SKY KING: OPERATION URGENT {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The first in this dramatic adventure series about Arizona rancher and pilot Schuyler "Sky" King who helps to bring down criminals in his plane, Songbird, with the help of his niece Penny and nephew Clipper. In this episode, Sky receives a mayday call from a lieutenant pilot, Doug Mercer, who states that he is running out of gas and intends to go down with his plane, and asks Sky to contact the "Desert Project" and relay the mysterious message "cuffs okay." Sky offers Mercer advice on landing safely, and then makes the call and delivers the message, admitting to Penny and Clipper that he does not know what it means. He receives a reply from a colonel telling him to find for the crashed plane and keep its wreckage safe, citing national security. Mercer, however, survives the landing and wanders in the desert with a briefcase until he is found by a man, Griz, who takes him home to his "booster station" and offers him coffee. The drugged drink soon puts Mercer to sleep, and Griz ties him up and calls his associate, Tom, ordering him to come over immediately. Mercer awakens and realizes that Griz intends to steal the secret reports he carries, and Griz brags about his clever plan before telling Mercer that he must "dispose" of him.
Sky, Penny and Clipper find Mercer's intact and abandoned plane, and when they radio the colonel with the information, he tells them to guard the craft. Penny and Sky stay behind while Clipper searches for Mercer, and he comes across Griz's cabin. Griz pulls a gun and takes Clipper's radio, realizing that he is working with Sky. Stating that Tom is a "confused, stupid idealist," Griz reveals that there is a time bomb in the home that will soon detonate as soon as he escapes. The colonel finds Sky and Penny, and Sky explains that Clipper's radio silence means that something is wrong, adding that Mercer's plane revealed a strange flight pattern and guessing that he was led off-course by a "false beam" from the ground. Tom arrives at Griz's cabin to find Clipper and Mercer tied up, and though he tries to beg his "friend" Griz to let him out of the plan, Griz knocks him out and leaves him to die with the other two. He leaves, and the bomb counts down just as Clipper hears Songbird overhead. Sky runs in and disables the bomb at the very last second, and he and Penny pursue Griz to the border. Sky catches the criminal and subdues him after a brief fight, recovering the secret documents, and the colonel profoundly thanks him for his service to the country. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: April 5, 1952
- RUNNING TIME: 0:26:01
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:22726
- GENRE: Drama, action/adventure
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, action/adventure; Pilots
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1951-1952
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Dorrell McGowan … Executive Producer
- Stuart E. McGowan … Executive Producer
- Clark Paylow … Producer, Director
- Burt Sims … Writer
- Kirby Grant … Cast, Schuyler "Sky" King
- Gloria Winters … Cast, Penny King
- Ron Hagerthy … Cast, Clipper King
- John Banner … Cast, Griz Raetze
- Todd Karns … Cast, Lieutenant Doug Mercer
- Pierre Watkin … Cast, Colonel Yates
- Rand Brooks … Cast, Tom