The Fantastic Journey (1977): "The Funhouse"

Given my long-standing love of the horror genre, The Fantastic Journey's "Funhouse" stands as one of my favorite installments of the short-lived 1970s sci-fi series. Using fun house and other carnival atmospherics to good, macabre effect, this installment is unlike any other in the FJ canon, and nicely eschews the by-now-common "civilization of the week" formula.  In proving different, "Funhouse" is actually a breath of fresh air, a good old-fashioned "spooky" hour.

In "Funhouse," Varian, Scott, Fred, Willaway, Sil-El and Lianna -- now boasting a new fluffy hair-do -- cross into a new "time zone." 

Instead of finding another divided culture in the Bermuda Triangle, the group discovers a very ominous, abandoned carnival fairground. 

Although Willaway has concerns about the mysterious carnival, noting that it "doesn't belong there," Scott and others insist they check it out, and the group takes an impromptu tour.  Before long, the amusement park rides come to mysterious life, and the interlopers are greeted by a bearded man who claims to be the descendant of Marcus Apollonius, a famous magician of antiquity.  "I am an entertainer.  I belong to the ages," he notes.  He also reveals that his expansive carnival was "salvaged from a shipwreck."

Along with two cohorts -- the Barker (Richard Lawson) and Roxanne (Mary Frann) -- Apollonius (Mel Ferrer) hints to the visitors that if they defeat the surprises of his carnival fun house, he will share with them the secret of Evoland.  Again, Willaway is wary of the endeavor, but he goes along anyway.

Inside the creepy fun house, the travelers are quickly separated in a Hall of Mirrors, and the real plan becomes plain.  Apollonious is actually, Marcus himself -- the ancient magician -- and we wishes to possess the physical body of Willaway so as to challenge the Gods themselves, after departing the Bermuda Triangle from Evoland.  

Meanwhile, Roxanne desires Lianna's body for her own use because she's tired of being treated as ugly.  Both Apollonious and the woman have been cursed by the Gods with hideous countenances, ones carefully cloaked under masks of normality.

After Willaway's body is possessed, Varian and Scott attempt to restore their friend's life, while Fred crawls through a fun house vent shaft to rescue the imperiled Lianna. 

As Varian attempts to drive the villainous Apollonious from Willaway's body, Apollonius conjures images of Varian's lost love, Gwenith (from "An Act of Love.")  With herculean effort, Varian rescues Willaway, and the travelers leave the fun house and carnival behind.

Later, as they depart the time zone, the group wonders if Marcus Apollonius has been cursed by the Gods to play the same role again and again, always luring visitors to their doom...and always failing to achieve his goal of escape.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of "Funhouse" is that the story's antagonist, Marcus Apollonius, is a real historical figure.  He was a wandering philosopher in the first century, one who was believed to have taken his miracles and magic to distant kingdoms including India, Spain and Mesopotamia. 

Apollonius was also believed to have performed human sacrifices (!) and some sources suggest that, like Chris, he was assumed into Heaven.  

The Fantastic Journey's depiction of Apollonius is close to the historical article in only very general terms, but not specifics.  Though Apollonius was known to have challenged at least one Emperor, Nero, here he was an arrogant magician who challenged the Gods of Mount Olympus, apparently real beings.  And he didn't beam up to Heaven, he was "cursed to wander in the limbo of this land [the Bermuda Triangle] for all time." 

The Gods also cursed Apollonius and his woman friend, Roxanne, with ugliness.  In particular, they have unsightly hair growth on their faces.  Yet, they have perfect "flesh" masks under which to hide, so it's difficult to see why stealing more handsome/pretty bodies is such a burning necessity.   If you don't actually look ugly, outwardly, nobody would treat you as ugly.  Then again, all is vanity, right?

In some ways, "Funhouse" copies the central idea from "Atlantium:"  a life form who wants to steal the body of one of our heroic travelers in the Bermuda Triangle.   However, in this case the trappings are so different from what came before in "Atlantium" that the repetition of the concept isn't that noticeable.

"Funhouse" also derives a lot of mileage out of the funhouse setting, featuring weird slides, dangling skeletons, "shrunken" rooms, a hall of mirrors, a rotating tunnel, pervasive mist and other creepy effects.   The camera work is impressive too.  The shots of the group entering and walking on the empty fair grounds do a good job of suggesting a faintly sinister isolation.  Right from the first few compositions, you feel unnerved by the place. 

 It all adds up to a dynamic episode in terms of visuals.  It also features a nasty villain -- one who reminded me of Space: 1999's Magus -- and a nice final chill: the thought that Apollonius will attempt his body thievery on the next wanderers who happen by...

The finest moment in "Funhouse," however, involves Varian (Jared Martin)...as it often does on the series. Here, his efforts to heal Willaway are stymied when Apollonius creates a vision of his beloved Gwenith, lost to Betticus in "An Act of Love."

This style of  episode-to-episode continuity was very rare in 1970s science fiction television indeed, and it's great that the writer, Michael Michael included Gwenith in the action, and that Christine Hart returned to play her a second time.  You can see how the series writers were really attempting to develop the characters, and build a consistent history for them.

Although it didn't air near Halloween, I always consider "Funhouse"to be The Fantastic Journey's Halloween episode.  It features spiritual possession, ghoulish make-ups, a fun house, and even lightning and thunder flashes at one point.  

The story is not particularly deep once you dissect it -- there's no social commentary this time out -- but "Funhouse" is a diverting roller-coaster, and a nice interregnum between those repetitive "civilizations of the week."

Outré Intro: The Fantastic Journey (1977)

The short-lived science fiction series The Fantastic Journey (1977) involves a diverse group of travelers stranded on an island in The Bermuda Triangle.  

The island, however -- because of its unusual location -- encompasses many time periods of the past, present and future. 

The series was originally titled "The Incredible Island" and the land itself was called "Evoland."

Although it lasted only ten episodes, The Fantastic Journey underwent many cast and character upheavals during its short life span.  Despite this fact, some of the episodes were  actually quite strong, and the characters are very likable and memorable, particularly Varian, Liana and Willaway.  The series was finding its way when canceled, and if NBC had demonstrated a little patience, the series could have run three or four years, easy.

The introductory montage to The Fantastic Journey establishes the series premise -- a strange green cloud pulls a 20th century sea-vessel into the Bermuda Triangle and the island -- but more than that, finds a visual way of expressing the time-centric nature of the odyssey.  

Specifically, many frames of this montage feature three-images each, and with a little imagination, it is not difficult to view this three-way split as being a kind of visual short-hand or corollary for the nature of the island, with three images equaling the three points of the terrestrial triangle: past, present and future.

We begin with the ship, and the ominous approach of the green cloud while it is at sea.

Next, we get the breakdown I mentioned, the same scene fro three separate angles, but in one split-screen.  It's as if we are learning where the ship is headed, after a fashion: to a place where past/present/future merge into one.

Next, the ship is absorbed by the green cloud, and we get our title card.

Next in sequence, we begin meeting our cast of characters.

Below, we see Varian (Jared Martin), the man from the 23rd century.

The images introduce his tuning fork instrument as well, a tool on the series that operates much like the Doctor's sonic-screwdriver on Doctor Who (1963 -1989).

This is the only frame in the introduction, incidentally, that features four split screens. The montage would have been more consistent if we got only three, representing past-present-future as I have noted above. 

One other point: Varian's imagery is all connected to the futuristic aspects of the island.  There's the advanced tool, but also control panels, an alien brain, and such.

Next, we're back to the three-image dynamic and meet Dr. Fred Walter (Carl Franklin). 

His imagery is more natural and organic than that of Varian, revealing details of the physical landscape of the island.  Walter is a man from our present, extremely fit in mind and body -- a true Renaissance Man -- and the imagery suggests these qualities.

Next, we meet another character from the 20th century, young Scott (Ike Eisenmann).

In the frames below, meet Liana (Katie Saylor), an Atlantian of mysterious nature, who communicates with her cat, Sil-El. The images here appear to accent Liana's nature as both an alien and as someone who can communicate with other types of beings (hence the cat...).

Our final character is Willaway (Roddy McDowall), a man from the 1960s, who often discusses philosophical concepts.

At least one image in the tri-part frame below stresses his connection to philosophy by surrounding him with Greek pillars.

The final imagery of the montage puts everything together. 

For the first time, we see the entire group as one -- as an ad-hoc family -- and see imagery of both the future (the gate which transports the characters between time zones on the island), and the past (the ruins of a Greek amphi-theater.).

We have seen how our travelers came to their situation, we have seen their individual characteristics, and now we see them traveling together through the time zones of Evoland.

You can see The Fantastic Journey's intro in live-action, below:

CULT TV BLOGGING: The Fantastic Journey: "The Innocent Prey" (June 6, 1977)

So,  at last we arrive at the final episode of The Fantastic Journey, "The Innocent Prey."

In this tenth story, our wayward travelers encounter a crashed spaceship in the forest.  They encounter two men, York (Richard Jaeckel) and Tye (Nicholas Hammond), who claim to be co-pilots of the craft, but are actually prisoners who have escaped from that vessel...a penal transport.

Before long, Varian and the others, along with York and Tye, encounter a race of peaceful aliens, led by Rayat (Lew Ayres).

Rayat's people cherish "harmony" and "the balance of nature," and possess a mystical orb that helps maintain that balance.  Even as Tye falls in love with Rayat's beautiful daughter, Natica (Cheryl Ladd), York plans to steal the orb from the aliens, and take its power for himself. Then, York commits a horrible murder...

Although I've watched it several times, "The Innocent Prey" has never really worked for me as a Fantastic Journey episode.  It seems strangely disconnected from the rest of the series in some peculiar way, as though it is flying entirely on automatic pilot.  Perhaps everybody involved with the program knew the show had been canceled when this episode was made..  Or perhaps it is that this episode, more than any of the others, feels like it could have been produced on Logan's Run (1977), The Starlost (1973), or even Planet of the Apes (1974).  I don't know, but it just feels...undistinguished.

Unfortunately, precious little happens in "The Innocent Prey" terms of character development, and the large and distinguished guest cast -- Jaeckel, Hammond, Ayres, Ladd  and Gerald McRaney as a prison guard -- only seems to subtract from Martin, Eisenmann, McDowall and Franklin.  And at this point, I'd rather see more of the regulars than another "rote" adventure in which a pacifist society must be saved from itself.  

All in all, this episode feels very much "by-the-numbers," though perhaps I feel this way simply because I would have preferred a stronger final episode, and certainly one that featured some sense of closure for the characters I have grown to appreciate.

Directed by Vincent McEveety, "The Innocent Prey" opens with stock footage of the alien spaceship from The Invaders (1967 - 1968) and features Lew Ayres in a role well-in-keeping with his real life philosophy of pacifism.  

In fact, Ayres has portrayed pacifists in sci-fi TV and film history more than any actor I can remember.  He was the ape, Mandemus, guarding the armory in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), the scientist Elijah Cooper, who hoped to force disarmament and world peace on the nations of the Earth in The Bionic Woman ("Doomsday is Tomorrow"), The Colonies' misguided President Adar in Battlestar Galactica, and the peaceful Rayat here.

In "The Innocent Prey," Ayres delivers several speeches about harmony and peace, and his people here are so "open" that they don't even believe in doors.  It's interesting that on cult-tv programming pacifists are often equated with "fools," ones easily exploited by those with bad intentions  I wonder how Ayres squared that perception with his own philosophy.  He not only played a pacifist many times, but a man "tricked" and manipulated by evil doers.

"The Innocent Prey" culminates with the villain, York, touching the mystical orb, and the orb reverting him to a form of "innocence," as an infant to be raised by Rayat.  It's a memorable ending to an otherwise "meh" episode of The Fantastic Journey, but an entirely unfitting end for the series as a whole.

Gazing back at The Fantastic Journey's catalog, I can see that a few episodes really worked well ("Beyond the Mountain," "The Funhouse," "Riddles" and perhaps "An Act of Love") while the rest mostly seemed to mark time.

However, the performances and character interaction makes me want to revisit the show time and again, over the years: Jared Martin as Varian, Ike Eisenmann as Scott, Roddy McDowall as Jonathan Willaway, Carl Franklin as Fred Walters and tragic Katie Saylor as Lianna.   The actors really did a marvelous job with these characters, and had terrific chemistry with one another. It's too bad that so many of the episodes were rather pedestrian in terms of concepts and narratives.  These characters deserved better.

Next week on Cult TV Blogging, I begin my episode-by-episode retrospective of another short-lived science fiction series Otherworld (1985).  It lasted all of eight episodes -- two less than The Fantastic Journey (1977).

CULT TV BLOGGING: The Fantastic Journey: "Riddles" (April 21, 1977)

The Fantastic Journey’s next-to-last episode, “Riddles,” represents a big step up in quality from the previous “episode, Turnabout,” for two reasons.  In the first case, the episode abandons the “civilization of the week” template which, even after just nine weeks, feels very tired.  In the second instance, the episode begins – finally – to craft some coherent mythology regarding Evoland and the series’ strange island in the Devil’s Triangle.

In terms of mythology, “Riddles” introduces the wayward travelers to characters called “Riders,” horseback sentries who patrol the various time zones helping lost wanderers and guiding them to Evoland.  


Unfortunately, these Riders speak only in riddles, and their words must be deciphered by any travelers. 

"Riddles" also introduces the idea that to reach and gain access to Evoland, a traveler must possess at least one of the “twelve keys” to that mysterious destination. 


This key to Evoland represents a helpful story tool because now Varian, Scott, Willaway and Fred must actually accomplish something important each adventure: they must find a crystalline key.  Otherwise, the question remains: why interfere in local politics and not just high-tail it out of each province as soon as possible?  At least now there’s a reason to stick around, and solve mysteries, and deal with the locals.  Of course, no more keys were found on The Fantastic Journey since the series was canceled after one more episode.

Meanwhile, the above mentioned locals in “Riddles” are represented by three mysterious individuals: Kedrin, Krista and their manservant, Simkin.  Throughout the episode, these characters take on different physical guises, so that who and what they are represents an important mystery.  Rather unconventionally, they also lie about their nature and planet of origin.  Twice.  


At first they claim to be from an overpopulated world, and simply seeking privacy and isolation.  


Later, Kedrin claims they are actually parasites and vampires, seeking to “suck the life force” out of unsuspecting visitors.  


Only in the last moments of the episode is the true nature of the “curse” imperiling Kedrin and Kendra revealed.  And it's actually a good one: they come from a world where old age is shunned, and have been holding onto the illusion of "youth" here in the Bermuda Triangle, with the help of the Evoland Key, which can create hallucinations.  Rather surprisingly, this revelation permits the episode to end on a tender rather than harsh note.


Eagle-eyed cult-tv fans will also note that Kedrin wears the PAX uniform from the Roddenberry pilot, Planet Earth!

“Riddles” is also an intriguing episode of The Fantastic Journey because it so clearly highlights a sense of the Gothic.  In particular Krista, Kedrin and Simkin share a secret with a character from Picture of Dorian Gray.   Specifically, these aliens boast two faces: one beautiful, young and welcoming, one repulsive, aged and horrifying.  The setting is a rotting, haunted house, one which also boasts two visages.   The gloomy, horrific atmosphere and the idea of an edifice filled with secrets both seem authentically of this literary movement.  Along with "Funhouse," "Riddles" is a Fantastic Journey episode that tends towards the horror genre.

Even the character touches in this late episode are stronger than in many previous segments.  For instance, Scott encounters a vision of his mother….who rejects him.  He weeps at her feet, and she continues to maintain that she has no son.


Each character in the tale is similarly asked to face a deep fear.  Willaway faces claustrophobia (in a shrinking closet), the doctor, Fred, faces the loss of his hands, and Varian falls into an endless abyss…alone.  They  each manage to escape these mental traps, but Scott’s terror is the most powerful, and Ike Eisenmann does a terrific job expressing Scott’s pain.   Although The Fantastic Journey certainly boasts its share of problems, one perpetual strength, perhaps, is the characterization of Scott, a teenage boy.  Rather than presenting him as a know-it-all, a genius or a savior, the series writers present him as an absolutely likable, regular kid.  Scott is smart, resourceful and clever, but he’s not a superman, and is rarely used as a deus ex machina in the manner of an Adric or a Wesley Crusher.  


Future cult tv programs would be wise to remember Scott's example.

“Riddles” even ends on a great literary note, as Willaway quotes from a poem by Robert Browning and Abraham ibn Ezra.  The poem is called Rabbi ben Ezra and it was published in 1864. 


The work begins, in part "Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be."  So, once more, Roddy McDowall gets the smartest and best line in the show.  Looking back, it's clear that in many ways, the addition of the Willaway character as a regular saved the series.

Along with “Beyond the Mountain” and “Funhouse,” “Riddles” is arguably one of the most satisfying episodes in the Fantastic Journey canon.  The biggest disappointment is that Lianna is gone, never to be seen again on the series.  She is mentioned in the episode as having remained behind (with Sil-El) in the previous province, of “Turnabout,” to help establish the new government there.  But Katie Saylor and Lianna are sorely missed here, and we would never see them again on The Fantastic Journey.

CULT TV BLOGGING: The Fantastic Journey: "Turnabout" (April 7, 1977)

It's funny how the world plays tricks on you.

When I began cult-tv blogging The Fantastic Journey some weeks ago, I thought immediately of the episode "Turnabout," a seemingly archaic battle-of-the-sexes episode in which the women of a province in the Bermuda Triangle zap away chauvinist men to a null-zone after suffering many personal and sexual indignities at male hands.

I had expected to write how "old" and tired this familiar story is.

After all, narratives such as "Turnabout" have been seen before many times in cult-TV history.  It's the old role reversal tale: the women -- gasp! -- take over society, dislodging males from their (rightful?) perches of authority.

The Fantastic Journey's "Turnabout" is not even the last instance of this conventional tale.  Star Trek: The Next Generation offered a similar, horribly hackneyed story in 1987, entitled "Angel One," about a matriarchy of women lording it over poor men.

A war between men and women?  I mean, come on, right?  How cliched is that?

But by the time I actually watched "Turnabout" last week, the national news was veritably filled with utterly horrifying stories of prominent male "leaders" in our 21st century culture making bizarre decisions regarding women and their rights.

For instance, Congress held a committee meeting about birth control and no women were present.  Then, the leading Republican candidate for President, Rick Santorum, made the claim that women are "too emotional" for combat assignments in the military.  Then Virginia considered passing a law that would - literally -- force non-medically-necessary "trans-vaginal" penetration upon women seeking to have an abortion, a procedure that, regardless of how you feel about it in terms of morality, is still technically legal in this country.

Hey, I thought these people didn't believe in Big Government dictating matters of health to individuals, top-down?  Now I suppose I understand Newt Gingrich's warning about "right wing social engineering."

Anyway, given this new battleground in the war of the sexes, perhaps "Turnabout" isn't so old and hackneyed after all...

In this final episode of The Fantastic Journey to feature Lianna (Katie Saylor), the wayward travelers enter a new time zone.  Male hunters quickly capture Lianna and take her back to an advanced kingdom.

Varian, Scott, Fred and Willaway follow, and learn that Queen Hayalana (Joan Collins) is plotting a rebellion against her husband, King Morgan (Paul Mantee).

Willaway, Varian, Fred and Scott are kept on hand as "breeding stock" while Hayalana utilizes a powerful computer called "The Complex" to zap away the men.  "What evil magic is this?" Morgan asks dumbly, before his untimely disappearance.

Unfortunately, Hayalana and her women prove to be just as despotic as the male rulers were.  "Be silent or you will be de-materialized" declares the Queen, squelching all debate.  Then, she poisons the travelers' food so they can't escape.

But when the Complex begins to malfunction, Hayalana needs men after all.  She requires Willaway's help reprogramming the machine.  The travelers utilize this opportunity to broker a tender peace between men and women...

As is par for the course in The Fantastic Journey, Willaway gets the best line in "Turnabout."

When confronted with the facts that women rulers are as merciless as men, he pinpoints their hypocrisy.  "It's not the lack of compassion I hate, it's the lack of justice," he declares. Well said.  I should also add, this episode does a nice job of filling in some of the blanks of the Willaway character.  We learn, for instance, that he worked at NASA, JPL and Cal Tech.

Meanwhile, the Complex certainly seems a pretty conflicted computer.  It possesses a female voice but a male chauvinist attitude.

The seemingly self-hating nature of this machine aside, "Turnabout" doesn't win any points on the women's lib front since the women are incapable of solving their problems on their own

Instead, Fred and Willaway explicitly come to the rescue, time after time.  As for Lianna, she disappears for long spells in "Turnabout," and I fear it's because Katie Saylor had fallen ill during filming.

Yet another civilization of the week story, I find "Turnabout" one of the most tiresome and long-winded episodes of The Fantastic Journey.  We've seen the split culture in stories such as "Atlantium" and "Beyond the Mountain," to name just two.  And, once more, the characters aren't really involved in the story on anything other than a very shallow basis.  They must fix the civilization of the week so they can escape, and that's it.

It's just a shame that real life events in 2012 have made this old story relevant again.  In that light, "Turnabout" is certainly a cautionary tale.  Tread lightly, male moralists, or there will be "an end to male domination."

You tell 'em, sister.

CULT TV BLOGGING: The Fantastic Journey: "Funhouse" (March 31, 1977)

Given my long-standing love of the horror genre, The Fantastic Journey's "Funhouse" stands as one of my favorite installments of the short-lived 1970s sci-fi series.  Using fun house and other carnival atmospherics to good, macabre effect, this installment is unlike any other in the FJ canon, and nicely eschews the by-now-common "civilization of the week" formula.  In proving different, "Funhouse" is actually a breath of fresh air, a good old-fashioned "spooky" hour.

In "Funhouse," Varian, Scott, Fred, Willaway, Sil-El and Lianna -- now boasting a new fluffy hair-do -- cross into a new "time zone." 

Instead of finding another divided culture in the Bermuda Triangle, the group discovers a very ominous, abandoned carnival fairground. 

Although Willaway has trepidations about the mysterious carnival, noting that it "doesn't belong there," Scott and others insist they check it out, and the group takes an impromptu tour.  Before long, the amusement park rides come to mysterious life, and the interlopers are greeted by a bearded man who claims to be the descendant of Marcus Apollonius, a famous magician of antiquity.  "I am an entertainer.  I belong to the ages," he notes.  He also reveals that his expansive carnival was "salvaged from a shipwreck."

Along with two cohorts -- the Barker (Richard Lawson) and Roxanne (Mary Frann) -- Apollonius (Mel Ferrer) hints to the visitors that if they defeat the surprises of his carnival fun house, he will share with them the secret of Evoland.  Again, Willaway is wary of the endeavor, but he goes along anyway.

Inside the creepy fun house, the travelers are quickly separated in a Hall of Mirrors, and the real plan becomes plain.  Apollonious is actually, Marcus himself -- the ancient magician -- and we wishes to possess the physical body of Willaway so as to challenge the Gods themselves, after departing the Bermuda Triangle from Evoland.  

Meanwhile, Roxanne desires Lianna's body for her own use because she's tired of being treated as ugly.  Both Apollonious and the woman have been cursed by the Gods with hideous countenances, ones carefully cloaked under masks of normality.

After Willaway's body is possessed, Varian and Scott attempt to restore their friend's life, while Fred crawls through a fun house vent shaft to rescue the imperiled Lianna. 

As Varian attempts to drive the villainous Apollonious from Willaway's body, Apollonius conjures images of Varian's lost love, Gwenith (from "An Act of Love.")  With herculean effort, Varian rescues Willaway, and the travelers leave the fun house and carnival behind.

Later, as they depart the time zone, the group wonders if Marcus Apollonius has been cursed by the Gods to play the same role again and again, always luring visitors to their doom...and always failing to achieve his goal of escape.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of "Funhouse" is that the story's antagonist, Marcus Apollonius, is a real historical figure.  He was a wandering philosopher in the first century, one who was believed to have taken his miracles and magic to distant kingdoms including India, Spain and Mesopotamia. 

Apollonius was also believed to have performed human sacrifices (!) and some sources suggest that, like Chris, he was assumed into Heaven.  

The Fantastic Journey's depiction of Apollonius is close to the historical article in only very general terms, but not specifics.  Though Apollonius was known to have challenged at least one Emperor, Nero, here he was an arrogant magician who challenged the Gods of Mount Olympus, apparently real beings.  And he didn't beam up to Heaven, he was "cursed to wander in the limbo of this land [the Bermuda Triangle] for all time." 

The Gods also cursed Apollonius and his woman friend, Roxanne, with ugliness.  In particular, they have unsightly hair growth on their faces.  Yet, they have perfect "flesh" masks under which to hide, so it's difficult to see why stealing more handsome/pretty bodies is such a burning necessity.   If you don't actually look ugly, outwardly, nobody would treat you as ugly.  Then again, all is vanity, right?

In some ways, "Funhouse" copies the central idea from "Atlantium:"  a life form who wants to steal the body of one of our heroic travelers in the Bermuda Triangle.   However, in this case the trappings are so different from what came before in "Atlantium" that the repetition of the concept isn't that noticeable.

"Funhouse" also derives a lot of mileage out of the funhouse setting, featuring weird slides, dangling skeletons, "shrunken" rooms, a hall of mirrors, a rotating tunnel, pervasive mist and other creepy effects.   The camera work is impressive too.  The shots of the group entering and walking on the empty fair grounds do a good job of suggesting a faintly sinister isolation.  Right from the first few compositions, you feel unnerved by the place. 

 It all adds up to a dynamic episode in terms of visuals.  It also features a nasty villain -- one who reminded me of Space: 1999's Magus -- and a nice final chill: the thought that Apollonius will attempt his body thievery on the next wanderers who happen by...

The finest moment in "Funhouse," however, involves Varian (Jared Martin)...as it often does on the series.  Here, his efforts to heal Willaway are stymied when Apollonius creates a vision of his beloved Gwenith, lost to Betticus in "An Act of Love." 

This style of  episode-to-episode continuity was very rare in 1970s science fiction television indeed, and it's great that the writer, Michael Michael included Gwenith in the action, and that Christine Hart returned to play her a second time.  You can see how the series writers were really attempting to develop the characters, and build a consistent history for them.

Although it didn't air near Halloween, I always consider "Funhouse" to be The Fantastic Journey's Halloween episode.  It features spiritual possession, ghoulish make-ups, a fun house, and even lightning and thunder flashes at one point.  

The story is not particularly deep once you dissect it -- there's no social commentary this time out -- but "Funhouse" is a diverting roller-coaster, and a nice interregnum between those repetitive"civilizations of the week."

CULT TV BLOGGING: The Fantastic Journey: "An Act of Love" (March 24, 1977)

"An Act of Love" is either one of The Fantastic Journey's finest episodes, or one of the series' worst, depending on your point of view.  Specifically, the emotional content and heartfelt handling of the dramatis personae is deeply affecting. 

But, contrarily, the gimmick by which this character development arises is actually pretty ham handed and ridiculous. 

So appreciating "An Act of Love" is all about loving the sinner, perhaps, but not the sin.  I don't know...

In "An Act of Love" by Richard Fielder and directed by Virgil Vogler, the wayward travelers in the Bermuda Triangle enter a new time zone roiled by violent, active volcanoes.  Varian is unknowingly shot by some kind of dart containing a psychotropic drug, and the drug in his system makes him fall in love with a woman he has never met before, the lovely Gwyneth (Christina Hart).  When something drives Varian to awake from a troubled sleep and go exploring, he actually finds Gwyneth in the flesh.  Miraculously, she is just as in love with him as he is with her.  

Despite the fact that they have just met.

Although Varian doesn't realize it, he was shot with the dart because in this strange time zone, the ruling class believes in an angry Volcano God called "Vetticus."  Vetticus can only be quieted (and thus the village saved...) by continual human sacrifice.  When women are married in a ritual of "eternal unification" (following a night of hot, lusty passion), the man are thrown into a fire pit to appease Vetticus. 

Now in love with the high priestess's daughter, Varian is next in line for this treatment.

In short order, Varian convinces his friends that he is happy and content, and wants to remain behind, while they continue the search for Evoland. 

Scott is deeply upset to be losing Varian, a friend who has become a father to him, but -- trying to be a grown-up -- he accepts Varian's decision.

Soon, however, Scott learns the truth about Vetticus and human sacrifice, and must save Varian from the consuming fire. 

As the ritual of eternal unification nears,  Gwyneth makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her would-be husband's life, and an angry Varian rains destruction upon the worshippers of Vetticus...

The reasons to enjoy "An Act of Love" are plain.  By separating Varian from his friends and showcasing a heartfelt goodbye between the likable travelers, the audience gets to see how deeply these characters have grown to care for and love one another.  Ike Eisenmann is particularly strong in these sequences, as his character Scott has already lost one father, and now must lose another.  We feel and understand Scott's pain, and these moments are perhaps the best in the episode, and some of the most human interactions in the entire series.   Saying goodbye to someone you love is never easy.

Also commendable is the fact that, once more, The Fantastic Journey treads deeply and boldly into social commentary, here indicting the essential irrationality of religion, and in particular, religious rule.  After Gwyneth dies, her Mother (Ellen Weston) sputters around vainly, trying to justify the human sacrifice ritual...and murder.  She claims that she accurately interpreted the signs of Vetticus.   In one of the series' finest and most blunt moments, Willaway responds to her assertions with pity:  "There are no signs.  You are trying to make deals with volcanoes."  Then he tells her, very directly, to take her people from the time zone and "leave superstition behind."

In other words, grow the hell up.

In the same fashion that Star Trek's "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" exposed racial strife at its most clear-cut and plain by featuring half-white/half-black opponents, so does The Fantastic Journey indict theocratic rule on the most concise and straight-forward grounds imaginable. 

When we believe God is  actually speaking to us, what we're really doing is interpreting our own desires and biases...and often with disastrous results. 

Believing that God speaks to us and shares his/her desires with us and us alone, is the ultimate in vanity (Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, j'accuse),  and a wholly feeble excuse to validate a belief system that doesn't bear up to close scrutiny, logic, rationality or science.  I love that in 1977 The Fantastic Journey had the brass balls to make this point about this religious fallacy, and to do so in a manner that is absolutely unmistakable.

Also, it's interesting, at the very least, to see the pacifist Varian devolve into a rageful basketcase over the death of his wife, giving up his cherished beliefs for all-out vengeance.  I don't know that such behavior serves the character well in the long run, but here...it works.  In some ways, "An Act of Love" is The Fantastic Journey's "City on the Edge of Forever," the doomed love-affair that changes a character's destiny forever.

Or maybe it's "Spock's Brain...."

One could reasonably conclude the latter because the episode's gateway to all of this emotional upheaval and social commentary is a convenient cupid's arrow dart that makes Varian fall in love in an instant, and with one particular woman too.  It's a very specific dart, in other words. 

More to the point, the episode never really deals with the fact that Varian is manipulated into feeling so strongly for Gwyneth.  His free will (and thus real love) is not involved.

The writer of this episode wanted Varian to engage deeply with a woman, fall in love, and then feel rage and vengeance at her unnecessary death.  Fine.  I buy that.  But by using the gimmick of the dart, the whole enterprise feels a little...hollow. 

And there are deeper questions.  How come Gwyneth falls so deeply in love with Varian at first sight?  Was she darted too?  And did she get a dart directing her to fall for Varian, specifically?  If so, how did the servants of Vetticus know he was coming, and the nature of his body chemistry?

There's another problem here too.  All the young men of this time zone, after copulating with and marrying their would-be wives, are tossed into the flames, right?  Wouldn't it rather difficult to keep this secret from the general population?  Every time a friend gets married, you have to ask: hey, what happened to Steve?  I haven't seen him since you two went down to the fire pit...

Basically, every woman of marrying age would know what marriage portends for her spouse.  The episode doesn't deal with this problem, and so the society feels like a bit of a straw man culture.  I don't see how it could possible exist for any length of time under these circumstances.

In terms of series continuity, I might also add that "An Act of Love" misremembers the details of Paul's letter to Scott.  It notes that Paul worried that Scott would have to be away from him until he reached Evoland.  But, as "Atlantium" points out, Paul believed Scott would be right behind him, returned to 1977 America by the power of the "Source," the self-same power that sent Paul home. Oopsy.

Finally, one minor aspect of the episode I enjoyed: Sil-El -- the cat -- plays a more significant part in this episode than usual.  Sil-El is aware of Varian's situation and follows him around.  The cat also finds a path out of a collapsed cave when the group is trapped in it during an avalanche.  Basically, the cat gets a lot of action here (and a lot of reaction shots), and I find that amusing, and kind of rewarding.  In an earlier episode, "Beyond the Mountain," it was noted that Sil-El was "one of the group," and "An Act of Love" fulfills that promise.

Speaking of getting a lot of action, Varian gets to have (off-screen) sex in this episode, and right beforehand, Gwyneth informs him that she's a virgin.  She has "never known another man."  This whole aspect of the episode is kind of kinky, especially as mother and daughter dance around the whole intercourse issue.  "The pain is brief.  The memory is eternal,"  one character, says, speaking of death in the fire pit, not sex.  "Have this moment to remember Varian for all time..." and so forth.   All the erupting volcanoes also play as perverse visual subtext for this, ahem, "act of love."

Heck, it was the seventies...

So, how can I put this?  I love the emotional content of "An Act of Love," as well as the pointed social commentary.  But I absolutely hate some of the poorly thought-out details of the narrative.  I'll say this: despite its problems with structure and internal consistency, "An Act of Love" is an episode of The Fantastic Journey that you won't soon forget.  Whenever I think of the series, this episode leaps instantly to mind.

As does next week's effort, the scarifying horror story "Funhouse."