Back in the 1970s, your TV show wasn't anything unless it featured Bigfoot in some way. Colonel Steve Austin, known for his bionics, had a memorable tete-a-tete with Sasquatch in a wo-part episode during the third season of The Six Million Dollar Man. But he wasn't the first. On October 18, 1975, Joanna Cameron as Isis had her own encounter with...
Well, let's watch and find out.
The gentle sounds of Rick Mason. Quite the talent on guitar, isn't he? The director gives him a spectacular musical spotlight to begin this episode. Do I detect a subtle sexual tension underlying his scenes with Andrea Thomas? No, I don't. They're as chaste and awkward a pair as you're likely to meet.
I'm not sure how accurately Isis depicts Egyptian mythology, but the narrator is right-- Ms. Thomas is a young science teacher. A very young science teacher. Cameron was a mere 24 years old when this episode first aired. Essentially the same age as most of the cast portraying her students.
Scott Colomby, the actor playing Lee (not to be confused with Joanna Pang's character named Cindy Lee) would later go on to menace Michael O'Keefe as tough guy caddy Tony D'Annunzio in the 1980 slobs vs. snobs classic Caddyshack. He's about a year younger than his teacher Cameron.
I don't know about you, but I'm anxious to see what kind of special effects make-up or costuming the producers use to realize their vision of Bigfoot!
Here's more Isis.
Ah, Cindy Lee. Cindy wins the Most Scholarly Student Award, and also Concerned Citizen of the Year. You may notice Bigfoot has come to the same conclusion as Thoreau, but for different reasons. Mickey hangs out in the woods with the boys, but still carries on a monologue.
Colomby really sells the ankle injury. That's the late William Engesser as the tragic giant.
We're roughly halfway through the episode and yet there are still so many questions left unanswered. For example, why is Mickey dressed like Howard Cunningham on an off-day? And did the actors die inside a little each time they had to pretend to interact with Tut the crow?
In our final installment, Bigfoot puts his life at risk for what I consider to be a silly reason. Can Isis save him then hammer home the episode's simplistic moral lesson? Let's watch the exciting conclusion of Isis: Bigfoot.
Here's a special bonus feature with Cameron guest-starring alongside Nicholas Hammond as Spider-Man. Yes, the white bikini is gratuitous, but Cameron's body easily acts Hammond right off the screen.
2 comments:
Ah, Rick Mason. Maybe not so impressive here, but I was a big fan of his work hosting Fernwood 2 Night.
Say what you will about Isis but I was a devoted viewer back then, and looking at this episode now (this is the first time I've seen one since it originally aired!) I'm finding it very good natured and trying to convey a message of decency and humanity. I don't feel ashamed of having watched it every week.
Isis was a fave of mine back in the day, and it's the only thing holding me together as I suffer the dreadful ravages of a summertime flu.
I really enjoyed the cagey school principal who won't commit one way or the other to the whole "Is Bigfoot real or not?" issue.
Post a Comment