Saturday 4 January 2014

07: 747 (1.07)

1978; 50 minutes
Director of Photography John McPherson
Written by Thomas Szollosi/Richard C Matheson; Produced by Chuck Bowman
Directed by Sigmund Neufield Jnr.

Upon discovering a scientist who is conducting similar research to his own into the links between gamma radiation and aggression, David arranges to fly to meet the man with a hope of finding a cure.  Aboard the plane one of the pilots and a stewardess are aiming to steal a cargo of Egyptian artefacts, such is David's bad luck.  In flight they drug the other pilots (accidentally drugging the passenger next to David also, which is what alerts him to something being amiss) with the intention of parachuting out of the plane with their hoard.  As soon as David attempts to question the (last remaining conscious) pilot he is quickly bungled into a secure container within the plane's cargo hold.  Of course he still cannot keep is mouth shut at which point the pilot attempts to push the cage out of the plane, triggering the arrival of the Hulk.  The pilot is concussed and the theft-plot thwarted, but the problem now is that there is nobody to fly the plane back down to the ground...

Quite a tense episode where the wrong-doers spark off a much greater threat than themselves.  The plane is populated with characters who help or hinder matters, including a middle aged shoe-shop owner whose attempts to beguile a rich woman lead only to embarrassment, the woman's overly knowledgeable son obsessed with aeroplanes, an elderly couple on their second honeymoon, etc.  David is put into the terrifying position of having to control the plane via audio instruction from the ground, and Bixby pulls off this sweaty-palmed fear adeptly.

Number of Fists: ****

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