Hitting the High Seas

Broadcast no. 44 (Nov 27 1967), "Hitting the High Seas" provides further evidence the series was in decline, Nesmith out of action after five minutes. Chips Rafferty (and a parrot voiced by Micky) captains the ship, Ted De Corsia ("The Devil and Peter Tork") and Noam Pitlik ("Everywhere a Sheik, Sheik") are the crewmembers who bring aboard The Monkees, with Davy Jones' locker getting its namesake a job as cabin boy. First episode lacking a laugh track, the response to all the gags total silence, which results in making the efforts of the cast seem wasted. Only Peter holds his own, both Davy and especially Micky really straining for laughs, whereas musically the group continued to excel. The two songs are both repeats, John Stewart's "Daydream Believer" (in its fourth and last appearance), and Goffin-King's "Star Collector" (in its second). The one magic moment is an off-the-cuff rendition of "Tear the Top Right Off My Head," a Peter Tork composition first attempted in the studio June 22, eventually recorded in Feb 1968, with both Peter and Micky doing a lead vocal (never heard during the 60s, passed over for THE BIRDS THE BEES AND THE MONKEES). 48th in production, filmed Oct 11-13, next up- "Monkees in Texas."