May fans dislike ‘The Night of the Human Trigger.” There a couple prominent reasons. One, the villains are goofy and not very formidable. Two, the production was obviously rushed because glaring mistakes were left in the final shots. I forgive both these problems, valid complaints they may be, ut they do make the episode a fun watch.Burgess Meredith plays absent-minded former Harvard geology Prof. Okney Cadwalader. He has perfected a system overeating earthquakes he has been using to clear out tows I Wyoming in preparation for taking over the state--and all its silver mines--for himself. Cadwalader has a large brood of children, all of whom are laughably stupid, and whom e cannot keep any of their names straight. Nor ca he remember it is Jim West, not South, North, or East.
Okay, not exactly comedy gold, but Meredith wasa year away from playing the penguin for the first time. There are shades of eccentric villainy in his character, but he certainly had not perfected the persona yet.
But for a less than formidable villain, he is one step ahead of Jim and Artie right up until the end when his final earthquake does not trigger properly because of his own miscalculation. He winds up in jail rather abruptly without much heroism from our gallant Secret Service agents to foil his plan.
His brood’s idiocy contributes to a couple Jim and Artie escapes along the way. When I say that, mean escapes of the, ’Your shoe’s untied!” distraction variety. Yes, comedy gold.
I have ripped on the lackluster villains, but how about the production values? There is that abrupt ending that hints the writer backed himself into acorner, but that is not the worst bit by a log shot.
In the climax, Cawalader has Jim tied flat o his back to a bench with his outstretched hands tied to posts I the ground. He has placed the triggering device on Jim’s chest with a wire extending to the bomb beside him. The trigger is a pendulum set to go off if it touches either side of the triggering device, so Jim has to remain perfectly still. Artie shows up in disguise to distract Cadwalder. He walks over to Artie, stumbling over the wire, knocking it from the trigger, and--presumably Meredith breaking character--acknowledges the accident with an annoyed grunt.
But they do not stop the scene! Jim goes on to carefully escape while Cadwalader is talking to Artie while trying not to blow up the bomb which is no longer attached to the trigger in the first place! I do not know if the problem was time or money, but the production obviously did not have an alternate take to put I the scene’s place. I spite of these problems, I have a strange affection for “The Night of the Human Trigger.” Meredith does what he can with the material and his daughter, who falls for Jim, of course, was the hot, half-naked chick in Star Trek’s “Wink of an Eye.”
I do appreciate that outfit. Rating: *** (out of 5)
