episode #09 - Canyon of Death

episode #9 of 1st season / Air Date: 4/14/76 written by Stephen Kandell Directed by Jerry London

There was an odd mixture to this episode: one part concerned a new student of Jaime's, an Indian boy who comes riding in on a horse; he tells tall tales; the other part concerns a new atomic-powered flying suit. This suit is similar to the one seen in the James Bond film Thunderball (1965) and on the Lost in Space series. There will be an initial test conducted at the Air Force Base and Oscar wants Jaime around to help with security. The main problem, unknown to them, is that the guy in charge of security (Gary Collins) plans to sell the suit to foreign entities. The other problem is that this Indian kid insists on riding to some burial ground when everything is off limits.
The whole concept of the flying suit is kind of cool, meant to expand the mobility of a military unit, but most of this episode is rather goofy. The villain, a military guy in charge of security, should be able to get away with the suit anytime he wants; instead, he waits for the pivotal moment of the test. He already has a couple of "practice" suits being used by his henchmen in the desert (Vasquez Rocks location shooting); Oscar seems very mildly concerned about these practice suits being missing and the later explanation of an inventory error satisfies him way too easily. Then there's the Indian kid racing his horse against jets taking off - this is like the Keystone Cops of Air Force Bases now. The most ridiculous scene, however, is when the bad guys send an avalanche of boulders down on Jaime and the kid; we see the baddies throwing these boulders, each of which supposedly weigh 100 lbs or more; Jaime and the kid are buried yet don't even get bruised.