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| Production 45411 Original Airdate: 3 November 1976 | |||
 Oscar and Dr. Franklin
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| Produced by Kenneth Johnson | |||
| Teleplay by Arthur Rowe | |||
| Story by Arthur Rowe Oliver Crawford | |||
| Directed by Alan Crosland | |||
| Guest Cast | |||
| Guest Star(s) John Houseman as Dr. Franklin Jennifer Darling as Peggy Callahan Jack L. Ging as Jack Hanson James McMullan as Commander Gordon | |||
| Special Guest Star(s) Sam Jaffe as Admiral Richter | |||
| Special Guest Appearance Lee Majors as Col. Steve Austin | |||
| Co-starring Janice Whitby as Katy Eugene Peterson as General Williams Byron Morrow as Admiral Wilkins John Dewey-Carter as Rawlins Walt Davis as Crewman | |||
| Uncredited Howard K. Smith as Himself | |||
| Broadcast Order | |||
| Season 2 | |||
| ← Previous | Next → | ||
| "Kill Oscar" | "Black Magic" | ||
| Related episodes Kill Oscar Kill Oscar (Part II) Fembots in Las Vegas Fembots in Las Vegas (Part II) | |||
Steve and Jaime become Oscar and Callahan's only hope of survival when Dr. Franklin uses the weather control machine to repel a military strike force from his island.
Summary
Reports on the odd weather conditions recorded in the four corners of the world soon becomes public knowledge throughout the world media. A phenomenon that baffles the meteorologists who cannot provide a tangible explanation as to these extreme occurrences.
At the Hospital, Dr. Rudy Wells informs Steve Austin about a task force conference at the Pentagon but is overly concerned about Jaime Sommers' recovery and refuses to allow her to join in. To prove that she is fit for duty, Jaime grabs a metallic water pitcher and crushes it. Steve pushes the joke even further by suggesting she kick down the bathroom door to finally convince Rudy to accede to her request to return to duty.
Pentagon officials were promptly notified by NSB Chief Inspector Hanson and plans to attack Franklin’s base are soon put into effect. Some proposed launching missiles to destroy Franklin’s satellite communications or even his base altogether but according to Rudy Wells’ theory, that would engender massive ecological disasters in the short run. Hanson’s plan is to mobilize an armada of planes and submarines to Franklin’s small Caribbean base at Saint Emil Island despite the destructive hurricane acting as a shield around the island.
Deconstructed
Quotes
Jaime: Rudy, I don't have time to be sick anymore. I really don't. My bionics are fine. You want proof? Okay, I'll give you proof. (looks around her bed, then grabs a metal water container) Here's proof, right here. (aside to Steve) This trick's a little easier with a tennis ball, but... (proceeds to bend it out of shape)
Steve: You're in trouble now, Jaime. That's destroying hospital property. That's a felony if they want to press charges.
Jaime: Oh, dear. You will wait for me, won't you, till I get out?
Steve: Sure.
Jaime: Okay, so what? Am I cured or what?
Rudy: Okay, okay, your arm may be alright...
Steve: That's right, Rudy. Her arm is okay, but you're right, we have to check and see how her legs are; if they're strong enough. Uh... why don't you kick in the bathroom door, Jaime?
Jaime: (claps her hands with relish) Good idea! I wonder why I didn't think of that...
Rudy: Okay, okay, I'll take your prognosis!
Admiral Richter: What exactly seems to be happening, mr. Hanson? Can Franklin pinpoint his targets?
Admiral Wilkins: With, eh, all respect, doctor, we don't only fight on sunny summer days. Our attack units are designed for all weather capability.
Steve: So you see, we're not giving up, Jaime. All we need is an atomic submarine.
Admiral Richter: In the first place I don't 'buck' the establishment, I am the establishment.
Commander Gordon: That's it. The mission will have to be scrubbed. We can't launch a raft in this.
Steve: No, wait a minute. I've bailed out of a sub the hard way before. You got a scuba suit aboard?
Jaime: Two suits. (gestures two for emphasis) Two suits.
Steve: Now wait a minute, Jaime. You're not going out of a torpedo tube. Now, you felt the sub. It'll be rough out there!
Jaime: You never promised me a rose garden.
Steve: Forget it.
Jaime: (eyes narrowing) Commander, can an Air Force officer aboard a Navy submarine give orders to a civilian who isn't listening to him anyway?
Commander Gordon: Ah... leave me out of this, you two. We've got two suits up in the forward torpedo room. You decide what happens.
Jaime: (smugly gestures two for emphasis) Two suits.
Steve: I just wish you were stayin' aboard.
Jaime: Hey, how dangerous can this be? Really?
Steve: On a scale of one to ten, about a twelve.
Rudy: I can think of two good reasons why Franklin would bring the storm to the island: Jaime and Steve. Now he could be fighting one of them, or both of them with it.
Callahan: Thunder terrifies me.
Oscar: The time for terror is when the thunder stops, Callahan.
Steve: We gotta get across the dam to Franklin's complex. Lightning might get us. Our bionics attract it.
Jaime: Well, the faster we get past it, the better.
Steve: Let's go.
Dr. Franklin: You'd better go rather quickly.
Jaime: You are coming with me. (Franklin shakes his head) Doctor, would you like me to carry you?
Franklin: Good lord, you wouldn't do that?!
Jaime: I certainly would, and you know that I can. (Franklin doesn't move) Okay. (she makes a move to pick him up)
Franklin: Leave me my dignity, please!
Jaime: It's up to you, Doctor.
Dr. Franklin: Miss Sommers, you're a very determined young woman, with a mind of her own. I've always said that was a defect in a woman.
Dr. Franklin: I don't know. Sometimes it seems the things that aren't really controlable are the best things of all...
Trivia
Cast
- James McMullan guest stars as Casey in the third season episode "The Martians Are Coming, the Martians Are Coming."
- After this episode, Martin E. Brooks isn't seen again as Rudy Wells until "Biofeedback".
Characters
- Admiral Richter says that Oscar Goldman was his XO in Intelligence during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Jaime destroys Fembot No. 6 by hurling a rock at it/her. Although it is only a robot, this marks the first time in the series that Jaime is shown using what would (if No. 6 were human) be considered deadly force.
- The brief (staged) battle between Jaime and Steve marks the only time on screen that the two characters are shown fighting (not counting occasions where one throws the other).
Real World
- The "Attack sub USS Stingray", though fictional for this period in time, was also the name of the sub in the 1996 movie Down Periscope. A shot while Jaime and Steve are on the submarine has a plaque showing that the boat it is "SSN 501". In Down Periscope the USS Stingray was SSN 161. The last real USS Stingray was decommissioned following WWII. The actual submarine used in the movie Down Periscope was the USS Pampanito, SS-383.
- The map that Steve and Jaime go over, showing St. Emile Island, appears to be a modified map of Bermuda. It shows the city of Hamilton, Fort Hamilton, and Hamilton Harbor.
Series
- This marks the final appearance of Steve Austin on The Bionic Woman. Although both Richard Anderson and Martin E. Brooks would continue their ongoing crossover appearances throughout the show's third season, the change in network (from ABC to NBC) will make future appearances by Lee Majors impossible (although Steve's name will be mentioned in the Season 3 episode "The Bionic Dog"). Majors and Wagner would not reunite again on screen until the 1987 telefilm Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman.
Gaffes
Continuity
- The satellite photo of Franklin's base that is shown to the generals and admirals changes between shots.
- When Steve and Jaime are going over the map of St. Emile Island, a plaque over their heads shows that the USS Stingray is USN 501. As they are going into the island, over the reef, an outside shot of the boat has the number 509. A later shot, during the same sequence, shows no hull number on the boat. Then it comes back.
- While the task force is advancing to Franklin’s base, the doctor orders a fembot to turn the gale force to 75 knots. The subsequent shot shows that the fembot turns the force to 80 knots.
- Jaime strips off most of her scuba suit before running from the surveillance chopper that shows up when she lands on the island; however, the discarded parts of her suit seem to disappear as she runs away.
- When Jaime disables Fembot #6, the resulting explosion creates a large burnt hole in the back of the Fembot's jumpsuit. However, when Jaime strips the jumpsuit off the downed Fembot and dons it herself, the hole has disappeared.
- Franklin is wearing a labcoat when he releases Oscar and Callahan, but anytime the camera is focused on his face, the labcoat disappears.
Credibility
- In his briefing with the US Military, Hanson says that Plan One of his plan to attack Dr. Franklin will be to use tactical bombers and the 7th Fleet. Since St. Emile Island is shown by him to be south of Cuba, this would be impractical, as the 7th Fleet was and still is based out of Japan, and is responsible for covering the Western Pacific.
- Considering that Cuba is close enough to the island to be impacted by the weather, it's odd that no reference is made to potential action by Cuba's or even the USSR's military.
- Given that a standard fembot weighs two-three times as much as a human being, technically, they should not be staggered by the wind and adverse conditions like they are. (However, it is indicated in the episode that the weather conditions are extreme and capable of preventing military craft from approaching the island, so it's possible the winds were indeed strong enough to stagger the robots.)
- When Steve removes his wet suit, he is shown wearing only swim trunks beneath, which makes sense as wearing ocean-soaked clothes is a bad idea. Jaime, however, removes her suit to reveal she is is not only fully clothed, she is wearing the same designer outfit she wore on the sub. In reality she should be wearing at least a swimsuit if not underwear.
- In the jungle scenes after he removes his wetsuit, Steve is wearing tan shoes, then while he & Jaime are crossing the dam, he is barefoot. Neither he or Jamie carried a dry bag into the torpedo tube, before leaving the Stringray or when they came on the beach, so where did the shoes come from & why did he run without them, across the dam to Franklin's base?
Visual Effects
- When Jaime is on the beach, she is shown running from the helicopter normally, not bionically. It is only when she reaches the hills around the beach that she begins to run bionically.
- Hanson's strategic options are apparently presented on a video screen, but are in fact a post effect. An attempt was made to simulate the perspective of the shot, but the angle is clearly mismatched. Also, the edges of the title card are clearly visible.
- When the Stingray dives, it's very obvious that it's footage of a sub actually surfacing, then reversed.
- The scenes of the breaking dam are lifted from a 1955 20th Century Fox movie The Rains Of Ranchipur. Like many stock footage scenes from anamorphic widescreen movies used in 1970s TV shows the scenes are used in their squeezed state.
Gallery
