Room with a View/The Little Black Bag/The Nature of the Enemy
- Episode aired Dec 23, 1970
- TV-PG
- 51m
Jacob Bauman's nurse figures in his plan to end his wife's infidelity. / A medical bag from the future may improve the fortunes of two bums. / Aghast NASA mission control sees what caused th... Read allJacob Bauman's nurse figures in his plan to end his wife's infidelity. / A medical bag from the future may improve the fortunes of two bums. / Aghast NASA mission control sees what caused the disappearance of their astronauts on the Moon.Jacob Bauman's nurse figures in his plan to end his wife's infidelity. / A medical bag from the future may improve the fortunes of two bums. / Aghast NASA mission control sees what caused the disappearance of their astronauts on the Moon.
- 1st Doctor (segment "The Little Black Bag")
- (as Lindsay Workman)
Featured reviews
"The Little Black Bag" stars Burgess Meredith, one of Serling's favorites. He and character actor (mostly in Westerns), Chill Wills, are a couple of winos who are together when Meredith finds a doctor's bag that has inadvertently been sent from the future. Wills wants to sell it to the pawn shop for eight bucks. Meredith, a doctor who has lost his license because of his drinking some twenty years earlier, checks out the bag and realizes that it contains incredibly advanced medical tools. He starts to cure people but never thinks about the money involved. Will wants a piece of the action, disappointed that the doctor isn't making any money on this. He is a mean spirited, short sighted alcoholic.
In "The Nature of the Enemy," a short piece by Serling, a pair of spaceships on the moon have lost their crews. One of those still alive reports back to Houston. The result of this mess is really disappointing. I guess, if you have 8 minutes to tell the story, it's a bit of a hit and run. I expected a bit more.
Title (Brazil): "Galeria do Terror - Quarto com Vista / A Pequena Valise Preta / A Natureza do Inimigo" ("Gallery of Terror - Room with a View / The Little Black Bag / The Nature of the Enemy ")
"The Little Black Bag" is a sci-fi comedy episode. Apparently a bag with futuristic medical devices is accidentally lost in the past (1971). What can the consequences be? This stars Burgess Meredith and Chill Wills as winos who happen upon this lost item. If the term 'winos' offends you, substitute the more politically correct term 'job and sobriety-impaired'! Any way, Meredith is an old drunk who used to be a doctor. And, with the help of this black bag of goodies, he's a magical healer. Tune in yourself to see where it goes, but it's a pretty ordinary little piece that earns a 5.
"The Nature of the Enemy" is a short segment starring Joseph Campanella. It has to do with a lost space mission but who cares?! The less said about this abominable short, the better. I'd give it a 0--it's THAT bad! Overall, we have a 3, 5 and 0--showing a sharp decrease in quality from the pilot and first episode.
The first story, Room With a View, sees a bedridden man manipulating his young nurse (Diane Keaton) into killing his unfaithful wife and her lover. It's over before it's begun, and doesn't leave much of an impression.
The second story is very 'zone', not just in general tone, but also because it stars Burgess Meredith, who previously made several trips to the fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. Here, he plays ex-physician turned wino Dr. William Fall, who stumbles upon a medical bag that has accidentally been sent back in time from the year 2096.
Instead of pawning the bag so that he can buy booze, as his newfound acquaintance Heppelwhite (Chill Wills) would like, Fall sets about using his discovery to cure the poor. Heppelwhite realises that the bag is worth a lot more than the eight bucks offered by the pawnbroker, so he kills Fall, takes the bag and organises a meeting with leading medical luminaries to demonstrate the futuristic equipment. In a neat twist, his actions prove fatal when the kit is deactivated by a technician in the future.
The third story is also rooted in science fiction rather than horror and feels like something Alan Moore might have written for 2000AD. Other reviewers don't seem to like the rather ridiculous nature of the story -- astronauts being attacked by giant moon mice -- but I love the silliness of the whole thing, including the notion of building a giant mousetrap to try and kill the oversized rodents.
Did you know
- Trivia"The Little Black Bag" takes place on September 17, 2098 and in 1971.
- GoofsIn the opening scene of "The Little Black Bag", a calendar is shown on the wall and it gives the date as Thursday September 17, 2098. In reality, September 17, 2098 will be a Wednesday.
- Quotes
2nd Doctor (segment "The Little Black Bag"): The old fool. If he was so determined to commit suicide, why couldn't he at least have had the good grace to do it in the privacy of his own home? I want to see a demonstration of harakiri, I'll take in a Japanese movie.
- ConnectionsVersion of Tales of Tomorrow: The Little Black Bag (1952)