Past Tense - A Different Kind Of Football Part II


The next to be added is an underage girl; juvenile delinquent, Gloria "Glo" Dinallo (Courteney Cox, pre-famous). She has controlled telekinesis, it's underdeveloped though. But at seventeen she can't do much of anything unsupervised and is on parole. Which means the next add on has to be her parole officer, Jane Miller (Jennifer Holmes). Who was at one time Billy's girlfriend, dumped him for being immature. Some may remember her as Leslie Vanderkellen on the first season of "Newhart" (1982; CBS).



The last member to be added - upon the rescue was a subject taken from them when the show started - Arthur Beifneiter (Mickey Jones). HIT was given this man who was found in a cryogenic pod, made by Howard Hughes in 1937. Beifneiter actually dated Amelia Earhart. The pod was put away at a self-storage business and long forgotten till he was discovered by late night security crew. Found when his pod failed and Beifneiter was revived. He was changed. He can make things freeze. But his body, like Mr. Freeze, must be kept at chill temperatures or he'll die. A special insulated suit is made for him.

X-Men in an ice cream truck.
- Andrew Hoffmann

The mission is to break into a military base and get their guys out. But there isn't a van or large truck they have access to to carry everyone. Make do with what they have - they can get an Ice Cream Truck, yeah - one of those independent ice cream/treat sellers who drive around. It's better than nothing. The truck becomes their car of choice since it took such a beating, but still kept going.

Turns out our big bad is a rogue general with ties to Humanadyne - Dr. James Strickland (Edward Winter). This is how Gen. Theil (Larry Linville) knew of Beifneiter and Momquist. Turns out he forced Momquist to build his wonder weapon, the Neutron Beam. Think of it like a phaser cannon from "Star Trek". It can vaporize objects without any nuclear fallout. The device exist and will be used. Each of the misfits use their talents for a righteous cause to get Beifneiter and Momquist free.

Now out - Billy and El know that this machine must be stopped; Theil will rule the planet with it. So they ask their co-conspirators to join them on one more adventure to save the world. Breaking into a top secret facility under a mountain to destroy that machine.

Yes they do. Their exploits are caught on camera; the world now knows 'super heroes' are real. What follows is their continued misadventures - wanting to do more since for the first time, these people feel like they have a family. The ever persistent Hayes wants to do more than lab work.

These tales included discovering a long lost Mayan civilization under Beverly Hills; stopping a plague from being unleashed; helped a Russian gymnast's defect to America; helping a marine biologist and his machine that talks to dolphins and helping a New Guinea, Aborigine lost in Los Angeles. As well as discovering a fellow scientist hasn't made First Contact, but is communicating with A.I. system part of the U.S. nuclear program; he mistakenly started WWIII. Oh yeah and helped a bionic CIA operative who lost his confidence.

Arthur Beifneiter only appeared in the pilot. He's never mentioned again in the series. Probably due to their budget; can only do so much each visual effects per episode. He was replaced with Dick Stetmeyer played by Max Wright which was HIT's supervisor - who was ineffectual at his job. There was a point in the show where Stetmeyer appeared before the board of directors of Humanadyne and asked a simple question - on why they should continue to fund the basement lab. "What exactly do they do?" His answer is - complicated.

Jane was dropped later on. But that makes sense, Glo was seventeen when this started. As the show continued, her character turned eighteen, didn't need supervision.

You can search online. The pilot only; one of the side characters was "Donna", a fellow scientist that Billy was trying to hit on, but wouldn't give him the time of day. The actress was K.C. Winkler, an attractive lady. She appeared in the September 1989 issue of Playboy in a pictorial - not a Playmate. "Misfits Of Science" wasn't her first genre appearance; she did two episodes of "Automan" (1983). Those roles were credited as 'The Model' and 'The Blonde'.

One of the running jokes was Miss Nance (Diane Civita) their semi-working secretary. The various phone calls she gets while in the background. 'The invisible man was here, but nobody saw him so he went home'. Plus these two background bit players whom various HIT researchers were experimenting on. No clue why they were there. One time had plastic bag hats, another time holding cricket balls. ??? Another time sitting in a kiddie pool.

Some additional bits; Kevin Peter Hall did some acting, but most of it was centered on his height. He was however so right for man-in-suit jobs. Hall was the guy in the alien suit, the original "Predator" (1987) and its sequel "Predator 2" (1990). He also played the friendly sasquatch in the movie, "Harry And The Hendersons" (1987) and the subsequent series of the same name (1990). He died in 1991 from AIDS, not like that.

He was in an automobile accident and was given a blood transfusion - this was at at time when blood banks and hospitals didn't screen their blood. He got infected at the ER. He was thirty-five when he passed on April 10th, '91 from AIDS related pneumonia.

Both Winter and Linville worked with each other a few times on M*A*S*H* (1972; CBS).

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Back in December 10th, 2020 PT for "Dead Or Alive" I spoke of "Wrong Turn: Foundation". The next film in the franchise was announced completed on April 25th, 2020. Then squat.

I now have a street - the film, simply titled "Wrong Turn" will come out on home video on Febuary 23rd, 2021 for both DVD ($19.98) and Blu-Ray ($22.98).

A group of friends is surprised to found a native mountain people while hiking on the Appalachian Trail. The natives aren't friendly, and they prefer their life of seclusion, worrisome of strangers and new faces. The team of friends struggles to survive their run in with the native mountain people calling themselves "The Foundation". The Foundation attempts to save their way of life by eliminating the hikers; the group of friends is simply trying to survive what started out as a fun vacation in the mountains.
- new official synopsis

I plan on getting it, the DVD. But I'll be honest, that cover is weak - it's generic, should stand out.

- - - - - - - - - -

Just Because.



Not common at the period to cast an age appropriate actress in the role. Most of the time, the person would be in their mid to late twenties, playing a teen. Just look at the cast from the original "90210" (1990). Suppose teen, actress Gabriella Carteris was twenty-nine... playing fifteen as Andrea Zuckerman. Sorry. 'Aun-drea' Zuckerman. *pausing* She was my favorite, thought she was nerd hot.

And there you go. Look man, I only had so much to write about "RED 2". It had an exclusive that some people had access to. *shrugs* If it has to be asked - "Retired Extremely Dangerous", a designation on potential, hostile ex-spies.

I have an idea on what I want to write about next Past Tense, but I'm waiting for it to arrive. Lets say, it's a special thing. See you here on February 25th, 2021. Indeed.