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Daniel Boone: The Allegiances (1966)

Perfidious Albion tries again

The British are seeking to unite the trans-tribes against the Americans as the Revolution proceeds, and Colonel Merivale (Charles Macaulay) persuades Chief Raccuwan (Michael Pate) to form a Shawnee-Huron-Cherokee coalition. Mingo is held by Cherokee Chief Quonab (Paul Fix) to prevent him from warning Daniel.

Back to frontier politics and war in what is Season 3's real opener after last week's Boonesborough shenanigans. Real-life Kentuckian Macaulay (malevolent computer Landru in "Star Trek: The Original Series") and Australian Pate are fitting double-dealing antagonists, and the workmanlike Fix ("The Rifleman") is a solid chieftain. In and out early is Patrick Horgan (neo-Third Reich official Eneg on "ST:TOS") as a British assassin. 1950's supporting actress Angela Clark is a tribeswoman attempting to help Daniel.

Developing plot lines at differing locations compels Dan to puzzle things out, and things get intriguing when at one point Mingo seems to shift loyalties to the tribal coalition, and his ultimate allegiances for the hour seem to be up in the air. The hour is diminished a bit by overuse of Rebecca and Israel, who could have been sidelined with little difficulty.

As with more than a few DB Revolution-centered episodes, the date is left vague; no mention of ongoing action in the East, but Dan mentions contacting the Continental Congress. In keeping with the ongoing pattern of the color episode era, each week the costumers seem determined to make mid-South tribesmen to look progressively more like Great Plains residents.

Redcoat report: about fifteen, uniformed as usual as the blue-on-red Royal American Regiment. (For some reason, in the color episodes the redcoat scenes seem more realistic in nighttime.) Dubious use of a British infantry bugler, however.

The setup is a little slow, but the denouement is worth it, and Season 3 is off to a proper start.

Daniel Boone: Dan'l Boone Shot a B'ar (1966)

Season 3 should have hibernated a bit longer

Cletus Mott (Slim Pickens) is a long hunter bent on vengeance against a black bear - "Three Toes" - who was wounded by his father prior killing him, and later Cletus' brother. Daniel's concern is the safety of Boonesborough, but Cletus demands first satisfaction to the point of dangerous derangement.

Season 3's debut of "Daniel Boone" starts out setting a pretty low bar which it then struggles to clear. Dominating the episode is guest Slim Pickens, an authentic Westerns icon largely wasted here as a boorish trapper who communicates mainly through shouting. His character is south of one-dimensional, and most viewers will conclude the Appalachian frontier would be a far better place minus the Mott clan; Three Toes is an early crowd favorite. Things are a bit redeemed by the presence of Cletus' hunting dog, a friendly mastiff. The smart canine trots off nonchalantly after finding the body of the second Mott casualty; at least one cast member has his priorities straight.

Likewise, the season starts with a heavy load of Boonesborough baggage. Patricia Blair reverts to nattering early, and seems to demand closeups in order to celebrate her vanquishing of Veronica Cartwright from the set. Israel's caterwauling is on max, and he has picked up a pet deer he inanely leads around on a rope; we may see it more fully grown and still ill-kept a few seasons away

Which takes us to the unfortunate realization that more than a few 1960's viewers might have formulated views on wildlife management based on this hour. Unlikely a bear in 1780's Kentucky would have embarked on a three year hunt for humans and forced an entire settlement to cower in a fort. A minor sideshow of the 1960's was a refinement of national views on wilderness and its predators; before the explosion of outdoor recreation in the 1970's a largely urban public saw bears as either bloodthirsty "Jaws"-like hunters of humans or cuddly pets (see the "Gentle Ben" or "Grizzly Adams" series.) The 1967 killings of two coeds by brain-damaged and naturally wounded grizzlies (spurred on by park management which encouraged zoo-like proximity) in Glacier National Park, Mt. Forced a tabloid-induced reckoning; yes, bruins could be dangerous, but it's incumbent in humans to give them needed space. The "killer bear" trope still breaks into low-budget productions, however.

The Kanab, Utah set is still being used for exteriors. And while I am usually tough on Fess Parker for skipping out on episodes, he should have been given a pass here and delegated things to Robert Logan; he has only motions to go through here. Let's be generous and assume this hour was a writer's leftover contractual obligation to clear away.

Daniel Boone: The High Cumberland: Part 2 (1966)

A visit to the Daniel Boone multiverse

In Part 2 of "Daniel Boone's" Season 2 finale, Dan struggles to deliver winter supplies to the nascent Boonesborough, while contending with rival Armando Silvestre for Rebecca's affections.

The conclusion gets right to business with a circle-the-wagons siege as dishonest trader Cash Doyle (Canadian TV and movie journeyman Roy Jensen) attempts to cheat Dan out of purchased supplies. Unfortunately Rebecca is not allowed to use the reboot for character development; she is just the damsel in distress to be moved from point A to point B. Silvestre's more malevolent Bret Maverick character might have been a worthwhile recurring character, but he is strictly a one-shot. And although not intended as such, some comic relief is provided by the teamsters who seem to consider switching sides every five minutes. Mingo again suffers a major leg injury, just as he did a few weeks previous. Rough frontier living.

What is likely the San Bernadino, Calif. Shooting location has plenty of open space for extensive wagon train photography, but bears little resemblance to thickly forested 1770's Kentucky. As mentioned before, the storyline attempts to show a rivalry between Patriot Boonesborough and Loyalist Fort 96, S. C., but in reality they were too far from each other to provide such.

In the finest tradition of the John Ford TV offshoot "Wagon Train," the action centers strictly on Dan attempting to ramrod his freight and Rebecca to Boonesborough while contending with personality conflict and betrayal. This two-parter should always be considered a class apart from the remainder of the series. Attempting in continuity to swap it out for Episode 1.1 during the black and white season or even 2.1 at the beginning of the color years causes instant problems with the seemingly overnight appearance of the Boone kids. Again, the arguments are strong as to whether the series should have featured historically correct Boone kids as young adults or started with a clean slate with Dan and Rebecca as young marrieds.

The denouement is more akin to what we would see in a regular weekly episode, but "The High Cumberland" was a novel if incongruous way to finish up Season 2.

Daniel Boone: The High Cumberland: Part 1 (1966)

Boonesborough Genesis Redux

Daniel is leading a wagon train of the first settlers into Kentucky - hold on a bit for the explanation on that. Scouting ahead he rescues gambler Jim Santee (Armando Silvestre) from a whipping. Santee accompanies Dan back to the wagons, whete he helps repel a Shawnee attack, but also takes a shine to the - unmarried! - Rebecca.

To finish up Season 2, DB is redoing its origin story. To reset the cast, San Diego born former bullfighter and Mexican TV star Silvestre provides the handsome yet dangerous stranger persona. Dan is unmarried, and Rebecca is a de-aged Cincinatus's indentured servant; the Boone kids - a temporary relief - are of course not around. English actress Jacquline Evans, who played Rebecca in the 1956 Mexican production "Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer," is the wagon train matriarch who takes 1966's Rebecca under her wing. A whip-smart Mingo is re-introduced to Dan during a scrape with the Shawnee. (Whose designated-villain status carries on regardless of continuity.)

The point of all this was to stitch a two-part saga into theatrical release - "Daniel Boone: Frontier Trail Rider." This was attempted a couple of times as well for other 1960's series. Uneconomical in today's ocean of content; the last time I recall it being attempted was in the 1980's with a pairing of "Battlestar Galactica" episodes. Higher production values are present - extra town sets, and we get the "Wagon Train" fun of seeing Conestogas being moved over incredibly rough country. Plus, we get to see the building of Boonesborough, with the aid of two incredibly patient and prodded draft oxen.

Unusually, Dan spends a lot of time on horseback, and a fair amount of the budget was spent on the soundtrack, including a "Sing Along With Mitch"-like vocal narration.

History for this second pilot is a bit loose. Episode 1.1 had Dan with fully formed family unit heading into Kentucky on orders of a pre-Revolution George Washington and having Boonesborough functioning by roughly the second commercial break. Here, Dan is working for a settler group with little to no backstory. The episode date is implied to be 1775 prior to the war's outbreak, and the establishment of a Loyalist settlement at Fort 96 in South Carolina is an element in the drama. In reality, Fort 96 was a factor in the war 5-6 years later, and had little to no relationship with the very distant Boonesborough.

"Clinch Station" is purported to be a supply point for Boonesborough; there is a Clinch Mountain, Va. On the Cumberland Gap route, but no settlement by that name. Wagons are shown rolling all the way to Boonesborough, but as of 1775 only pack trains could traverse the Gap. The real Boone, who took his family to Kentucky as part of a North Carolina-backed land speculation scheme, oversaw expansion of the Gap's Wilderness Road into a wagon route only by the 1790's.

Well-paced and produced action sequences gets Part 1 of the season's denouement off to a rousing start.

Daniel Boone: Cibola (1966)

Que es esto?

Continuing a Season 2 theme of Daniel and Mingo road adventures, the pair's campsite is interrupted by an ebullient trapper (Royal Dano) and a quiet boy (Jose Galindo). The trapper claims the boy is from Cibola, the Spanish Conquistadors' famed city of gold; Dan and Mingo attempt to see him home.

Season 2 is drawing to a close, and unfortunately the fatigue of a 30-episode run is seeping out of the writers' room and into the final product. Attempting damage mitigation are Westerns supporting stalwart Dano, playing another iteration of his garrulous frontiersman. Unfortunately he fills the screen with a completely over-the-top effort. Argentinian Alejandro Rey is fittingly cast as a Spanish captain, but he shouldn't be held responsible for the miscast setting detailed below.

Innovative to at least attempt giving Dan and Mingo a Southwestern adventure comparable to their earlier Florida outing (legend has the real Boone making it all the way to Yellowstone Park, though documentation is less than thin) but this was the wrong way to go about it. Dan and Mingo go from a woodland setting to Southwestern desert in less than a minute, but once there run into a hostile Spanish garrison.

Fair enough, except Rey's men are impossibly outfitted as Spanish Conquistadors from the 17th century, and DB is set c. 1775-1800. Purportedly they are the survivors of a mutinous troop that set out from New Orleans ten years before looking for Cibola, about 250 years after Spain's previous attempts. The writers should have been decent enough to at least throw in a time warp or fantasy element, though in the denouement the imaginative viewer might be able to discern one. Rey is allowed some character development, but there are too many other loose parts rattling around here for a successful hour.

A more grounded story would have depicted Dan trying to get to Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was a draw for early 19th century American traders. They ran into much hostility from the Spanish authorities who disliked the ideals of the American Revolution disrupting their established system of governance.

Apparently major portions were filmed in the Mojave, and the desert fort set is also seen in "Bonanza," "Star Trek: The Original Series" (the Captain Kirk v. Gorn one), and numerous other Westerns. Some tribesmen show up early, but look nothing like the region's Navajo, Hopi, and Apache.

To top things off - or bottom them out - the hour does offer an opportunity to introduce a Hispanic continuing character, but the idea will not survive the summer hiatus. Hard to think of any series instance when a clip show would have been preferable, but this hour makes a strong case for one.

Daniel Boone: The Accused (1966)

David Janssen did it better

Daniel and Mingo are selling their furs in Mecklenburg, Virginia. But Dan falls afoul of a frame-up from an arson and robbery scheme hatched by trader Samuel Thurston (Jerome Thor) and his moll Lacey Lowe (Joanna Moore) - who purportedly double crosses Samuel by offing him and grabbing the loot for herself.

Time for a whodunit hour on DB, albeit one that is deconstructed early in the hour. Supporting specialist Thor is out of the story early, but the story is carried by Vaughn Taylor in a continuation of his other 1960's hanging-judge personas, and Southern siren Moore - an Alfred Hitchcock discovery - is a sufficiently malevolent beauty.

Possibilities were here of doing a takeoff on "The Fugitive" or a noir piece, but the pieces are never sufficiently assembled for either. Starting with the premise that Dan might be sufficiently angered over a soured business deal to blast his partner would have been much more intriguing, but would have required some setup and temporarily ditching Fess Parker's Disney mode. Dan and Mingo mostly spend the hour muddling around Mecklenberg and environs in daylight, evading a rather improbable posse of musketeers. Viewers familiar with 1970's crime drama plots should be able to make sufficient deductions ten minutes in.

No explanation as to why Mecklenberg County, Va., founded after the French & Indian War in 1765, is supposedly in demand as a fur trading depot. Also in one scene, Moore apparently uses a single-shot flintlock pistol as a revolver.

As stated before, always nice to get away from the Boonesborough shenanigans, but DB's road adventures can fall into the valley of the mundane as well. End of production season fatigue shines through here.

Daniel Boone: The Trap (1966)

Dan has a particular set of skills

Outlaw and generally nasty-looking guy Rafe Todd (Jack Lambert) and his men trash Daniel's home, rob it, and shove Becky and Jemima around. Then they head toward where Mingo and Israel are hunting, and Mingo has chosen the moment to disable himself via a bear trap. Dan and helpful townsman Tupper (Orville Sherman) set out to remedy matters.

Like last week, we again exit early from Boonesborough for a chase hour. Four-time DB guest star and Westerns specialist Jack Lambert is sufficiently menacing for an outing in which Dan can summon his inner Liam Neeson for "Taken" time. The urbane Hart Bochner enhances the hour as a British officer needing Todd's crew to escort him to Fort Detroit. The Mingo v. Todd duel ups the drama quotient well.

Early on, Israel is given ample opportunity to prove his wilderness chops, and finally gets to use firearms in earnest. Unfortunate that Darby Hinton will just be too young for the series' duration to grow his character continuously. Jemima is present for the opening, but as mentioned previously her character is being eased off the production lot. The hour is unique in that Dan needs to reach beyond his usual bullpen of sidekicks, and Sherman steps up.

Nominally, this is a Revolutionary War episode, but the particulars are not well-grounded. Bochner is trying to get plans of Fort Ninety-Six in South Carolina. That post came into play during the Southern Campaign of 1780-81 and was a Loyalist stronghold besieged by U. S. General Nathanael Greene, but distant Fort Detroit played no part in that. Bochner is said to be an officer in the Royal Lancers - real enough, but they were stationed in Ireland during this period and did not receive the title until 1816.

The episode pushes the familiy-friendly envelope by placing Israel in some serious danger, and on the series spectrum that always gives Fess Parker a chance to shine. An above-average Season 2 outing.

Daniel Boone: Fifty Rifles (1966)

A Blunt hour that could have been sharpened

Mercenary band leader William Blunt (Henry Wilcoxen), a former friend of Daniel's, hijacks a shipment of rifles and intends to sell them to the Shawnee. But he lets the driver and his wife go; they make it to Boonesborough, from where Dan, Mingo, and Jericho set off in pursuit.

A redo of episode 1.6, but this time in color. Guest star duties and much of the hour are handled well by urbane Cecil B. DeMille stock player Wilcoxen ("The Ten Commandments"). In briefly at the onset as a pioneer couple are 1940's supporting actors Tom Fadden and Barbara Pepper.

We drop in (mercifully briefly) at Boonesborough, but then its on to a moderately-paced chase episode. The contractually-obligated Shawnee villains are in for the hour, and horse-mounted, rarely seen in DB. (Little Joe's pinto from " Bonanza" might have been trotted across the lot for this hour), We get some MacGyvering with wagons and gunpowder. But the hour would have been stronger with some previous episode backstory and Wilcoxen as a recurring character.

Blunt wants to use the proceeds from the heist to build a private trans-Appalachian empire, and here a bigger dose of history could have proved engaging. Very hasty research might have intended to tie the character to 18th-century U. S. politician William Blount (why the prevarication? The Blount descendants waiting by their Touch-Tone phone with their libel attorney?). Blount was appointed by George Washington as territorial governor of Tennessee and later became the first U. S. Senator (Tenn.) to be expelled after he ventured into Aaron Burr territory; after incurring debt problems from land speculation he attempted to foment a British takeover of New Orleans from the Spanish to keep the port available to the frontier. The John Adams Administration begged to differ with that as an option.

A serviceable road episode, and the denouement leaves the impression Wilcoxen might be back for another round. But, it's not to be, leaving the hour a curious centerpiece with missing bookends.

Daniel Boone: The Search (1966)

Boone's bayou nights

Daniel is taking a cargo of furs down the Mississippi when he is waylaid and knocked out by outlaw Sebastian Drake (Michael Ansara) but in the struggle he grabs and keeps an identifying diary. Resuscitated by a trapper, Dan follows Drake's trail.

Season 2's string of road adventures continues, and New Orleans as a locale always adds some depth to Dan's sojourns. He walks by accident into a search for pirate treasure. Among the schemers is Ansara, in the first of his two DB appearances. The Syrian-American character actor always put an extra shine of menace or integrity to any Westerns role he took on, both in the hero and villain slots. Hungarian-American Nina Talbot makes a convincing Frenchwoman and femme fatale. Rounding out things with Gabby Hayes patter is supporting journeyman Douglas Fowey as trapper Rufus Hoops.

This is a Dan solo outing bereft of sidekicks and Boonesborough background, so guest stars are called to step up during the money hunt. The plot is complex by DB standards, which in a 45-minute format always slows the setup at the expense of the action payoff. It would be interesting to know what the producers used for the New Orleans panorama shots - they look more like a Chesapeake Bay coastal town.

The hour is also unique in that Dan, far removed from Boonesborough, gets to interact with an attractive female lead other than Rebecca. Fess Parker at this point was at the peak of his debonair aura, and it's interesting to contemplate how the series might have turned if just one more historical liberty had been taken and the Boone family left on the writers' table. Some swashbuckling stories might have done with a bachelor Boone squiring a series of guest star sirens a la Captain Kirk.

New Orleans will provide several settings over the course of the series, with the writers usually mistaking it as French-ruled in the late 18th century. It was instead under Spain's control, but the matter is bypassed entirely here. A little extra effort might have worked a younger Louisiana pirate and War of 1812 hero John Lafitte into the story.

A predictable chase episode, but an intriguing one for sketching out a direction untaken by the series.

Daniel Boone: Gun-Barrel Highway (1966)

Just wait for the Interstate

Frontier road builder Cassady (John Kellogg) is determined push a route through Shawnee country irrespective of tribal agreements, and in the process kills a young tribesman. Daniel, Jericho, and Mingo attempt to persuade him to cease and keep the peace with the Shawnee.

Another decent road adventure this week, and again we are not missing the Boonesborough baggage; Boone and sidekicks are at their best when operating far afield. Only guest star of note is Westerns-and-war genre support specialist Kellogg, who does ok as the obsequious contractor.

The point of what initially. A slow-paced hour is to show Dan as reasonable mediator between settlers and the tribes, a role the real Boone never took on. Finally, the Shawnee get a rare break in a portrayal as aggravated parties, and their costumer seems to be leaning toward the side of authenticity this week. And for fun, we get to see a fair amount of wilderness camp props and a well-built stockade.

A large helping of disjointed history this outing. Breaching the Appalachian frontier was accomplished mainly through water routes, impossible for the tribes to close. Roads were mainly needed by armies on campaign, such as British General Braddock's in 1759 and U. S. Gen. Anthony Wayne's Ohio route in the 1790's, and they built them as they moved. No precedent for an 18th-century private contractor taking on such a massive infrastructure project or Cassady's willingness to fight an Indian war with only his crew to get the task done.

Cassady states that his project is endorsed by the Continental Congress "in case of trouble with the British." But that would imply a Revolutionary War dating of the episode, and no mention here of the war. Regardless, the Continental Congress was too busy with war matters to worry about roads through Ohio, far from the main fighting.

1960's Western series were liberally sprinkled with tribal-sympathetic episodes, universally predictable in their outcome. This one checks the boxes, mainly serving to burnish the title character's image.

Daniel Boone: The Fifth Man (1966)

A fanciful but fulfilling campaign

Virginia Governor Patrick Henry rides into Boonesborough with orders to retake or forestall an attack on Fort Cumberland, Maryland. Not wanting to draw down Boonesborough's garrison, Daniel proposes instead a raid to destroy a key bridge on the road to Fort Cumberland. His party needs to pass through Tuscarora country to accomplish the mission, which will necessitate securing the help of Chief Catahecassa - Continental officer turned tribal leader George Rogers Clark. (Cameron Mitchell).

The history tonight was hastily scribbled on a fast dash through the NBC studio lot from the writers' office to the table read, but lets not allow that to get in the way of a good Revolutionary War episode. And though the "Dirty Dozen" format is repeated several times during the series, its repetition of the best sort.

Although on and off the set fast, all-genre supporting actor John Hoyt is a sufficiently piercing Patrick Henry, and the real Henry was Va. Governor 1776-79, dating the episode. Best known as Buck Cannon on "The High Chapparel," Mitchell developed a rough-hewn Westerns persona that fits in nicely with the period, though his historical persona will be left wanting as seen below. Dan's raiding party incorporates him, Mingo, Jericho, Clark, and British deserter Matthew Elbridge (also offscene too fast, played by Canadian John Liam in his third series appearance. Continuing the pattern, tough-guy Vic Tayback ("Alice") is an underutilized Continental Army aide to Henry.

As always in DB "Dirty Dozen" remakes, the setup seems to take up to half the hour, but once on the road plenty of action to go around. Useful complications are dealing with a gunpowder-laden horse and an injured Dan. Add on the usual bickering between the raiders to taste.

So, on to the history deconstruction - but this time we are starting with a very large pile of collapsed rubble:

* Fort Cumberland, Md. Was a real Revolutionary War supply center, but never in range of British attack. Plus, its about 400 miles from Boonesborough, not 165 as in Henry's map briefing.

* The point at which the raiders want to cut off the British is (fictional) Stovers Station Bridge, Illinois. No explanation as to why "British dragoons" from Fort Detroit have to ride through Illinois to get to western Maryland, and why its critical they pass over a developed bridge in what as of 1776 was deep wilderness. (Same bridge in this episode is recycled for use in the DB episode "Bickford's Bridge."

* Presence of "Tuscarora Country" is incongruous with this trip - their base was western North Carolina, and they were too far reduced in numbers by the Revolution to be any sort of threat. We also see Iroquois during the hour, no rationale given as to why they have sojourned from western New York to Illinois to mix it up with Daniel.

* Brigadier General George Rogers Clark (brother of William of the Lewis & Clark Expedition) commanded the most successful American efforts of the Revolution in the west, securing Illinois and Indiana for the nascent republic; he did work closely with Patrick Henry as a Virginia state officer. Fabricated completely for this hour are the assertions he was court martialed, left U. S. service to become a tribal leader, and was rehabilitated to report to George Washington (no documentation they met during the war).

Continental soldier count - two; Tayback is uniformed as Maryland Continental in red on blue, and Mitchell wears the buff on blue of a Massachusetts Continental.

Redcoat report - a very large corps of 40-50, though probably provided through stock footage. Uniformed as the 17th Regiment of Foot, though they operated only on the Eastern Seaboard throughout the war.

Although this hour had enough components to justify a two-parter, and what is apparently heavy editing indicates it may have started as that, a DB Revolutionary War story always brings out the series' strengths. This outing is one of Season 2's better efforts.

Daniel Boone: The Prisoner (1966)

"Taken" with flintlocks

Continental Army court martial convict Matthew Elliot (Warren Stevens) witnesses his brother Matthew executed by Col. Richard Calloway (Gregory Morton), then escapes from the stockade with two cohorts. Coming out on Daniel's cabin, they abduct Israel and Jemima and issue Dan an ultimatum - bring Calloway to them. One more problem -Calloway once had Dan court martialed.

Loved-ones-held-hostage were ubiquitous in 1960's Westerns, but this one proves pretty engaging. 1960's villain for all seasons Stevens (alien with disintegration device Rojan on "Star Trek: The Original Series") is a menacing yet refreshing break from the usual unshaven and dirty-clad bad guys, and supporting actor specialist Morton is an urbane WASP officer who adds sufficient plot complication to make things interesting. Its their third and second overall DB appearances, respectively. But little to no backstory of why Elliot and pals are in the Army gaol.

The writers keep the action coming at a well-timed pace, with parallel dramas unfolding at the hostage site and during Dan's run, with Indian skirmishes (tribe uncertain, probably no Shawnee complaints) along the way. Dan's sidekicks are used to full effect, with Mingo as the inside man and Jericho acquiring some action chops. As her series tenure approaches its end, Jemima is looking more and more striking, though she has little assigned here except damsel-in-distress duties. Dan might have been switched into full-rage Liam Neeson mode here, but Disney still casts too long a shadow.

Although the Continental Army seems in operation here, no Revolution mentions - only likely candidate for the Army post is Fort Harmar near Marietta, Ohio, established 1785. But it's incongruous to have it within hiking distance of Boonesborough.

Continental soldier count - about eight, uniformed as Massachusetts Continentals, blue and buff. The blue and red-coated 1st American Regiment would have been more accurate.

A hostage story redux, but a well-executed one.

Daniel Boone: The Gun (1966)

Odyssey for a long gun

Daniel saves Shawnee Chief Red Eagle (Ken Renard) from an avalanche, but breaks his rifle in the process. In a rare example of good relations between Dan and the Shawnee, Red Eagle gives him a "quipu" passport that will allow him travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to get a new gun. En route, he runs afoul of a scheme to rob a gold shipment bound for the Philadelphia Mint.

An above-average DB road adventure, well away from the Boonesborough clutter. A pair of established supporting actors enliven the hour, 1950's movie villain stalwart Robert Middleton as the heist mastermind, and 1960's-70's TV journeyman Milton Seltzer as an upright German gunsmith. Dee Carroll, who accumulated 124 screen credits before dying tragically young after surgery in 1980, is Seltzer's bond-servant love interest.

Action on the road and in Lancaster is kept up at a good pace, and the hour is noticeably engaging minus Rebecca's scolding and Israel's yammering. In an innovative twist, Dan has to fall back at one point on using a horse pistol. Lancaster is presented as a rough log settlement, when in reality it had originated in 1734; more besides Seltzer's contrived accent might have been used to depict the area's Dutch and German heritage.

As well, some research might have refined the shown inner workings of Seltzer's gunsmith business. He claims to have made Charleville muskets, which would have actually been done in a French armory and not a Pennsylvania shop, and he first tries to foist off a Brown Bess musket on Dan - fine for massed military use but far too inaccurate for frontier hunting. The series does have it right that the long rifle was an American refinement developed by Pennsylvania gunsmiths for frontier use; it's variously called a "Pennsylvania" or "Kentucky" rifle, and found its forte as a special forces weapon during the Revolutionary War.

Unexplained is why Dan has to travel through Shawnee-controlled Ohio to get to Lancaster; a much easier unhindered trek over the Cumberland Gap and through Virginia. Also, why is gold being sent by wagon through the Lancaster area for coinage manufacture at the Philadelphia Mint (established 1792, which dates the episode)? Finally, the "quipu" macguffn is entirely fabricated.

Continental soldier count: four, all KIA and uniformed as Washington's Life Guard during the Revolution.

But strict historical accuracy aside, the hour uses Dan and a new setting well; more Fess Parker solo hours would often be the series' best.

Daniel Boone: Seminole Territory (1966)

Spock greets the advance party for Disney World

Daniel and Mingo are on a scouting expedition to Florida when they encounter a number of parties at odds - traveling magician Tom Mayberry and wife Ada (Russ Conway and Nan Leslie), Seminole leader Oonah (Leonard Nimoy), and settler leader John Bridger (Judson Pratt).

An above-average road story enhanced by an exotic locale (though California-filmed) and extra production values. Canadian 1960's TV journeyman Conway and supporting actress Leslie ("King's Row") fill out their stock characters all right, as does John Ford veteran Pratt ("The Horse Soldiers.") Most interesting is Nimoy in one of his last ethnic roles before being claimed forever by the "Star Trek" machine. His countenance commanded the screen in whatever part he attempted, and in an era of white actors pressed into service as Native Americans, he was one of the few who made a convincing tribesman.

The central current of the story is Florida real estate and attempts to profit off of it, instant laughs for anyone remotely familiar with the basic outline of the state's history. Conway goes very fast from disdain for the Seminoles to being a land agent/shaman for them as soon as he gets a whiff of power he somewhat unrealistically sees his magic act as a route to building an anti-settler tribal coalition. Too bad he missed crossing paths with Tecumseh. Daniel defaults to settler-protection mode for the hour, determined to foil Conway's nascent confederacy when it starts to attract interest from the Choctaw.

On the history front, Dan is on a somewhat unrealistic mission to find new overflow settler land before the southern Five Civilized Tribes get crowded and get on the warpath. No evidence that such was ever the slightest concern of the trans-Appalachian settlers, and Andrew Jackson settled the matter when he told the 5CT at gunpoint to pack up civilization and depart for sunny Oklahoma. DB's costumer's have a rare good week and put together a passing depiction of what late 18th century Seminole life looked like, probably helped by the fact that a few midlevel 1960's film productions featured Seminole settings. Introduction of American settlement seems a bit premature for the 1780's-90's setting; the Spanish had control of the region until the War of 1812, James Madison's eviction of them being a successful consolation prize in lieu of conquering Canada.

Again, the episode is SoCal-filmed, and the manicured open areas give away this is probably a golf course. Importing at least a couple of non-stock footage alligators would have helped considerably.

A moderate amount of action and the denouement seems time-sensitive, but Dan and Mingo adventures always seem to deliver when they get out of Boonesborough's sight.

Daniel Boone: Gabriel (1966)

Emigres, soldatos, and Senor Joker

Daniel and Mingo are en route to the French settlement of St. Genevieve (must be Missouri) on fur trade business when they are waylaid by Spanish soldiers suspecting that Dan is an anti-Spanish French rebel named Gabriel. Having taken the fort for Spain, commandant Esteban de Vaca (Cesar Romero) interrogates Dan while the real Gabriel (Vincent Becky) plots to foil de Vaca.

The series is at full steam this week with an intriguing if fanciful great-powers-on-the-frontier outing. Romero ("Batman's" Joker) takes the first of his two series roles as a Spanish officer, and deploys the full range of courtliness at his command. An outbreak of authentic casting places Jacquline Beers - Miss France of 1954 - as Gabriel's paramour. A pleasure seeing an actual Frenchwoman playing a French colonial settler, and she went on to even greater things as a director of archaeological museums in Europe. Reliable TV supporting actor Beck is playing something of a Rambo role on the approaches to Fort St. Genevieve (the Boonesborough set repurposed), with much action and minimal dialogue.

Much of the action takes place inside the fort, but when set dressing is done right, around-the-fort does not have to conform to the constraints of a bottle episode. Plus, the matching of the ebullient Romero and the taciturn Fess Parker is a confrontation well worth the development. Mingo gets to show off his whip skills.

As always, when DB attempts a historical adventure some deconstruction is needed, so onward:

* Spain rules Louisiana in real life from France's defeat and withdrawal after the French & Indian War from 1764 to 1803; France took over for a brief period before the U. S. Louisiana purchase.

* The episode purports to show a revolt of French settlers in Missouri against Spanish rule. None such recorded, but to be consistent with Napoleon's desire to take back Louisiana - interest lost after the Haitian Revolution drained resources he needed for war in Europe - this would need to take place c. 1800.

* French troops would not have been garrisoning a fort in Missouri during this period and there could not have been evicted by the Spanish.

* Correct to depict Boone as antagonistic toward the Spanish - Louisiana was a bone of contention between the Spanish Bourbons and the nascent U. S. over rights to use New Orleans as a port outlet for the American trans-Appalachian settlements.

Spanish soldato supplement - about eight, a fairly substantial garrison. Uniformed in an interesting mix of pre-Napoleonic and Napoleonic gear; enlisted are garbed in the white with green facings of the Fixo de Cueta Regiment, officers in an approximation of the Espana dragoons. Not sure that either unit made it to Louisiana, but unlikely. The period-correct Fixed Regiment of Louisiana wore white with blue facings.

Gabriel is seen handling crates of Hawken rifles, a buffalo-hunting gun that did not arrive on the frontier until the 1820's.

Overall a well-paced hour of frontier action that plays to the series' strength when it places Daniel at the locus of great-power politics. Though the history is a bit contrived, this is among Season 2's first rankers.

Daniel Boone: The First Beau (1965)

Real action here was in the producers' conferences

Two grifters visit Boonesborough looking for their next mark, and target elderly and blind clockmaker Sam Jaffe. Complications ensue when the younger one sets his cap for Jemima.

Around the fort time again, and this one mainly notable for marking out roads the series will not take. Villain duties are handled by Westerns heavy specialist Myron Healey and more notably by pre-Woodstock 1960's teen heartthrob Fabian ("The Longest Day"), who cut a large swath through the pop music and film scenes during the decade. He provides the requisite romantic foil here, all the while dueling with Robert Logan for the affections of Daniel's daughter. Sam Jaffe provides his usual genial geriatric, though as a clockmaker he can expect some pretty lean years in frontier Kentucky. He's given a rather annoying cane with a bell just to demonstrate yes, he is blind.

And just when Veronica Cartwright seems likely to graduate her character into the fertile plain of young-adult angst, the series thrown axe from the intro severs them forever. This is the first episode where she explores relationships, but, as amply discussed online elsewhere, at this point Patricia Blair did not want to compete for screen time with a younger actress. So, Jemima will have scattered appearances a few more episodes and be gone before Season 3.

Cartwright would do all right, appearing in "Alien" and numerous other productions, and Blair (who passed in 2013) would see her character fall prey to typecasting anyway. She would rarely be seen without a broom or market bag the remainder of the DB run, and would largely see only minimal roles after 1970. But, the DB series was the poorer for not having the maturing Jemima as a counter to Israel's hype and antics Fess Parker might have been aware of the series politics easing Cartwright out, and given her this episode (he's absent for most of it) as a farewell showcase. We might know more if Cartwright or Darby Hinton ever write a series memoir.

The glacial and predictable plot is familiar to anyone who has seen a "Bonanza" hour where a significant other makes a doomed attempt to join the Cartwright clan. But don't worry, no damage to Fabian's face. A farewell to Jemima is managed here, but that's about it for the week.

Daniel Boone: A Rope for Mingo (1965)

Run, Mingo, run

Out on a stroll, Mingo encounters a trader and family whom he previously stopped from cheating the Cherokee. The irate trader waylays Mingo and is preparing to flog him before the intro. After the intro, Jericho finds the family massacred plus Mingo's knife and notifies Boonesborough. Settler Zach Morgan (George Kennedy) had been expecting his brother's family and whips the settlement into a vengeance frenzy against Mingo.

Lots of elements come together here to make this an above-average DB outing. Topped off with the privilege of seeing genuine 1960's feature film star George Kennedy ("Cool Hand Luke.") grace the small screen. Kennedy, who kept his hand in until passing fairly recently at 91 in 2016, brought earnestness and believability to pretty much any role he turned his hand to. Here, he turns in a A-level performance as a grieving man turning to solace in toxic racism.

His foil is Mingo, who buries and stomps on the Tonto image when -desperate to escape the Boonesborough mob - tells Daniel what he can do with his establishmentarian "a trial in Salem will do" outlook. Its a breakout and showcase for Ed Ames, who deepens his character considerably. Lynch mob dramas are highly effective in town settings, and Boonesborough's confines enhance that. All the more focused because Rebecca's presence is kept to a minimum and the Boone kids are absent. Plus, some exteriors from Kanab, Utah are still being used, a nice production values boost.

The Choctaw provide the hour's tribal presence, still located in the series a bit too far north from their Gulf Coast homeland.

Not a road adventure, but action and a suspense thread are liberally interspersed. One of Season 2's best efforts.

Daniel Boone: The Thanksgiving Story (1965)

Wild Turkey Kentucky bourbon, heavy on the rocks

Thanksgiving approaches at Boonesborough, but so does a Choctaw war party under Chief Gabriel (Rudolph Acosta). Daniel is heading back, so its up to Cincinatus to round up the Boones and get them to the fort. Becky dithers over the household goods and Israel runs off in search of turkey, but Rebecca's father Timothy Bryan (John McIntyre) shows up with a possible resolution to the crisis.

By this point in Season 2 DB figured to be an NBC mainstay for a while, so it was time to produce the requisite holiday episodes. As mentioned before, Montanan McIntyre ("Wagon Train") lends some authenticity to most of his Western roles, and returning for his second go as an Irishman who can deal with the tribes is a fair approximation of the Hudson's Bay Company Scots who traded and intermarried with the Salish-Kootenai of his home state. (And in a further homage he renders a flute solo of "Garryowen," the Irish marching jig General George Armstrong Custer took to the Little Big Horn in Montana!) Also along as the Choctaw leader is Mexican Rudolf Acosta, specialist in Hispanic Western villain roles.

The series is still using exterior shots of Kanab, Utah - an interesting juxtaposition with some "Drums Along the Mohawk" (ostensibly central New York state, but also Utah-filmed! Again we are hitting an around-the-fort week, so an overdose of Israel and Becky (less of Jemima unfortunately - and the clock is ticking on her character). But, unrealistic to expect more from a Disneyfied holiday episode, so enjoy.

Dan and sidekick of the week Jericho (Robert Logan) take full advantage of the holiday and minimize their screen time, though they do work in an ok wagon wreck. As in all the color episodes, the use of Great Plains accoutrements to depict mid-South tribes becomes glaringly obvious.

The Choctaw draw the straw as tribal foils of the week, though in real life they were more concerned with their home area along the Gulf Coast. Date of the episode is left ambiguous, but during the Revolution some Choctaw fought on the Crown side, others for the Patriots.

Some action vignettes, but we know early we are in for a Kentucky-fried version of the 1621 Plymouth story (Though no Mingo to take on the Squanto duties). An OK chaser to follow the annual turkey-tryptophan binge.

Daniel Boone: The Peace Tree (1965)

Before "Outlander"

A group of apple-growing Scottish Highlanders led by a gruff clan chief (Liam Redmond) move onto Cherokee land, and Daniel must persuade them to take an off-ramp before a general Indian war erupts.

Continuing the previous hour's delving into actual economic detail on Appalachian frontier life, this outing focuses on the role of the Scots-Irish in colonial settlement. And the story is privileged to center Dublin Abbey Theatre alumni and distinguished stage actor Redmond as the Celtic thunder. He marshals the Scottish screen attributes well (for an Irishman!). Also along is B-movie journeyman Nestor Paiva as Cherokee chief Menewa.

The hour starts with high hopes, but rapidly nosedives when the focus is on the interplay between Israel plus a Cherokee and Highlander of his age. Disneyfication quickly sets in and remains; a comparison of the Highlander and Cherokee tribal structures would have been far more interesting.

Plus, the writers would have had a wealth of material to work with. After the initial executions for the failed Scottish 1745 rising at Culloden, the British government hit on the idea of reprieve, swearing of loyalty, and resettlement of Highlanders on the North Carolina frontier. (Depicted well in the later seasons of "Outlander.") For them a bargain at the time that soured; fulfilling their loyalty to the Crown and mustering to join with British forces during the early Revolution, many were decimated by Patriot militia at the 1775 Battle of Moore's Creek, NC.

Not a tremendous amount of action here, and Daniel doesn't do much. Mingo gets to take up his interlocutor role, and we do get a nice tutorial on Highlander settler tradework (though the Highland bonnets look a bit too much 19th century). Redmond carries the screen when deployed, but the writers let Israel and pals take over the hour. Not to any benefit; a strong start with possibilities becomes fairly pedrstrian fairly fast.

Daniel Boone: Cry of Gold (1965)

"The Sting," with a more malevolent Newman and Redford

Salem Land Company speculator Hamer (Kenneth Hamilton) wants Boonesborough and its environs for the timberland, but Daniel won't sell. So Hamer sends out homicidal professional boxer Thomas Cromwell (Maxwell Reed) and knifeman Blake (William O'Connell) to pay high for beaver, intending to divert the settlers from harvest and starve them out.

Around-the-fort time again, but the hour's caper makes it an interesting one. Silents to TV journeyman Hamer ("The Ten Commandments") is our urbane Snidely Whiplash, and British 50's teen heartthrob Reed is given sufficient range to make his character a complex one. Blake (Andorian Thelev in "Star Trek: TOS's" "Journey to Babel" is silkily smooth as a James Bond henchman in a log cabin setting. He had a long stretch in a variety of productions, and sadly passed away about three weeks prior to this review. Sarah Marshall (Dr. Janet Wallace in the "ST:TOS" episode in which Kirk-Spock-McCoy prematurely age, now almost too painful to watch) is a beast-taming beauty.

The setup here is frontier land speculation v. Honest agrarian toil, and something of an oversimplified one; land consolidation began almost as soon as American settlers broke into an area and has continued ever since. 150 acres was considered sufficient to support a farm family in the 19th century; in 2024 talk is increasingly common about 10,000-acre plus farms. Left unsaid here is why, if Hamer wants timber he just doesn't contract to buy it from the landowners; need for hard cash on the Appalachian frontier would probably guarantee sale.

The real Boone was hardly above land speculation; he was an agent of such for North Carolina entrepreneur Richard Henderson's Transylvania Company, though by himself a less than successful businessman. The series rarely depicts Daniel's farming efforts, but this hour is an exception.

We are still seeing exteriors from the incongruous Kanab, Utah set, but it's always refreshing to see a Western depicting the actual efforts of locals to make a living ("Wagon Train," "Tales of Wells Fargo") as opposed to just gunslinging. An above-average bottle episode.

The Young Riders: Gunfighter (1989)

Just setting up the pieces in this one

Hickok crosses paths with an urbane and menacing gunfighter (Jay O. Sanders), and may be pushed into confrontation by traumatic childhood memories.

Cast introductions continue in Episode 2 with a closer look at Hickok's motivations. Sanders enjoyed a run as a heavy during the 1990's and he is presented with some innovation as a well-dressed hired killer, relative to the general run of ragamuffins Matt Dillon confronted on "Gunsmoke." His ties to Emma's past will add still more complications. (It's hinted that she has a saloon girl past, unfortunately not developed here) Also stepping onto the stage is Texan Brent Cullen as the Sweetwater marshal; the Western formula demands one even though Sweetwater, Nebraska (an empty field in 1859) and the Oregon Trail towns generally had not near the population to support civil law enforcement. Wayne Northrop, in the midst of a quarter century run as Roman Brady on "Days of Our Lives," is a former gunfighter trying to leave his past behind to protect his son.

The show's nature - large ensemble cast accompanied by substantial guest star contingents - means we will have to wait a while for character profiles to emerge. And we will also have to accept that we will see a standard Western format - town, saloon, livery stable, marshal, etc. - grafted onto a pre-Civil War setting. The approach with variations was tried before; "Wagon Train" purported to show a weekly voyage into the unknown, but the unknown served up a developed town every other episode. A more authentic production would depict the prewar Oregon Trail setting ad primarily a highway concerned with shuttling freight and emigrants from Missouri to the coast, with a few roughhewn support stations and Army posts en route. But, once again a modicum of research escapes the network screenwriters.

Hickok is portrayed as ready-made gunfighter at the start of a Pony Express career, but such actually began during a shootout over a Russell, Majors, and Waddell property bill at Rock Creek Station, Nebraska in 1861. He killed the aggressor, but also made restitution to the deceased's widow.

Just a recycling of "Gunsmoke" themes this hour; hopefully some more script innovation on the way.

Daniel Boone: The Old Man and the Cave (1965)

Too bad the cast did not just take a day off and visit Frontierland

Out hunting with pet goose Hannibal and toting a mini-musket (rare to see Darby Hinton toting firearms in the series), Israel find an elderly ailing tribesman (Cyril Delevanti) in a cave; with the help of Cincinatus he is brought back to the Boone cabin. But in doing so a dying ritual has been interrupted, and the elder's fellow tribesmen are now irate.

Time for more around the fort filler, and there is plenty of Israel, Cincinatus, and the cabin crowd for those who like that sort of thing. As the elder Nitashanta, Delevanti was likely the oldest actor to appear on DB. London-born in 1889, his childhood probably overlapped with the last passing of those who were children on the Appalachian frontier. He specialized jn elderly English gent roles, so this hour minus the accent and given his actual age probably wasn't much of a stretch. Grabbed off the studio lot on short notice to portray a medicine man antagonistic to Daniel is Philadelphian and character actor Val Avery, his East Coast accent somewhat overwhelming the role.

Action during the hour is predictably slowed to accommodate the paces of Israel and Delevanti, and any drama emits from the viewer's concern that Delevanti might hurt himself. Mingo as expected takes on the interlocutor's role. There is little else of note going on here other than walking from set to set. The plot would be repeated in a final season DB episode, but curiously with less racial empathy than what is shown in 1965.

Nitashanta's tribe is unnamed, but they fall prey to NBC's belief that the new color format was improved by recycling Great Plains tribal regalia to depict mid-South Indians. Wearing a buffalo horn headdress, Avery looks and sounds like Don Rickles in a Dean Martin variety hour sketch. The semi-agrarian Midwest and mid-south tribesmen were sedentary enough to handle elder and palliative care at home; I cannot recall any references to archaeologists turning up "dying caves" in the Ohio River valley region. Simplistic references to a plainly visible "sacred stream" running through the middle of the village and dried up by the "evil spirit" of a branch blockage tops off the insensitivity quota for the week.

The weak material might have been surmounted if this had been made a valedictory episode for Delevanti; he certainly deserved better. If the master copy of this is ever lost, the chief impact on film preservationists will be the freeing up of storage space.

Daniel Boone: My Name Is Rawls (1965)

Furs for freedom

African-American escaped slave Rawls (Rafer Johnson) robs a trapper's camp of its fur catch, but for good reason - he is trying to purchase passage back to Africa. Daniel sets off in pursuit, but runs into the outlaws who have been fencing Rawls' loot.

Not really a mini-epic, but a higher-end outlaw chase with racial elements added on. The athletic Johnson provides a future taste of what Roosevelt Grier will add to late series episodes; like Johnson had a storied sports career. A UCLA basketball standout, he medaled at the silver and gold levels as an Olympic decathlete, was a founder of the Special Olympics, worked as sportscaster and also found time to turn in substantial film and TV roles. Plus, in an eery prelude for any 21st century of this episode, he aided later DB regular Grier in catching and restraining RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel in 1968. He does a workmanlike job here ushering DB into grappling with the currents of the Civil Rights era.

Also along for the ride is outlaw leader Michael Conrad, better known for his late-life role as Desk Sgt. Phil Esterhaus on "Hill Street Blues," and as his henchman Lawrence Montaigne, Spock's romantic rival Stonn in "Amok Time" on " Star Trek: The Original Series.

One can sense the writers moving into experimental territory here. They want to do right by Johnson's character, but the role and 45 minutes of screen time is not sufficient for a comprehensive view of slavery in colonial America plus fully rounded character development even with the best of intentions. The noble effort is made, however, with a Dan-Mingo-Rawls campfire dialogue. It would fall to Don Pedro Colley and Grier to do more over multi-episode appearances. Jemima gets abducted, always a good trigger for Fess Parker's inner grizzly. And, using the Dan-Mingo team usually signals that good action sequences are en route. Surprise, there is a cave scene - always a DB favorite - and some more exterior shots of the Kanab, Utah fort set.

Historic logic dissipates quickly, however, given Rawls' plan to buy passage at a colonial port to Africa; the only outbound vessels to the continent would be slave ships, and he would have most likely fallen back into captivity at the docks or at best impressed into a ship crew and sold elsewhere.

Casts of mixed race were still a novelty in 1965, so kudos to NBC for probably showing some backbone to its southern affiliates and proceeding on. And what was slightly daring in 1965 remains an engaging hour in 2024.

The Young Riders: The Kid (1989)

Riders of the pre-millennial sage

Episode 1 of "The Young Riders" opens with "The Kid" (probably hailing from the same name-starved locale that produced "The Virginian") down on his luck; he procures a horse through a boxing match and joins a group seeking to work for the Pony Express - the first attempt to deliver American transcontinental mail in ten days or less.

Some background is worthwhile about how YR came about at the end of the 1980's. The TV Western boom had crested and receded by the early 1970's; the homestead generation core audience that came of age hearing frontier dinner tales (and had lived at the end of a rural-majority U. S.) during the 1920's had largely passed on, and the prime time market demanded urban comedies and crime dramas. Plus, the genre had been fairly exhausted from storyline repetition and the inability of radio-trained writers hobbled by network restraints to show character growth. Notable as well was post-Vietnam repulsion to screen violence, which knocked out two legs from the three-legged Westerns support saloon stool. Finally, genre homage (expectations of standard marshal v. Rustlers stories, etc.) further constrained the ability of showrunners to present much new or innovative; "Little House on the Prairie" was now what passed for frontier drama. But then, during the 1980's:

• The accession of the Reagan era encouraged new veneration for traditional genres;
• Hollywood found receptiveness to "Brat Pack" aggregations of young actors in genre settings;
• Viewing tastes dialed back a bit from the post-Vietnam no-violence diet, and were more receptive to diverse characters with flaws and real romantic interests;
• In turn more realistic storylines for traditionally underserved women and minorities now presented themselves, and
• Ken Burns "The Civil War" (1990) documentary series reopened interest in the Civil War years. (It remains Burns' best work before he fell away from talking devolved into blue-state preachiness.)

Some of the above found their way into 1988's "Young Guns," about Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War, which would get into a brief trademark spat with YR. And, in varying quantities they provided a measure of revival to the Western - if no return to the heyday, at least a decent retirement home support system. New offering ranged from the forgettable "Silverado," better presented as an actors' in-house home movie, to the better "Lonesome Dove" miniseries.

So, YR emerges at the end of the Reagan years. A Pony Express relay station in Nebraska provided the venue, allowing the express rider characters to move freely about the West into varying dramatic situations and access to the Civil War run-up in Kansas and Missouri. The lineup began as follows:

* Longtime character actor and Westerns genre specialist Anthony Zerbe (very menacing as the chief mutant in "The Omega Man") as the station patriarch "Teaspoon Hunter;" * Melissa Leo, noted for work on "Homicide," is the initial station cook and all-around den mother "Emma Shannon;" * A younger Josh Brolin, en route to a successful movie career playing stonefaced heavies and villains, is one of two historical personas - in this case " Wild Bill" Hickok; * The second, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, is portrayed by Stephen Baldwin. The Baldwin acting clan enjoyed a 1990's heyday, but Stephen Baldwin's film career receded fast after "Bio Dome." (Strangely, the film is better remembered than the 1990's pseudo-science experiment it parodied.) * "Kid" is played by Ty Miller, who kept his hand in through guest roles through 2019; * "Ike McSwain," a deaf-mute rider likely on board to mark the new ADA-friendly era of the 1990's was portrayed by Travis Fine; Fine went on to accumulate a number of credits as a producer.

* "Running Buck Cross" was a rider of mixed Kiowa and European heritage, and his presence as played by Gregg Rainwater (of Cherokee-Osage descent and later an animation actor) nodded to the 1990's need for more complete Native American storylines; and * "Louise McCloud" stands in for Western women as a female rider masquerading as a man to rescue her siblings from an orphanage; Yvonne Suhor easily switched between gender roles and kept up a romance with Kid far more fruitful than Missoula Kitty's dalliance with Matt Dillon in "Gunsmoke." Suhor went on to teach acting at the university level, and in perhaps the series' most tragic note from a 2024 perspective, she died early of cancer in 2018.

Historically and continuity-wise, the series setting was somewhat more realistic than the ranches and marshal's offices occupied by the Western forever bachelors of the 1960's. But of note, the substantial town portrayed as Sweetwater, Neb. Did not originate until 1870, and the Pony Express timeframe was limited to early 1860 to late 1861. Cody and Hickok worked for the parent company of the express, the freight company of Russell, Majors and Waddell, but were not transcontinental express riders. The "Bleeding Kansas" anti v. Pro-slavery civil strife that YR attempts to tap into was resolved by the admission of Kansas as a free state in 1859, was much reduced if not idled in the progression to the larger war and not really a backdrop to the Pony Express.

The pilot's progress goes as expected - a series of introductory vignettes to get the premise and characters launched. Tryouts and training for the riders take up a good deal of time, and Teaspoon introduces a naval multi-barreled boarding gun for station defense, but the type was unlikely to have ever made it to Nebraska. The gang does coalesce for a shootout with a hastily-introduced bandit cohort which steals a mail pouch (though how they plan to profit off of the likely legal documents and newspapers is left unclear.) Suhor's character is set up for an early reveal.

Much of the series was filmed at Old Tucson, Arizona (keeping up the tradition of Western directors that scenes set on the Great Plains are simply too flat for good photography if they are actually shot on location), but the pilot appears to have been done in "Wagon Train" country, namely south central California. The hour has a greenish tint to the background not seen in many other episodes, perhaps filmed on a different shooting schedule.

Too much box-checking to make this a notable and iconic pilot, but the furniture is set out for memorable outings as Season 1 commences.

Daniel Boone: The Mound Builders (1965)

From the halls of Montezuma to the hills of Kentucky

Daniel and Mingo intercede to rescue an unknown tribesman, Zapotec (Henry Silva) from a Shawnee war party. Being of Aztec descent, Zapotec is trying to find ancient Sun God totem left in Kentucky by Aztec ancestors before they moved south - but it is likely in a Shawnee-guarded and forbidden valley.

Season 2 returns to outdoor action-adventure, albeit with an unusual storyline. Silva enjoyed a very long run as mainly heavies and villains in TV and film before sadly passing in 2022; he was at the top of his form in the 1960's. He is twinned here with the period-ubiquitous Simon Oakland as a Shawnee leader, and he will be back for a couple more turns in the series.

Another episode filmed in part at the Kanab set in southern Utah, and while the summer photography is among the series' best (and ideal for a midwinter view!), the clearly Southwestern locale of the fort set is clearly incongruous with the thickly-forested Appalachian frontier. And, it takes an overly-long time to set up the treasure trek, which might have been better used to develop Silva's character. The screen Daniel is at least period correct when he notes helping Zapotec's quest and de-sanctifying the valley "will open up a lot of territory" - but also allow the Shawnee to access more game. Well, do well by doing good.

The belief that the relatively advanced Aztecs had significant connection with the subsistence-level tribes north of the Rio Grande was apparently seen favorably by 1960's screenwriters, making its way tangentially into a couple more DB episodes, a "Wagon Train" hour, and a Yul Brinner feature film. Silva appears in pristine Montezuma-era armor and references specific points of geographic interest to the Aztecs. Of course, the Paleo-Indian peopling of the Americas commenced for all at the Bering Land Bridge and spread south to Tierra del Fuego as various groups stopped and developed permanently along the way. But if any archaeological evidence exists that the Aztecs held ancestral affinity or traded substantially with the tribes to the north, it has been very well concealed.

Of note, the Shawnee get a more nuanced portrayal this week than the series usually allots. Some better reference and use might have been made of the actual Mound Builders, the pre-Columbian tribes of the Midwest and South who built the prominent earthworks still preserved today in Ohio and other locales.

Although the material is a bit exotic, the Southwestern photography and a fair component of action make this a fairly decent Season 2 outing.