The ghost of the great wizard Merlin (Carl
Ballantine) and his jester, Gronk (Huntz Hall), materialize in the local
graveyard. Unlike most ghosts who appear there, this duo wishes only to return peaceably to “The Great Beyond.”
Unfortunately, Merlin has forgotten the
spell that would take them back.
Worse, Merlin's arch-enemy, Morgan La
Fay (Ina Balin), has materialized in the present too, and wishes to destroy
him. She sets a trap for Merlin and the
Ghost Busters after stealing their de-materialization ray.
“Merlin the Magician” is actually one of
the more entertaining episodes of this vastly silly series from 1975, and it
changes-up the format just a hair. Although we still get the obligatory
ghost-and-sidekick duo, we also get a third character this time: Le Fay.
Perhaps because of Balin’s performance, Le
Fay somehow manages to seem more legitimately threatening to the protagonists
than do most of the monsters on the series.
She even robs the gang of its ghost dematerializer weapon.
All’s well that ends well, and Merlin and
Gronk get their wish to be returned to The Great Beyond, but they certainly are
friendlier ghosts than most featured in the series.
Next week, the last episode of The
Ghost Busters: “The Abominable Snowman.”
No comments:
Post a Comment