User Reviews

This episode follows the usual good episode/evil episode subject matter as the preceding ones, and there are several familiar faces you should easily recognize. The first segment stars Gary Burghoff(MASH), and his fantasy is to pitch against major league baseball players, and being an old sports fan, I was interested. You don't see too many pro baseball players starring in a television program, other than games, so it was quite refreshing. The Dodgers were very good back in 1978, as Tommy Lasorda and Steve Garvey make a few cameos, along with other players including George and Ken Brett, Ellis Valentine, and Fred Lynn. In a rather silly sequence of events, Richard(Burghoff)strikes out 3 players, with some silly sound effects following each pitch, and that kind of tainted the scene. A little while later in an interesting twist, Richard's boss is also on the island preparing for an important meeting, although I thought it was a weird coincidence for this to happen. The problem is that this meeting, which will also include Richard, will prevent him from attending another pitching sequence the next day; as his boss informs him of the meeting, the usually mousy and shy Richard tells him basically to go fly a kite, and it's easily assumed he'll get fired. The next day, he loses his ability to pitch like before, and a young girl is hitting his pitches pretty good, as the other kids laugh at him; soon after, he worries that he also lost his job. As he and his wife are sitting at a table, the boss comes up to Richard and praises him for standing up to him in order to improve the company, and he has a bright future as well. Richard mentions this to Mr. Roarke, and he was told that the good news from the boss wasn't a fantasy at all, but was Richard's own doing, as this segment ends on a good note. I was impressed with Burghoff's performance, as he portrayed being happy, depressed, and angry convincingly.

Regarding the second and somewhat darker segment, Stuart Whitman(Walter)and Vera Miles(Martha)have an odd fantasy of going back to a time when folks were decent to one another, and times were more simpler. Leslie Nielsen(Whitfield)steals this episode as the stubborn "ruler" of these simple folk, and also happens to be a doctor. The couple meet up with a young girl, as they become friendly with her and her young son; her husband died a year earlier because of a fever, as she also informs them she was only 13 when she was married, but she could've been married when she was 11(huh?), but waited the extra 2 years to make sure she was of sound mind. Who has a sound mind when they're only 13? Anyhow, I believe Whitfield wishes to marry this girl, and the couple stands up for her, which has the doctor suspicious, but he lets it go this time. One night, Martha, who was once a nurse, is seen through a window administering medicine to the girl's feverish son, and naturally, the couple is soon accused of being evil and therefore punished to be burned at the stake. As their stuck in chains the night before their execution, they get help to escape, and as their running towards the woods, the angry mob chases them. While hiding near a tree in the darkness, a cool Mr. Roarke comes to save the day and mentions that not everything you wish for comes true, as there are bad people and circumstances through all ages.