SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 51:00 Min.
First airing on ABC-TV on March 5, 1983, Don Weis directed this episode. Concurrently depicted, a newlywed couple (Oakes & Boomer) blissfully seeks out romantic immortality while a middle-aged spinster lands a dream date with her favorite Hollywood celebrity.
Specifically, the young Westons find a magical lagoon is a portal into an alternate reality where an ancient civilization still exists on a remote island. As it ominously proves for one of them, supposed immortality is indeed sold for a steep price.
Meanwhile, at risk of losing his iconic James Bond-like role to a teenager, aging action-film icon Burt Hunter (Ely) resorts to manipulating his biggest fan, Margaret Winslow (Dee), to persuade the franchise’s disinterested producer (Landsberg) into saving his career. Tattoo and a young girl (Spelling) contribute to an adoring Ms. Winslow’s unlikely romance with her self-involved heartthrob.
Mr. Roarke: Ricardo Montalbán
Tattoo: Hervé Villechaize
Diana Weston (“Eternal Flame”): Randi Oakes
Alex Weston (“Eternal Flame”): Linwood Boomer
Maatira (“Eternal Flame”): Stella Stevens
Ra-Mas (“Eternal Flame”): Alex Cord
Vaal (“Eternal Flame”): Nicholas Worth
Soldiers (“Eternal Flame”): Uncredited
Maidens (“Eternal Flame”): Uncredited
Margaret Winslow (“A Date With Burt”): Sandra Dee
Burt Hunter (“A Date With Burt”): Ron Ely
Various Party Guests (“A Date With Burt”): Uncredited
John Pike (“A Date With Burt”): David Landsberg
Christy (“A Date With Burt”): Tori Spelling
Yvonne (“A Date With Burt”): Terri Lynn
Stuntmen as ‘Pretend Thugs’ (“A Date With Burt”: David Cass Jr. & John Tuell
Additional ‘Thug’ Stuntmen (“A Date With Burt”): Uncredited
Island Dancers: Uncredited
Island Inhabitants: Uncredited
Note: Worth later played one of Montalbán’s evil henchmen in 1988’s The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad.
REVIEW:
Reminiscent of a seven-layer dip, melted cheese oozes throughout this inane episode. Aside from producer Aaron Spelling’s glaring nepotism casting his young, pig-tailed daughter, one is left with a middling pair of love stories struggling to remain watchable.
Both storylines serve up laughably clichéd pap, including a long-lost Egyptian/Greek/Roman civilization appearing freshly-minted from some second-rate Hollywood costume-and-prop department. Most likely, viewers are lucky to tolerate a single viewing.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 3 Stars
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