The Case of the Angry Astronaut

I agree with most of the other reviewers on many aspects of this episode -- the poor portrayal of a space program, character ages, far-fetched and confusing court antics, etc. But there's still something intriguing and entertaining here. Despite the bad writing, the performances are capable and the direction not heavy-handed. Even the confession by the killer is not overacted. I still enjoyed it despite its many faults.

Imagine putting a huge amount of money into a scientific program and then hiring one man of suspicious quality to be your one asset. The guy has breakdowns and temper tantrums and can't pass a minimal set of tests. But there is another aspect: he is an inventor. Well, the baddies get hold of this and decide to frame this guy by killing Jame Coburn. The gyrations of plot just don't wash.

Robert Bray is both Perry Mason's client and cast in the title role in this episode. Bray works for an aeronautical firm as a test subject and the head of the aerospace division is James Coburn. Bray and Coburn have some nasty history together going all the way back to the Korean War. So Coburn is later shot to death and Bray arrested.

On this episode the key here is that Bray is a fall guy for someone who also had it in for Coburn. In fact a rather elaborate deception is used to frame Bray. You don't have much sympathy with the perpetrator because of that.

But what gets me is that Raymond Burr points out in some crime scene photographs that it has to be a ruse of some kind. That that fact escaped Ray Collins, Wesley Lau, and William Talman was a bit much to swallow. From there we unmask the real killer.

The writers were slipping with this one.