episode #07 - Manhunt

MANHUNT - episode #7 / production #7 / Air Date: 10/6/68
written by Jay Selby, Stan Silverman; Directed by Sobey Martin

This was one of those episodes where there's a lot of action and movement, but everything still seems to move at a slow pace. Capt. Steve, Mark and Fitzhugh (holding the dog) are out foraging; the rest are at the ship. A giant pursued convict spots the ship; he grabs it - with the littles inside - probably with plans to trade it, but ends up in quicksand, still holding the ship. It takes forever to get to this point (about 20 minutes - it just seems like forever). Steve doesn't want to worry the others and tells only Dan, the co-pilot Dan tells the others a minute later, anyway.

The dialog and the delivery are really terrible in this one - way over-the-top on the melodramatics. Everyone either yells or overacts everything, even in the moments when it should be subdued. Dan, for example, demands from Steve an answer on how long the ship will stay above the surface - how would Steve know? There is one cool scene when the ship is powering up and moving out of the quicksand, but, overall, the attempt at suspense backfires in this one. BoG's Score: 4 out of 10