Description: Season 2, Episode 23
Air Date: April 7, 1961
Plot Summary: A lost pioneer from 1847 suddenly finds himself in 1961.
Review: We seem to be on a hot streak of mediocre episodes, and this one is no different. As I've stated before, it's not as though these are bad stories, they simply lack a certain oomph to make them memorable. The thing that bothered me about this episode, in particular, was the lack of an explanation for the time traveling; this inexplicable ability to time travel is a plot device TZ appears to abuse. The first couple of times you see this plot device it's acceptable, but after a bunch of uses I've grown wary of the setup as a cheap means to skip exposition. At least keep things interesting as a few episodes accomplished, such as "A Stop at Willoughby," where it was kept ambiguous as to whether it was even real or not.
Anyway, we meet a caravan of pioneers heading toward California in 1847. The main guy is played by Cliff Robertson, best known as Uncle Ben from the Raimi "Spider-man" franchise; a curious bit role is another pioneer played by John Astin aka Gomez Addams. The pioneers have become lost, low on food and water, and are about to give up. Uncle Ben's son is sick as well so Uncle Ben decides to scout around for water. The moment he goes over a hill, or the rim as they term it, Uncle Ben is inexplicably transported to 1961. After nearly being run over by a truck, Uncle Ben stumbles upon a diner where he curiously looks around. The couple that owns the diner helps Uncle Ben a bit as he explains to them the situation. The couple calls for a doctor as they ponder whether or not Uncle Ben is crazy or a legitimate time traveler. Uncle Ben magically finds an encyclopedia that mentions his son living an accomplished life. This leads Uncle Ben to the realization that he must get back to his time in order to bring medicine to the boy. The doctor ends up calling the police who try to arrest Uncle Ben, but he manages to climb back over that hill first. Back in 1847, Uncle Ben gives the son medicine and carries on with their traveling with the confidence that everything will work out. Ehh, it's a decent little tale. If we hadn't watched the fish out of water phenomenon a bunch of times already this would have felt entertaining. As it stands, this is an episode that hardly stands out due to its striking similarities to other episodes.
Another episode, like in Walking distance, where there are no official time machines and the main character apparently walks through an invisible time barrier and then finds himself in another time.
ReplyDeleteThis episode was ok though, although sort of corny with the 1840s covered wagon traveler in 1960 calling the truck "a monster", and the dialogue from the 1950s diner owners being sort of corny. However on the other hand, how else would someone from 1960 react to some dried out and confused guy dressed in early 19th century clothes and a stovepipe hat holding a barrel shotgun showing up there out of nowhere? And how else would an early 19th century covered wagon traveler react to roads, trucks, telephone poles, gas stations, and on the good side of things, clean and abundant drinking water, a restaurant in an area previously thought to be barren and unsettled, and medicine which turns out to be very effective compared to what he'd previously known? The episode just about works.