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In
“The Running Fight,” Bok (Bill Ewing) is bitten by a large spider while out hunting,
and begins to act erratically and violently, threatening the family.
Korg
(Jim Malinda) understands that the spider bite can do “strange things” to men,
and uses himself as a distraction, allowing Bok to hunt him rather than the
family until the venom in Bok’s blood stream weakens.
But
Bok has “super human strength” brought on by the bite, and is the better hunter
of the two brothers…
Penned
by frequent Star Trek (1966 – 1969) author Oliver Crawford (1917 – 2008), “The
Running Fight” is a solid episode of Korg 70,000 BC, except for the
technical matter of a very fake looking spider.
The installment opens in picturesque fashion at Vasquez Rocks, but never
quite recovers from the appearance of the furry, immobile arachnid, which bites
Bok on the face, over his eye. Bok’s
red, swollen face looks much more convincing than the spider itself.
This
is also the first episode, I believe, that has explicitly noted Bok is actually
Korg’s brother, although I suppose it could be surmised from earlier
segments. Clearly, Bok’s importance to
the family -- as brother, uncle, and hunter -- means that he must survive the
crisis more or less intact.
This means
Korg can’t harm him, and must risk being his quarry while he is in a deranged
state. One nice element of this final chase is Korg’s decision to change
directions so that the sun is in Bok’s eyes, slowing hi down during his
pursuit.
Narrator
Meredith notes in this episode that “Neanderthal Man does not venture by himself
except in extraordinary circumstances,” and it’s a sound byte that gets reused
throughout the series.
In terms of the threat of the week,
the furry spiders which live in Vasquez Rocks, Korg 70,000 wasn’t on too fanciful ground.
In 2011,
a prehistoric spider fossil was discovered in Mongolia in 2011.The weird impact
of the spider venom, however, causing Bok to forget his family and act
violently, is all fiction.
Next week: “Magic Claws.”
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