Post by zimmerman on Sept 17, 2013 18:13:18 GMT -5
"Man is spoiling the sea, until the sea rises, in it's awful majesty, destroys him."--Captain Horatio Philo
ABIGAIL J. PRINGLE: To you two gentlemen. Inventive, brilliant, courageous.
ARTIE: We'll drink to that, because it's true.
The Night of The Deadly Bubble is one of two mid-level Wild Wild West epsodes that were sandwiched in between two classic episodes, TNOT Vicious Valentine and TNOT Surreal McCoy. While several fans like to nit-pick at the Swiss Cheese-filled plot holes that are all over this episode, for those people who don't care about said holes, and cares more about enjoying the episode, those people are treated to a great, exciting hour of escapist Wild Wild West entertainment, featuring a charming, at times dictorial, megalomanic and a somewhat sophisticated female scientist who does her best to vindicate her former decased employer.
The episode begins with James and Artemus visiting Professor McClendon on a dark and stormy night, as the latter prepares to give the former some vital important information concerning the ocean when a mysterious visitor, who turns out to be the mysterious faux-beggar Felix, sends a lethal deadly message from his employer, Horatio Philo, causing Professor McClendon to die instantly, kicking off another adventure for Washington's finest Secret Service agents.
Alfred Ryder, who comes off as a small screen Rex Harrison, here turns in a masterful performance as the megalomanic madman sea captain Horatio Manning Philo, ho is determined to destroy the mankind that is polluting his beloved sea waters by sending up compressors of poisoinous gas. Unlike most Wild Wild West villans, Philo does not have any unique or quirky tendencies to discuss about. One thing Horatio Philo is that he is a masterful orator, being that he lays his big plans with a kind of weird eloquence, as is evidenced in this sample when he tells James of how people are polluting his beloved sea waters: "Mr. West, do you to what extent man has already polluted the sea? Do you know his ambitious plans to transform it into a vast garbage depot--a wasteland of swill corrsive chemicals and factory dumpings butchering our whales and seals for his own base creature comforts and petty vanities. On and on and on, 'till my beloved sea becomes a putrifying graveyard!" The other notable characteristic of Philo is that he is the "head of the Philo Coal Fortune, and is an expert on ecological, geographical, and physical aspects of the marine enviornment."
The other notable guest star in this episode is Judy Lang, and she does a wonderful job portraying Professor Abigail J. Pringle, Professor McClendon's associate, who is instructed to take his research papers if she does not receive contact from Mr. Pringle in 12 hours. I really enjoy the shocked initial first encounter between James and Abigail, and later, at the 10:30 dinner at Philo's, wherein she gets majorly drunk, and injects a touch of comedy into this mostly seriously dramatic episode of Wild Wild West . causing James to instruct Artie to "Keep a 24hour watch on the good doctor." Fortunately, she comes to the realization that she can be a scientist and a woman at the same time, as she returns home to Boston to get married. I also enjoy watching the frustration as she and James try to escape, in one of the rare moments we can visually see the frustration on James West as he ubnsuccessfully tries to light the matches in the compressor room. There are also flashes of feminism in Pringle, as she tells James early in the episode to "Keep your manly arms to yourself."
James has a couple of great fight scenes in this episode, one at the Casada Del Pescado, when he tries to find information about Professor McClendon's murder, and he crashes one of the guys into the piano, and the amazing fight with Philos men, including a table back-flip, when Philo is trying to lock him up in the compression room! .
Artie has two brief disguises in this episode: one as a drunk at the Casada Del Pescado, when some of Philos men are looking for him, and the other as blind beggar Felix. When he meets the Real McCoy, it triggers a great line from him: "Thank you friend, or is this a private club?" We also find out in this episode that Artie can take or leave puzzles and that he occaisionally goes on a fishing trip. He also has a great quip at Philo's after their 10:30 dinner: "I never dreamed that kelp could be served in so many different and interesting ways."
Overall, a very good episode to watch. The tidal wave plot tends to get boring at times, yet if you persist and watch the whole episode, it returns to the action before it starts to get really boring.
A solid 8 out of 10 from me. .