Cult-TV Blogging: The Starlost: "Farthing's Comet" (December 22, 1973)

Although the competition for the title (particularly from “And Only Man is Vile”) is fierce, “Farthing’s Comet” may just qualify as the very worst episode of The Starlost I've reviewed so far.

Now just pause and let that idea sink in for a moment.  

“Farthing’s Comet” is the worst episode of The Starlost, at least thus far, and there are only two weeks to go.  I make this distinction because, again, the writers and producers of the series seem to have forgotten its very premise, make no explanation for the characters’ behavior and knowledge, and simply stonewall and obfuscate in one important instance, utterly failing to explain a critical plot-point.

In “Farthing’s Comet,” Devon (Keir Dullea), Garth (Robin Ward) and Rachel (Gay Rowan) are buffeted when asteroids begin to strike the Earth Ship Ark.  The control sphere directs them to an astronomical dome, where Dr. Linus Farthing (Edward Andrews) reports that the ship is on an imminent collision course with a comet.  

Farthing and his associate, Dr. McBride (Linda Sorensen) can do nothing to stop the collision course, or avert the other collision course (the one with a Class G Solar Star).  But Devon and his friends refuse to give up.  Garth pilots a spaceship to the Ark exterior and a damaged thruster unit.  And under McBride and Farthing’s direction, Devon repairs it.  The re-activated thruster moves the Ark out of harm’s way, and all is well.

If you’ve been following my reviews of The Starlost, you can detect from the synopsis above that some things are seriously wrong here.

For the record, allow me to enumerate them:

Garth, Devon and Rachel are space Quakers, essentially, from an agrarian community called Cypress Falls.  We have seen no indication that they have been trained in any high-tech skills.  

Yet in this episode, Garth successfullylaunches, maneuvers, and docks a small spaceship around the Ark’s outer skin.  Similarly, Devon, though under direction, is able to repair advanced circuitry, and maneuver safely about on a dangerous spacewalk.  Zero-gravity training, as it turns out, is apparently a core Mennonite skill.

Regarding the characters' sudden competency, it’s as though the makers of the series have forgotten (again...) that these folks come from a place of ignorance (but curiosity), not a place of technical know-how.  I wouldn’t rate it as a problem for the heroes to evidence these new skills if some verbal notation had been made that they were in training, or running simulations at that school we saw back in the episode “Children of Methuselah.”  With no notation, however, it’s just baffling and unconvincing that these interstellar Amish folks can find their way around state-of-the-art technology.

Secondly, McBride and Farthing discuss the fact that she designed the space suit that Devon wears.  How is this possible?  This episode occurs over four hundred years after the accident that crippled the Ark.  How are these two original denizens of the Ark even still alive?  If McBride and Farthing and  were in suspended animation, the episode should make a note of that fact.  If instead they took the “immortality” pill mentioned in “Children of Methuselah,” the episode should make note of that too.  Instead, this episode just progresses as though it is completely normal for Devon and his friends to find two original Ark crew-members in a nearby dome, even though half-a-millennia has passed since the Ark's construction.

Thirdly, Farthing and McBridge have given up on the idea that the Ark’s course can be changed to avert the collision with the class G Solar star.  Yet, knowing that the ship is doomed, they continue to conduct research on the nearby comet.  Why? What good is that scientific information regarding comets if the Ark, and everyone aboard with access to that information, is going to be destroyed?

This one gets worse.  Much worse.  Farthing reports at one point that that the Ark’s course cannot be changed. A little later, however, he admits that he changed the Ark’s course, putting it in line with the comet and endangering the ship.  So he is indeed able to adjust the ship’s course.    Presumably, the only thing stopping him from saving the Ark from the collision with the star, then, is the fact that the reactors are down. Right?

And yet, in this episode, Devon, Garth and Rachel fly out in their spaceship and repair that reactor, so the Ark can be saved, and the collision with the comet averted.  If the collision with the comet could be averted, as it is in this episode, why not the collision with the star?  Wouldn’t one course setting (away from both comet and star?) suffice in terms of setting a safe trajectory?

I am a patient person, and I hope a patient critic too, but this episode of The Starlostis absolutely maddening.  It attributes knowledge to characters who shouldn’t have that knowledge, forgets the history/continuity/background of the series, and does creative somersaults to avoid the obvious conclusion that Farthing can save the Ark from the collision with the star.

One little bright spot to report: This episode features some great footage of the Earth Ship Ark miniature, a vast, highly-detailed model.  It appears in McBride's control room, and is really amazing to behold.

Next week: “The Beehive.”

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Land of the Lost: "Ancient Guardian"

Is it wrong to observe that as the third season winds down, the Marshalls in the Land of the Lost (1974 – 1977) are starting to seem increasingly unlikable? 

In “Ancient Guardian” for example, the family happens upon a strange Altrusian statue while out on a hike, and decides to take it down and bring it back to the temple for examination.

By removing the statue from its perch, the Marshalls unloose a hairy Yeti-like creature (though explicitly not the yeti-like creature seen in “The Abominable Snowman”) upon the Lost City.  The beast goes on a violent rampage three and in one scene breaks into the Sleestak nursery where it starts breaking and devouring the eggs of their young.

So, just because they were curious, the Marshalls initiated a chain of events that ends with the death of Sleestak young. 

If you were a Sleestak, wouldn’t you have a tough time getting past this particular incident?  If bad blood existed between the humans and Sleestaks in Altrusia before this episode, then certainly “Ancient Guardian” augments it.  And in point of fact, the Sleestak have a point this time around.

The worst part of this dynamic is that the Marshalls show no awareness what they have done, and don’t even apologize for the fact that their actions caused this problem.  Instead, as Will breaks into song one more time, Jack observes that maybe the Marshalls should leave things alone that they don’t understand.

You think?

This is a bizarre inversion of the Land of the Lost’s long-standing conceit that we all must be shepherds of the environment around us.  Previous seasons saw the Marshalls correcting imbalances and recognizing their role in the scheme of things.  Here, the breach is repaired, but the Marshalls show no remorse.  They caused a terrible, mortal imbalance, and it’s just, well, no big deal, right?  Jack, who dismisses Enik’s fears about the monster as “Sleestak Myth” certainly owes the Altrusian an apology.

The most enjoyable aspect of “Ancient Guardian” involves the nifty Altrusian statue itself. As the Marshalls learn, it is an Ancient relic and thus possessed of advanced technology. In particular, it harnesses and focuses solar energy so as to fire a heat beam at the valley where the monster lives, thus keeping it from journeying into the valley.  I always find Land of the Lost intriguing when aspects of Altrusian technology and civilization are revealed and explored.

What doesn’t work so well, again, is the depiction of Enik (Walker Edmiston).  Here, he calls the Yeti “the hairy monster,” or “the monster,” which just sounds ridiculous coming from someone of his advanced intellect.   Lines of dialogue like “The Monster Comes. It is the Hairy One,” are difficult to take seriously, and diminish Enik’s dignity.

And one has to wonder why Enik reveals such little curiosity regarding the inscriptions on the statue, since they originate directly from his culture.

Next week: “Scarab.”

Cult-TV Blogging: The Starlost: "The Return of Oro" (December 15, 1973)

This week’s installment of The Starlost (1973 – 1974), “The Return of Oro” is one of the short-lived series’ best episodes.   For one thing the action is framed by one-time director Francis Chapman in such a way that several compositions are not just beautiful to behold, but actually memorable.  This hasn’t frequently been the case on The Starlost, and much of the blocking/action has looked inept; like the directors had no sense of movement or space.  The bad news is that Chapman didn’t direct any other segments of the series. He shows real chops here, as I hope some of the images I selected show-case.

Secondly, this is one of the few episodes of The Starlost that -- as a direct sequel to “The Alien Oro” – can dispense with exposition and laborious introductions.  No straw man society must be set up for the heroes to knock-down, for example.

Instead, the episode gets right into the action, and into a dynamic battle of wills between Devon (Keir Dullea) and Oro (Walter Koenig).  We already know each character well, and little time is wasted on false premises, blind alleys, or other distractions. The final battle, a weird contest of debating skills (judged by a robot, Tau Zeta…) actually generates a bit of tension.

In “The Return of Oro,” Devon, Garth (Robin Ward) and Rachel (Gay Rowan) learn that Oro has returned from his home world of Exar and assumed command of The Ark.  With the Ark’s administrative robot, Tau Zeta (Patricia Moffatt) assisting him, Oro hopes to corral the Ark into Exar orbit.  There, he promises, its denizens shall find a happy new home.

But Devon is concerned, and with good reason.  He learns that Oro has been lying about conditions on Exar, and that the aliens actually intend to salvage and cannibalize the Earth Ship Ark for their own purposes. 

Desperate to escape the impending collision with a Class G “solar star” (!) and live a normal life on a planetary surface, Garth and Rachel aren’t certain if Oro is on the up-and-up or not.   But Rachel watches as Oro is exposed during the “intellectual” debate against Devon.  Oro loses the contest and agrees to return home to Exar, but the Exar-ians destroy his ship, leaving him stranded -- as an agent of chaos -- aboard the Ark.

The episode ends with Oro declared a fugitive on the Ark, as he heads down a long hall-way and smirks. 

No doubt, the intent was that the Man from Exar would return to make mischief.  Had The Starlost gone a second season, however, I would have suggested a different route.  Oro should have been integrated into the cast as one of the protagonists, working with Devon, Garth and Rachel to find a suitable home for the Ark (and bringing peace to the biospheres…) after averting the collision course. 

Oro’s presence -- cunning and a bit anti-social -- would have played well against the idealism of Devon and the others on a weekly basis.

As is par for the course with The Starlost, “The Return of Oro” is not without some problems.  The episode introduces an annoying character named William (Henry Beckman), who has an unhealthy obsession with opening any and all doors around him, and who causes a lot of trouble.  He’s an irritating presence, but not enough of one to ruin the entire episode. 

Secondly, we see yet another Ark Control Center this week, and one monitored by a robot (who resembles a giant vintage toy…) at that.  Yet this robot, Tau Zeta, is unable to act in the interest of the humans on the Ark and adjust the ship’s trajectory to avoid collision with the star.  Why?

Again, this element of the story just doesn’t make sense, and makes The Starlost nearly Gilligan’s Island-esque in its inanity.  We’ve now met space pilots, engineers, super intelligent robots, computers, and aliens who could all make at least an attempt to change the Ark’s course…but don’t.

If we leave behind this problem in believability, “The Return of Oro” works mainly as a contest between two very determined characters: Devon and Oro.  Throughout the episode, they attempt to out-maneuver one another, and their dialogue is sharp, the performances crisp.  It’s a shame that The Starlost was not a better series, one that could have taken advantage of Oro’s presence again and again over a period of seasons.  In some parallel reality, perhaps, audiences celebrated the second feature film reunion, The Starlost II: The Wrath of Oro.

But not in our universe.

Instead we must be content with the fact that this episode of The Starlost is better than most…meaning it’s a relatively painless hour.

Next week: It is back down-hill with “Farthing’s Comet.”

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Land of the Lost: "Timestop" (November 13, 1976)

Perhaps no other episode of Land of the Lost, Season Three better epitomizes the good and the bad of this span in series history than does “Timestop.”

On one hand, the episode is boosted by a fantastic premise: the exploration of the “closed” portions of the mysterious old temple where the Marshalls have taken up residence since High Bluff was buried in "Aftershock."  

On the other hand, this episode badly mangles its story of a “time regulator,” so much so that one wants to scream at the television in frustration.

In “Timestop” another tremor in the land of the lost cracks open a previously-closed dark passageway in the old temple, and into the nearby mountain itself.  Holly (Kathy Coleman) and Will (Wesley Eure) go to investigate the new opening, and find a strange cavern.  In that cavern is a crystal that looks and acts like a compass, one adorned with ancient Altrusian writing. 

The Marshalls ask Enik (Walker Edmiston) about the relic, and he confirms that it is the key to the “Time Regulator.”  The key can run time forward or backward for the user, and Enik very much wants to return to his time in the distant past to prevent the Sleestak evolutionary slide into primitive barbarism.  Instead of allowing Enik to use the Altrusian relic, however, the Marshalls decide that they can use it to get home.

To fully deploy the key, however, the Marshalls must use a pylon located near some geyser beds, one that regulates time.  When Chaka is trapped by Torchy near the geyser, however, the Marshalls must use the relic to save their Pakuni friend from trouble.  After doing so, they discover that Torchy has fused shut the Time Regulator Pylon and therefore the key can never be utilized again.

In defense of “Timestop,” I must acknowledge that I am very gratified that the series finally takes time to focus on the Old Temple, and explore one of the dark, unexcavated doorways that have been visible on camera, but never mentioned, nor charted.  I always love Land of the Lostwhen the series involves the discovery of new elements of Sleestak society, or of Altrusia’s strange, ancient landmarks and mechanisms.  So the premise here is indeed a great one, and the first act of the installment is dominated by mystery and excitement.  It's a really, really good start.

But then the key to the time regulator is introduced and the episode goes downhill swiftly because, frankly, the Marshalls act selfishly, and without sufficient thought about how Enik’s actions might impact them. 

Bear with me as I explain.  The Marshalls want to use the time regulator to prevent themselves from falling into the land of the lost in the first place.  However, if they agreed to Enik’s plan, this would also be the outcome, and the strategy would have the added bonus of saving an entire species from degradation.

If Enik went back in time and prevented the downfall of Altrusia, it is very likely that the portal opening to Earth would be monitored by his people, and that the Marshalls would not fall through in the first place.  Hence, the Marshalls would get what they want. 

Contrarily, if the Marshalls did happen to fall through the portal, they would find an advanced, peaceful race dwelling in Altrusia, not a wild jungle and the devolved, dangerous Sleestak.  The advanced Altrusians -- with no reason to fear or hate the Marshalls -- could readily manipulate their own technology to send the Marshalls back home.

So it makes absolutely no sense for the Marshalls not to go with Enik’s plan, as it would essentially free them from captivity in the land of the lost, or at least make their lives there much easier.  A clever writer might have allowed the Marshalls to trust their friend, and for Enik to take the Time Regulator back in time to make his attempt to save the Sleestak.  He could have failed, and nothing might have changed.  And indeed, that outcome would have kept the Marshalls in the land of the lost for future episodes.

Instead, the Marshalls show an inability to trust, and are forced to waste the time regulator on saving Chaka from Torchy and an Old Faithful-like geyser.  But, of course, they still are not thinking logically, even in this instance. They could very well let Chaka die in their timeline, and give the regulator to Enik, so that he would change the past.  By changing that past, Chaka’s “present” (including his untimely demise) would also be altered.  In other words, the Marshalls could escape, the Sleestak could thrive, and Chaka could live.  Why the heck doesn't a smart guy like Uncle Jack (Ron Harper) realize this?

This is the same problem that plagued (and in some sense ruined) Star Trek: Generations (1994).  In that film, as you’ll recall, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) used the Nexus to go back only to the moment before Soran (Malcolm McDowell) launched a missile at a nearby star.  Instead, Picard could have gone back to the moment Soran first boarded the Enterprise, to apprehend him there.  He could have gone back to any other point in time, essentially, and had a much better chance of successfully altering the present.  Instead, Picard went back only to the point of highest danger, and the most recent point in the time line.  This faulty thinking made no sense there, and it makes no sense here in Land of the Lost.  

Next week: “Ancient Guardian.”

Model Kit of the Week #14: Eagle 1 Transporter (Fundimensions)

Cult-TV Blogging: The Starlost: "The Implant People" (December 8, 1973)

Although it may not be saying much given the general quality of the overall enterprise, “The Implant People” is one of the best-paced, most intriguing episodes in The Starlost (1973 – 1973) canon.  That doesn’t mean the episode is always good, however, and indeed there’s a real problem in logic involved in the narrative, which I’ll explain below.

However, this episode, not unlike “Mr. Smith of Manchester,” involves Devon (Keir Dullea), Rachel (Gay Rowan) and Garth (Robin Ward) endeavoring to help others and act, in a sense, more heroically than is often depicted.  The story also seems better-staged, shot, and paced than many previous entries as well.  This improvement seems indicative of a learning curve since the next episode, “Return of Oro,” also moves along at a good clip, and features better blocking and movement.

In the case of “The Implant People,” our heroic threesome is drawn into political intrigue when a raggedy-looking child steals Garth’s cross-bow and he gives pursuit.  Garth soon finds himself in the lab of Professor Brant (Leo Leyden), a scientist who has developed a mental implant that has been given to his biosphere’s elite class.  The implant was designed to augment intelligence, but is instead being used by a power-grabber named Roloff (Donnelly Rhodes) to cause intense pain in any person who bears it.

In fact, Roloff is inching closer to taking total control over the biosphere as he plays the peoples’ council against the grieving ruler, Serina (Pat Collins), who was recently widowed.  As the go-between delivering messages between these two factions, Roloff begins to reserve total power for himself.  He does so by lies, obstruction, and trickery.  At one point, he even tricks Devon into being implanted.

Soon, a feisty and regal Serina realizes she is being manipulated, and with Devon, Garth and Rachel’s help, sets out to stop Roloff and build a fairer society for all, one where the implant can no longer enslave the population.

The big problem in logic that I see in “The Implant People” is that Professor Brant, himself implanted, possesses the technology to un-implant himself and any others at any time, as the third act reveals.  Given this availability of instrumentation, why doesn’t he merely release himself from Roloff’s enslavement, and remove the implant from himself, his scientist cohorts, and the people’s council-members?  To do so would be to rob Roloff of his only means of domination.  And since Brant isn’t guarded all the time by Roloff or his guards, this seems eminently possible.

Instead, Brant doesn’t remove the implant until led to that (obvious) course of action by Devon and Garth, and that seems silly.  You’d only need to be rendered paralyzed by that kind of pain once, I would think, before choosing to remove the implant, especially with the means readily available.  The implant removal device is right there in the laboratory, after all...

Another problem here is one featured frequently on The Starlost.  Roloff is consulted about the Earth Ship Ark’s impending collision course, and says he can’t do anything to stop it.  Then he goes right back to consolidating power in his biosphere.  Could anyone really be so short-sighted, or have such tunnel vision?  Would  anyone really go to so much trouble to seize power in a biosphere knowing that the Ark could be speeding towards destruction at any minute?  It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and it's not like this idea of "tunnel vision" is one of the social commentaries on the show.

Despite such issues “The Implant People” in large part succeeds for two reasons.  The first is that Donnelly Rhodes is really great as the manipulative, Iago-like Roloff.  Rhodes makes a great villain, and his character's   machinations make for some entertaining viewing.  Roloff is a silver-tongued devil, for sure.

Secondly, this episode -- like the not-very-good“ Astromedics” -- features a stronger role for the taciturn Garth (Robin Ward).  In many ways, he’s quietly stepping up as the new, reluctant hero of The Starlost.  In some ways, I prefer Garth to the increasingly strident and pedantic Devon, who constantly seems to be asserting his will, often at the expense of his comrades.   As the series goes on (and there are only a handful of episodes left to review at this point…) Devon grows less likable as Garth grows more likable, and more prominent.  I don't really blame Keir Dullea for the fact that Devon isn't very likable.  It's obvious that the writers were trying to transform the character into an aggressive, Captain Kirk-like alpha male of command stature.  But that interpretation of the character doesn't fit his background as a Quaker, essentially, and doesn't leave him much room to reveal humanity or vulnerability.

Next week, Walter Koenig makes an encore appearance in “The Return of Oro.”

Sci-Fi Cityscapes #6: New Chicago, circa 2491 AD (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century;1979 - 1981)

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Land of the Lost: "Abominable Snowman" (November 6, 1976)

Land of the Lost, Season Three, continues its transition -- some might call it descent -- from science fiction to out-and-out fantasy in this outing, “Abominable Snowman.”  Here, a yeti-like creature comes down from the mountains in pursuit of its prey, a unicorn that Holly (Kathy Coleman) adopts as a pet and names Corny.

When the Abominable Snowman takes Corny back to its snow den, Holly and Chaka pursue, hoping to rescue the innocent animal from the carnivorous yeti.  They meet the yeti face-to-face in its cave and are able to escape in time for a quick rendezvous with Jack (Ron Harper) and Will (Wesley Eure).

All throughout The Land of the Lost’s television run, the snow-capped mountains in the distance of Altrusia, on the horizon, have been visible, so I don’t have a problem believing that a creature like the Yeti (or Thapa, as Enik calls it) inhabits them.  Although it is strange that he hasn’t come down from the mountains until now, I can nonetheless accept him as a new denizen.  My only wish would be for a better or more convincing, more frightening costume.

Also, the Abominable Snowman as seen here seems gentle, dimwitted and not very fast-moving, so the Sleestak’s fear of it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  There seems to be a pattern in these Season Three shows that goes like this: The Sleestak send a messenger -- always Enik (Walker Edmiston) -- to the Marshalls to demand that the humans solve some problem in Altrusia.  Enik complies, and so do the Marshalls, and then the threat is mitigated.  This is how things have gone with Malak (“Survival Kit”), Torchy (“Cornered”) and now the Abominable Snowman.

Between the bad costume for the yeti and a blooper moment in which a boom mike dips perilously into camera frame, “Abominable Snowman” isn’t the most visually-accomplished or exciting Land of the Lost episode.

That fact established, I am glad to see that Holly is again showing her independence and courage.   Too often recently she has been shown simply sweeping up the temple, essentially sidelined as a “house wife” while Jack and Will do the adventuring.  But here Holy takes a big risk to save her pet, and again reveals composure and grace in the presence of a monster.   

I’ve written here before how, from a certain perspective, Holly is really the main character of Land of the Lost, in some way, and indeed would have been featured in the 1990s series (along with Chaka) had things gone just a little differently.  Early on in the original series, we learned of her destiny to be separated from her family, and the tests Holly faces in Altrusia all seem to concern establishing her maturity and competency…in preparation for the day she joins the futuristic (human) community we learn about from her grown self in Dorothy Fontana’s brilliant “Elsewhen.”

Next week: an episode of imaginative highs and frustrating lows: “Timestop.”

Memory Bank: Jaws Mania (1975 - 1976)

Following Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster adaptation of Peter Benchley’s best-selling novel Jaws in 1975, "Jaws-Mania" hit America hard.  The film was rated PG -- which is hard to believe today -- but this fact made the (bloody) horror movie fair game in terms of merchandising and toys.  Soon, toy stores added Jaws-inspired items to their racks, and kids could relive the thrills and screams of the movie.

Prime among these toys was Ideal’s The Game of Jaws, which I’ve featured here before. 

Designed for 2 to 4 players (ages 6 and up), the game box noted: "It's you against the great white shark...One wrong move, and the JAWS go snap!"  

The goal of this game was to utilize a probe to fish out contents from the shark's stomach without those fierce jaws snapping closed.   Some of those stomach contents included a human skull, a fish skeleton, a tire, a camera, a pistol, a glove, a boot, a walkie-talkie, and a wagon wheel (!).  In the version of the game I own today, these delicacies are all molded in white or blue plastic, but the game box shows different colored items.

Addar, a model kit company, featured Jaws in its “super scenes” product line in 1975 as well.  Here, young modelers could create a detailed diorama from the movie...in a bottle.  Addar described this kit as an “exciting replica from the movie Jaws.”  It featured a miniature oceanographer, a diving cage, the great white shark and a full-color background.

I also remember a Jaws-Mania collectible that I found at the school Book-Mobile when I was in kindergarten, and promptly purchased.  It is a book from author Phil Hirsch titled 101 Shark Jokes: Biting Humor From Our Funny, Finny Friends (1976).  This book featured page after page of ridiculous, terrible shark-related puns and jokes like: What makes an ideal shark breakfast?

Captain Crunch.

I can’t stress enough how much I absolutely loved this book as a six year-old kid, and I must have read the darn book a dozen times.  For a spell, I took 101 Shark Jokes with me everywhere, especially when my Mom went shopping at the Fabric Ville store in Cedar Grove, NJ, which always seemed to take forever.  

The funny thing about the book, looking back on it, is that it featured a lot of pop culture references that, at six, I couldn’t possibly have recognized.  For instance, one joke included a reference to a shark game show, Tooth or Consequences, which would have been an allusion to Truth or Consequences(1950)…which I never saw.

I also remember with envy that my friend Stephen who lived on Ridgewood Avenue wore a custom-made Jaws Halloween costume to kindergarten that year. I don’t remember what I wore for Halloween in Kindergarten, but I absolutely remember every detail of that huge, canvas, toothy shark head costume to this day.  Also, Collegeville released a standard plastic costume of the Shark from Jaws for those kids without the wherewithal to create their own.

The mid-1970s also brought the Jaws knock-off movie by the veritable boatload.  There were sea-based movies such as Orca(1976), Tentacles (1977), Tintorera: Tiger Shark (1977), Barracuda(1978), Piranha (1978), and Killer Fish (1979).  There were also land-based knock-offs, including William Girdler’s Grizzly (1976) and Day of the Animals (1977).

Television programming wanted a piece of the profitble Jaws action as well.  Chevy Chase memorably appeared in a Saturday Night Live skit during its first season in 1975 as a “land shark,” an “urban predator” capable of “disguising its voice”(!) and striking at any time or place.  On a more serious note, a 1977 episode of The Six-Million Dollar Man featured the Bionic Steve Austin (Lee Majors) tangling with sharks.

By 1978 and the franchise sequel, Jaws 2, the shark-based merchandising effort was at full steam ahead with photo-novels, trading cards, a novelization and the like, but by then, the manic moment had passed.  Today, I recall this spell of my youth with tremendous fondness, especially as Jaws-Mania occurred pre-Star Wars, and  shared the pop-culture with Bicentennial Fever, Space: 1999, and Logan's Run.

Below, a few videos that reflect 1975 and 1976, the great age of Jaws-Mania.

 

Collectible of the Week: 2-XL (Mego Corp; 1978)

2-XL is a “robot with a personality” manufactured and released by Mego Corp. in 1978.  This small robot is an “electronic toy” and “comes complete with 8-track cartridge, instruction, and game booklet.”

On the box, 2-XL is described as:

THE TALKING ROBOT THAT WILL

Tell Jokes

Ask you True-False Questions

Ask you multiple-choice questions.

Tell you if you are right or wrong.

Give you the correct answer.

Give you more information on different subjects.

Play games with you and your friends.

Play standard 8-track cartridges as well as 2-XL Cartridges.

A whole range of “additional 2-XL tapes” were also available at local toy stores of the day including.

Sports: “For the sports fan in the family, 2-XL sports tape is programmed for exciting questions, jokes, riddles on all sports, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, water sports, etc. Test your knowledge against the coach, ‘Uncle Brainy.’”

Games and Puzzles: “A tape of funny and challenging games and puzzles for the entire family complete with game book. Various levels of difficulty. Great for parties or those rainy days.”

Guinness Book of World Records: “What was the longest frankfurter ever made?  Who was the shortest woman who ever lived?  What was the world’s hopscotch record? Hundreds of challenging questions from the Guinness Book of World Record for hours of fun.

Science Fiction: “For science fiction, Superhero lovers.  Includes jokes, facts on fictional characters, superheroes, and famous science fiction characters.”

Metric System/Education:“2-XL introduces your family to the Metric System. In his own special way, 2-XL ‘educates’ and amuses as he translates the metric system into ‘English.’ A must tape for all members of the family before those speedometers change to kilometers.  And square yards into square meters.”

Interviews with Great People from History: “Did you ever chat with Alexander the Great, or Daniel Boone? Let 2-XL introduce you to the great personalities of history in the most fascinating Talk Show ever.”

Monsters, Myths and Legends: On the trail of Bigfoot, Dracula and Frankenstein, 2-XL encounters the scariest monsters of all time. It’s spine-tingling adventures ahead in our ghostly gallery of myths and legends.”

50’s and 60’s Nostalgia: 2-XL turns back the clock to the fabulous fifties and sixties as he tests your knowledge of intriguing trivia – Elvis, the Beatles, the Brooklyn Dodgers and Gunsmoke to name a few.”

Other cassettes included Astronomy/2-XL in Space, Believe This or Not, Adult Games and Puzzles, Animal World, Storyland: 2-XL and the Time Machine, U.S. Presidents and American History and The Basics of ABC’s.

The wondrous and boxy 2-XL, who came equipped with a voice that sounds like Lou Costello’s, was re-modeled in the 1980s to be less boxy, and somehow less fun.

Below you’ll find TV commercials for 2-XL in both of his incarnations.