User Reviews

I think this episode got off to a good start, April Dancer and Mark Slate are sent to somewhere in the Caribbean to help Professor Antrum, who claims to have discovered a cavern leading to the remains of Atlantis, escape from THRUSH. He is being held captive on a boat which means the bonus for male viewers of seeing April in a one piece swimming costume. For once, April and Mark don't botch anything and complete the job, after a river chase and on foot through the jungle, with the help of local transport driver Vic (in it for eye-candy for the ladies and a slight romantic touch for Miss Dancer). However, the episode seemed to start going wrong when April suggested they should look for Atlantis, rather than go home and Waverly agrees to her request. After this, the episode seems to degenerate into a series of chases and explosions, with the Mark/April combo being split as April and Vic stick together and Mark with Antrum. The entrance to Atlantis is on the land of an eccentric Le Gallows, who seems to think the 17th Century was better than the 20th and THRUSH are interested because of some crystals that when exposed to sunlight, generate enormous heat and destructive power. There are almost too many cooks spoiling the plot. April and her new pal seem to walk from one kidnapping to another, while Slate is kidnapped by Le Gallows, however, it all ends happily as Slate escapes frees April and Vic, who have been kidnapped yet again and then the whole rather over confused story is redeemed somewhat as April, who finally gets rid of the safari hat that has been hiding her fantastic hair for almost all the episode, defeats supposed sword fighting expert Le Gallows in a duel at the end and for good measure, leaves him weeping as April removes his wig. Finally, THRUSH bad guy Colonel Faber (who was about as frightening as a Scooby Doo monster) is blown up when trying to escape (a box of crystals in the boat he was using fell, letting the crystals into the sunlight). The whole episode seem to lose its way between drama and an attempt at comedy. All the more disappointing as getting a respected writer like Richard Matheson to write for the show should have been a major plus. From my perspective, I don't know who chose April's wardrobe, why hide her hair under an unflattering hat almost the entire episode and why wear a knee length skirt when you are running through undergrowth, jumping into rivers and climbing up cliffs during the episode, surely shorts or a pair of jeans would have made more sense. April also knocked some THRUSH agents out, but uses gas when, as a mixed martial arts expert, she should be using karate and judo to dispatch them. If only they had let April Dancer off the leash, I am sure the show would have made a second season. I think part of my problem is that I thought the series got off to a tremendous start with The Dog-Gone Affair, but apart from the amusing element of seeing Boris Karloff in drag in the Mother Muffin Affair, really took until episode 11 (The Lethal Eagle Affair) and 12 (The Romany Lie Affair) to regain its credibility.