TV canines have, for generations, helped out heroes and proven faithful sidekicks during times of extreme danger. In some stories the owner-pet bond between human and dog has endured even beyond the grave, and survived the boundaries of the death experience.
One of the best TV dog stories comes from Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone (1959 – 1961) and an episode titled “The Hunt.” This episode, which aired in 1962, involves a country man, Hyder Simpson (Arthur Hunnicut), and his loyal dog, Rip. They both die in pursuit of a raccoon (!) and their souls then travel together a long country road/afterlife.
One
gate on Eternity Road leads to Heaven and the other to Hell, but only Rip knows
the difference between the two. He can smell the brimstone, you see.
An angel provides the episode’s moral: “You see Mr. Simpson, a man will walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can’t fool a dog!”
An angel provides the episode’s moral: “You see Mr. Simpson, a man will walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can’t fool a dog!”
Having
a dog sidekick around has, indeed, proven a matter of life and death for many
cult TV heroes. In the James Bond parody
Get
Smart (1965 – 1969), for instance, Agent 86, Maxwell Smart (Don Adams)
is frequently teamed in the early seasons (and even the black-and-white pilot
episode), with the dog Fang, or CONTROL Agent K-13. In fact, Max is partnered with Fang before meeting his future wife, 99 (Barbara Feldon).
In
The
Bionic Woman (1976 – 1978) two-part episode “The Bionic Dog,” Jaime Sommers
(Lindsay Wagner) befriends a bionic dog named Max, who was actually the first
recipient of bionic replacement parts…even before Steve Austin (Lee Majors). The dog is scheduled by the OSI to be put down
because he is apparently rejecting his bionic implants, but Max proves he still
has some life in him when he rescues Jaime during a dangerous fire.
As
recently as 2005, a dog played a critical role in keeping our cult-tv heroes
safe. In “Krypto,” A Smallville
(2001 – 2011) episode of the fourth season, Lois (Erica Durance) and Clark (Tom
Welling) encounter Krypto, a super powered canine that has been the subject of
LuthorCorp experimentation with meteor rock injections. Thus, Krypto can move at
super speeds, and come to Clark’s rescue.
Science
fiction series such as the original Battlestar Galactica (1978 – 1979)
and Doctor
Who (1963 – 1989) have featured robotic
canine friends who are also helpful saving the day.
On Galactica,
the dog (or daggit) is called Muffit, and in one episode, “Fire in Space” he
rescues several Colonial warriors and off-duty officers who are trapped in a rec center
during a fire. In an early episode of
the spin-off series, Galactica:1980 (1980), we see that
the Muffit prototype has been mass produced, so that many of the children in the rag-tag fleet can
have them as pets.
The
robotic and loyal K-9 on Doctor Who -- introduced in “The Invisible Enemy” (1977) --
has likely saved the Time Lord’s life
more times than I can comfortably count, which is no doubt the reason that the
Doctor has seldom done entirely without him, creating K-9s Mark II – Mark IV.
In
both
Millennium’s (1996 – 1999) “Beware the Dog” and Ghost Story/Circle of Fear’s “Creatures
of the Canyon,” canines have revealed far more menacing sides. In the latter series, a horror anthology,
Angie Dickinson is menaced by the spirit of her dead husband’s dog. The episode suggests (laughably) a bitter
rivalry between women and dogs as “man’s best friend.”
And we learn in the 2009 Star Trek movie that Captain Archer’s (Scott Bakula) prized beagle
from Enterprise
(2001 – 2005), named Porthos, has been the (unfortunate) subject of one of Mr.
Scott’s failed transporter experiments…
One Saturday morning series from the 1970s called Run, Joe, Run (1974 - 1975) offered one of the strangest variations on the famous The Fugitive format ever to appear on television. Here, a male German shepherd, Joe, is accused of a crime he did not commit (attacking his trainer, Will Corey), and must flee the authorities. Every week, the dog helps out humans in need and attempts to prove his innocence...
One Saturday morning series from the 1970s called Run, Joe, Run (1974 - 1975) offered one of the strangest variations on the famous The Fugitive format ever to appear on television. Here, a male German shepherd, Joe, is accused of a crime he did not commit (attacking his trainer, Will Corey), and must flee the authorities. Every week, the dog helps out humans in need and attempts to prove his innocence...
Great spotlight, John, for our friends with the four paws and wagging tail. I'd like to nominate another German Shepherd, Thor from Bad Moon (1996), for service beyond the call of duty. At one time, I thought I was a 'cat person' (still am, though -- "Dogs have Owners, Cats have Staff"), but later I found my heart and loyalty also go to the dogs that become very much part of our families. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteJohn nice thoughts on dogs. In the animated realm some of my favorite dogs since I was a boy in the '70s were Scooby-Doo and Snoopy.
ReplyDeleteSGB