Good situational suspense gives this rather fluffy (pun intended) episode of CHiPs some serious juice. I like the show for its periodical "off the grid" developments cops encounter everyday like a frenetic motorist speeding full steam ahead with her husband (who has suffered a heart attack!) in the passenger seat as Ponch and Jon (Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox) try to chase her down so that paramedics can help the victim and a panic-stricken autophobic motorcyclist seemingly so frozen in fear he is unable to pull over or hear the Highway patrolmen's orders!
While the main plot is "what to do with a dog Ponch and Jon found on the highway running around, nearly getting creamed, eventually causing a pile-up", the real grabber is this animosity that emerges between a hothead named "Boots" (Bill Adler, handsome exploitation regular I such films like Van Nuys Blvd. (79), Malibu Beach (78), The Van (77), and The Pom Pom Girls (76)), with fellow hipsters, Zero and Little John (Jeffrey Druce and James Crittenden) agreeably by his side, and Ponch. Boots's dune buggy tires were damaged when the older gent in front of him hit on his brakes thanks to the pooch that had gotten away from his family on the freeway. So Boots reacts hostilely to the guy incorrectly believing it was his fault for the wreck, with Ponch confronting him for his near violent response. Being "showed up" by Ponch leads Boots to loosen the bolt on the Patrol bike of Jon's (not knowing him and the boys were following Jon instead of Ponch who was their intended target), and the episode milks this for all its worth when will the bolt come off and how long before the loose screw causes Jon's motorcycle to careen out of control? I think the title of the episode, Dog Gone, will lead some viewers astray although this features a specific dog and how our patrolmen try to keep it hid from the knowledge of dog-phobic Sarge (Robert Pine), there's not an entire, implicit focus on it alone. This certainly put a ton of emphasis on the peril facing Jon as long as he rides that bike during hot pursuits on the highway. It is only when one of the trio involved in the bolt-loosening comes forward from a guilty conscience could Jon be rescued from an unsure fate. The dog does present some amusing moments that Jon and Ponch don't anticipate, and it is only a matter of time before Sarge gets wind of their breaking of procedure (Ponch, Sarge recognizes, is prone to do this, but Jon doing so proves that he cares about the welfare of the pooch due to his usual punctual following of protocol).
We get a chance to see Jon's feng shui apartment and Ponch's modest RV digs: how they parallel is most amusing. For the show's ardent admrers, there is plenty of time spent on the highways and off-roads in California, keeping in tune with what made CHiPs so appealing. Cool dune buggy owned by Boots, and the number of vans seen parked should be a retro throwback of pure pleasant nostalgia for those of a certain age, when this period of the late 70s was significant to them. For those of us partial to this period of television, this episode should be a real treat.
While the main plot is "what to do with a dog Ponch and Jon found on the highway running around, nearly getting creamed, eventually causing a pile-up", the real grabber is this animosity that emerges between a hothead named "Boots" (Bill Adler, handsome exploitation regular I such films like Van Nuys Blvd. (79), Malibu Beach (78), The Van (77), and The Pom Pom Girls (76)), with fellow hipsters, Zero and Little John (Jeffrey Druce and James Crittenden) agreeably by his side, and Ponch. Boots's dune buggy tires were damaged when the older gent in front of him hit on his brakes thanks to the pooch that had gotten away from his family on the freeway. So Boots reacts hostilely to the guy incorrectly believing it was his fault for the wreck, with Ponch confronting him for his near violent response. Being "showed up" by Ponch leads Boots to loosen the bolt on the Patrol bike of Jon's (not knowing him and the boys were following Jon instead of Ponch who was their intended target), and the episode milks this for all its worth when will the bolt come off and how long before the loose screw causes Jon's motorcycle to careen out of control? I think the title of the episode, Dog Gone, will lead some viewers astray although this features a specific dog and how our patrolmen try to keep it hid from the knowledge of dog-phobic Sarge (Robert Pine), there's not an entire, implicit focus on it alone. This certainly put a ton of emphasis on the peril facing Jon as long as he rides that bike during hot pursuits on the highway. It is only when one of the trio involved in the bolt-loosening comes forward from a guilty conscience could Jon be rescued from an unsure fate. The dog does present some amusing moments that Jon and Ponch don't anticipate, and it is only a matter of time before Sarge gets wind of their breaking of procedure (Ponch, Sarge recognizes, is prone to do this, but Jon doing so proves that he cares about the welfare of the pooch due to his usual punctual following of protocol).
We get a chance to see Jon's feng shui apartment and Ponch's modest RV digs: how they parallel is most amusing. For the show's ardent admrers, there is plenty of time spent on the highways and off-roads in California, keeping in tune with what made CHiPs so appealing. Cool dune buggy owned by Boots, and the number of vans seen parked should be a retro throwback of pure pleasant nostalgia for those of a certain age, when this period of the late 70s was significant to them. For those of us partial to this period of television, this episode should be a real treat.
