My Thoughts - The Greatest American Hero: The Greatest American Hero (1981)
Synopsis: Los Angeles special education teacher Ralph Hinkley (William Katt) takes his class on a field trip to the desert and, after the bus inexplicably breaks down, encounters aliens who gift him a suit that gives him superpowers. He loses the instruction manual soon after, creating problems as he attempts to figure out how to use it, both to get to a custody hearing for his son on time and to stop a presidential assassination.
My Thoughts -
Hinkley's special education class seems like a rip-off of the Sweathogs. I'm not saying this show borrowed some of its characters from Welcome Back, Kotter, but I did sure feel as though I was watching an episode of that 1970s series at times, complete with a discount Vinnie Barbarino.
I have so many questions about that field trip. First, I was still young and don't remember much about the early 80s, but I do sort of remember field trips not being spur-of-the-moment, needing parental permission and not being as vague as "we're going into the desert so I can show you something." Plus, what kind of field trip requires driving so far, you need to stop at a diner along the way, and it is dark before you get there?
Oh, and what teacher leaves his students alone, in the dark, in the desert? Sure, he only left them to get help but taking them with him seemed like the much more responsible choice in that situation.
Plus, that thing with him and his student, Rhonda (Faye Grant), was just weird. OK, maybe she's just a confused kid with a life so troubled, she mistakes an act of kindness for a romantic gesture. I'd still want to investigate to make sure it wasn't more than that because she sure did seem to think it was more than that.
I have lots of questions about the aliens as well, but the main one is why Ralph Hinkley? My first thought would be it was just random and the result of him being in the desert at the right time. However, they knew his name and the made the suit specifically for him. That suggests they picked him specifically.
If that is the case, what would have happened had he not come to the desert? Would they have visited him at home? At work? Found someone else?
So, Hinkley's school is perfectly OK with him fighting a student? Yes, I know they were wearing boxing gloves and head gear and had the gym teacher (Robert Weaver) serving as referee but there are just so many ways that could have gone wrong, ranging from an escalation after the boxing match to an inadvertent injury.
I do like the show's realism when it comes to learning how to use his superpowers. Even with the instruction manual, flying isn't as easy as just leaping into the air and the willingness to show that, even for comical effect, does set this show apart from many other shows/movies like it.
Speaking of the instruction manual though, why not just go back to the desert and try to find it? OK, I'll admit this is a bit of an unfair question because it's not like he really had the opportunity to do that. However, Hinkley also talked as though he thought the book would be impossible to find and was lost forever. It wasn't as though he was wandering around lost in the desert for days, he walked in a straight line from point A to point B over a reasonably short distance.
Instead of saving Bill (Robert Culp), Hinkley should have driven to Vegas and married Pam (Connie Sellecca). Sure, she didn't believe him about the suit at first but, in her defense, who would? What is important is even though she didn't believe him, she also didn't ask to exit the car as soon as he told her that story and didn't call the cops on him when he was breaking into a mansion. If that's not love, I don't know what is.
Final Opinion: I haven't watched this series since I was a kid and, even then, only saw a few episodes and not this movie-length pilot. If I knew nothing about the series, I'd describe this first episode as mixed. It introduces an intriguing concept but leaves a few gaps when it comes to motivation while also raising serious questions (at least by today's standards) about how Hinkley hasn't been fired from his job.
My Grade: B
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My Thoughts - The Beverly Hillbillies: The Clampetts Strike Oil (1962)
My Thoughts - Star Trek: The Devil in the Dark (1967)
My Thoughts - The Andy Griffith Show: Citizen's Arrest (1963)
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