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| Don't fall in love with this Starship Trooper! Jan Merlin as the villainous Centauri in the crazy THE TIME TUNNEL episode: "Visitors from Beyond the Stars". Image: FOX. |
Heavy hitter movie superstars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford may be galloping across our cinema screens in battle with a vicious horde of alien scum in the new cross genre sci-fi/western adventure flick COWBOYS & ALIENS (trailer: Cowboys & Aliens Movie Trailer Official (HD) - YouTube, now in cinemas across the world), and Jon Favreau’s directed adventure of guns and blasters may be breaking new ground for the big screen alongside them, but this isn’t the first time the two genres have met on the smaller, but no less ambitious, domain of the television screen. Here’s a few choice examples from the KOOL TV archives where science fiction and fantasy have collided into the realms of the gunslinger, the saloon bartender and his girls, the pioneers and the Indians within a period of American history that remains as compelling and interesting as ever…
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| Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) and Jim West (Robert Conrad) fight their way out of danger in THE WILD WILD WEST. Image: CBS. |
THE WILD WILD WEST. Season Two (1966): “The Night of the Flying Pie Plate”.
Soon proving itself as a much welcome breath of fresh air amongst the other long running, often formulaic westerns airing across American television, series creator Michael Garrison’s CBS series smoothly blended the Western genre with the zap and flash action and wit of the modern James Bond film series (then playing with super cool Sean Connery in the title role) into an exciting new format that instantly won over audiences young and old, as American intelligence spies Jim West (played with charm and strong physicality by Robert Conrad) and the master of disguise and infiltration, the trusty Artemus Gordon (played with distinction and refinement by the late Ross Martin), under regular assignments from President Grant, jumped aboard their horses, or, for the most part, their weapons and gadget packed steam train, to travel across the American Trail in pursuit of various diabolical and nefariously memorable bad guys, with femme fatales of the highest beauty and savvyness either helping or aiding them (or both!) in their adventures. As the series went on the emphasis geared ever more towards the fantasy elements as robots and unusual creatures/monsters made their way into it, alongside other memorable time travel, doomsday weapons and deadly formulas plot-lines. One episode, The Night of the Flying Pie Plate, would see the arrival of several green skinned females, based from a seemingly alien ship, who need to use their new environments gold supplies for fuel-a plot idea not too dissimilar to the motives of the meany Extra Terrestrials of the COWBOYS & ALIENS movie movie, though the latter film obviously takes things a lot more seriously!
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| Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew re-live the Gunfight at the OK Corral in the classic STAR TREK episode "Spectre of the Gun". Image: CBS PARAMOUNT. |
STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES. Season Three (1968): “Spectre of the Gun”.
On a mission to establish diplomatic relations with a mysterious alien race, the Melkotians, Captain Kirk (Williams Shatner) and his crew are transported to a nightmare world of fantasy and deadly reality, where, for punishment of trespass, they are forced to re-enact the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral of the Old American West. It may all look like an illusion but the bullets fired from the Earp brother's guns are very real in this interesting and surreal script from Lee Cronin (a pseudonym for ex-STAR TREK popular season one/two producer Gene L. Coon), alongside fine stylized direction from Vincent McEveety.
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| The RED DWARF posse go even more way out west in the brilliant GUNMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE. Image: BBC. |
RED DWARF. Season Six (1993): “Gunmen of the Apocalypse”.
It’s a break in the hunt for the kidnapped Red Dwarf vessel, as its mad cap and brilliantly conceived crew comprising the “Last Human” curry loving, women chasing Dave Lister (Craig Charles), often creepy and mostly cowardly hologram Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie), vain cat-human hybrid and style guru The Cat (Danny John Jules) and lovable robot manservant Kryten (Robert Llewllyn) saddle up and enter a Wild West digital universe in order to escape some dangerous pursuant alien Replicants and stop an equally deadly computer virus affecting their Star Bug vessel. Amongst all the great western cliche's honoured by series creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, its great fun seeing Kryten as a Cowboy!
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| Tony (James Darren) and Doug (Robert Colbert) encounter dangerous silver suited aliens (Jan Merlin and Fred Beir) in THE TIME TUNNEL. Image: FOX. |
THE TIME TUNNEL. 1968 episode: “Visitors from Beyond the Stars”.
Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert) and Tony Newman (James Darren), two top scientists now trapped and spinning through a time vortex after an accident at their top secret American scientific installation-the Time Tunnel- have been landing within, and becoming involved, in critical events in numerous periods of Earth’s history. So far, alongside their mostly unsuccessful attempts to change history for the better (where was DOCTOR WHO when they needed him, eh?!), and wearing the same, now probably very smelly, clothes for months (years?), they have endured everything from the tragic sinking of the Titanic, the devastation of Pearl Harbour, to the fall of The Alamo (and any where else where there is good stock footage, studio back-lot sets and costumes available for the producers to re-use!). Now they face their biggest challenge yet, as, arriving in the Old West of 1885, they soon find themselves in a battle against a pair of alien invaders from the planet Alpha 1, who are planning to steal the Earth’s food proteins via their beachhead control of a small town in Mullins, Arizona.
This episode is pretty daft for a mostly enjoyable series, and the aliens, gamely played with a straight face by Jan Merlin and Fred Beir, look ridiculous in their silver make-up/ costumes that look of the worst B-movie variety, but there’s a charm to all of producer/director Irwin Allen’s TV series that transcend their limitations and always make them highly watchable, with well cast lead actors that TV viewers would like and enjoy despite some of the visual absurdities often on display. THE TIME TUNNEL, like LAND OF THE GIANTS and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA continue to endure…
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| Sorting out The Doctor's toothache leads to larger problems for the time travellers in the early DOCTOR WHO tale: THE GUNFIGHTERS. Image: BBC. |
DOCTOR WHO: THE ORIGINAL SERIES. Season Three (1966): “The Gunfighters”.
With its then shifting in storytelling between sci-fi and historical tales, this was not just a case of the latter example but also the popular BBC sci-fi series having a second attempt at an comedy tale, as the aging Time Lord, played in his first incarnation by the iconic crotchety grandad figure of William Hartnell, now softened up in the role considerably from his almost anti-hero characterization of two years earlier, and his TARDIS trio of space pilot Steven Taylor (Peter Purves) and Earth female Dodo Chaplet (Jackie Lane) arrive at a pivotal historical nexus of the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The Doctor wants to get his bad tooth sorted out, but Doc Holliday has other plans as he and his friends, the legendary lawmen, the Earp brothers, prepare to take on rival power players the Clanton gang, with our time travelling trio soon caught up in the middle of all the shenanigans…
Though it has in the last few years gained quite a cult following in popularity, I found this tale, written by the popular TV series stalwart Donald Cotton, a bit hard going. Despite their best intentions and love for the genre, British film and TV in the sixties and early seventies never did westerns very well-its part of Americana and only Americans can make them. The comedy presented in the four parter also plays out poorly and excruciatingly from time to time, and made even worse by the constantly irritating use of actress Lynda Baron’s singing voice over certain scenes, with her Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon.
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| The superb writing talents of Rod Serling created THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Image: CBS. |
THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE ORIGINAL SERIES. Season Five (1963): “The 7th Is Made up of Phantoms”.
There were numerous western flavoured tales in superb storyteller Rod Serling’s iconic, mostly superb, late 1950’s/early 1960s anthology series-one of the greatest anthology/dramas ever created for the American TV landscape, some of which brilliantly linked sci-fi and/or elements of time travel or even the supernatural. This tale, from the series final hour long episodes of its 1963 season, is a fine blending of eerie atmospheric fantasy and the western, as a modern day National Guard tank and its occupants (a great cast including MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE’s Greg Morris, Warren Oates and Ron Foster), whilst on practice maneuvers near the original site of the Little Bighorn battles, suddenly begin to realize they have journeyed back in time to Custer’s final stand…
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| Troi (Marina Sirtis), Worf (Michael Dorn) and Alexander (Brian Bonsall) experience the western town of Deadwood in THE NEXT GENERATION's comedy episode "A Fistful of Datas". Image: CBS PARAMOUNT. |
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Season Six (1992): “A Fistful of Datas”.
We’re cheating a bit here, as this is a tale not set in the real life dirt strewn yellowed hue of the American West itself, but rather in a massive holographic recreation of an imaginary town: Deadwood, Arizona, set within the incredible realms of the super advanced holodeck of the U.S. S. Enterprise. Regardless of this, A Fistful of Datas remains not only one of the most enjoyable and funniest episodes of the shows very successful penultimate sixth season, but also of the entire run, directed with homage love, and a tongue firmly in his cheek, by Captain Picard himself- Patrick Stewart. The plot, from series writers Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Brannon Braga, is basic (and has shades of the movie RIO BRAVO to boot!), but soon has you enthusiastically following it with a smile, as veritably serious po-face Klingon security officer Worf (Michael Dorn), trying to spend some quality time with his young son, Alexander, and girlfriend-to-be, Ship’s Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), agrees to partake in his son’s adventure within the popular culture version of the American West. Unfortunately, as is always the case with any TNG episodes set within the Holodeck, it all goes tits up as a technical glitch hits the system and turns off all the safety protocols inside the Holodeck recreation, resulting in an experiment conducted outside by Data turning what was fun and games into a very dangerous new scenario for our trio, with the androids facsimile appearing on the faces of Deadwood’s resident baddies, The Hollanders, who all have his superior abilities and quick draw skills!
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| Data (Brent Spiner) becomes the bully boy leader Frank Hollander, when the Holodeck malfunctions. |
Its great to see Dorn out of his depth as “Sheriff” Worf, not only in relation to his young son, but also within the Wild West scenario, too, as lots of great humour and camaraderie is generated-its exactly the kind of thing the show needed more of at times, and Brent Spiner clearly has fun living up to the challenge of all the diverse roles he has to inhabit within the tale. Though she never played my particular favourite character on the series, credit to Marina Sirtis, who is not only fine in her guise as lady gunslinger Durango, but looks pretty darn hot in red leather!
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| A threatening, battle damaged Cylon known as "Red Eye" terrorises a small Western-style community in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's "The Lost Warrior". Image: UNIVERSAL. |
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE CLASSIC SERIES (1978). “The Lost Warrior”.
Okay, another cheat: not on Earth but an alien planet that has a western look. One of the earliest weekly episodes of the series, created by Glen A. Larson, made in an evolving production period where the shows producers, having been rushed into weekly episode production following the wake and success of STAR WARS by its makers UNIVERSAL, saw them scrambling to create stories for shooting, some of which would have classic film and TV motifs/ homages embedded in them in their attempts to win over regular viewing audiences not necessarily used to science fiction. Here, such references are of the Wild West kind, and in particular the classic Alan Ladd starring Cowboy tale SHANE, as heroic Captain Apollo (Richard Hatch), stranded on an alien world far removed from the long distant refugee Colonial Fleet, soon becomes involved with a local farm woman and her son, who are being forcibly made to pay charity money to a corrupt and evil town leader, Lacerta, protected by his lethal henchmen/body guard, a battle damaged Cylon known to the planets inhabitants as “Red Eye”. As Apollo makes his stand, it quickly becomes a duel in the soon empty town streets between the Galactica warrior and his sworn enemy...
THE LOST WARRIOR may not be regarded as a classic entry in the series by its die-hard fans, but it’s very well made and has an amiable script from MAGNUM/NCIS creator Donald Bellisario, backed up with good performances from Hatch and its guest cast (including Kathy Cannon and THE A-TEAM’s Lance Le Gault). If you asked any general member of the public who watched the original series when it was first on what episode they remember the most of GALACTICA, the chances are more than strong that it will be this one…
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| He's not a number, he's a gunslinger! Patrick McGoohan as Number Six in THE PRISONER's surreal episode: "Living in Harmony". Image: ITC/ITV. |
THE PRISONER: ORIGINAL SERIES (1967): “Living in Harmony”.
Weird and wonderful, charismatically brilliant and on the edge. And that isn’t just the show I’m referring to but its lead star and creator, Patrick McGoohan, as well! For the uninitiated (where have you been?!) THE PRISONER, the seminal ITC made sixties series, concerns a top British secret agent angrily retiring from his superiors who suddenly and inexplicably finds himself kidnapped by an unknown organization/group and transplanted to a remote village where he is constantly interrogated through ingenious means for what they consider is important information needed on what made him quit. Despite its seventeen episode duration, pretty much all of the tales are outstanding and exciting in their execution-way ahead of their time story-wise and stylistically. And LIVING IN HARMONY is certainly one of its most far out and intriguing installments in its short-lived one season run, effectively put together after a series of production crisis/budget problems had to be crucially solved by the series co-creator, the multi- talented David Tomblin, who also writes (alongside Ian L. Rakoff, who has often stated that he came up with the original idea for the story) and produces this often visceral adventure. Starting off with an excellent re-imagining of the series opening titles, LIVING IN HARMONY sees our hero, known only as Number Six, caught in the affairs of a western town, Harmony, where, having already resigned as a Marshall, is maneuvered into a situation where he is brought back into service as a sheriff against a highly dangerous young gunslinger, known only as The Kid (played by then rising star Alexis Kanner, who would also appear in several other PRISONER episodes by the series end, and was a good friend of both McGoohan and Tomblin’s). As the dangers intensify around him, and a savage confrontation looms, is this all a dream for Number Six? Or, far worse, is it a dangerous reality carved out by The Village’s powerful Number Two, so as to break him once and for all?
Being both an intriguing allegory on the series and a nicely realized, but also quite brutal homage of the best and worst Wild West elements of real life and fiction, LIVING IN HARMONY is a stylishly made episode that, despite not being shown in the US during its first transmission run by the CBS network (probably because of the story’s use of drugs and its violent tone), makes fine use of ELSTREE studios back lot sets and costumes, and, as ever, has a totally intense, dangerous and riveting performance from the late, great McGoohan as the series hero.
All of these series are now available on either DVD or Blu-ray.
COWBOYS & ALIENS is out now in cinemas worldwide.
