Harry is less than enthusiastic about a televised, high-stakes international poker tournament to be held aboard Supertrain, but he’s at least relieved that Wayne is the one who has to keep the high-rollers happy. With a $100,000 buy-in, only the five best poker players in the world can even afford to ante up…and one of them doesn’t make it to the station in time to meet the train, replaced instead by a woman who claims to have won that player’s invitation by beating him at poker. Wayne is immediately smitten with the unexpected substitute player, but his personal feelings become a liability when it’s discovered that hundreds of thousands of dollars in the game’s pot of cash has been swapped out with counterfeit bills, leaving the unexpected new arrival at the poker table as the only real suspect.
written by Stephen Kandel
directed by Cliff Bole
music by Bob Cobert
Cast: Edward Andrews (Harry Flood), Ilene Graff (Penny Whitaker), Harrison Page (George Boone), Robert Alda (Dr. Lewis), Joey Aresco (Wayne Randall), Rebecca Balding (Ellen Bradford), David Huddleston (Duke Burnside), Henry Jones (James Malinson), Clyde Kusatsu (Shimaju Fukuda), Cleavon Little (Preacher Ross), Roddy McDowall (Talcott), Chip Fields (Preacher’s Lady), Maggie Jean Smith (Talcott’s Entourage), Laura Grayson (Talcott’s Entourage), Leigh Walsh (Talcott’s Entourage), Ross Bickell (Milburn)
Notes: Wayne says that conductor Harry Flood has ascended to the position of CEO of Supertrain (apparently he’s taken over from Winfield Root sometime since episode one); Boone worked at a bank for three years prior to his stint on Supertrain. This episode is another smorgasbord of ’70s TV royalty, with Chip Fields (from The Amazing Spider-Man) scouting out Supertrain ahead of her Spider-Man co-star Nicholas Hammond’s appearance the following week, and no less than Roddy McDowall (Planet Of The Apes, The Fantastic Journey) putting in a guest shot. (Since Robert Alda is already a regular, this series is a John Saxon guest shot away from peak ’70s TV.) Director Cliff Bole (1937–2014) was early in his very busy career here, having already helmed 11 episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man, one episode of The Amazing Spider-Man, and numerous installments of Charlie’s Angels, Baretta, and BJ And The Bear. He would go on to rack up two dozen directing credits on Fantasy Island, as well as episodes of V, T.J. Hooker, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation (including the fan-favorite two-parter The Best Of Both Worlds), Star Trek spinoffs Deep Space Nine and Voyager, The X-Files, M.A.N.T.I.S., Millennium, Harsh Realm, and Supernatural. And, of course, Supertrain!
LogBook entry by Earl Green
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