CHILDREN
OF JAMESTOWN
Episode module created Tuesday 22nd July 2008
Last update Monday 22nd September 2008
Guest Stars GERRIT GRAHAM (Brother Stephen)
RON HAYES (Tim Coulton)
Special Guest Star JOHN SAXON as (Reverend) Martin James
Co-Starring JOHN CARTER (Stan Rodgers)
SHERILYN WOLTER (Carolyn Coulton), CAROL JONES (Sheila Rodgers)
FRED LERNER (Brother John), DEAN WEIN (Brother)
Featuring BILL WATSON as Man in Hardhat
VICTORIA LUCAS as Girl
Written by STEPHEN J. CANNELL
Directed by CHRISTIAN I. NYBY, JR.
1st season; © 1983
Production # : 1105 46/60 minutes Mono
AIRDATES
First broadcast:
U.S.: Sunday 30th January 1983 (NBC)
U.K.: Friday 5th August 1983 (ITV)
Click to jump to:
Plot Synopsis (Act I) (Act II) (Act III) (Act IV) (Epilogue)
BRIEF PLOT OVER-VIEW:
The team have been hired to free a young woman from the clutches of an evil religious cult. But after rescuing the girl, Hannibal, Face, B.A. and Amy are themselves captured, and the cult's crazed leader makes them the quarry for a death hunt as a test for their "crimes" against his society…
PLOT SYNOPSIS:
ACT I :
(Opening dialogue by Hannibal) “In the hills near the town of Redwood, California, 5 miles from the Oregon border, a manacle religious cult leader named Martin James has been keeping his youthful followers isolated from the outside world, controlling their minds by terror, and intimidation. The A-Team has been hired to rescue one of them, a girl named Sheila Rodgers…”
Two vans, driven by the robed, almost monk-like followers of Martin James‘s cult, arrive in the small town of Redwood, led by the head of the group, Brother Stephen.The main van, in the back of which are a group of the cult’s youthful followers, stops in the main street of the small rural town, as the second van pulls back into a side street to keep watch.
Standing outside the store, Face, posing as a fisherman on vacation, greets the youngsters, helping them out of the van, but his actions are met with hostility by the brothers, and Brother Stephen makes it clear that he should move on.
The A-Team van is parked nearby overlooking the main street, with Hannibal, B.A. and Amy inside. Face returns and confirms that he’s seen Sheila in the group. Hannibal radios to Murdock, who is waiting with Sheila’s nervous father, Stan, with a helicopter just outside of town. Hannibal tells the Captain him that they’re going to make a try for Sheila so to be ready with the chopper. Murdock assures Mr. Rodgers, that everything will be all right.
Back in the van, Hannibal gives Face a fake blood capsule to put in his mouth, and takes out some metal spikes. As Amy goes to leave with Face and Hannibal, she admits that she is really nervous, but Face reminds her that she insisted on coming along.
As they walk into the main road of town, Hannibal and Face discreetly tuck the metal spikes under the back wheels of the van as they pass it. Hannibal waits outside the store, while Amy and Face go in. The silence of the youths is torn by Face and Amy who take the roles of a fiercely arguing couple. As their argument continues, until Hannibal steps in to assist Amy. Face, in his role, is only too happy to pick a fight, and takes a punch at him. A fake – but very real looking – fight ensues.
The brothers quickly bundle the children off outside and into their van. As the followers rush outside to the van, Hannibal and Face jump right through the store’s windows, knocking the off-guard brothers to the ground.
B.A. races up in the A-Team van. As Hannibal and Face deal with the brothers, Amy grabs Sheila and bundles her into the van. As soon as Face has taken care of Brother Stephen, he and Hannibal leap into the team van and race off.
The dazed brothers struggle the feet and scramble into their van and go to give chase, but the metal spikes Hannibal and Face carefully placed in front of the wheels pierce the tyres, leaving the van unable to move.
The second van by this time has raced into the street, and Brother Stephen jumps in as it goes off in pursuit of The A-Team. The success of the metal spikes has delayed the pursuit of the cult and has worked in giving the team a good head start.
In the A-Team van, Hannibal tells Sheila that her father hired them to rescue her. Sheila – relieved at finally being able to break her vow of silence - tells them that she has been trying to get in contact with her father for 18 months, but the followers read and censor all mail. She says it’s like a prison camp, and Martin James is a mad man. Hannibal assures her that she’s safe now. Amy comments on how realistic the blood capsules are, but Face reveals that he swallowed it after Hannibal’s first punch, and it’s his real blood! Not only that, but Hannibal knocked one of his caps loose!
By this time, the pursuing brothers are rapidly gaining on the A-Team van. The team race to a halt to where the helicopter is waiting. A fluster of commotion ensues as Sheila is reunited with her father, and the team bundle them into the helicopter with Murdock, and the chopper takes off as the rest of the team pile back into the van and race off again. But the stop has cost them valuable time, and the brothers have caught up with them. The helicopter takes off safely, but as the A-Team van races off, the pursing van cuts off it’s path, and it comes under a hail of automatic rifle fire, puncturing the van’s front tires and bringing it grinding to a halt.
Hannibal is cheery that the helicopter got away but realises that they have little choice other than to surrender. They offer a white flag out the van’s sunroof. The brothers order they throw out their weapons and come out one at a time. Flying over-head, Murdock sees that the team have been captured. The brothers, spotting the helicopter, fire at it but can do little to stop it. Murdock says that as soon as he gets Sheila and her father to safety, he’s coming back to help the team.
The captured team are piled into the follower’s van, under heavy guard. Soon, the van arrives at Martin James’s camp, “Jamestown”, a fortified compound that looks more like a prison camp, as Sheila had said. As the four of them are ushered out of the van by their capturers, they get their first look at Martin James, the crazed leader of the cult who appears spouting religious mumbo jumbo as he looks at the people who have dared interfere with his society. The captured members of the team look around, they taking in as much as they can of their surroundings. It is heavily fortified, and children, all dressed in white, silently look on at them.
One of the head followers, Brother John, asks James what they should do with the team. James says that they must pay…
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ACT II:
The captured members of The A-Team are led into an empty wooden hut and locked inside. As soon as the door is closed, they sweep the place for bugs, which comes up trumps when B.A. finds a carefully concealed listening microphone in a crack in the wooden wall. They quietly gather around it, and Face gives a shrill whistle into it, almost deafening the brother who is listening in with headphones. Hannibal reminds him over the microphone that it’s a sin to eavesdrop, before Face yanks the bug out.
They put together what they’ve seen as they were lead in. Between them, the trio of soldiers put together a highly detailed analysis of the camp’s structural and armed layout. Hannibal says that for now, they stay wait, and wait for the cult to make their next move.
In the face of such a grim situation, up against such crazed adversaries, Amy is really scared. Face convinces her that they’ve been through some tough scrapes before; she just needs to try and accept death. B.A. promises he won’t let anything won’t hurt her. But Amy is still not convinced and it is obvious that she won’t make it through it as she is. Hannibal takes Amy’s hand, and Face and B.A. add their hands on top. Hannibal says to just do as they say, listen to them. Amy says she doesn’t want to die – B.A. reminds her that neither does Martin James.
Meanwhile, Murdock lands the helicopter at the entrance of a mining work site to drop off Sheila and her father. Mr. Rodgers says they should call the Police or National Guard, but Murdock insists not. He reminds him that The A-Team are wanted, and if the authorities are called, they’ll wind up in jail. Mr. Rodgers is concerned after Sheila’s stories of the cult being mad-men that the team could die, but Murdock insists that they’d rather die than end up in jail, and convinces him to leave it be, assuring him he’ll find a way to help them.
He sets about trying to pick up some fire-power. Nearby, there is a mine worker in a truck, and Murdock goes up and bangs on the window. He tells him he's just had a man in a cave-in and needs some help.
Back at the cult’s camp, the captured party are lead in to see Revered Martin James. As they are ushered in, the obviously mentally disturbed cult leader quotes religious passage, but Hannibal is not phased and just retorts with wisecracks. James tells him to go on, have all the fun they want, but there’s no way out, and goes off on another crazed rambling. Revered James decides that he finds them guilty, from crimes against the world, and sentences them to a “trail of worthiness”, saying that The Lord shall test them.
By now Hannibal’s patience is wearing thin and his temper up. He says that the place will soon be covered with National Guard and the Reverend better cool his act, but James just goes off on another religious rambling. B.A. suspects that he’s on some kind of drugs, and wears his dark shades so no-one can see his eyes.
Hannibal reminds the mad man that the chopper got away, and the place will be crawling with the National Guard in an hour or two, but James just continues with his ramblings, insisting he will have his vengeance.
Soon, the four are lined up in the yard of the compound, in front of Revered James, standing on his podium, under the guard of the heavily armed brothers. They are forced to take off their shoes, being told that they “will wear the shoes of a sinner”. Hannibal refuses to part with his $600 ostrich skin boots – he says he’ll hang on to them, and if the Marker wants them, he’ll see that he gets them. But Brother Stephen’s rifle aiming his way convinces him.
Revered James begins his “trail”. As the brother’s jeeps rev up behind them, the four briskly pace across the yard to the open camp gates. Then, when Hannibal gives the word, they break out into a run, running out of the camp and onto the dirt road. Martin James gives the word, and the jeeps take off in pursuit.
The four run for all they’re worth, along the dusty rural roads, through the brush at the sides of the where possible to try and get some cover, with the jeeps hot on their trails…
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ACT III:
The hunt continues. The four members of the team eventually come to hide under the brush at the side of the road in ditch. The chasing brothers don’t spot them and race by. With their pursuers off their trail, for now at least, the foursome continue along in the dried ditch.
Realising they’ve lost their prey, the jeeps come to a halt. Brother John sends the third jeep back to search, and radios in to Reverend James to tell him that they’ve lost them. James says that “God’s work has no room for failure” and order it done. The jeeps take off again.
The four hunted team members continue following along the dried river-bed they’re in, while the jeeps race on, searching for their prey.
The four eventually arrive at a farm, ‘Colton Farm’. Face scouts through the to see if any of the brothers are there, and reports back. He has spotted just one lookout, but that’s all that is needed to stop team getting near the farm without being spotted. B.A. suggests that one of them could climb a nearby oak tree and go from tree-top to tree-top. Hannibal says it’ll have to be the lightest of them; Amy says that she’s the lightest, but Hannibal says they’ll need her as bait to get the brother in the jeep within range.
By the farm, Amy appears out of the thick of the trees. The guard immediately spots her. Amy, feigning an injured ankle, falls, and as the guard rashes over her, Face drops on him out of the tree above. A struggling brawl ensues, which Face doesn’t come off too from as he is hit in the stomach and knocked sharply around the face with the butt of the brother’s rifle. But it’s enough distraction for B.A. come up from behind and knock the brother unconscious with a single punch. Hannibal and Amy rush over to Face, lying motionless on the ground, to see if he’s okay. He’s alive, but very dazed and bruised – and he’s lost another cap!
They make their way over to the farm house. A frightened farmer and his daughter appear at the door. Visibly scared hey say they’ve done nothing to them and ask that they just leave them alone. Amy tells them that they’re being chased by Reverend James, who’s trying to kill them, and that Face is injured. The farmer insists that there’s nothing they can do to help them, but B.A. is insistent and storms in!
Inside the farm-house, the farmer, Tim, tells him that he’s just worried about his daughter Carolyn – Reverend James would kill them if he knew they were helping on of his “unchosen”. He tells them that James’s regularly men come and take half his crops, and they’d kill them if they refused. They manage to convince Tim to help them. The place has no phone and no weapons, Hannibal say he and B.A. will start scrounging to see what they can use. All the time, Face is making the most of Carolyn’s nursing and pampering him of his wound.
Outside, the farm’s court is like a junkyard. Tim tells them that it’s what he does, he turns junk into modern art. His barn is converted into a sculpting studio, and inside it Hannibal and B.A. find some gasoline cylinders, a year’s supply that’s just been shipped in. Hannibal gives B.A. some idea of what he’s got planned to build, utilising a steel pipe and a hot water heater.
Back inside, Face is still making the most of Carolyn’s pampering of his injuries. Hannibal tells Amy to get the radio out of the jeep, and to get some paint and get to work on the roof. Hannibal orders Face to move it, and get the hot-water heater out of the basement. Not one to argue with his Colonel, Face reluctantly moves, promising Carolyn he’ll be back.
Back at the mining site, the workman returns in his pick-up with some dynamite, but is concerned about letting Murdock take it without the right authorisation papers. But Murdock won’t listen, and takes off again in the helicopter, leaving the bemused worker.
At the farm, the rest of the team, with Tim and Carolyn, get to work on building what Hannibal’s got planned.
Outside the barn, after the bulk of the work is complete, Tim says to Hannibal he doesn’t know who they are or what they’re planning to do, but if he was them, he’d get out of there – Reverend James does not play nice. Hannibal says it wouldn’t be fun if he played nice. He’s going back to James’s place; he’s got over 100 kids he’s terrorising that need help. Besides, he stole his boots. Nobody steals his boots…
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ACT IV:
The barn doors swing open, and B.A. and Hannibal come driving out in the jeep, with a makeshift flame-throwing device mounted on the back.
As Face, Amy, Carolyn and Tim continue with preparations, B.A. and Hannibal head back to the outskirts of Martin James’s camp. They see that it is relatively quiet – most of James’s men are probably out looking for them.
B.A. races the jeep into action, and it speeds towards the camp. The guard in the gate watchtower spots them and opens fire, but the jeep carries on hurtling towards the camp and smashes in right through the closed gates. The jeep skidding to a halt on the other side, Hannibal unleashes the power of the makeshift flame-thrower, spurting a jet of fire, which engulfs the watch-tower in flames, sending the guard leaping out.
Watching the commotion from inside his building, Martin James watches as the jeep races round, and Hannibal turns the flame-thrower on a pile of oil drums, causing another huge explosion. James quickly gets on his radio, calling his brothers telling them he is in danger. Grabbing a gun and his bible, he heads outside and into the first of the jeeps ready for pursuit, declaring “I shall lead the army, I shall show the devil”, before the jeep races off out of the compound after Hannibal and B.A., with a line of other jeeps following behind.
Back at the farm, the final touches of Hannibal’s plan are being prepared.
Meanwhile, not far away, Murdock is flying overhead in the helicopter, desperately looking for a sign of where the rest of the team are. As the chopper clears a ridge, he arrives over the farm, and sees in huge capital letters ‘A-TEAM’ painted on the barn roof and lands.
In the barn, Face is calling for Murdock on the radio when he answers, right behind him. Now Murdock’s there, he can give them some air support with the dynamite he got hold of. Face sends Murdock back up, saying he’ll give him a call when they need him.
Meanwhile, the chase continues. B.A. and Hannibal’s jeep turns a corner into the entrance of the farm. As it passes through the entrance, it sets of a spring-loaded trap which sends a net, buried lightly under the ground, shooting up, erecting right across the roadway. The force of the net causes the first pursuing jeep to stop, and sends Martin James, who is standing up in it – flying up over the front of the hood and onto the ground! He clambers up spurs his followers on into battle.
Over-head, Murdock, smoking on a cigar, opens the helicopter door and, using the cigar to light them, drops the sticks of dynamite he acquisitioned down on the enemies below.
The barn doors spring open and the rest of the contraption Hannibal planned is wheeled forwards. It is a make-shift cannon with, with canisters as the firing ammunition. Face chops the ends off the volatile canisters with an axe, causing them to shoot out of the cannon at the jeeps, sending them tumbling over.
Hannibal continues to dowse James’s men in sheets of fire, and Murdock bombards them with more dynamite dropped from above.
In the midst of all the chaos, Martin James still stands, still clutching his bible and still reciting religious mumbo jumbo.
The fierce battle continues until eventually The A-Team have the upper hand. Hannibal orders the men drop their weapons. Reverend James drops his gun, admitting defeat, finally admitting that his battle is over…
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EPILOGUE:
Up on the side of a ridge, Hannibal watches through a pair of binoculars as the National Guard arrives in the area. As they get closer, he climbs into the jeep and races back to the farm.
Back at the farm, Carolyn asks Face why the team do it, and he explains to her about “the jazz”. He is finally about to get a kiss from the girl when Murdock interrupts, with his typical inane chatter.
Hannibal arrives back in the jeep, and heads into the barn with Amy, where B.A. and Tim have Martin James and his men under guard. Tim thanks him for freeing them from one year of terror. All Hannibal asks is that he forgets their names and their identities.
A quiet, almost remorseful Martin James says that he stopped dreaming, he does not dream any more. Almost a sign of admitting his defeat, he finally removes his shades. Hannibal tells him to hang on tight, it’s a bumpy road from here on.
He heads back outside and the team pile into the jeep and take off. Face gives Carolyn a goodbye kiss before running after the jeep to catch it up.
The jeep arrives in the smoking remains of “Jamestown”. As Hannibal heads over to Martin James’s building, a girl, who had previously been one of the children held at the camp, thanks him for saving them from a mad man.
Inside, retrieving his boots, Hannibal notices one of the Reverend’s bibles on the table. He picks it up and dusts it down, before putting it back table and walking to the doorway, looking across the smoking remains of Jamestown.
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COMMENTS, REVIEW & NOTES :
Well, after the Pilot, the series hits the ground running and really kicks in with this enjoyable, fresh feeling, and memorable episode.
The whole thing has a fresh appeal of something exciting and new; it has the feel that the possibilities of the series and it’s characters are endless – a far cry from the some of the rather predictable, formulaic episodes of later seasons.
After the 2-hour Pilot, ‘Pros And Cons’ was actually the first episode produced, but this episode, ‘Children Of Jamestown’ – the third to be made. Although filmed third, it does very much have the feel of a first regular episode.
It is actually the first episode to have copyright 1983 (‘Pros And Cons’ and ‘The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas’ were both filmed before and are © 1982). It also uses the same Arial style font as ‘The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas’ on the credits; production order-wise the last time this font was used on the series credits-wise, although a few other first season episodes do use the font when captioning place names, etc. It was the first episode produced not to have any shots used for the opening credits (the Pilot, ‘Pros And Cons’, and ‘The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas’ all had familiar shots used on the first season opening).
In the US, this episode was shown after the Superbowl, which is a prized timeslot sure to bring in good ratings. After this, the series moved to it's regular home of Tuesdays at 8 pm.
The story opens with a voice-over from Hannibal giving summery of the team’s mission. This seems to be a concept purely for this episode and not intended as a regular way to open episodes. This is one of a few of episodes that begins slightly into the Team’s adventure, after they’ve already been hired. The second season adventure ‘Harder Than It Looks’, the third season’s ‘Moving Targets’, and the fourth season’s ‘There Goes The Neighborhood’ also opened with the team past the initial ‘being hired’ sequence(s) that we see in the average episode, and are already “in action” instead.
The story itself is somewhat more serious than the more typical ones we’d become accustomed to later on. The earliness of the series shows somewhat; if this episode were made later, it would no doubt have many of its elements toned down. In fact, seeing how much the show was toned down in later seasons, the possibility of the team taking on an evil religious cult at all later in the show’s run would probably have been quite unlikely.
Just why the children were part of Martin James’s cult, or how they came to be part of it in the first place, never really seems fully explained in the course of the episode. They seem to be somehow kept there by fear (as Hannibal’s opening voice-over says), and at the end of the episode, a girl thanks Hannibal for “saving us from a mad man”. Some synopsises say that the children were brain-washed; they could have been “brain-washed by fear”, there is no real indication of any real brain-washing in the actual episode. We never get much background on this or, what happens to the children after James and his evil cult are put out of action.
Such information isn’t really needed for the story, and it doesn’t leave too much of a hole, though more explanation maybe would have been nice.
Out of all of the early episodes that Dwight Schultz as Murdock was effectively ‘written back into’, after the made him a regular character (from his originally intended re-occurring role in the series), this episode is possibly the most evident of that, with the character being absent for much of the episode.
John Saxon turns in an excellent, eerie performance as cult leader Martin James, ranking in my opinion as one of the best and most memorable villains of the series’ run. Though it is never definitely stated, it is easy to be lead to think that he is psychologically disturbed. It is interesting to note that in the Epilogue, removing his dark glasses for the only time in the episode, he shows some remorse and acknowledgement that he’s done wrong, making him the only villain ever in the series to do this.
The set used for Martin James' camp is a commonly used one, often used as a prison for chain gangs, and appears in several other episodes, including the second season's 'Bad Time On The Border' and the third season's 'Breakout!'. the set's many other appearances include in 'The Incredible Hulk''s second season episode 'Vendetta Road'.
The sequence when the James and his cult chase Hannibal and B.A. into through the entrance of the farm, triggering a net which sends James sent somersaulting over the top of the jeep and onto the ground in front, is excellent. It is immaculately performed and seamlessly joined between the stunt double and John Saxon, even down to James’s shades being knocked crooked.
In the UK, this episode was amongst ITV’s very rarest ones to be shown, possibly due to the stronger than usual implications of the story line, with a evil religious cult ruling over children. In the many years that I spent recording episodes (well over a decade), it never turned up, and was actually one of the last episodes I got to complete my collection. Course, they were in the days before it was released on video, not to mention to be repeated on $ky ad nauseum.
QUOTES:
Coming soon!!
CONTINUITY:
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A few episodes later in the season, in ‘Holiday In The Hills’, Amy is at the L.A. Courier Express office writing up her report on “the Jamestown incident”. A reference to such a specific episodes is (sadly) quite unusual in the series, although continuity was stepped up slightly in the fourth season. |
FIRSTS:
Being the first regular instalment broadcast, there are a lot of firsts with this episode:
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The most notable though, is of course that, although the third episode he filmed, this is Dirk Benedict’s first appearance as The Faceman, after the role was re-cast after the Pilot, and it’s immediately evident how comfortable and well-suited to the part he is. |
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It’s the first time we see the regular opening credits, comprising of shots taken from the Pilot, ‘Pros And Cons’, and ‘The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas’. The opening credits use the familiar stencil font, even though the actual in-episode fonts hadn’t adapted this yet (‘A Small And Deadly War’ was the first episode to use the stencil font throughout). Noticeable is that ‘The A-Team’ just appears on screen instead of it so memorably “being written in bullets” as it did though the bulk of the show’s run. This effect didn’t appear until ‘The Out-Of-Towners’ later in the season. Also with the regular opening credits, it is the firs time that Mr. T is credited as 'And Mr. T as B.A. Baracus', a credit which would remain for the rest of the show's run. In the Pilot, he was credited without his character name. |
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The other main noticeable ‘first’ is the first appearance of B.A.’s van. |
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This is the first of only two episode in the series’ run to use an ‘Arial’ style font (outside of the opening credits). The only other occasion this was used was on ‘The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas’, actually the episode produced before this one but not broadcast until a few episodes later. |
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This is the first episode to be © 1983 (the very first couple of eps produced were actually made in Fall 1982 but not broadcast until the beginning of ’83). |
LASTS:
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The second and last episode, production-wise, to use the ‘Arial’ font as seen in this episode. Broadcast wise, though, this font was yet to been seen once again, in ‘The Rabbit Who Ate Las Vegas’, the episode made before this one but not shown until four episodes later. (The Arial font is still used a couple of times on place names, etc., on several other first season episodes). |
MUSIC:
This story has it's own distinctive in-episode theme (sample coming soon), sounding suitably haunting and, in places, eerie for Martin James and his followers. Some of this music was recycled for the second season episode 'Deadly Maneuvers'.
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Part of the music at the climax of the story is recycled from the "bandits" music in the Pilot. |
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The music at the start of the Epilogue, with Hannibal watching the National Guard approaching, was also used in 'Pros And Cons', produced two episodes before this one, but broadcast next. (It may be a slightly different take of the same piece of music). |
GUEST CAST BACKGROUND:
Gerrit Graham, born 27th November 1949, is an experienced performer and writer, whose writing works include contributions to several Disney features, to which he also contributed his voice. In front of the cameras, he has also appeared in a number of horror and thriller pictures. Look out for him as:
Nickolas John Manning in the second season 'Starsky & Hutch' episode 'Nightmare' (1976)
The Prosecuting Attorney in the late first season episode 'Jagged Sledge' of cop comedy 'Sledge Hammer!' (1987)
Calvin Teal in the fourth season 'Miami Vice' episode 'The Cows of October' (1988)
Ace in 'Police Academy 6: City Under Siege' (1989) (damn, how many sequels did they make?!)
"The Hunter" in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''s early, first season episode 'Captive Pursuit' (1993) (Interestingly, Graham also auditioned for the role of Odo in that series)
Quinn in another 'Star Trek' franchise, 'Star Trek: Voyager', in the second season episode 'Death Wish' (1996)
Tim Coulton is played by Ron Hayes. Sometimes credited as Ronald Hayes, he was born 26th February 1929 in San Francisco, and had a career that stretched back to the 1950s, including the episodes of the numerous cowboy series of the era. His appearance in 'Children Of Jamestown' was one of his last roles, before he retired from acting completely in the late 1980s. He passed away on 1st October 2004.
Special Guest Star John Saxon turns in an excellent, eerie performance as cult leader Martin James. Saxon also appears in the much more take-it-or-leave-it third season episode ‘Moving Targets’. Saxon has appeared in almost 200 films and television episodes, dating as far back as the mid-1950s. He may be best remembered by many from the classic 1974 Bruce Lee film 'Enter The Dragon' (Saxon was apt for the role - he has a black belt in karate). Like Gerrit Graham, he has many horror and thriller movies to his name. Saxon can also be seen as...:
Dave Dalaroux in 'The Rockford Files'' average season episode 'A Portrait Of Elizabeth' (1976)
Rene Nadasy in the Halloween mystery 'Starsky & Hutch' second season episode 'The Vampire' (1976)
Ed Russler, a diplomat's Head of Security, in the reasonable 'Magnum, p.i' fourth season episode 'Jororo Farewell' (1984), taking over the role from another actor, Burr DeBenning, in the episode's prequel, the second season's 'The Jororo Kill' (1982)
Orrin Sanderson in 'Beverly Hills Cop 3' (1994)
Playing Sheila’s father Stan Rodgers is John Carter, a very familiar face in the series. Instantly noticeable visibly is his resemblance to George Peppard and Hannibal. So it is no surprise that he played ‘the fake Hannibal’ Parker in the memorable third season episode ‘Showdown!’. Carter also appears in the fifth season episode ‘Family Reunion’, and, uncredited in an almost in a throw-away part, at the end of the fourth season episode ‘The Doctor Is Out’, making him one of the most re-occurring used actors in the course of the series. There are several other actors by the name of John Carter, but this Carter, born 26th November 1927, can also be seen as...:
Alec Morris in the feature-length / two part ‘The Rockford Files’ first season story ‘Profit And Loss’, in the episode 'Profit and Loss: Profit' when shown in two-part format (1974)
In a bit part in the short-lived spin-off from 'The Dukes Of Hazzard', 'Enos', in the episode 'Horse Cops' (1981)
As Paul Danton in the late first season 'Hardcastle and McCormick' episode 'Really Neat Cars and Guys With a Sense of Humor' (1984), and as Nolan Ashley in the second season episode 'Whatever Happened To Guts' (1984)
Elliot Kirby in the Pilot for the short-lived but much remembered ‘Street Hawk’ (1984; broadcast 1985)
Playing Tim Coulton's daughter Carolyn is Sherilyn Wolter, born 30th November 1951. Acting in television acting from the early 1980s through to the mid 1990s, she had a recurring role as Cindy Grant in 'B.J. and the Bear' in 1981.
Stan Rodgers' daughter, the girl the team are hired to rescue, is played by Carol Jones. Born 1st May 1955, Jones had occasional bit parts in various television series from the late 1970s through to the late 1990s. She has also done occasional voice work, and is sometimes credited as Carol Jones-Potter.
Fred Lerner, sometimes credited as Lanefred Lerner or Fred M. Lerner, is an accomplished stuntman, and has appeared in various roles since the early 1960s. He can also be seen:
In an uncredited extra in the classic Burt Reynolds movie 'Smokey and the Bandit' (1977) (one of my favourite films)
A Parking Attendant in the first regular episode of 'The Rockford Files', 'The Kirkoff Case' (1974) (which incidentally features a character named Tawnia Baker); in an uncredited role as Rockford's 'Tail' in the early first season episode 'The Case Is Closed' (1974); as Freeman, again uncredited, in the late first season's 'Roundabout' (1975); as well as being uncredited yet again as Morabito in the third season episode 'The Family Hour' (1976); before finally being credited as Lou in the third season's two-part 'The Trees, The Bees and T.T. Flowers' (1979), and one final appearance, as Carl Richman, in the sixth season's 'Nice Guys Finish Dead' (1979)
A Fake Cop in the likable first season episode 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harold' of 'The Fall Guy' (1982)
In two 'Knight Rider' episodes, as Ray in the first season's 'Forget Me Not' (1982), and as Sal in the second season episode 'Brother's Keeper' (1983)
A Guard in the first season 'Riptide' episode '#1 With A Bullet' (1984)
Kidnapper Smith in the average sixth season 'Magnum, p.i.' episode 'Old Acquaintance' (1985)
Thug Henderson in the so-so third season episode 'The Girl Who Fell From The Sky' of 'Airwolf' (1986)
Dein Wein, who plays another of Martin James' brothers, can also be seen as...:
A Detective in the sixth season 'Rockford Files' episode 'Just A Coupla Guys' (1979)
A Cop in 'The Uncivil Servant', from the first season of 'Simon & Simon' (1982)
Swag in 'Force of Habit' from one-season-wonder 'Tales Of The Gold Monkey' (1983)
A Ticket Agent in the great first season 'Magnum, p.i.' episode 'J. 'Digger' Doyle (1981); as well as playing Mark in the third season's 'Two Birds of a Feather' (1983) (incidentally, starring William "Colonel Lynch" Lucking as an ace pilot in a backdoor Pilot for what would eventually evolve into 'Airwolf)
A Highway Patrolman in 'Knight Rider's second season episode 'Brother's Keeper' (also featuring Fred Lerner)
Mark, one of the original co-pilots of Airwolf, who take off to Libya in the stolen chopper, in the Pilot episode (also known as 'Shadow of the Hawke') (1984); as well as bad guy Stark in the second season's average 'Random Target' (1985)
A character in 'Riptide''s great first season episode 'Long Distance Daddy' (1984); and as McClellan in the second season's 'Harmony and Grits' (1985)
Bill Watson, who plays the construction worker who Murdock orders into helping him, is a bit part actor, who has had small cameo TV parts from the mid-1970s through to the present day.
Victoria Lucas, who plays the girl that thanks Hannibal in the final scene, had a couple of minor TV guest spots in the mid-1980s, before becoming a Production Manager and later Associate Producer, and continues to work as such until this day.
BLOOPERS, CONTINUITY ERRORS, NITPICKS, AND THINGS TO SPOT:
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On
the opening trailer, there is a shot from the climax of Martin James clutching a gun his bible and yelling "For I am God, and I will slay them!". This was not used in the actual story.
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In the A-Team van, Hannibal's dialogue as we see the close up of the wheel spike is quite clearly added in in post production, as it sounds different, and then suddenly cuts back to his regular dialogue. |
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Nitpick: The team rescue Sheila Rogers from the cult. What about the other 'children'? Were they just going to leave them there? |
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This could possibly just be due to the angle, but when the A-Team van races up and stops by the helicopter, it seems to stop much further back than in the next shot. |
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An amusing moment - when Hannibal, Face, B.A. and Amy are captured and loaded into the followers' van, one of the followers catches the horn, giving a sudden honk. |
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The shots of Hannibal looking around when he arrives at the camp are actually taken from
the
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In the compound when Hannibal, Face, B.A. and Amy are captured, the shots of the children watching as they are led to the wooden hut are used again as they are "put on trial". |
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When Hannibal, Face, Amy and B.A. run off from the dry ravine, as B.A. gets up, something
(probably filming equipment) briefly drops into shot in the top right section of the shot for a moment.
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When Hannibal, Face, Amy and B.A. are on the run from the cult, a shot looking up from
the road at the jeeps racing along actually taken from the
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When they arrive at the Coulton Farm, and we see Face scouting about in the bushes, his dialogue of “... preacher's got one look-out, but that’s all he needs...” is ADR'd. His lips to not seem to match much at all, indicating that the dialogue may have been changed in post-production. |
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I'm no gun expert, but when Face is brawling with the Brother outside the farm, the sound effect of the Brother's rifle firing is clearly dubbed on in post-production, as it makes the sound of a completely different firearm, more like a pistol or something. |
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When B.A., Hannibal, Amy and the injured Face arrive at Coulton Farm's front door, the shadow of a sound boom can briefly be seen to fall into shot. (Not visible on all prints. If you are watching on DVD, try zooming out) |
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Nitpick: When Hannibal and B.A. crash into the camp in the jeep and use the flame thrower, wouldn't they risk hurting the 'children' (who, note, have all suddenly disappeared)? |
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One of the big explosions at the compound is recycled later in the season in 'One More Time'. |
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After Face launches one of the canisters of gas at a jeep, there is another brief shot similar to those previously recycled from the Pilot, again looking up from the ground. |
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When
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In a couple of shots during the climatic battle, if you look very carefully, the flame thrower on the back of the jeep can be seen to be shooting water (unless this was petrol or similar substance that failed to ignite? I think water is more likely around the main actors). |
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Something to look out for: In the final scene, when Hannibal walks into Revered James' hut, watch the rest of the team outside in the jeep - Face yanks Murdock's hat off his head and puts it on, and Murdock grabs it back again. |
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The
shot of the jeep that is seen to flip over at the end of the closing credits is reversed from as it appears in the actual episode.
OTHER THINGS TO NOTE:
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The registration of the helicopter Murdock flies in this episode is: N58428 |
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This episode has one of the shortest running times for a standard-length episode, clocking in at 45 minutes (compared typical 47-49 minutes). |
MURDOCK’S FIXATION:
Like several early episodes, Murdock isn't fixated with anything in this story.
MURDOCK’S T-SHIRT:
Murdock wears a plan black (or dark brown?) t-shirt for this episode.
SIMILAR:
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Similar to Martin James' gun-wielding brothers, we see mysterious monks in the fifth season episode 'The Crystal Skull'. The third season 'Knight Rider' episode 'The Ice Bandits' (1984) also sees bad guys posing as monks. |
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Hannibal also uses tyre spikes again later in the season, in 'Till Death Do Us Part'. |
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We see flame throwers, a bit more conventional than the one seen in this episode, in one of the series' weaker episodes, the third season's 'Waste 'Em!', and in the fourth season episode 'The Dukes of Whispering Pines'. Both were used by Face. |
CUTS & BROADCAST NOTES:
I don't currently have any ITV recordings of this episode to compare.
As I've mentioned, this was a very rare episode to be repeated in the U.K. when the series was on terrestrial ITV. It certainly repeated wasn't on LWT or any southern region that I could receive. If you has a recording of either an original network broadcast, or of a regional repeat, that you are willing to either donate or loan to me, please e-mail me.
In American syndication, the slightly shorter than usual running time (45 minutes) means that this episode survives relatively intact. The scene as the team try to comfort Amy in the wooden hut and Murdock landing his helicopter are slightly abridged; and the scene of Hannibal, Face, B.A. and Amy in the dry river bed is edited out.
VIDEO & DVD RELEASES:
This episode was released in the U.K. along with ‘A Small And Deadly War’ and ‘Black Day At Bad Rock’, in the Action Men box set, along with tapes of ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ (featuring ‘The Secret Of Bigfoot’ (feature-length) and ‘Big Brother’) and ‘Knight Rider’ (featuring the first season episodes ‘Good Day At White Rock’, ‘Slammin’ Sammy’s Stunt Show Spectacular’ and ‘Just My Bill’), on 16th October 2000. It has also been re-released in a box set exclusive to W.H. Smith’s, comprising of Volumes 1 and 2 and this tape.
It was also released on VHS in the U.S.
In 2004, it was released on both Regions 1 and 2 on DVD as part of the Complete First Season. All releases of this episode are as the original U.S. broadcast version.
INTERNATIONAL:
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The French title of this episode is **, which translates as ** |
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The German title of this episode is **, which translates as 'Purgatory'. |
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The Italian title of this episode is **, which translates as ** |
CHILDREN:
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A terrific adventure, with several twists |
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After the Pilot, a great start to the series proper. |
INFANTS:
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Although it doesn't really affect the plot of the enjoyment of the episode, we are never given clue as to what happens to the other children of Jamestown. After the team rescue Sheila, they seem willing to just abandon them. |
MOST MEMORABLE FOR:
John Saxon as disturbed cult leader Martin James.
BEST MOMENT
When pursuing Hannibal and B.A. from the compound, a net springs up from under the ground, causing Martin James to go somersaulting over the front of his jeep and onto the ground.
FINAL WORD:
After the Pilot, this is a great episode to get the series going properly (although 'Pros And Cons', the first regular episode to be filmed, will always be the first one in my mind). The story is well rounded and enjoyable to watch, and a good sign of things to come.
HANNIBAL'S CIGAR RATING:
9/10
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DISCLAIMER / LEGAL STUFF
'The A-Team' was created by Frank Lupo & Stephen J. Cannell,
Copyright 1982-86, Universal / Stephen J. Cannell Productions
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purely for illustrative and personal use only and not to be used for profit.
Please do not reproduce any material from this site, in whole or in part, without
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