F TROOP: BYE, BYE, BALLOON (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about the soldiers of F-Troop, stationed at Fort Courage in post-Civil War Missouri. In this episode, Parmenter receives a letter stating that Colonel Hendrich Von Zeppel of Prussia will soon arrive with the intention of creating a hot-air balloon corps with F-Troop as its staff, and O'Rourke is excited as the prospect, believing that it will be a relaxing life. Von Zeppel arrives in a balloon with his dachshund in tow and meets everyone, and then heads straight for headquarters and demands a full dress review from the troops. When he expresses dismay at not being provided with a batman, Parmenter tells him that he can take his pick. During the dress review, Von Zeppel sternly inspects the soldiers and then, upon noticing his dog's fondness for the corporal, selects Agarn as his personal assistant, bossily giving him a number of duties. He then states that the men are "out of control," especially compared to his highly disciplined Prussian soldiers, and instates a number of harsh new regimens.
Agarn asks Von Zeppel about the scar on his cheek, and he explains that it is from a duel in his youth. At the same time, O'Rourke begins to notice that Agarn is emulating his new "boss" a bit too much and is getting too into his role as Von Zeppel's servant. Later, Von Zeppel reveals his true plan for F-Troop: he wants to fly over the Indian territory and attack them from the air in order to expand westward. Agarn and O'Rourke are displeased with the plan and quickly rush to warn the natives, suggesting that they move their settlement for the time being, but Chief Wild Eagle and Crazy Cat refuse to believe their warnings of danger from a flying balloon. The night before the balloon trip, Von Zeppel joins the others for dinner and soon gets into a disagreement with Parmenter about Prussian women's superiority over American women, and Von Zeppel challenges him to a duel. The reluctant Von Zeppel chooses sabers for their weapon and they begin to fight, and when Agarn tries to help by distracting the colonel, he ends up floating away in the balloon with Von Zeppel's dog. The natives spot the flying "evil spirit" and shoot arrows at it in fear, and one pierces the balloon. As a result, Von Zeppel and Parmenter resolve their differences through a poker game. Von Zeppel decides to head back to Prussia to develop a "puncture-proof" balloon, the need for which is again proven when the cannon salute fired in honor of his departure goes awry. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: September 22, 1966 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:30:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:13324
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy; War; Indigenous Peoples Collection
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1965-1967
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Dow bathroom cleaner spray
- TV - Commercials - General Mills Cheerios cereal
- TV - Commercials - General Mills Stax cereal
- TV - Commercials - Glidden Homogenized Spred Satin wall paint
- TV - Commercials - HandiWrap plastic wrap
CREDITS
- Hy Averback … Executive Producer
- Herm Saunders … Producer
- Phil Rawlins … Associate Producer
- Seymour Robbie … Director
- Austin Kalish … Writer
- Irma Kalish … Writer
- William Lava … Music by
- Forrest Tucker … Cast, Sgt. Morgan O'Rourke
- Larry Storch … Cast, Cpl. Randolph Agarn
- Ken Berry … Cast, Capt. Wilton Parmenter
- Melody Patterson … Cast, Wrangler Jane Angelica Thrift
- Frank DeKova … Cast, Chief Wild Eagle
- James Hampton … Cast, Hannibal Dobbs
- Don Diamond … Cast, Crazy Cat
- Bob Steele … Cast, Trooper Duffy
- Harvey Korman … Cast, Col. Hendrich Von Zeppel