#07: The Cryogenic Man

air date: 10/23/76

The Ark II team revive a couple of gentlemen (Jim Backus and John Fiedler) who were placed in cryogenic sleep way back in 1986. The team leaves the two men in one of the primitive villages. Backus plays the older man, who used to be a rich businessman, used to throwing money around. But, such paper money is now meaningless. Fiedler plays his assistant. Backus quickly makes plans to begin manufacturing but things turn sinister when the Ark II team tell him that his quick-grow chemical for plants is poisonous. The businessman turns out to be shady and turns the villagers against the Ark II team. The early scenes are played for laughs - when Backus wakes up and sees the chimp Adam, he makes a remark referencing Planet of the Apes. The sight of these two 20th-century men in business suits walking around is also comical. But, soon enough, Backus comes to represent the worst excess of eighties greed - even though this was made back in '76!  BoG's Score: 6 out of 10