Day: March 17, 1978

Categories
Incredible Hulk Season 1

The Beast Within

The Incredible HulkDavid finds work in a zoo where Dr. Claudia Baxter is conducting research into quelling primal rage in animals. Though he’s employed as little more than a glorified janitor, David asks Dr. Baxter in-depth questions about her work, and is surprised to hear her admit that she’s trying to continue the work of the late Dr. David Banner. But her already-controversial research has hit a snag – a string of unusual deaths among animals at the zoo – and David is suspicious of Baxter’s boss, Dr. Malone, and his aide, Carl. He knows he’s getting close to the truth of what’s happening when Carl locks him into a cage with a gorilla, who Carl then injects with a chemical designed to bring its rage to the boiling point…and that’s when the Hulk appears.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Karen Harris & Jill Sherman
directed by Kenneth Gilbert
music by Joe Harnell

The Incredible HulkCast: Bill Bixby (David Bruce Banner), Jack Colvin (Jack McGee), Lou Ferrigno (The Hulk), Caroline McWilliams (Dr. Claudia Baxter), Richard Kelton (Carl), Dabbs Greer (Dr. Malone), Charles Lampkin (Joe), Jean Durand (Jagger), Norman Rice (1st Zoo Security Guard, Joe DeNicola (2nd Zoo Security Guard), Billie Beach (Rita)

The Incredible HulkNotes: Richard Kelton (1943-1978) was one of the cast members of the short-lived NBC sci-fi spoof Quark, which was airing at the same time as The Incredible Hulk – in fact, this episode aired opposite an episode of Quark on the same night. He died later in 1978.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Quark

Goodbye Polumbus

QuarkQuark returns to Perma One for his latest assignment, and after the excitement of chasing down his evil twin and “negotiating” with a beautiful female ruler, his luck runs out and he’s assigned another suicide mission. Quark and his crew are to visit the planet Polumbus – from which no United Galaxies ship has ever returned – and find out why no one ever leaves the planet. (Quark’s theory: it’s probably really crowded down there by now.) Once he arrives on Polumbus, Quark sees the woman of his dreams, Ficus sees the woman of his dreams (an equation-spouting math professor), and the Betties see the man of their dreams (a Quark for each of them). When Gene beams down, things get even stranger… and suddenly Quark’s crew is trapped, just like all the others before them.

written by Bruce Kane
directed by Hy Averback
music by Perry Botkin, Jr.

Cast: Richard Benjamin (Adam Quark), Timothy Thomerson (Gene/Jean), Richard Kelton (Ficus), Tricia Barnstable (Betty), Cyb Barnstable (Betty), Conrad Janis (Otto Palindrome), Alan Caillou (The Head), Denny Miller (Zoltar), Mindi Miller (Diane), Richard Devon (Captain), Maggie Sullivan (Teacher), Bobby Porter (Andy)

Goodbye PolumbusNotes: For the first time, Gene/Jean is identified as the chief engineer of Quark’s ship. Goodbye Polumbus is a spoof of the original Star Trek episode Shore Leave, and the Head even assigns one of Quark’s fellow captains to “a five-day mission to explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations” on “the final frontier” – one of the most blatant acknowledgements of Trek in the series, but also an indication that Star Trek had become a bit of a cliche via its endless syndicated reruns within a decade of leaving the airwaves.

LogBook entry by Earl Green