Leonard Nimoy and Susan Hampshire are Baffled!

Leonard Nimoy and Susan Hampshire.

Plagued with psychic visions, race car driver Tom Kovack ignores them until he sees himself plunge off a cliff into the ocean--and wakes up drenched in salt water. Accompanied by psychic authority Michelle Brent, Tom travels to Cornwall to learn why he senses evil at a country manor-turned-hotel.

The guests at the coastal hotel include a famous actress and her daughter, with the latter undergoing a sudden personality change. On a dark evening, Tom follows the young woman down a treacherous path along the cliffs. A loose railing sends Tom (are you ready?) plunging into the icy waters just like in his vision. When a mysterious van almost runs Tom and Michelle off the road, the duo get serious about uncovering the source of evil.

Hampshire as Michelle.

Made in 1972, Baffled! is a 90-minute made-for-TV movie that doubled as a pilot for TV series that never materialized. Leonard Nimoy stars as Tom Kovack, having departed from Mission: Impossible after a two-year stint. British actress Susan Hampshire plays Michelle Brent in what was a change-of-pace from her other television work. She had already won Emmys for her performances in the classy British dramas The Forsyte Saga and The First Churchills. She would win a third Emmy in 1973 for Vanity Fair.

Neither Nimoy nor Hampshire take their parts too seriously. While their playful banter is amusing enough, it seems out of place with the rest of Baffled. One senses that the intent was to make a mystery with supernatural undercurrents similar to Gene Roddenberry's first-rate TV movie Spectre (1977). I suspect it was this incongruent tone--plus low ratings--that doomed the chances for a Baffled! TV series (well, to be honest, I also think the title leaves a lot to be desired).

Rachel Roberts as a villain?

For a telefilm, Baffled! boasts an impressive supporting cast. The standout performance belongs to Rachel Roberts, a one-time Oscar nominee for This Sporting Life (1963). As the hotel's owner, she channels Mrs. Danvers but adds an intriguing touch of middle-aged sexuality. Her fellow actresses don't fare as well in underwritten parts, with Vera Miles being wasted as the former movie star and Angharad Rees (Demelza in the original Poldark) relegated to a bit part.

Despite its shortcomings, Baffled! offers enough to keep one's interest for an hour-and-a-half. The rocky coastal setting adds to its atmosphere. There's a nice twist at the climax (though it's not too hard to figure out). And Susan Hampshire is always a pleasure to watch, even when she just has to be her charming self.

Here's a scene from Baffled!, courtesy of the Cafe's YouTube channel:

15 Greatest TV Characters of the 1960s: Mr. Spock

Name: Spock (his full Vulcan name is unpronounceable)

Portrayed by: Leonard Nimoy

TV series: Star Trek (1966-69); later appeared in various TV series and films.

Occupation: Science Officer and First Officer, U.S.S. Enterprise. In later films and series, he became a Captain and, after retirement, an Ambassador for the Federation.

Family and Friends: Born in 2230 on Shi'Kahr to Sarek, a Vulcan ambassador, and Amanda Grayson, a human. He and his father did not speak for 18 years after Spock joined Starfleet. His older half-brother Sybok was ostracized from Vulcan for rejecting logic and later died battling an evil alien entity. Spock was betrothed to T'Pring from childhood, but they did not marry. He fell in love in the episodes "All Our Yesterdays" and "This Side of Paradise" as a result of, respectively, time travel and alien spores.Spock's best friends are James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

Talents: Can join telepathically with other lifeforms using the Vulcan mind-meld. Skilled hand-to-hand fighter who can employ the Vulcan nerve-pinch.

Trademarks: Being logical. Pointy ears. Raising one brow in puzzlement.

Classic quotes: "Fascinating."  "Live long and prosper."  "It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want."  "Your illogical approach to chess does have its advantages on occasion, Captain."

Classic episodes: "Amok Time" (Spock returns to Vulcan to wed); "A Piece of the Action" (Spock as a gangster); "The Galileo Seven."

The 5 Best Episodes of the Original "Star Trek"

What a great example of ensemble casting:
William Shatner as Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, George Takei
as Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, Walter Koenig as Chekhov, Majel Barrett
as Nurse Chapel, James Doohan as Scotty and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy. 

In his excellent article posted yesterday, "The Five Best Episodes of "the Fugitive", Rick expressed what I feel about my post today ... it is so hard to pick just 5 favorites of a series you love.  I am a rabid fan of Star Trek.  I've never been to a convention or paid $60 for the script of Episode 23 (more about that later in this article) ... I just know most episodes by heart, that's all.  There are so many that are memorable, famous, even just awful.  So I decided to pick the five episodes that really caught my mind, my heart or my funnybone.

The Conscience of the King (Season 1):  A troupe of Shakespearean players offers to perform Hamlet for the Enterprise, featuring Anton Karidian (Arnold Moss) and his beautiful daughter (Barbara Anderson).  Captain Kirk falls in love with Karidian's daughter, but he believes that Karidian may actually be Kodos the Executioner, a brutal dictator from Kirk's childhood who ordered the mass killing of some of his subjects and then disappeared.  Murders begin to take place on the Enterprise, and Kirk must find out who Anton Karidian really is.  Excellent episode with a fine climactic ending.



City on the Edge of Forever (Season 1):  Written by Harlan Ellison, and a Hugo award winner, this episode is considered by many to be the best of the series.  The Enterprise is taken back in time to 1930's America. Kirk falls in love with Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), an advocate for world peace.  However, Edith's impending death is known to Kirk, and he wants to save her, thus risking complete change of the future.  Spock and Dr. McCoy must help him through his heartbreaking dilemma. Fine acting and a great story prove this episode's award-winning status.

Wolf in the Fold (Season 2):  Women are stabbed and killed on a peaceful, welcoming planet.  Scotty appears to be the prime suspect, found each time with the dead women. He cannot remember anything.  A psychic senses the presence of a great evil, calling it Redjack. The lights go out-Scotty is found over her body. He is put on trial, with wonderful character actor John Fielder as an official convinced of his guilt. Kirk asks the computer to research the name Redjack-several meanings come up, one of which ... well, you'll have to find out.  Written by Robert Bloch, this is a favorite of mine.


The Trouble with Tribbles (Season 2):
Shatner shines in this funny episode with the adorable little Tribbles sold by slippery salesman Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams). Kirk is supervising delivery of a special grain for an annoying official (Herbert Anderson, Dennis the Menace's father), a man who Kirk cannot help goading. The Trouble is that Tribbles reproduce in incredible numbers and love to eat the grain.  One of Star Trek's funniest memorable lines is from this episode:  "Who put the Tribbles in the quadrotritcale?"

Assignment: Earth (Season 2):  This episode was fun and starred Robert Lansing-I had a teen crush on him, which may be why I like this one. The Enterprise goes back in time to 1960's Cape Canaveral where they find a man from the future who has come to stop the successful launching of a rocket.  Lansing is Gary 7, the mysterious man with an interesting pet black cat.  A young Teri Garr plays his young and clueless secretary.  Who is Gary 7 and why is he trying to stop the rocket, which will change the future?  Designed as a pilot for a spin-off series, the story was not picked up by the network.  But it is a lot of fun.

Runner-up Episodes, pictures first:

Charlie and his first love, Yoeman Rand

Khan and Kirk



The Horta

Mirror, Mirror







   

Journey to Babel

Runner-up episode favorites:  Space Seed (featuring Ricardo Montalban as Khan); Charlie X (featuring Robert Walker Jr. as a teenager with lethal powers);  Journey to Babel (featuring Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt as Spock's parents); The Devil in the Dark (featuring the ugliest alien ever, the Horta); and Mirror, Mirror (featuring an alternate universe in which Kirk, Bones, Scotty and Uhura switch places with their counterparts on a completely opposite Enterprise, a dictatorship where everyone plots to move up the hierarchy execution-style.  We get to see Spock as a logically ruthless science officer with a Mephistopheles-style goatee!)

 

Star Trek /Galaxy Quest - Even a rabid fan has to laugh! 

No discussion of Star Trek would be complete without a mention of a great spoof made in 1999, Galaxy Quest, with Tim Allen as the Captain, Alan Rickman as alien science officer and Sigourney Weaver as a bimbo communications officer.  Jokes aimed at Star Trek abound, with Allen as the egotistical Captain who still believes he was the reason the show succeeded, always being sure he got to take his shirt off in each episode, Rickman hilarious as the classically trained actor who hates the typecasting he has endured, and Weaver as the actress who resented her part as the sex object who did nothing but repeat what the computer said.

And now for the piece de resistance.  William Shatner spoofs himself in one of Saturday Night Live's funniest episodes.  It caused some stir among the fanatic convention group, but most viewers got one of the biggest laughs SNL ever presented, even for Star Trek lovers like me.  Just click on the link to experience a very entertaining comedy sketch featuring Shatner as a really good sport.  You'll love it!
http://dai.ly/bSllXC