Sitcom: Beverly Hillbillies
Episode: Home for Christmas
Year: 1962
Story line: The Clampetts fly home for Christmas.
Details: Tivo finally pulled in the one I was after originally. Good metadata. Good. And overall, this was a good episode, particularly for the completely corny black-and-white glory that was the early Hillbillies. The entire plane scene, where the Hillbillies think they’re on some sort of fancy bus, is a sad look back at the regal experience air travel used to be. Those days are long gone. Also, this episode features Jethrine, Jethro’s sister (really just Jethro in drag … you gotta see it to believe it). Basically, the Clampetts survive their flight and return home, where Jethro’s mom, Aunt Pearl, is trying to woo the oil company executive, Mr. Brewster. Shiftless Homer Winch is trying to woo Aunt Pearl and Granny. A lascivious Miss Jane warns the flight attendants away from Jethro. And all works out in the end. Well, doggies. That’s slicker ‘en possum shit.
Nipple ripple: No exposure. But damn. Donna Douglas was one fine Hillbilly. She can swim in my cement pond and play with my critters anytime.
Killer quote: “Wew doggies. This is a fancy bus.” Jed as he and the rest of the clan wait to take off in an airplane.
Ebenezer alert: The easy answer here always is Mr. Drysdale, but he’s relatively laid back in this episode. We’ll give him the nod by default, just cause he’s there. Homer Winch is pretty creepy, but he’s not really in Ebenezer mode. He’s just chasing old ladies.
Childhood memory: I was a Hillbillies junky as a kid, watching them mostly in reruns. My father often referred to me as Jethro, and I still identify strongly with Jethro’s mathematical prowess: “One times naught is naught … two times naught is naught … three times naught is naught …”
Details: I’ve been trying to nab this with Tivo for a few years and finally reeled in a copy. This is a classic. Martian kids have been watching too much Earth TV and get infected with the Christmas bug. So the Martians kidnap Santa and a few earth kids to bring the Christmas spirit to Mars. This is great in the way that only bad science fiction can be. Lots of cool cardboard outfits, and I think the Martians are wearing some inbred cross between a natural gas line and a kid’s windup toy for headgear. There’s lots of stock footage — B52s scrambling to intercept the Martians, space rockets launching to rescue Santa, the UN meeting to discuss the abduction — and the special effects are, well, stunning. I particularly like the guy in the polar bear suit that attacks Billy and Betty Foster in the North Pole. In the end, Santa wins over the wacky Martians, leaving a surrogate Santa (Dropo) in his place to keep Christmas alive on the Red Planet. He does indeed conquer the Martians, but he does it with Christmas spirit, not laser or disrupters or special effects. How cool is that?