Simon Templar arrives in a Welsh village in time to join the search for a lost shepherd. When the stray shepherd is located he's out of his mind, with strange lascerations across his chest.
Sometimes Leslie Charteris seemed to be dozing over his typewriter. He wrote an awful lot until he farmed the Saint out, and churned out rubbish with the greater Templar yarns.
This tale was changed a lot and was stuffed with familiar faces to make it palatable (including lovely Annette Andre, who once popped up in the overrated but nevertheless brilliant "The Prisoner"; and Anthony Bate as the not-quite-mad-enough scientist who seems not so much mad as incredibly testy).
The problem with "mad scientist" stories is making what they're mad about seem realistic. American '60s TV, which had more money, had enough difficulty with making its off-and-on brilliant SF programs believable. This tale ends up downright silly. But it was Charteris' idea. He gets the blame.
Moore and Andre are pretty and play well together. The supporting players do their best to make it believable. But in the final analysis it has the feel of a Steed and Mrs. Peel episode without the flippant humor.
Still, though I'm a Charteris "ST" fan myself, i try to catch anything with Annette Andre. And Moore, as always, is good at what he does, whether he's Simon Templar or James Bond. The pretty heroes make this episode watchable.
