Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Valley of the Dinosaurs: "Volcano" (September 28, 1974)

The Butlers and Gorak’s cave family worry that a volcano -- known by the villagers as “Magog" -- is soon going to erupt.  

The only problem is that they can’t tell for certain, because the Tribal Council has forbidden anyone from ascending the mountain and troubling “Magog,” which it treats as a living creature, a God.

Mr. Butler realizes he must disobey orders, and go up the volcano anyway, without permission. Gorak goes with him, in defiance of the law, and the two men discover that, indeed, the volcano is ready to erupt.

Now they must return to the council whose orders they have ignored, and ask for help in diverting the lava flow away from the village and the family cave…

“Volcano,” this week’s episode of Valley of the Dinosaurs (1974), focuses again on two key series concepts: team-work and science.  

The cave-family and the Butlers join forces (eventually with the villagers, too…) to prevent lava from destroying their homes. Meanwhile, Mr. Butler -- former science teacher -- explains in detail such concepts as a compass, and how to split stone using spikes and water. 

Unlike Isis or Shazam, however, the scientific and social lessons of “Volcano” don’t hit one over the head, or become the focus of the show. Instead, action is highlighted.  This week, there’s a last minute escape from the lava using a Butler-built pedal-boat, as well as a race against time to beat the volcano. There’s also an interlude with a weird dodo-like creature.

It’s funny to think about, but “Volcano” also stresses -- on at least two occasions -- how it is sometimes necessary to break the law to achieve positive results.  

Butler notes that fact, and later, Gorok does too.  The underlying idea is good: that science and knowledge are sometimes more important than adherence to rules or dogma (especially unsubstantiated religious beliefs), but by the same token it’s weird for a kid’s show to advocate law-breaking.   I guess the appropriate idea here is: question authority; question those things that are not supported by fact, or logic.

Next week: "Pteranodon."

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: The Secrets of Isis: "The Hitchhiker" (September 8, 1976)

In “The Hitchhiker,” two high school girls -- Hope (Jewel Blanch) and Joanne (Lynn Tufield) -- make a habit of hitchhiking. 

One morning they almost die when their driver, an irresponsible teenager named Charlie (Barry Miller) takes them on a speeding trip that catches the eyes of the police and nearly ends with a deadly wreck.

Fortunately, Isis (Joanna Cameron) is present, and helps the girls avoid a deadly crash. Joanne promises that she will never “hitchhike again,” but Hope doesn’t seem to get the message.

The next day, rather than wait for the bus with Joanne, Hope gets back in the car with Charlie, and another dangerous ride ensues.

This time, however, his car breaks down on railroad tracks as a train barrels towards it...

According to Saturday morning television, hitchhiking was apparently one of the great social issues of the 1970s. It was dangerous…and everybody was doing it!

Secrets of Isis (1975 – 1976) takes on the problem in “The Hitchhiker,” an episode which sees the super heroine helping two teenage girls who fall in with the wrong driver.  

And yes, this narrative or plot-line was absolutely re-used on an episode of The All-New Super Friends in 1977 (“Hitchhike.”)  There, two high-school girls also ran afoul of a bad driver, and required rescue from the Wonder Twins.

The idea of both of these stories (and for audiences) is: get scared straight!  

Violent, dangerous hitchhiking incidents should prove how dangerous it is, and prevent people (especially kids) from doing it. Today it all feels like silly exaggeration, and much ado about nothing.  I find it hard to believe that teenage hitchhiking was ever quite the epidemic that Saturday mornings of the disco decade made it out to be.

Intriguingly, this is one of the few episodes of Isis in which we see Mrs. Thomas (Cameron) actually teach a class.  Here, she undertakes a chemistry lesson, but it’s really all about hitchhiking. She discusses the danger of a “catalyst” in an unpredictable situation, and likens it to the plight of Joanne and Hope.

The driver in this case, Charlie, is the episode’s real menace.  He decides to take the girls on a police chase, drives the car through a parked construction vehicle, runs off the road, drives without a license, and stalls out on the aforementioned race tracks. Charlie learns the error of his ways at the end (on Isis, the perps always do…) but if anyone on the series ever deserved some jail time, it’s this guy.

In terms of Isis and her abilities, we see her take apart the molecular cohesion of a vehicle in the road, so that Charlie’s car won’t crash into it.  

“Molecules by which we’re bound separate…let space be found,” she says, invoking the mighty goddess.

Vis-à-vis the series’ special effects, there appears to be some new footage of Isis in flight this week. I would say this is so, in part, because these shots feature Isis’s new hair-do and cut.

Next week: “Class Clown”

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Valley of the Dinosaurs: "What Goes Up" (September 14, 1974)

The second half-hour episode of the animated series Valley of the Dinosaurs (1974) is titled “What Goes Up,” and it aired on September 14, 1974.

“What Goes Up” opens with a stampede of angry dinosaurs -- including a tyrannosaurus -- charging through the jungle near the Butler family cave. The prehistoric brutes are agitated because millions of over-sized ants called “Tagas” are on the march towards the valley.

Before you can say The Naked Jungle (1954), the Butlers and their prehistoric friends are grappling with this new and troublesome issue.

They realize that no force in the valley can stop the onslaught of the army ants, and so decide to create a defense line of "fire rocks" (or hot coals...) as a barrier between their cave and the marauding ants.

"Back home, we'd just call the exterminator," quips Katie.

Mrs. Butler, however, suggests another more helpful alternative. She wants to create a hot air balloon that can transport both families and their pets to the mountaintop and out of harm's way.

In short order, this mission is accomplished. Gorok makes a visit to the cave of "giant snakes" and steals their cast-off skins for the weaving of the balloon.  They weave a gondola basket, and prepare to lift off.

Disaster is averted when the Butlers and their prehistoric counterparts fly away in the balloon, and the ants obligingly retreat during a storm.

The threat this week on Valley of the Dinosaurs feels a bit run-of-the-mill in one sense because there is no follow-up.  The tagas decimate the valley, especially the plant life, and move through village, but by the story’s end everything is back to normal.  Of course, this is a Saturday morning TV series, so it’s natural that some aspects of the danger are minimized for the sake of children.

What makes the threat interesting is the idea that something tiny -- miniscule, actually -- can scare giant dinosaurs.

The events in “What Goes Up” also, however, call into question the overall premise of Valley of the Dinosaurs. If the Butlers can make a hot air balloon and fly to the cliff top -- why not fly out of the valley of the dinosaurs all together?

We’ve got to assume that the Valley isn’t that gigantic, so a short flight ought to do it.  Even if it were a long flight, the Butlers would no doubt feel it worth the effort.

One of the Butlers' actually suggests this notion in the episode, but then, at the end, the balloon is destroyed and Kim says something along the lines of "so much for going home."

Why? Can't the family just build another balloon? There's a cave full of giant snakes nearby, and their skins make for great balloons, as we’ve seen.

The plot device of the hot-air balloon was a popular one on Saturday morning shows of the 1970s.  Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975) had a story about one, “Terror on Ice Mountain,” and the third season of Land of the Lost (1974 – 1977) highlighted a tale called “Hot Air Artist.”

Next week: “A Turned Turtle.”

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Valley of the Dinosaurs: "Forbidden Fruit" (September 7, 1974)

"Deep in the heart of the Amazon, the Butler family was exploring an uncharted river canyon. Suddenly, caught up in a violent whirlpool, they were propelled through an underground cavern and flung into a hostile world of giant prehistoric creatures, a world that time forgot. Now befriended by a family of cave dwellers, each day is an adventure in survival for the Butlers in the valley of the dinosaurs."

-Opening narration from Valley of the Dinosaurs

In the autumn of 1974, American children had a tough choice. They could watching stop-motion dinosaurs on the live-action Sid and Marty Krofft spectacular Land of the Lost (1974 – 1977), or cartoon dinosaurs on Hanna-Barbera's similarly themed animated series Valley of the Dinosaurs.

The common points between the two programs are quite intriguing, and worth enumerating.

Both series involve modern American families on inflatable rafts "tumbling" down dangerous bodies of waters and ending up in prehistoric worlds, for example.

On Land of the Lost, it's the closed pocket universe of Altrusia; in Valley of the Dinosaurs, it's merely a hidden valley in the Amazon that serves as the family’s destination.

Both series also involve contemporary, 20th century technological man interacting with more primitive "natural" creatures, whether a family of “cave dwellers” in Valley or Chaka's people, the Pakuni in Land of the Lost.

Where the series diverge is in storytelling approach, level and style. 

Land of the Lost quickly began to feature surprisingly mature and intelligent narratives about environmentalism, hard science fiction concepts (like time loops), and even featured a recurring (and scary) villain for the Marshalls: the unforgettable Sleestak.

By contrast, Valley of the Dinosaurs is much more the tale of two families learning to help one another, to survive. There is no real enemy to fight, save for the dinosaurs, ants, and other challenges in valley. There is a focus on pre-adolescent humor and hijinks, and getting across a moral lesson with each story.

The first half-hour episode of Valley of the Dinosaurs aired on Saturday, September 7, 1974 and is titled "Forbidden Fruit." This episode was directed by Charles A. Nichols and the writing team included Peter Dixon, Peter Germano, Dick Robbins and Jerry Thomas. Interestingly, the story editor on Valley of the Dinosaurs was Sam Roeca, who later served as story editor on the third season of Land of the Lost. Talk about closed pocket universes...

Anyway, we meet the Butler family in this episode. It consists of white-haired patriarch, John Butler,  who is a high school science teacher, his troublesome and prone-to-mischief son, Greg (who likes to say things such as "jumping jeepers!"), teenage daughter Katie, and the protective mother of the clan, Kim. The Butlers have also brought along their loyal dog, who closely resembles Scooby-Doo (remember, this is Hanna-Barbera too...), named Digger.

As I noted above, the thematic leitmotif of Valley of the Dinosaurs involves the Butler's learning to cooperate, respect and live alongside a "mirror" human family of primitive cavemen, which includes patriarch Gorok, hunky son Lok, and matriarch Gara, among others. Tana is the little cave-person girl and Greg's playmate.

The cave family even cares for a pet Stegosaurus named "Glump."

Each episode involves one family teaching the other family a lesson in tolerance and diversity. The differences in evolution don't matter, the show informs us as viewers; we can still be "good neighbors."

For instance, "Forbidden Fruit" involves the Butler family discovering a stash of delicious tree-growing fruit. However, the cavemen, led by Gorok, forbid the family from eating it.

Why? Well, apparently, a local brontosaurus is quite adamant about devouring all the fruit itself. Still, Greg fails to honor this edict and steals a basket of the fruit, which results in the angry brontosaur assaulting the home of the two families, an expansive mountain cavern.

The attack by the dinosaur precipitates a cave-in, and then a flooding of the habitat. The two families must then work together to siphon water out of the cave, utilizing bamboo shoots that happen to be plentiful.  Greg feels guilty for breaking the cave man law and finds a way out to warn the local village about the dinosaur.

In the end, order is restored and Gorok provides viewers with the lesson of the week. "We have laws and customs," he reminds the Butlers. "You know things we do not, and we listen. We know things you do not...and you listen." 

This episode also features the cave man realization that "The Butlers...they are strange...but nice."

Next week: “What Goes Up.”

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: The Secrets of Isis: "Funny Gal" (November 22, 1975)

In “Funny Gal” an episode of The Secrets of Isis (1975 - 1976), an overweight young woman, Carrie Anson (Sandra Vacey), hides behind humor to cloak her feelings of insecurity.  

A friend of hers attempts to launch a campaign to make her student council president, but Carrie messes it up with her self-deprecating, silly sense of humor.

In one last ditch attempt to win, Carrie makes a scene. She steels Rick’s boat, the Star Tracker, and heads out to sea, just as a deadly storm moves in.  Quickly, Carrie becomes stranded....

Realizing that she can’t both stop the storm and recover the boat at the same time, Isis (Joanna Cameron) seeks the assistance of a superhero friend: Captain Marvel (John Davey).

It’s a cross-over episode of Isis!  

Here, our remarkable Andrea Thomas, secretly an Egyptian Goddess, summons Captain Marvel of the sibling Filmation series, Shazam!, to help out in a pinch.  It’s undeniably fun to see the two superheroes join up, even for a time, though the excuse is pretty lame.  Isis has handled tougher situations than this alone before, for certain.

But still, any excuse to get Captain Marvel and Isis together is fine with me.  As a child, I remember watching this episode, and loving the team-up, despite the general lameness of the affair.  Here, Tut --the crow -- goes, on Isis’s orders, to find the good captain.

Our message of the week here in "Funny Gal" is that you can’t love others until you really learn to yourself, and it proverb is applied to a girl named Carrie at high school (no, not that Carrie!). Isis reminds Carrie that she is worthy of being love for many reasons, including her mind and her sense of humor.

Also interesting here is the conclusion of the episode, which finds Rick “comparing” meek Mrs. Thomas to mighty Isis, and finding her wanting.  Andrea shoots back that maybe she should compare Rick to Captain Marvel, and see how he likes it. Zing!

That’s an exceedingly good point and it gets at, in a humorous fashion, the way that our culture is particularly hard on women for their looks, and not nearly so tough on men.  

Alas, it's a shame the episode doesn't get at another key point.  Carrie isn't fat, or even overweight at all.  It would be nice if someone stated that fact flat out.

Next week, the atrociously-titled "Girl Driver."

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: The Secrets of Isis: "No Drums, No Trumpets" (November 15, 1975)

In “No Drums, No Trumpets,” a ham radio operator, Fred (Mark Lambert) is irritated that he loses a science fair to a friend, Dorothy.  At a crucial moment, his radio malfunctions, and he gets angry.

Fred speeds away from the scene in his car, and promptly drives it over a cliff.  

Isis (Joanna Cameron) arrives just in time to save him, summoning the wind to blow the vehicle back to the road.

Later, Mrs. Thomas, Fred and Dorothy visit a nearby ghost-town, where local thieves are hiding out. 

Mrs. Thomas loses her Isis amulet during a staircase collapse, meaning she can’t stop the thugs, or save the teens. 

Instead, Fred must use his twitchy ham radio to contact the authorities.

“No Drums, No Trumpets” is slightly more than the run-of-the-mill Secrets of Isis episode.  There’s still the Filmation standard here of the “lesson of the week” (in this case: sometimes you learn more by losing than by winning), but the danger is ratcheted up to a higher degree.

Specifically, Isis/Andrea loses her amulet in the middle of the story, which means she is unable to transform into the Goddess and save the day.  Instead, she must rely on a temperamental teen, and on a different skill-set too, to deal with the menacing criminals hiding out in the ghost town.

It may not sound like much, but this formula deviation is enough to make “No Drums, No Trumpets” stand-out from the pack  So many episodes of Isis drone on and repeat the exact same chronology and order of events that it is an actual relief to see something different happen for a change.

Also, the scene with the teen in a car – teetering on the verge of death -- is surprisingly well-vetted here.

Next week, Isis and Captain Marvel team up in "Funny Gal!"

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: The Secrets of Isis: "The Outsider"

In “The Outsider,” Mrs. Thomas (Joanna Cameron) is worried about a bright new student, Wayne Moss (Mitch Vogel), who the other students bully and call a “hillbilly.”

Wayne spends most of his time away from school, exploring old Wilson’s Pond, and learning more about the wild life there.  He says he hates city life and the “pavement, concrete, and smog” of urban living.  Meanwhile, two bullies decide to steal the raccoon mascot of a competing sports team, and blame the theft on Wayne.

When Wayne learns that a land developer plans to dynamite and drain Wilson’s pond, he steals a bull-dozer, but soon loses control of it.

It’s Isis to the rescue!

“The Outsider” is a charming but totally fantasy-land installment of Isis.

In this episode, an “outsider” boy attempts to stop contractors and land developers from destroying a beautiful and precious natural habitat. 

Andrea gets a great (but odd idea) to help: “Let’s file an environmental impact report!” 

But, alas, it’s too late for the grinding wheels of bureaucracy to slow the project down.

Desperate, Rick Cutler goes to Mr. Winstead (Harry Hickox), the land developer -- while he is playing golf, no less -- and tells him about the white owl and other wild-life that will be destroyed by his actions. 

Horrified, Winstead calls off his multi-million, environment-destroying project right then and there. 

The dynamite fuses are already lit, but fortunately Isis can help.

If only life were really like this episode of Filmation's Secrets of Isis.

There is no land developer in the world, I fear, who would change course -- even if it is the right thing to do -- on the cusp of creating a multi-million dollar project (a new suburb). 

Indeed, this idea, of a millionaire businessman actually caring about the environment, is the most “fantastic” or fantasy element of the episode.  I would sooner believe in Isis, a near Goddess superhero, frankly. 

Still, this 1970s idealism is quite a wonderful, if innocent thing.  Too bad more children didn’t learn the lesson of Filmation’s “The Outsider,” that when we destroy the environment, we contribute to our own destruction. 

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Bigfoot and Wildboy: "White Wolf"

In “White Wolf,” a sneaky veterinarian’s assistant, Tom (Brian Farrell) concocts a spray that can control animals and people.

He tests it on an old white wolf, Smoky, who then bites a local teen, Doug (Christopher Knight).

Soon, Doug begins transforming into a werewolf, showing the same signs of aggression infecting Smoky. 

Bigfoot and Little Boy team up with Dr. Stewart (Ed Peaker) to reverse the effects of the formula…

Here’s another strange and yet wholly enjoyable episode of Bigfoot and Wildboy. In “White Wolf,” Peter from The Brady Bunch (1969 – 1973) -- Christopher Knight -- gets infected by a wolf-bite and becomes an angry werewolf boy. 

The only problem is that there are virtually no make-up effects to chart his transformation. Instead, Knight's Doug simply grows hairy hands, or paws. 

And we all know why a guy grows hair on his hands, right?

The cool part of this story, however, is watching a Brady Bunch kid armed with the equivalent of bionic powers. Doug picks up a boulder in slow motion photograph, for example, and so there’s the inescapable feel here of The Brady Bunch meets The Six Million Dollar Man by way of Sid and Marty Krofft…and, naturally, on the cheap.

Also quite strange here is the nature of the weekly villain. A meek vet’s assistant -- the anonymous sounding Tom -- creates a formula to bend animals to his will, all while working at a little local office in the woods near Bigfoot and Wild Boy. 

I guess even evil geniuses have to start somewhere.

Alas, there are no further complete episodes of Bigfoot and Wildboy currently available for review, so this retrospective is complete, for the time being, after just four episodes (“Abominable Snowman,” “Amazon Contest,” Prisoner from Space” and “White Wolf.”) 

Based on these episodes, Bigfoot and Wildboy is cheaply-made, strange, and a heck of a lot of fun.  I’d love to see the whole series released on DVD or blu-ray. Some episodes, like “Amazon Contest” and “Prisoner from Space,” in particular, are really inventive and bizarre.

Next week, I’ll veer over to cover one episode of Mystery Island (1977)…again, the only one available.

The following week, I’ll begin reviewing the extant episodes of a childhood favorite: Run Joe Run (1974 - 1976). Once more, only about four episodes are available for review, but hopefully the series – basically The Fugitive with a German shepherd -- will be worth a re-visit.

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: The Secrets of Isis: "The Show-Off"

In “The Show-Off,” an episode of Isis originally aired November 1, 1975, a high-school kid named Steve (Harry Gold) nearly falls off the school roof after climbing a ladder while trying to hang a banner. 

Isis (Joanna Cameron) rescues him, but Harry is embarrassed.  He feels the need to show off, in part, he says, because he is short.

Later, on a school camping trip, Cindy Lee (Joanna Pang) gets her foot stuck in a bear trap and Steve tries to impress her by saving her himself, instead of asking for help.

This time Andrea comes to the rescue, and tells him that there is no shame in needing help, and that he should concentrate on doing well the things he loves.  To that end, Steve is an ornithologist.  

“Know thyself,” Isis recommends, stressing the importance of Steve being himself.

After over-coming his need to show off, Steve and Rick (Brian Cutler) get trapped in a mountain cave with Rofu, an angry, runaway gorilla. 

Of course, this necessitates another rescue from Mighty Isis…

“The Show Off” alters the standard Isis formula a bit.  Usually, the story finds Isis trying to help a kid who has done something bad.  She shows up just in time to help him realize how wrong-headed he’s been about something (like bragging, or handling a dangerous gun). 

But this week, Isis and Steve resolve Steve’s problem -- showing off -- and the third act involves an unrelated (and odd…) matter: an out-of-control, runaway gorilla.

And what a gorilla it is.  Rofu is a man in a suit, and this just may be the worst gorilla costume you’ll find on seventies television.  But I wonder who came up with the idea of making a runaway gorilla the threat of the week, especially in an episode about showing-off.

Whatever. It was the seventies, right?

In terms of her ever increasing stable of powers, Isis demonstrates in “The Show Off” her ability to control animals, and bend them to her will.  “I have a way with animals,” she note simply, and then observes that she and Rofu will now be “lifelong friends.”  A few episodes back, Isis tangled with an angry bear, but instead of communicating with it peacefully, as she does with Rofu, she trapped it and startled it by surrounding it with a ring of fire.

Next week: “The Outsider.”