Saturday, February 28, 2015

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Secrets of Isis: "Bigfoot"


On a school field trip to the forest, Mrs. Thomas (Joanna Cameron) is shocked when students Cindy Lee (Joanna Pang) and Lee (Scott Columby) think they have caught sight of Bigfoot, the mythical Sasquatch.

Lee decides to stay in the woods and attempt to catch a photo of the legendary beast, but encounters instead a giant stranger named Richard (Bill Engresser).

When Lee loses his footing and nearly falls off a mountain, the strange, silent Richard comes to his rescue and is revealed to be a gentle giant. 





“Bigfoot” was all the rage in the 1970s pop culture, so it was only a matter of time, perhaps, before The Secrets of Isis (1975 – 1976) tackled the subject too. 

As is the case with the series’ installment about UFOs (“The Lights of Mystery Mountain,”) the paranormal subject matter is ultimately debunked. Isis sees over-sized footprints in the dirt at one point, but they belong to a reclusive, gentle human being of unusual size…named Richard.  The problem is, after you see Richard, you realize that he could not have made those footprints.  He's tall, but not THAT tall.

Anyway, Richard doesn’t much care for human company, which is why he hangs out in the woods, I suppose.  “I can’t live with people. I never could,” he declares.  Isis tells Lee that “Sometimes people are very cruel to those who seem different.”




Although it is rewarding that Secrets of Isis preaches tolerance and acceptance for those who are different, imagine for a second the extreme disappointment of a child watching this episode, anticipating an appearance by Bigfoot and getting, instead, a colossal bearded recluse.  

It would be nice to report that Isis and Bigfoot go a few rounds in battle (like Steve Austin and Sasquatch) but the episode concludes that Bigfoot is “only a fable.”

Bummer, right?


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