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| Production 45416 Original Airdate: 29 September 1976 | |||
 Jessie "Savage" Sommers runs from the ring
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| Produced by Kenneth Johnson | |||
| Teleplay by Robert McCullough Kenneth Johnson | |||
| Story by Robert McCullough | |||
| Directed by Alan Crosland | |||
| Guest Cast | |||
| Guest Star(s) Norman Fell as Milt Bigelow Marcia Lewis as April Armitage Marj Dusay as Dr. Brandes | |||
| Co-starring Marcia Shapiro as Mary Maddox | |||
| With Lew Palter as Announcer Bill Keene as Mr. Epstein Brett Dunham as Wayne Haley Bill Conklin as Man Margaret Shocklee as Esther Gene LeBell as Referee Sandy Parker as Battling Betty | |||
| Broadcast Order | |||
| Season 2 | |||
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| "The Return of Bigfoot (Part II)" | "Assault on the Princess" | ||
Jaime Sommers goes undercover as Jessie "Savage Sommers", a professional lady wrestler, in order to locate a missing OSI agent.
Summary[]
When a male OSI agent goes missing after infiltrating a "lady wrestling" club in Washington, Oscar asks Jaime to try out for the team so she can find out what happened to him. Jaime reluctantly agrees, and quickly makes a friend in one of the stable, while another is secretly in cahoots with management in the form of "Mel Bigelow," (a.k.a. Norman Fell). While Jaime and her new friend, April Armitage, train for an exhibition match that night, Bigelow contacts his boss, a Soviet agent inside the OSI! Seeking to get closer to the back office operation, Jaime has April make an introduction, not knowing that Bigelow has already been tipped off to her identity. Jaime faints after being injected with a drugged dart and is hidden in a cage high above the arena. She nevertheless saves the day at the last minute, with April's help, unmasking the would-be Soviet triple agent and saving a gadget vital to national security as well.
Deconstructed[]
Quotes[]
Jaime: So, how long has it been since you've heard from him?
Oscar: Three days. Wayne Haley has been one of our most reliable agents. Something must've happened to him.
Jaime: Well, are there any leads at all?
Oscar: (takes off his glasses) That is why you're here, my dear.
Jaime: Uh-oh.
Oscar: Jaime, listen to me. (Jaime puts her head down on Oscar's desk to pout) Wayne Haley has disappeared trying to tell us something important. Now, you're the only female OSI agent that can handle this case!
Jaime: I don't suppose you'd consider putting Steve in a dress? (Oscar gives her a reproachful look) I didn't think so. (sighs) Lady wrestling?!?!
Jaime: (reading the names on the marquee) Mad Mary? Amazon April and the Spider Lady? Oh boy... average girls next door calls for a stick of gum.
(Instructing Amazon April to hit the mat while pinned by Mad Mary)
Bigelow: Harder, like you're suffering, not like you're making pizza.
Bigelow: You... uh... lookin' for somebody?
Jaime: Yeah... I'm... uh... lookin' to get into the wrestling game. Eventually. I could be an apprentice or somethin'.
Bigelow: (amused) Wrestling. Whataya weigh - about 105? 110 if you eat a bunch of bananas?
Jaime: Okay, I'm not so big, alright? But I got some pretty fancy footwork and I got a darn good right arm.
Jaime: (climbing into the ring for a wrestling audition; mutters under her breath) Oscar, I'm gonna break your glasses for this.
Bigelow: What's your name, kid?
Jaime: Jessie Sommers.
Bigelow: Well if things pan out, you'll be known as 'Joltin' Jessie Sommers', what do you think?
Jaime: Swell.
April: How did a little skinny thing like you ever learn to wrestle like that?
Jaime: Oh, eh, I had this coach, his name was eh, Rudy Wells, he kind of put my style together.
Oscar: Now waitaminute... "Joltin' Jesse" Sommers?
Jaime: Yup - don'tcha love it? Hey Oscar, they think I'm a regular Joe Frazier.
Oscar: Joe's a boxer, Jaime.
April: Aw, nuts, I forgot. "Mad" Mary lost the keys last week.
Jaime: Maybe that's what made her "mad".
April: Well, that and breathing.
(Camera pans up Jaime dressed in an American Indian costume).
Jaime: Are you sure Pocahontas started like this?
April: (laughing) You look great!
Jaime: I feel ridiculous!
Oscar: It's amazing, doctor, that a unit this small can be the brain to operate an entire surveillance satellite.
Dr. Brandes: Yes it is. It would have taken years longer to perfect it in my countries laboratories.
Oscar: That's part of the reason why you defected, isn't it?
Dr. Brandes: It certainly was not for your vodka. There's not even a fireplace around to throw the glass into!
(acting the part as 'Savage Sommers')
Jaime: I'm telling you, Jimmy, Battling Betty, she's gonna get the axe tonight. She's really is gonna get the axe tonight. And if you're out there watching, sweetheart, I got a rhyme for ya: If you show up tonight, you can trust that you're gonna eat my dust when I break you in half everybody's gonna laugh and say bashful battling Betty's a bust!
Bigelow: I understand you're anxious to pick up some fast cash.
Jaime: The faster, the better.
Bigelow: Well, that'll be no trouble at all. (injects Jaime with a knockout drug; she collapses in a heap)
April: Jesse!
Mary: Wow, that stuff's worse than Esther's drop kick.
Jaime: (wakes up in "The Cage", hanging high over the ring) Oh! I never thought I'd get to the top of the business this quick!
Mary: (having caught April and Jaime redhanded) Look at this: Tweedle dee and Tweedle dum. Very dumb.
Oscar: But I've never been to a massage place, Jaime. I mean . . . .
Jaime: Well it'll be a whole new experience for you. You're gonna love it. Trust me.
Ocsar: Well you know what happens in Washington. I mean you gotta be careful though . . .
Trivia[]
Pop Culture[]
- After Jaime is declared the winner in the ring, the second camera shot of the crowd shows a mustached man on the left side of the picture wearing a "Viva Kneivel" tee shirt.
- The sound effect heard when Jaime tosses Battlin' Betty into the ring post is a familiar sound to fans of Jack Webb's television shows. The sound effect is used in the production tag of Mark VII Limited, Jack Webb's production company. In 1976, that would have included new episodes of Emergency! The production tag featured a pair of dirty, sweaty hands hammering a stamp with a sledge hammer into a granite background.
Credits[]
- Gene LeBell's last name is misspelled in the end credits as "LaBell".
- The actress playing Fabulous Franci Fonzo is not credited.
Locations[]
- The venue used for the Olympic Sports Auditorium is the Grand Olympic Auditorium, located in Los Angeles, California. The same training facilities and boxing ring were featured in "Look Alike."
Real World[]
- The marquee outside the Olympic Sports Auditorium reads "Wrest Fri Guererro vs Fargo." "Guererro" may refer to wrestler Gory Guerrero, who wrestled from the age of sixteen through the 1980s.[1]. "Fargo" may refer to wrestler Don Fargo, who wrestled from the early-1950s through the early 1980s.[2]
- This episode is notable for fans of Lindsay Wagner as being one of the only episodes in which Jaime is seen wearing a costume close to being "skimpy" (although it's exceedingly mild by today's wrestling standards).
Story[]
Oscar's new Office
- Oscar gets a major remodel on his office in this episode. His new desk now includes a television and a built-in phone, as well as a large Map covering one wall.
- Peggy Callahan is mentioned for the first time since Season 3 of The Six Million Dollar Man. Evidently Oscar no longer subscribes to the 30-day limit on his secretaries.
- Oscar invokes Code Snow White.
Bionics[]
- This is one of the few episodes to directly show the limitations of bionic power. When escaping from the cage suspended over the ring, Jaime doesn't jump all the way down but instead does so in stages, landing first on a small platform and then taking a second jump. This foreshadows her disastrous high jump in "Kill Oscar".
- In a similar vein, Jaime's discussion with Oscar at the start of the episode features her discussing her attitude towards violence and her reluctance to hurt people, intentionally or otherwise, with her bionics.
Gaffes[]
Continuity[]
- When Jaime and April open the costume trunk, the suit of armor, etc. that can be seen is arranged differently when seen in the closeup of the contents.
- The arena exterior and marquee shown in the night shots in the second half of the episode do not match the exterior and marquee seen earlier (such as when Jaime arrives and later during the press conference).
Bionics[]
- At the end of her first wrestle with Mary, Jaime is shown holding the other woman by the jaw. For no particular reason the bionic sound effect is heard, which gives the disconcerting impression that (despite her admonitions to Oscar a few minutes earlier) she is applying bionic strength to the woman's face.
Illusion Breaker[]
- Disappearing logo: When the camera shows the miniature television in Oscar's desk, it sometimes has a Sony logo, but in some shots it does not. The Sony logo is also cloudy in some shots.
- The wires that help Jaime spin April when Jaime is showing one of her moves, during the practice session, can just be seen. Aprils sweatsuit is pulled up from her back.
- More a case of poor blocking than an illusion breaker, Jaime uses her bionic ear to listen in on Milt and Mary's conversation during her "audition", even though Jaime is clearly shown standing only a few feet away from them. Making matters worse, Milt doesn't even bother to whisper.
- When Battling Betty gets thrown against a turnstile, the sound effect is of an anvil being struck. No turnstile would ever be made of such material (the sound effect is, of course, used as a joke).
Storyline[]
- The problem with Jaime being a top-rated tennis player rears its ugly head in a big way here. Jaime appears on television as a lady wrestler in a backstreet stadium - wouldn't that seem a strange career path for a former major athlete to take?
Gallery[]
