modified leader about how he couldn't even predict what would happen in one room when one of his gang rescues Bashir, so how could he predict the outcome of an entire war! It's the same with Khan, always thinking big so that he fails to see the smaller picture, something Kirk uses against him again in their feature film meeting: he didn't imagine Marla would rescue Kirk.

The scene where Khan gathers the main characters together in the Briefing Room is the best of the episode, becoming almost a stage play, showing his flaws in miniature to be applied on the grand scale of lofty ambitions for world-conquering - as he says to his lieutenant, Joaquin, controlling a world is small potatoes now there's a whole universe out there to surrender to his will. Uhura gets one of, if not her best, scene ever, when she's commanded to operate the screen which shows Kirk locked in a pressure chamber. She defiantly refuses to cooperate so Joaquin whacks her in the face, and she's ordered again, but when he goes to hit her a second time she makes to rise to the blow rather than cringing from it, such a great moment of bravery rarely seen, especially from a character mostly underused and under-appreciated (though at least she got to be in it, as Sulu's once again completely absent - maybe he was showing Chekov round at the time. A little in-joke there). Khan completely misjudges the level of dedication to duty, and loyalty to the Captain, that his crew has, perhaps guided by how easily he was able to turn the bored McGivers to his cause. In a way, she did them more service than they realised, because if she hadn't been so easily swayed he might have had an entirely different impression of these lowly, ordinary humans and simply culled the lot of them. But he wants to rule and only sees destruction as a necessary tool to control the masses, intelligent enough to know that you can't lead a people you've massacred - his historical biography suggests he was always like that, only responding violently when his kingdom was attacked, which is why he went down as one of the more admirable tyrants of history.

The greatest service Marla performs is in rescuing Kirk from his assured destruction - the simple reason that Khan knew he had a strong rival being enough to off him. Perhaps he even secretly feared such a man as Kirk, though we could never know. We do know that he became obsessed by him during his long exile, not helped by the fact that he was unable to tame the difficult planet he was set down on, when at first he practically approves and relishes the chance to subdue a harsh environment. There were rumours recently that Nicholas Meyer, the Director of 'Star Trek II,' was creating a miniseries set during the reign of Khan on the planet Kirk stranded him on, and while I'd hate to see someone else play Khan (and I never believed it was even the slightest bit likely), no one ever realistically going to have the majesty and nuance of performance the great Ricardo Montalban exhibited in the role, seeing that last scene with the description of this wild place and the capability of Khan to subdue things to his will, I can imagine that it could be a great drama, whether it showed the early years of dealing with this newfound Hell to rule, or the later, when the planet has been devastated by the destruction of its neighbour, Ceti Alpha VI, which turned their home into a barren, barely survivable desert. The ending of the episode is terrific, sober and thoughtful, a far cry from the comedic high they preferred to conclude on that would leave the audience in a happy place ready to return next week. No, this time they leave us pondering the future of such a venture.

One big question about the episode regards canon and whether we should take what is said as fact. Because later Trek deliberately crafted a living, unfolding history that began in the film series and was furthered by the spinoff TV series' to this day. Inconsistencies abound with regards to historical records and accuracy, not to mention that no one really knows Khan when they see him, yet they all seem to have heard of him and discuss his legacy. I can understand this, as if Hitler was unearthed, thawed out in some future time, you wouldn't automatically know it was him (even Charlie Chaplin did a satire in his likeness, more the facial hair we think of than the face), so it's not hard to let that pass. The toughest mistake is dating the series to the 22nd Century, as they speak of Khan's reign in the 1990s, taking power in 1992 until 1996 when the supermen were defeated, then say that it was two hundred years ago. If it was later in the episode I could make the argument that the anaesthezine gas was to blame, affecting their memories, or Kirk's jaunt in the decompression chamber, but it was early on. Slip of the tongues? Even more dating troubles occur when McGivers, the historian, let's not forget, states that it took years to travel from one planet to another, until 2018 when some advancement made a difference. As far as I know, we still haven't travelled to another planet (unless she was referring to robot missions which we have achieved, and they did take years), and I know that technology is developing at an increasingly rapid rate, but unless Section 31 is already here and keeping details of interstellar travel hidden from the general public, it seems unlikely we'll be going to the stars next year, especially not with atomic power!

That's the thing with making an ongoing history out of something that began in the 1960s (and one reason I wish 'Discovery' had been set further into the future, post 'Voyager'), is that extrapolation is surely going to be way off base and it would take all the ingenuity of the best writers, and more, to make everything tie in together as it should, in which case things are just ignored, annoyingly, bent to whatever current writer decides. It's magical and amazing that 'TOS' should have made reference to a time thirty years into the future, and had no idea whatsoever that in the period mentioned, their humble little TV show would have spawned a vast marketing empire that was putting out fifty-plus episodes a year, with a long-running film series giving us a film every two years. There was no way to predict such an outcome, and to this day it remains unprecedented, at least in Western culture. There are books that have posited ways in which these 'historical' events could have transpired as part of known history (and I do wish that 'Voyager' had at least referenced the Eugenics Wars to a small degree when they visited 1996 in 'Future's End'), but it remains difficult to see humanity building such a vessel as the SS Botany Bay, complete with suspended animation. But perhaps, if it was built by the supermen themselves in secret for their flight from defeat… See, there's always a way to justify anything on screen, and they even give themselves an out in the episode when they say that there are only fragmentary records of the era.

More glaring is that Spock cites this as the era of 'your last so-called World War,' which is another big mistake, unless he was referring to World War III which came later, as the reason for the missing records and inconsistencies, and who are we to say that history was kept intact in this period, the 21st Century repeatedly noted as a bad time for humanity in various Treks (in that regard perhaps we are fulfilling its predictions - I've always found it startlingly ironic that even the utopian, optimistic future portrayed by Trek has said that really bad stuff happens between us now, and them then), though it seems pretty clear Spock was referring to the Eugenics Wars. However you look at it, allowing for so much time to have passed as the reason they get some fundamental facts wrong (and it could be that later historians were able to uncover better evidence as happens today, where older, more accurate translation of the Bible became possible, for example), it's very enjoyable to hear and see more of the unfolding world of Trek come to light, much as it was to see the history of the Enterprise explored earlier in the season, Roddenberry knowing the value of things having history rather than always being brand-spanking new as is often the case with other series'. It's wonderful to see an actual Earth ship, other than the Enterprise - I mean, it's great to see any ship at all when so often the budget didn't stretch to more than a reference in dialogue or a glowing blob on the Viewscreen!

We get the dress uniforms, too, with Kirk, Spock, McCoy and even Scotty getting to slap on the fancy togs (though Mr. Scott hadn't yet been granted a kilt at this point). Mr. Kyle returns, credited as Transporter Technician in the credits, and even Mr. Leslie can be seen on the Bridge and at the meal in Khan's honour. I wonder, was that blue liquid they had to drink, the famed Romulan Ale we'd hear so much about? They liked their weird space foods, like the colourful cubes, though as in 'Star Trek VI,' it was really all just a different setting for a war-game, Khan and Kirk pitting their tactics against each other in wit and difficult questions. I'd say Kirk got the victory in that regard, if Khan's retreat to his quarters is anything to go by, not to mention his angry mood when McGivers visits to apologise and gets pulled into his web. McCoy may not show fear when Khan threatened his life, but he does show another inconsistency - I'm sure there's an episode where he rants about butcher's knives and the savage means of medicine in the past, but there on his wall he proudly displays a collection of antique surgeon's tools which Khan is only too happy to appropriate as a weapon! No doubt it was a gift from whatever surgery he worked at in honour of his joining the Enterprise, and knowing he was a crotchety man, especially sensitive on the subject they must have made sure to give him such a present as a bit of a joke, and he would have kept it on the wall as a reminder of how far his profession has come. That's what I reckon, anyway.

The legacy of Khan has been developed into legendary status, almost entirely due to the success of 'The Wrath of Khan,' which singlehandedly ensured Trek's future (for at least two films, since 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' was the most successful of the original film series), and while we can thank Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer in large part, much credit should go to Ricardo Montalban, Gene L. Coon, and Carey Wilbur (the two writers), for giving us such a surprising and thoughtful ending that was unlike most of the twenty-odd stories that had gone before. Khan's influence stretched into most of the succeeding TV spinoffs, right up until the final season of 'Enterprise' in 2005, which, until recently, was the last word of Trek on TV, so it's especially good to go back to the origins of this compelling figure and see how well the Captain and crew compared with him.

***

A Taste of Armageddon

DVD, Star Trek S1 (A Taste of Armageddon)

On the face of it, Ambassador Fox is a haughty, unhelpful bureaucrat, whose ability as a diplomat is called into question by the way he so poorly interacts with Kirk and his crew. And on the face of it, the system of bloodless war, obedience, and self-sacrifice for the sake of duty to their fellow citizens on Eminiar VII is laudable and logical. And while we're at it the United Federation of Planets (as it is actually called in the episode, exciting after so many different names for the organisations behind the Enterprise's mission this season), on the face of it, appears to be a bullying, territorial force that arrives with ultimatums, ignores local custom and laws, and runs roughshod over the people's wishes. If you didn't know the Federation from countless episodes (seven hundred and four, not counting the growing number from 'Discovery's current weekly release schedule), and this happened to be your first exposure to the world of Trek, you might well assume first impressions to be accurate: leaving aside Fox and his dictatorial attitude for the moment, Kirk makes no excuse to hide from his 'barbaric' nature, the need to fight. He threatens the Eminians with General Order 24 (which I assumed at first was merely a Corbomite manoeuvre to scare them), the capability of his ship to wipe clean the surface of the planet (what power this Constitution-class vessel holds!), and goes out of his way to disrupt the ordered lives (and deaths), of this alien culture, forced by the orders of Fox, working under the orders of the Federation.

The 23rd Century was a much more bitter, bloodier time than the 24th, you'd think, when Starfleet was open to backing up its growing influence with a hard closed fist, but even in the 24th Century it didn't back down to a fight, as the Dominion, Klingons and Cardassians could attest. The attitude of Anan 7, leader of his people's High Council, is that it is his race's instinct to fight, which is his explanation of why they are at war, still, after hundreds of years. They feel there is no alternative because of their nature, but Kirk says that acting on instinct alone isn't enough: instinct can be fought. In other words 'we' (or 'they'), aren't mere animals guided by simplistic impulse, but rational, thinking beings. The status quo has been so long accepted that the Eminians don't want any change, reluctantly accepting the casualties as unavoidable for their society to survive and thrive despite the killer instinct. Just an aside: I wonder if the story would have had more power if we'd had the Enterprise visit Vendikar, too, the opponent in the war, only to discover that its people had been wiped out by a plague, and only the computer simulations on both planets kept a nonexistent war from ending? No, probably not, as they needed to find peace with the opposition and if it had been wiped out there would be nothing further for them to do, but it would have been a massive irony on the futility of war if that had been the case.

The message is a good one: unthinking obedience to a regime or an ideal, not fighting the instincts we have as if that were the acceptable norm, rather than a by-product of environment (or sin), leads to an insidious captivity in unreality, a bit like 'The Matrix,' except these people knowingly accept and understand their situation. The reality of blood, violence and all the horrors of war were avoided for the very reason they were too terrible to comprehend in a civilised society, so instead they had civilised war, turning it into a calm, coldblooded acceptance of death, the chosen 'casualties' marched off into a disintegration machine like some kind of voluntary holocaust, all the more disturbing for the people's compliance. But Kirk's point was that the messiness and ugliness of killing and death should never have been lost because it's loss led to a mild-mannered belief in the necessity of the people to die - otherwise, it was thought, the weapons would annihilate both worlds and all the people, when they didn't realise that the horror of it should be the very catalyst to end war. It seems obvious. At the same time, if it were truly so that the fusion bombs would have rained down on both sides, completely ending both civilisations, wouldn't that have been just as bad, with no survivors to learn from the mistakes? But the very concept of such real devastation on two comfortable societies was enough to set themselves towards resolving the system they found themselves in, thanks to Kirk's intervention.

It is creepy that a state would become so comfortable with clean, safe death that they would continue war indefinitely from generation to generation, and that real pain and anguish is what horrifies Anan 7, while the euthanising of his people is perfectly acceptable. Those not selected to die in the death chamber were living on the deaths of so many others, at the expense of those who had been, which is another horrifying side to the society: Mea 3 just accepts her number's up. Literally, because, as if to emphasise the state control, they have names, but also numbers - I wonder if there was some cloning going on in that society or whether it was just an aesthetic, or perhaps something adopted to make it easier for the computer to pinpoint which person had suffered in the latest attack: if John Smith's name came up there'd need to be a way of differentiating which John Smith had 'died' otherwise all the John Smiths would be turning up for the state-ordered execution! It also makes me wonder… If you managed to live outside of established society so that your name was not known to the computer, then you'd be free. Could there be a black market underground of people's names being wiped off the database for a price, or were all the people so dedicated to the duty of taking the hit for their fellow men that to run and hide, or attempt or escape the war games, would be looked on as the worst dishonour and crime? Even so there must have been those that didn't accept it as we only see the top tier of the civilisation, those in power, so it would have been of benefit to examine the society in more detail, if we could.

For once it's not Kirk that initiates the action, it's the stereotypical (for the series), superior, Ambassador Fox, who strides imperiously onto the Bridge and orders the Enterprise to visit the planet, despite firm warning from the Eminians not to come, as well as the warning from history that Starfleet's own USS Valiant was destroyed fifty years earlier. Fox presents a very unpleasant gentleman, forcing his orders on the unwilling Kirk as he does, but realistically, if you examine the episode, if it weren't for his insistence, the war between worlds would have continued unabated as it had for generations, needing only the interventionist attitude of our Captain to show the possibility of ending it. Fox is not a very impressive figure: he's just another in a line of ambassadors and bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to be a thorn in Kirk's side and question his authority to his face, on his own Bridge, in front of his own crew! He wears an austere beige suit (with a beige version of the 'Voyager' trousers and boots!), and his worn face and tired eyes, coupled with the large round collar brought to my mind the Antedeans from 'TNG'! Naturally we're going to be on the side of our characters, and especially against an unfriendly, unappealing person with no redeeming features, but if the series wasn't really known for character arcs, this character certainly gets one.

Firstly, he's following Federation orders, however angrily he enforces them, and secondly, although he was wrong to order Scotty to risk the ship's safety by taking down the 'screens,' it is his job as a diplomat to trust those he's sent to, otherwise he wouldn't make a very good ambassador! And finally, once he's seen the lying nature of the Eminians, and experienced firsthand what they're capable of (his own aide is killed when they beam down on Fox' orders), he doesn't cry foul, but goes along with the more experienced when it comes to combat. And finally, once the dust has settled and Kirk has won out, he offers his services as mediator to both sides in the conflict when there was no guarantee that a people who have allowed war to become an unquestioned backdrop to their lives, will be able to find peace, so he shows that he takes his role very seriously, which is a good reason why he would react so stiffly and lord his greater authority over those beneath him on the ship. Even then I wouldn't say he really lorded it over them, he was strict and adhered to the procedure and military-like command structure of which he was the highest authority in the area, and when Kirk or Scotty impeded him he was justifiably angry. My point is that unlike some civilian authorities or those that have had power over Kirk and crew, he was legitimately interested in making a difference and fulfilling the mission he'd been given, and as mentioned before, it was an uncertain one due to the loss of the Valiant.

It's wonderful to hear news of an earlier ship to add to the growing history the series was developing, something the franchise has always done well in giving a sense of wider perspective beyond the confines of the specific sets and locales we see, but I wouldn't want to ever serve on one with that name, as all in that line have problems! In 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' we heard of the SS Valiant, a pre-Federation vessel, one of the absolute earliest to go out and explore, was lost by being swept out of the Galaxy through The Great Barrier. Then we have the USS Valiant, counted a casualty in this computerised war, and destroyed fifty years ago, and then another ship to bear the name (though the USS Defiant of 'DS9' was almost given it, except they felt it would be too confusing for people to have Voyager and Valiant, two 'V' names at the same time on TV!), the USS Valiant during the Dominion War ended up captained by a crew of cadets who took on more than they were capable of defeating when they went up against a Dominion battleship to prove themselves and ended up, yes, destroyed. The only Valiant we've heard of to survive was one in 'Star Trek Nemesis,' but since we never actually saw it, and it didn't engage the Remans, who knows what happened to it?

Part of the horror of the episode is that the Eminians are not technologically backward - it's said they've had spaceflight for centuries (though not specified as warp flight), and their enemy, Vendikar, in the same system, was originally settled by the Eminians! So shortsighted were they, that they never even left their own solar system, presumably the desire for the destruction of their neighbours was so strong it held all their interest right there. But they've developed fusion bombs which would devastate the planets if used, though this isn't the most important fact of their arsenal so much as their method of delivery: Transporter technology. It makes sense that if you had the capability to materialise a bomb in the midst of your enemies, you would. It's only in theory that they'd have done this, but in a throwaway line it suggests the depths to which the Transporter could be used. I wish such an idea had been explored further - obviously Starfleet wouldn't countenance such action, but despite its terrible implications you have to wonder why we don't see other, less honourable races use such tactics. The 24th Century Transporter was shown to disarm people, or render weapons ineffective, so we can posit that anything beaming into a location would also be dealt with, making it a waste of time even to try. The Eminians also had tricobalt explosives, worth mentioning as it became a staple of Trek, used in a number of episodes and series'. They also have the ability to mimic voices, as Anan 7 does when sending a message in Kirk's voice, though the superior technology of the Enterprise distinguishes it as a fake (similar to the voiceprint checking in 'The Conscience of The King').

The Enterprise's limitations are brought into focus when Scotty, whom Kirk leaves in command when he and Spock beam down, says they can't lower the screens or they'll be destroyed by the enemy disruptors, and they can't fire full Phasers with them up, either, though they can loose off some Photon Torpedoes if necessary (perhaps because Phasers are energy, like the screens, whereas Photons are physical, mechanical items?). The greater question remains as to how Fox was able to beam down under these conditions, but he certainly does it and the Enterprise isn't blown up, unless they were able to move out of range of the weapons, but still be in Transporter range… One part of the Enterprise functions very well indeed: Mr. Spock. Again showing his Vulcan cool factor by demonstrating a previously unseen variation of the mind meld by planting a suggestion or distraction in a guard's mind through the wall of their cell! I thought Vulcans were touch-telepaths, but it seems they do have a longer range than that (look out for one of the Redshirts tripping as he and his fellow security guard drag the Eminian towards camera!). Spock also calls himself a 'Vulcanian' again, which still sounds odd and shows that even this late in the season they hadn't one hundred percent tied down the lore, even if they'd got the Federation right. Spock also shows gall by walking up to another guard at the disintegration chamber and distracting him with the old 'you have a multi-legged creature crawling up your shoulder' ruse, going to flick it off, but instead performing a nerve pinch, thereby cementing his coolness forever!

For a people that abhor violence the Eminians certainly know how to use it, as Kirk finds out in his various scuffles with the nicely be-hatted guards. But despite the adventuresome nature of the story, and even its good message of fighting the urges of instinct, and even now spotting the arc for Ambassador Fox, I've never thought that much of the episode, nor put it among the better examples of the season. Though watching it so intently with a view to writing about it, not to mention the joy of returning to these characters after a few months break, I did enjoy it more than I expected, it remains a bit of a generic instalment in the season. The Eminians, were they darker-hued, could almost have been Klingons, having the same sash over black uniformity and facial hair that the most famous Trek race would display in their approaching debut. And the history of the Eminians, colonising a nearby planet, then becoming bitter enemies with their own people, is the same story shared by Vulcans and Romulans. The impassive nature of war on the planet was as dramatic as a game of 'Battleships,' and Kirk is able to talk down the leader and destroy the computer, when usually the computer is the leader, and the example of bureaucracy in the extreme, while chilling, is mostly distant - we get to know Mea 3 (Barbara Babcock, one of several roles she had on the series, though usually voice only), a little, but there isn't that much tension over whether she'll live or die, we're not drawn to care what happens to her. And lastly, while the characters are generally used quite well (especially Scotty standing up to Fox' bullying, though there's no sign of Sulu, Sean Kenney replacing him, back as DePaul from 'Arena,' as well as the injured Captain Pike in 'The Menagerie'), the message of fighting your baser instincts is confused a little by Kirk's admission that he had a hunch the Eminians would end the war rather than fight a real, messy one. I suppose you need to know the difference between the right instinct and the wrong, and that's what makes Kirk a great man.

**

Sweet Revenge

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Sweet Revenge)

Should Detective David Starsky have died? It was the final episode, they weren't coming back (except for a tiny cameo in the reboot film, twenty-five years later), and it would have ended the series with a dramatic punch. But it wouldn't have been true to the tone of the series, which was, admittedly, all over the place from episode to episode, but was rarely heavy drama, and to sum up a series in that manner, that was in many ways quite lighthearted, would probably have done it an injustice. Plus, we'd have missed the delightful final scene in which Starsky's friends gather around him for an impromptu midnight feast, with Starsky toasting himself, Hutch, Captain Dobey, and Huggy as four very heavy dudes, a fitting climax to their partnership through friendship and enmity, anger and joy, ultimately the four of them had battled through so many cases and made the series worth watching through their great care and camaraderie for each other, and what could be more fitting than seeing the four together one last time. It was emotional. Whether the episode itself could be seen as a fitting climax to the series and the season, I'm not so sure. In fact I am sure: it wasn't. Almost a mere postscript to the three-part 'Targets Without A Badge' saga, I appreciate that they tied up the hanging threads by dealing with the villains left at large, dishing out 'sweet revenge,' or more appropriately, sweet justice, but I can't say they closed out the series in style.

Ironic then, that this is probably just what Director Paul Michael Glaser was trying to do, once again holding the reins and making ponderous work of it (directing himself lying down with his eyes shut, just like Leonard Nimoy with 'Star Trek III')! I do feel bad criticising his artistic nature (especially when some of it works, such as the ringing echo of Hutch's angry barks in the underground car park), but I've said it before, and will do again, that it wasn't suited for the tone of the series. He fills the frame with closeup profile after closeup profile, hangs on people's faces for long, lingering shots of several seconds, and loves a ticking clock. And I don't mean a countdown or the impetus to an action climax, I mean an actual ticking clock to make you feel you're in a dentist's waiting room or outside the Headmaster's office. I wouldn't even say that his directorial eye is bad, he likes to frame things, make you look at the familiar differently, but here I think we needed a straight up action director, and to fill the episode with edge of the seat antics, not focus on Dobey's sad face as he waits to hear if Starsky will make it. I don't even mean that showing the care the other characters have for Starsky is a bad thing, obviously it's not, but it's done in such a slow way that you're just itching for Hutch to get out there and do something, as much for the viewer's relief as his own. And that's one of the main problems with the episode: Starsky and Hutch, in their final story, aren't working together. We want the banter as they bounce off each other, we want the double-teaming, we want… well, what they'd been doing most of the series.

I'm not sure it's wrong in this case to want more of the same, because that was better, and although Hutch is a bundle of fury, not taking any obstruction well, and even having Huggy along as a halfhearted, semi-stand-in for Starsky, it's just not as enjoyable to see one of the dynamic duo go it alone. I see they were experimenting, presumably because it was the last ever episode and it didn't matter what they did, and perhaps they should be applauded for thinking differently, especially when you have Starsky's life hanging in the balance (gunned down by fake officers in a fake car in the midst of the HQ car park, putting him in a coma where he even flatlines at one point!), and I have to assume they knew this was it, as well as the audience, meaning he really could die - contracts were up, the series was ending… But to have one more episode with S&H speeding around the sunny streets, taking out perps, bumbling over the ladies, joking around, but getting the job done, would have been preferable to a morose slog against the machinations of the powerful. The crime is that the villains' organisation, Gunther Industries, seems to be falling apart all on its own, so it's not even that S&H were integral in taking down the man described as having turned down the Presidency because it was a step down in power, James Gunther! If it had been S&H actively ruining his day, getting shouted at by high-ups in the police force for disturbing such an important man, fending off assassination attempts every ten minutes, and finally, finally breaking through and unlocking the evidence to put him away for good, that could have been an exciting, pacey conclusion.

Instead, we see a board meeting at the beginning which talks of the state of the company in its various countries and operations, the representatives sat round like a meeting of SPECTRE from the Bond films (they should have given Gunther a white cat to stroke!), until we get to the area S&H have presumably had a hand in upsetting, which is why their deaths are ordered by Gunther himself, and why Bates is poisoned by his own boss for failing. But S&H aren't really doing much of anything now, in fact they start the episode playing Ping-Pong in the office at Police HQ because it's being repainted. That's about the only familiar set we get to revisit, because there's no Dobey's office (except a glimpse of it as the Captain walks out), no The Pits, no Venice Place or Starsky's pad, and the Torino is barely seen at all, Hutch's miracle car has vanished, and basically all the basics of the series have been stripped away. It feels like they were already in the process of getting rid of the sets, so they couldn't shoot there. I don't know if that's true, but that's the impression I got from watching it, like they're not even out the door yet and the series is being pulled out from under them, another reason why it's a less satisfying episode. You want to see the familiar elements one last time, but Dobey sets up a makeshift HQ at the hospital (I don't even know if it was Memorial), and spends all his time there, and Hutch is buzzing around making trouble for the bad guys, or trying to, though in reality it seems like he's making more trouble for himself.

I wonder if they really were dismantling the sets during the episode? That could explain why they cover up the office with the excuse of a repainting, and when Dobey enters we're looking from a low angle and you can actually see past him into his own office, where the set noticeably ends, with no ceiling! I called Hutch's car a miracle because it was destroyed by explosion in 'Targets Without A Badge,' then in the very next story, 'Starsky Vs. Hutch,' he's back to driving it around again! Could it be that they actually filmed that one before 'Targets,' but wanted a buffer between the three-parter and the finale? That would explain how Hutch could be driving that car again, while in this one he clearly doesn't have a car because he has to borrow Dobey's. Otherwise, and this might have made more sense, it would have been a four-part end to the series, and edited together as one long, feature-length film, it might have made a more suitable, large-scale, and ambitious end to the series. Obviously the villains, Gunther and Bates, return, and when Hutch is babbling about his computer printout, he mentions the late Federal Judge McClellan, as well as Clayburn, so it was definitely tied squarely to the previous story.

The computer printout was the real stinger, as it seems to be suggesting that just feeding information into a computer will allow it to spit out the magic formula that will convict even the most powerful. I get that knowledge is power, but it's all too easy, and seemed just an excuse to get to a point where Hutch could go and arrest Gunther. I'm not saying there weren't any effective sequences: when Hutch kicks his way into Jenny Brown's office, or when he verbally tangles with lawyer Jonathan Wells, or foils the knife attack in the underground car park, and especially when he finally gets to Gunther's opulent office, grabbing his gun before he can shoot it off, and an excellent image of power brought low when Gunther's head is forced down to his desk - all these worked, it's just there isn't the gum holding together the bits between. If they'd bumped up Huggy's role so he was integral as Hutch's partner (he already had a kind of official approval from Dobey who tells him to go after Hutch), that might have been an improvement, but even then the situation was too serious to warrant jokes and light humour - it would have been out of place with Starsky lying in critical, but it might have given us something to enjoy. And though Dobey was in it more, he was mostly just moping about, staying close in case they lost Starsky, when you want to see him burst into action and bark orders, take charge instead of folding - I will say the shot of him sitting against the wall at the hospital made even him look somehow small and insignificant, the way he's shot and framed with so much space around him.

If the sets and familiar components of the series appear to be stripped away, so too are all the tropes and ticks the series relies on. There are no quirky eccentrics for S&H to do battle with, there are few pop culture references, and I really couldn't say if the episode showed a positive or negative view of the city, because it's not about the city, it's more about wrapping up, or even going through the motions one last time because an episode had to be done. Well, until the final scene, that is, which is almost worth watching the episode for, on its own. But there are a few references: Jenny Brown is described as the Mohammed Ali of the modelling world, according to Hug, and has appeared on the covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. And, almost as important a character as the main cast, Pinky (or Perky, I still haven't worked out which), is seen for one final time on the desk they're using for Ping-Pong. Dobey's food issues are inverted with the Captain refusing to eat, even when Huggy brings him a hamper full of tasty treats to try and pique his appetite, and of course the final scene is all about them having a sneaky feast in Starsky's hospital room. Apart from the missing ceiling in Dobey's office, I would also point to Bates' death as a bit of a continuity error: he drinks the poisoned coffee on the settee at one end of Gunther's office, but when Hutch arrives he's sat in an armchair at the other end! I can't see Gunther bodily lifting him over there, either, unless he got his butler, Thomas, to do it.

There are shockingly few returning actors, but we do get three. William Prince as Gunther, and Alexander Courtney as Bates are the obvious ones, reprising their roles from 'Targets,' of course, but we also have Stefanie Auerbach credited as 'Nurse,' which is interesting because she played the same role way back in Season 1's 'Texas Longhorn,' so I could suggest she's the same character. It's a shame we didn't get more, but to be honest, the other characters were mere ciphers, obstructions for Hutch to chase down and get in his way, and nothing else. It was a true anticlimax that the organisation appears to fall apart of its own accord, with only the printout linking Brown, Jonathan Wells, McClellan, and Clayburn to Gunther Industries, said to be the fourth largest holding company in the US. Hutch says that McClellan was on the board of directors of three Gunther owned companies, but I thought they already knew that from before? And that's it, so a mighty series ends. I could have wished that the freeze frame had finished on all four of them, instead of cutting Dobey out of the picture, but when you've followed the series from beginning to end you still can't help but be a little moved by this scene. The series was often dirty, grimy, messy, and it doesn't make me wish I'd lived in the Seventies, but it is a great place to visit and hang out with the lads for a while.

S&H were young when they started, and they definitely had aged, even though it was only four years, and perhaps they were reaching the end of their action hero time, but I'd have happily watched another season, even though I'd have to write another twenty-odd reviews. It's hard to believe that it's all done and dusted now, every episode reviewed in detail, and it's with a sense of accomplishment that I sign off on the series. But not before I put this season in its place: I think it's unquestionable that Season 2 was their strongest year, and Season 1 had a number of good episodes, while Season 3 was generally less fun and more serious. Season 4 went back to the Season 2 style, sometimes taking it too far (it wouldn't be fair not to mention 'Dandruff' again, and 'The Groupie'!), but also succeeding in some quality episodes ('The Avenger,' 'Starsky's Brother,' 'The Golden Angel,' 'Huggy Can't Go Home'), and I even found things to enjoy in even the worst examples of the season ('Starsky Vs. Hutch,' yes, 'The Groupie'), with a good mix of stories all round. I could have wished for more of the good ones, but it measures up fairly well to previous seasons, about in keeping with the ratio of good to middling stories. Nothing ever topped Season 2's double-whammy of 'Nightmare' and 'Starsky's Lady,' but then that's one reason why that season was the best. The important thing is that it's been a good journey across those ninety-three episodes, a good couple of guys to see doing things in freedom, standing up for good and dealing with the bad, and that's what you want to see, and that's what they did, and if they weren't always successful they made up for it with good humour and dedication. So here's to the four heavy dudes!

**

Starsky Vs. Hutch

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Starsky Vs. Hutch) (2)

Back on the force, and right back into unprofessionalism. In S&H's defence, I would say Officer Kira was much more at fault for leading them astray, but although Starsky does at least make the point to Hutch that they're on an undercover murder investigation (and 'playing on a killer's time'), I'm not sure even then his motives were purely on a professional level, instead seeming to be an excuse to cover the jealousy over his partner's interactions with the woman he 'loved,' since Hutch switches arrangements to guard Kira, while Starsky guards Susan, the only other blond in the place because she's too stupid to quit, according to Madame Bouvet!). Even there, I wonder if his profession of love was also the usual tactic of oneupmanship to throw Hutch off-balance, and in Hutch's favour he did accept the situation once he'd visited Kira to know the truth, it was just that she then upset the applecart by claiming to love both S&H, making a world of trouble. Not as much trouble as the title suggested, which made it sound like a cool concept for an episode: Starsky pitting his wits against Hutch, and vice versa, but in fact it was only a minor tiff, and going back to Starsky's 'love,' he quite easily discards it and goes off arm in arm when Kira doesn't choose between them, so it wasn't that deep. Charitably, you might say their long friendship was more valuable to them, but really it was just a 'funny' way to close out the episode, which by the way, was certainly in the serious category (no ridiculous overacting in S&H's undercover roles), though still pretty silly.

It wasn't the episode to kickstart their return to policing, even being reminiscent of their playful competitiveness over Alison in the 'Targets Without A Badge' story, only with a much harder edge this time. The important fact to remember, too, is that a woman dies because of the three cops involved in this case of a serial killer taking out blond women from the Golden Lady Ballroom, and then taking them out, too! The trio were so busy acting like teenagers they failed in a big way, and the worst of it is there are no consequences for any of them. After the weighty moral dilemma of Rigger's death in 'Targets,' affecting them so deeply they resign from the force, you'd think it would have kept them sober for at least a few episodes afterwards, but no. It's embarrassing really, bringing the profession into disrepute, and it's not like it was even a new idea - countless times they've allowed a woman to come between them, only in the past she's not a fellow cop they're working undercover with, and it's usually good-natured, each accepting the other's tricks and tactics as fair game in love and war. This time they practically come to blows at Kira's house, and it's really not what you want to see, especially this close to the end of the series, considering the finale would be an atypical episode with one of the pair out of action the whole time, this was the last chance we'd get to see the S&H partnership working together.

Nor does it help that we'd seen similar, and better episodes, this very season: when I think of Starsky taking on Hutch, look no further than 'The Game' where Hutch's life was at stake. And the storyline of S&H going undercover in some kind of social club where the girls are being kidnapped and killed by a maniac was done, if not that effectively, in 'Discomania,' but even that stands above this episode. Maybe having another 'Nam vet (who can put together his automatic weapon blindfold), who's gone crazy, thinking the Viet Cong are still after his secrets from G2 Intelligence, might have been a stereotype too far, though I suppose these soldiers were still in the public consciousness at the end of the Seventies. But I was never fond of Richard Lynch in this series, both roles being scuzzy and unpleasant without a hint of redemption. It's also quite shocking that he actually does kill Arlene, which he might not have had the chance to do if Kira had been on the ball, which she might have been if S&H hadn't been distracting, and playing up to, her wiles. It's also key to the success of the investigation (and the needs of the rapidly diminishing running time), that Joseph 'Joey' Webster unmasks himself when he goes crazy at the ballroom, pulling a grenade when Kira pulls a gun in response to his forceful urgings, so S&H might have lost more women if he hadn't been unable to contain his mania.

What I will say in the episode's defence, and it's only a minor consolation, is that it's not as bad as I remembered it, remaining fairly watchable and even showing some occasional directorial flair: examples such as the message from the killer Madame Bouvet holds in her hand (with the apparent spelling mistake of 'The Spy Will Dye,' when in fact hair dye is what Joey had in mind due to his paranoia about Viet Cong women dying their hair blond to inveigle their way into his affections and gain his secrets, and which he's now convinced are sending over agents to the US to continue this spy work!), and when we flip to her point of view, the scene is also transitioned so that she hands it to Dobey in his office - a little sleight of editing that shows finesse. The same can be said of the transition from Joey holding the pin of a grenade, then cutting to Starsky at the ballroom ripping off the ring pull of a drinks can. And also the way Joey's attack on Arlene is shot, with him suddenly shoving her back through her front door, which then slams shut behind them, the camera remaining in a fixed position so we can still see his wild face through the little window. But aside from such examples, signs of finesse are few and far between and it's a sad state of affairs for the series to be so generic and undeveloped after trying something so relatively radical as a three-parter just previously. It is like nothing had changed, but that's the way TV was in those days, as I've said many times before: almost no consequences from one episode to the next so as not to put off viewers that would have to watch at the same time every week, long before even recording on videotapes was an option.

That's why doing a three-part story was so daring, although produced so close to the end of the series that they must have known they weren't coming back for a Season 5 by then. Or maybe they didn't, I don't know. If they were still rehashing old stories then perhaps the series had had its time and was ready for the scrapheap, though I'd have happily sat through another twenty-odd episodes just for the sake of the occasional flashes of goodness and quality the series could achieve. Continuity and sense, maybe not so much, as evidenced by the reappearance of Hutch's battered old motor with the off-coloured side panel which was supposedly blown to kingdom come by an assassin's bomb just three episodes before! And here he is driving around in it as if nothing had happened. Even just a little mention of Merl The Earl fixing it up for him would have been something, and I wonder if they even considered an explanation or never gave it a thought for the reasons mentioned above? Not to say it isn't nice to see the stalwart parts of the series as we approach the end: the Torino, Police HQ, The Pits (Huggy only in it at all because the episode ends there - I thought I saw Kira standing at the pool table in the opening pan, but it was a lady with a similar hairstyle), and both Hutch's place (where Starsky crashes in order to have a serious talk with Hutch when he comes in), and Starsky's - they even chat over by the green wall phone which was used so memorably when they were going to quit the force to become football players back in Season 2's 'Starsky's Lady' - so many memories, and near the end I can't help thinking of the past we've seen across four seasons.

Those seasons have been full of tropes, so much so that you come to love and look out for these familiar things, so once again, for the penultimate time, here are the pop culture references I picked up on: Carol, one of the dance girls at the ballroom, calls Starsky, Valentino (presumably for the famous American actor Rudolph Valentino a romantic lead of silent films), when she jokily suggests he should let a girl know when he's going to make a big move after he's clumsily stood on her foot in his preoccupation with seeing Hutch deep in conversation with his girl Kira, whom he'd been going out with for a month; Hutch sarcastically calls Starsky Sherlock; Starsky does a snippet of his famous Humphrey Bogart impression at the bar at Huggy's; and Hutch quotes 'if you prick us, doth we not bleed' in response to Kira. I wondered if the pinball tables seen at the Golden Lady were the same ones used only recently at The Pits, a bit of set decoration they wanted to reuse? And when Hutch visits Starsky's place we see a different angle as he enters, and it looks like a porch outside the front door with a lamp on the wall and a plant (in the continuing saga of 'just what is outside Starsky's front door'!). We're short on genuine wacky folk, but there are one or two that could be called slightly eccentric in that general vein - Madame Bouvet the obvious one, erupting into French at Dobey's seeming inability to catch the killer; Carol's a little forward, but not in the way we've seen so many in the past; and, at a push, Susan, the other blond they're supposed to be guarding, might fit the category if only for the novelty of seeing a six foot two lady dancing with Starsky.

Perhaps Mr. Arnold could squeeze into that category, too, but in his case he was just a lech that acts on impulse and tries to molest Kira, while Hutch bursts out of her house thinking this is the killer. It must be a sign of the time that the man's eventually allowed to go about his dog-walking in peace when he professes to be 'only' a family man with two rotten kids. So that's alright, then! He doesn't get booked for assault, there are no consequences, he just apologises for his impulse, but really, a man walking a big scary Alsatian suddenly grabs a woman and tries to force her to kiss him in the dark, and it's okay?! I know that Kira didn't press any charges and probably just wanted to get inside after a busy day, but if he could do that on an impulse what else could he do, maybe even go down the route of becoming a serious danger in future? The immoral outlook is even worse from Kira who's quite happy to lead both S&H along because she 'loves' them both and doesn't feel the need to choose one over the other, then gets hysterical when they can't accept this, and orders them out of her house. She accuses Hutch of wanting his cake and eating it too, but she must be the biggest hypocrite of them all! Was this the Seventies 'liberated' ideal, I wonder? If so, then it causes a lot of confusion and pain, almost messing up S&H's friendship. Until they come to some sort of seedy arrangement - I'm not even sure what they were implying in that last scene where they present themselves to Kira. I hope it was as relatively innocent as being open to sharing her, but it was weird and out of place for the series.

The cast throws up some interesting oddments, as ever, with Marki Bey returning for a record-breaking sixth, and I believe, final appearance as Minnie, there to give out some friendly advice to Starsky in one of the more sensible and pleasant moments in the episode. The only other repeat offender is Richard Lynch, who'd been the actor Lionel Fitzgerald in Season 3's 'Quadromania.' Arlene was played by Topo Swope, a surname I thought was quite unheard of before, until I checked my cast list for the series and found a Tracy Brooks Swope as Rosey Malone in Season 3's 'I Love You, Rosey Malone,' so I wonder if they were related? Yvonne Craig was best known for her role in the Sixties 'Batman' TV series, and was also in the original 'Star Trek' - she played Carol, one of the dance girls. Interestingly, Garrett Craig was credited as Arlene's partner, Richie, so again I was wondering if they were related, especially as I was confused over which girl was which, so I thought it might have been a little in-joke that they cast the Arlene actor's real-life husband, but that didn't work as it was Arlene, not Carol who was picked up by Richie! They weren't terribly imaginative with Susan's name, as she was played by Susan Miller! I couldn't work out who the guy credited as 'Weirdo' was in the episode as I didn't recall anyone like that, but it must have been the bloke that cuts in on Kira's dance while S&H argue over her. It might have been Picerni that was driving the Torino when we see it pull off after Kira when Starsky's tasked with tailing her home. And I don't know why, but Hardy, the guy sent to analyse a piece of material found at Arlene's murder scene, isn't credited at all, despite having lines.

The cane tip is the vital clue that helps S&H realise that the stick-carrying guy is the one they're after, if his pushing a table over and threatening to set off a grenade wasn't clue enough! Actually, the moment with Starsky lobbing the active grenade through a window was pretty good, a background extra leaping over a bannister to avoid the explosion, which was a little meagre, it must be said. And how did Starsky know there wasn't anyone passing under the window? Starsky's shown to be a bit of a philosopher with his little speech to Kira as they relax by a fire: all about 'we come into this world alone, go out of it alone, in between you try to experience everything as it comes; expect nothing, don't take anything too seriously.' Except that was exactly the wrong kind of philosophy for her to hear, as it basically seems to let her off the hook and shows that he'll accept whatever happens, it's no big deal, which only encourages her unfortunate muddling, and Starsky doesn't appear to actually believe his statement when it comes down to it and he thinks his best buddy has betrayed him, so they were hollow words, only good for relaxing next to fires with an attentive ear to tell it to. I wonder when they actually shot the episodes, because the season came out in 1978-1979, but Starsky has a calendar on his wall for June 1977. I can't believe they would have filmed that far in advance, but why have a calendar up with such a date, it doesn't make sense? Fitting really, for an episode that was a bit senseless and a little meagre, it has to be said.

**

Abandoned

DVD, Smallville S10 (Abandoned)

I could talk about the uneven tone, shameless sentimentality and confusion of events and characters, but that would be to miss the point: we're at the point where wedding bells might just be sounding in the distance for Lois and Clark, we have a story which lives up to the season's wish-list of bringing back familiar faces, and even some revelations for Clark and Tess, the latter a most unexpected and dramatic one indeed! First thoughts go to the post-opening credits where we see the guest stars of the week named, and it was with great anticipation I read the names Helen Slater and Teri Hatcher, two of the Superman televisual mythos' most famous women. Slater of course portrayed Supergirl in the 1980s film, and Hatcher was one of the best known Lois Lanes, appearing with Dean Cain in the Nineties series 'Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.' Maybe neither of those productions was that great, but the actors within them in the iconic roles we all know have gone down in pop culture history, so it's a fitting addition to the already bountiful roster of ex-Superman production participants (mixing in the esteemed company of 'The' Superman, Christopher Reeve, his Lois Lane, Margot Kidder, and Dean Cain, to name a few). I didn't recall whether Slater had been seen as Clark's Mother, Lara, before, but we certainly had seen Julian Sands as the younger Jor-El last season - I wonder if they couldn't get Terrance Stamp for the voice this time, as Lois' visit to the Fortress of Solitude is strangely silent with his absence.

It was a truly wonderful moment to see the scene we know from past incarnations of Kal-El's parents recording a last message for him before he's shot off to Earth. I'm not sure why he wouldn't have been shown that important communication before now, nor am I sure why he was shown it at this juncture, except for the needs of the story, but it doesn't stop it from being a special moment, and one that helps Clark to understand the burden his birth Father carried. It was almost as beautiful to see Lois watch VHS videos (though I'm amazed they still had a working player, and that the videos hadn't degraded, even in 2010-2011!), of her own Mother, recorded as she was in the stages of a terminal illness, finally giving her the chance to say goodbye and stop blaming herself for not visiting her sick Mum in hospital. I'm not sure I can agree with the statement about moving on from the loss of a parent before you can really live, or whatever the sentiment was, but then I haven't lost any parents yet so I can't identify. It just seemed to me as if Lois was equating her experiences with Clark's and assuming he was in the same situation as her, so she meddled by working out how to get to the Fortress to try and speak with Jor-El as if her words would change his mind in some way.

If the theme wasn't entirely carried through (though I did appreciate the continuation of the focus on Lois' family from the previous episode), I did find the episode to be a little up and down in the storytelling. It opens with a dramatic black-and-white dream sequence with Tess as a little girl, which eventually becomes obvious it's some kind of repressed memory when she finds the music box ballet dancer chiming out the same tune of her nightmare - my immediate thought was that young Lex Luthor was manipulating her in some way and it was certainly a puzzling way to begin. Then when Lois is talking about her past and her parents it appeared to be in parallel to Tess' story, but we go between deep emotion and the more visceral, raw impression of horror the series likes to deal in sometimes, and I wouldn't say they sat particularly well together. Sometimes tender, bright scenes of nostalgia or the positive, but sad emotions, can emphasise and be emphasised by creepy, nasty cruelty, but I didn't think so in this case. Not that they went too far in that regard, they just show a little girl having her memory wiped by the guardian of St. Louise's Orphanage, perpetuating the stereotype of such places being full of people that take advantage of children, with stark, frightening imagery of gothic interiors, or the dull paint of a mental ward, as well as Clark being clapped in chains while the girls that have grown into a fierce, fighting womanhood prepare to slice him up (with the aid of a fire blazing with green Kryptonite coals).

One thing I realised is why the series likes its girl fights so much, because they like to cram one in whenever they can (as with Tess and the female Wolverine-wannabe). I think the reason is self-evident in the moment Clark rescues Tess from one of Granny Goodness' all-Girl Gang - it's a simple matter for him to subdue her in milliseconds, and quite apart from the ungentlemanly act of fighting a female, it's no challenge to him at all, whereas the human characters like Tess (or Chloe, or Lana, or Lois, etc), can feel pain and have real prospects of being injured or killed. But this was where things became harder to follow: Granny had been developing this team… for what purpose? World domination, or more benevolently as a fighting force to defend against threats? Is she actually good, but goes about it the wrong way or are her motivations crooked? Darkseid is mentioned, but it was unclear if she was with Godfrey and the other guy, Desaad, or opposed to them, though she did seem more part of their group. They call Darkseid their 'Dark Lord,' and I have heard of the villain, but he's definitely on the distant end of my radar when it comes to the mythos, knowing absolutely nothing about him, though I'll warrant he's another Kryptonian threat of some kind, like Doomsday. There's a clue to the comics origins in the end credits when we see 'Fourth World Characters created by Jack Kirby,' though it didn't shed any light for me as a comics novice. It seems a war is coming, according to Granny, and Tess will want her on her side when it does, so there are certainly growing elements of various factions forming up, which keeps things interesting, especially as I wonder if they'll be able to do justice to the concept of a big war or battle on the reduced budget I imagine they worked with this season.

Not that it stopped them doing things, and if anything it's made them work harder on the character development side, keeping the big effects for only important moments, which is better, in my book, than creating vast and impersonal spectacles at the expense of the reality of the series (which has always been up and down). At least it hasn't stopped them from keeping up a tradition of bringing back characters, and this time we get around three - Jor-El, Shelby the dog, and Godfrey, last seen sucked up by the black mist thing earlier in the season. I don't include Helen Slater because, as I said, I wasn't sure if she'd appeared before, or not. One other character makes the impression of an appearance, but sadly, just as they only showed the back of Ma Kent earlier in the season, and didn't actually get the actress back (yet), they do the same with Lionel Luthor, as he's the Father who brings Tess to the Orphanage in flashback form. Maybe I'm dense, but I never even imagined that Tess was a Luthor (Lutessa Lena Luthor, to be precise), she was always portrayed as an acolyte of Lex' that was desperate to trace his disappearance, so that came out of the blue for me, but also does suit her character, the battle between good and evil natures, the secrecy, the desire for power, and the sticking her fingers into the manipulation pie so many times. But she's certainly come down much harder on the side of good for a while, so I hope this reveal doesn't turn her to the dark side (or the Darkseid!).

Amid all the big things happening, there was one little throwaway that I really thought was an inspiration and a huge move towards the Superman mantle that Clark will eventually take up, and that was his line to Lois about being up (during the night), so he might as well be on patrol. It's great to think that, like Batman, he's out there in the dark, fighting villains and saving people all over the place, and it would be such a small thing for him to do since he could rush around at super-speed and is basically Father Christmas - in fact, maybe he is Father Christmas as it seems like a very Superman thing to do to want to give all the boys and girls a present, and he could of course get round everyone's houses in one night, and locked doors would be no obstacle (plus providing a boost in business to purveyors of padlocks, door locks and assorted home security systems needing to be replaced!). He's always been good with kids, and once again he saves a little one, when he rescues her from the memory wipe of Granny Goodness, though we don't know if she was actually saved as Clark was trapped before he could get her out. Actually that brings up a valid point about what happened to the orphanage - did they just let Granny continue her dastardly scheme or did the authorities get involved? I don't remember any mention of it after the action had played out, Clark preoccupied with getting an engagement ring ready for Lois. I must say, though, his idea of a hiding place was incredibly poor: to put the key to the Fortress behind a bookshelf in the loft was far worse than Martha hiding it in a jar of flour as she used to do!

Whenever it's about Clark and Lois things tend to click into place more. In a way I could have done without the Tess side story, or main story, whichever it is, except for the major turning point in her being shown to be a Luthor. I wonder if that was something they planned when they first brought her into the series? More likely they kept her slate clean so they could come up with something at a later date, and though as soon as the limo pulled up to the orphanage in the flashback, the only person I could imagine that would give us a surprise to be ushered into the light as her forgotten Father, I was impatiently wanting it to be Lionel and it was still surprising, though they really should have spared no expense and had John Glover turn and look up at her in the final shot so there could be no ambiguity, though any ambiguity was shot when you see the Luthor licence plate, and Lionel's shaggy mane of hair, of course. How all these enemies and allies will line up is anyone's guess at this point as I can't imagine them going out with a massive cast list in the final episodes, but why else set up Suicide Squad, Darkseid, the Fourth World, the Luthors and any and all assorted pro- or anti- superhero groups that have been brought into the story. Such lack of focus could make it messy, but if they keep Lois and Clark at the centre, with everything else revolving around them, then the season at least has a chance of maintaining its level of delight.

***

Targets Without A Badge - Part III

DVD, Starsky & Hutch S4 (Targets Without A Badge - Part III) (2)

In one word I would sum up this episode as 'messy.' In two, 'forgettable,' and that's not very satisfactory for such an ambitious story, and one in which S&H emerge triumphant and victorious over a powerful enemy that, according to Dobey, was big enough, rich enough and rotten enough to rock even Uncle Sam. But it fits both those labels, even after watching it I can't really remember much about what happened as S&H bound from office to office, dealing with bureaucrat after bureaucrat, from our own Captain Dobey, to the slightly crooked FBI agents, to the Mayor's office at City Hall, unravelling the plot - well, an unravelling plot is just about right because there doesn't appear to have been much forethought put into that department, and far from moving along organically, it relies on repetition (no wonder the credits were the same for both Parts I and II!), illogic, and a distinct lack of finesse in dealing with any of the characters, or in the manner in which S&H (inevitably, since there were still two episodes before the series concluded), rejoined the force. That's a good place to start: what soul-searching or sequence of events finally gets them to realise their place is back in their old job as detectives? It was more of a gradual thing, a realisation that they weren't going to give up on catching the killers of Rigger, after all, especially as their lives were in danger, which only spurred them on! If James Gunther, the man ultimately behind the unnamed organisation, had simply used his contacts to encourage them into a new profession instead of sending a couple of street level goons to tail them or take pot shots, they might well have lost interest in the case as the cares of life took over.

Once again I ask: what was the motivation for signing back onto the force? It seemed to be a realisation that for them to do all they needed and wanted to do they'd find it ever so much easier if they had the power of the law behind them, not to mention backup, guns, and the respect of citizens. It does make their throwing of the police badges into the sea look a little shortsighted and melodramatic in the light of all that happens subsequently, but it made a striking image. Just a shame they couldn't pay it off. So they go from guilt and shame at getting the nice guy informant killed, to having difficulty in getting new jobs, to getting so deep in the case again they're practically doing the job, so they may as well get paid for it! Obviously they are more motivated than that by what happens with Alison's family: her Father, Thomas, murdered and made to look like suicide (why is an entirely different and worthy question which I will endeavour to address), Alison herself kidnapped by Soldier and his gang of cringing goons, and corruption even in the FBI that S&H have to deal with. Not to mention the small matter of the two goons sent to off them in the Trojan Spa and Eucalyptus steam room. So protection, convenience and good sense are really why they end up agreeing to return to their duties officially, and also because Deputy DA Clayburn asks them, saying the only way guys like him get the credit is because of guys like them - I suppose he meant they bring the perps in and he gets to do the legal stuff on 'em (even though it turns out he's one of the crooks).

It wasn't like they didn't have guns, because they did (the charming lady at the precinct from Part II is the one to deal with issuing their permits), so it was merely a convenience to go back on the force, not a necessity, but I can see why they'd accept the offer after seeing what it was like out on the jobs market, and the hopelessly inept way in which they went about job-seeking! If rejoining the force was merely a plot contrivance to set things back to how they were, we also have to deal with some illogical statements: early on Hutch sees Mardean at The Pits where Huggy's taking care of her and Jamie, her daughter. Naturally she's frosty to one of the cops that involved her ex-husband in a scheme that resulted in his death, but Hutch uses all his charm to make her see that he and Starsky will do all they can to bring the perpetrators to justice. It's just the bit where he explains Rigger's wanting to do it in the face of high risk that it falls apart somewhat - he says Rigger was so in love with his family that he'd risk everything to save all he had. Maybe I'm missing nuance here, but I don't see how he was risking everything to save what he had because he could have been safer and kept his family safer by never getting involved in the first place! Unless Hutch is referring to him taking the deal to avoid a custodial sentence away from his young family, in which case I could buy it to an extent, but otherwise it just sounds like he's making stuff up to appease her obviously distressed mood and try and see some good in the motivations that were behind what happened.

How the baddies deal with S&H is also to be questioned most severely. Initially Thomas May is informed by his contact, Karen (who I assume was working for Gunther, but could have been working for McClellan), that he is to set up S&H by telling them he wants to meet, then obviously in a steam room S&H aren't going to be armed so it should be a simple case of putting their lights out (an apt analogy, as we'll see). If Thomas doesn't agree, his daughter will be in trouble. Never having any backbone, he presumably does just that, S&H turn up, they have a rumble with the two goons, Alex and Marty, give them a good kicking, and of course Thomas is then killed… because he failed to live up to his side of the bargain? Apparently not, since S&H were there to meet him. So maybe we're wrong and he was so wracked with guilt that it really was a suicide because I see no reason for him to be killed, even Gunther said he was still useful to them! Also, Soldier was presumably the one to do the deed, but he just says S&H should see Thomas, while boasting about killing Rigger, so you could infer that he didn't kill him. Maybe? On a side note, what was going on with the steam room light switch? You'd think there would be at least a ceiling pull cord, but you can clearly see a wall switch which does not seem to be a good idea with all those sweaty hands and, well, steam! It's a steam room. It's got an ordinary light switch. I appreciate this is being picky, but it was quite noticeable.

Another problem with that sequence of events is that it doesn't give Thomas a chance to redeem himself in any way, so he goes to his grave a failed man, unable to either help the cops or do anything to stand up to the blackmailers, and that's a sad and disappointing conclusion for someone you could see was in severe mental turmoil, his identity as a protected witness a failure, and the responsibility for passing on other identities lying firmly at his door. It also looks bad for Alison because although she's distraught at her Father's death, she seems to get over it in an inordinately quick time. She's seen to be looking sad at Police HQ with a policewoman there to comfort her, and obviously she goes through a lot when she's kidnapped and ransomed for either Starsky or Hutch (again an issue needing to be examined), so she has more than one shock in quick succession. I suppose we don't know exactly how long it is between Thomas' death and the end of the episode where S&H are awarded their medals by a glory-hunting Mayor, then they have a lighthearted scene with her, each wanting her to go with them and she's laughing and joking, but it was too soon, and artificial. It would have been better to have ended in a haunting way, Alison displaying the anguish of the things Thomas did so he and she could survive, in the same style as part of that scene when she talks about the Mayor's speech and their 'challenging a powerful enemy and emerging victorious,' asking if they didn't at least do that, and Starsky says 'Who knows?' because maybe not everyone involved was unmasked - and of course Gunther wasn't, and would come to play another, serious part in the series' finale.

There are other things too, such as when S&H are looking at their approach to the case and Hutch says they had all the finesse of a wrecking ball, doing everything that everyone told them not to, and Starsky 'reminds' him of what Mardean said about stirring up a hornet's nest, only Starsky wasn't even present at that conversation, and it was Hutch who said it to Mardean, not the other way round! Why did Soldier kill McClellan? Was he seen as a liability to Gunther? And the biggest question of all is the purpose of holding Alison captive, but agreeing to exchange her for either Starsky or Hutch - if Soldier planned treachery why not simply lie in wait and pick them off as soon as they entered the abandoned fairground he chose as the rendezvous? What was he going to do if he had Starsky captive? It doesn't make any sense! What I will credit that sequence with is being the most memorable of the episode, a real standout moment: Soldier, having ditched his ridiculous shiny silver jacket, actually looks a genuine threat to S&H, plus he has three other guys backing him up (who all stand in a bunch instead of spreading out to cover all angles!), and then Starsky's shared childhood memory with Alison is able to get her to recall a pertinent example as a warning for what he's going to do. There's the rising tension as they take one step at a time towards each other, Starsky talking as quietly as he can, while Soldier looks on suspiciously, Alison able to affirm her understanding, then a grab and a smash through the plate glass window and out of the firing line, while Hutch rolls to the discarded guns and goes all John Woo, firing spectacularly two-handedly before chucking Starsky his weapon so they can both clean up the mean streets!

If only as much drama and invention could have been applied to the rest of the episode, or even the three-part story as a whole, this would have been one of the series' best. You can see they were going for high stakes, perhaps the highest, with a large, powerful organisation that could cause the whole country trouble, varying levels of the hierarchy of criminality for S&H to counter at their supposedly most weakened state, and a personal stake with Starsky's childhood friend adding extra fire to a melting pot of danger. But it didn't work out that way - there were flashes of brilliance such as the end of Part I where S&H are attacked with no means of defence, the fantastically fun humour to Part II, and the scene I just mentioned in Part III, but there was far too much treading water, filling in time, without it being truly reflective and thoughtful, for the most part. The character arcs suffered - not that S&H weren't fine, they were, but none of the others really has a satisfying A to B. Too much was just thrown in without backing it up, especially the twist of Clayburn proving to be on the opposite side when he seemed like such a good guy (he was the Deputy DA we deserved, not the Deputy DA we wanted, or something like that - see 'The Dark Knight' for the correct analogy). I wonder what viewing the episodes edited together in one feature-length package would be like? I'm not sure it would really work because Part II is so different in tone to the others, even though it's the most enjoyable, but it's something I'll have to consider doing some time to discover whether it plays better or feels even more drawn out than it needed to be.

Judge McClellan, for a man much talked about and considered the worst of the worst was sadly not a strong figure in the story at any point, and it's definitely not Peter MacLean's best role on the series when he was used so effectively as the centre of attention playing other characters. Sometimes not seeing a villain and having everyone talk about him boosts his mystique, but in the case of McClellan he came off as vague and undefined. If we didn't know better we might have been just as fooled that he was a fine, upstanding member of the judicial profession for all the scenes he featured in. Then to have him popped by Soldier out of the blue made him look even flimsier. If the intention was to enhance the impression of Gunther's power from his ivory, White House-like tower, I'm not sure it succeeded, because he doesn't really do much himself, aside from ordering deaths left, right and centre! I like that they were trying to set up this untouchable enemy that had his sights set on S&H and would return to cause much distress in the finale, but certainly in this story he was more of a Bond villain: evil because we know he's supposed to be, watching things unfold from afar (literally at one point when he watches the triumphal report on TV about S&H). Even though I've seen these episodes a few times and I like the scope they attempted, I still don't really know the exact details of the connections between McClellan and Gunther, and the various others in the villain set, so I think some serious clarifying was required in the script (we don't even know that Soldier is the name of the bald assassin until he rings up S&H to tell them to go and see Thomas May!).

Of course it could be that due to the repetitious nature of some of the scenes, and the dialogue-heavy approach to unloading all the information, it made me zone out every time I watched, but even in the way the credits were a lazily put together it's apparent tidiness was not much of a factor, including with regards to the plotting and scripting. The FBI scenes are an excellent case in point: in both episodes they stop S&H in the street and drag them back to their HQ for a warning not to get involved, then S&H have the last word, only for them to have to catch the bus back to where they left their vehicle (why was Hutch driving a truck this time?), and each time there's a problem - in Part II it was the Torino's engine that had been nicked, in this it was their truck being towed away for illegal parking. At least they got to squeeze out some answers from Smithers and the other guy this time, and it was pleasing that their boss, Dodds, is made aware of his men's sneakiness. I could also point to Huggy having a little more to do as something that stands out, though it's really only one small piece of the investigation when he visits Mrs. Swayder to try and persuade 'er to get some insurance, or something, though in reality it was just about learning that McClellan was high up in Capricorn Mortgage Incorporated, leading to his downfall, though I can't recall why Hug had to pretend to be Laurence Taylor of the Companion Mortgage Company, another time I must have zoned out, or the writing wasn't crystal clear.

At least we finally get to meet Fred Oates, who was credited in Part II, but most certainly wasn't in it - he's the Deputy Sheriff at the Police Department that confirms when a call was made or received, which incriminates Clayburn. We also meet Nancy, Clayburn's assistant, the reporter who questions S&H on TV, and Dodds, the guy who heads up all the FBI in the city, but had been kept out of the loop by Smithers and his partner over the existence of Thomas May, doing it as a favour to McClellan (and get a face full of sharp, metal blinds for their deceit, not to mention a stern-faced Dodds going in after S&H have made their mark). They were all (apart from the FBI agents and Thomas), credited in Part II, but only appeared in Part III, just as various characters were credited in Part III, but were only seen in Part II, which is most confusing and distressing for those of us that like things to be nice and neat about who appeared in which episodes! The moment where Dobey calls up and demands to speak to Judge Miller I got confused, as it's a he, and I thought it was the lady Judge from Part I, but that was actually Judge Bellin, so it shows how distracting it can be when they're throwing all these characters and names around.

Cars, or more specifically, vehicles, play a larger part, with Hutch driving a truck for no apparent reason, maybe to replace his little Belle which isn't seen at all - did something happen to it in Part II, I don't remember? I wonder if they'll address his car taste in the last episodes since they obviously can't bring back his famous battered old crock, which was destroyed in Part I by Soldier's explosion. Maybe the Torino was out of action because of the engine being stolen in Part II, as Huggy puts them in possession of a swankier, smart and sophisticated car, which Starsky instantly warms to and Hutch just as instantly is disgusted by, so their differing tastes in motors continues. It even has an in-built phone, which is how Soldier gets in contact, though I'd love to know how he obtained the number! Some double standards are on display (or maybe just Seventies attitudes), with Hutch chucking both the lid of his coffee, and then the whole thing out of the window when they're parked up. It does at least continue the tradition of one of them forced to abandon their food or beverage for instant action, though if he'd only kept the lid instead of flinging it wantonly aside, he might have been able to take the coffee with him! They're also quite happy to leave Captain Dobey holding the bill at The Pits (when he makes another rare visit to Huggy's establishment), and there was not a single joke, either visually or verbally about his weight. Well, not in that scene - later, Starsky gives him a slightly backhanded compliment by saying he was looking good, though could lose a little weight.

Other familiar tropes of the series are the detectives' names being mixed up, which happens twice, and both with public officials: first by the Policewoman at HQ who issues the gun permits the wrong way round and looks distinctly unimpressed when Starsky switches them over  (not to mention grabbing her pen!), then the verbose Mayor himself says their names the wrong way round when he gestures to each, and even a third time since they end up with the wrong badges and have to swap over outside the City Hall building. S&H finally get to their matinee at the cinema, but, perhaps as a callback to the pilot episode they meet Huggy in an 'adult' film, a reference I'd happily have done without, but at least we don't get reminded about it any more since they took it out of the opening credits montage! Venice Place is seen again as S&H take Alison there to look after her, and I'm sure the abandoned fairground had been a setting they'd filmed at before ('Huggy Bear and The Turkey,' was one, I think). The music was never memorable, except for the creepy reverb of quiet funfair music as part of the score when they go to meet Soldier. Once again we get an idea of the city's location as the FBI building has a sign outside saying 'Federal Building 300 North Los Angeles Street,' though it can be argued that it's just a street name, not the city.

We again have the episode title on the screen at the start, and as I mentioned before, the credits are duplicated between Part II and III. In the end I had to look up on IMDB to see who was who in terms of the marquee names that weren't attached to characters. Most are easy, but I learned that Lee Bryant was Karen and Angus Duncan was the other FBI man, Agent Waldheim. Dave Shelley, however, remains a mystery as even on IMDB he had no character name - how much more messy can you get! Even Alexander Courtney's role as Gunther's assistant isn't named. At least we know that Bryant was in Parts II and III, as was Duncan, though I still don't recall in which episode William Vaughn was playing a Security Guard… Maybe he was a guy at the airport where S&H double team on Clayburn with some nifty moves, tossing him about until Karen shoots him to keep him from talking, though she's taken by them in her attempt to quietly slip away. If the story was messily constructed (to use a generous word), and the motivations weren't always as strong as they should have been, and even though it was wrapped up in a mediocre way, we can at least be thankful that Crazy Sammy Pearl did what he did and survived without a scratch, or who knows what would have happened (probably what was going to happen in the series finale, with Starsky shot to pieces and Hutch having to avenge him, but hey, they saved that for the last episode of the series).

**