A Bad Case of the Reruns

Never got in to Daniel Boone. Never was a fan of the frontiersman genre. Never wore a dead animal on my head. I think I was born about a decade too late. But since TV Land was kind enough to schedule a Daniel Boone Marathon this past weekend, I figured the least I could do was tune in for one.

At the beginning of the episode, Daniel comes home to his family and begins to tell them about his meeting with Ben Franklin. As he does so, the obligatory Wayne's World Wavy Screen and harp glissando kicks in and we're suddenly in Virginia at Lady Merrivale's home where Ben is explaining to her and her daughter how the scientific method works, vis-a-vis an experiment with a couple of potted plants and some ants. Don't ask. It doesn't advance the plot at all. So, let's see, we've got Ben, Lady Merrivale, her daughter. . .hmm. . .who's missing? Oh yeah - the guy telling the story! Daniel is nowhere in sight! He shows up at the house later. So why doesn't Daniel start the story then? Okay, it didn't ruin the episode for me, but I certainly had to wait a minute or two before I suspended my disbelief.

There's not too much to the plot in this one. Ben is captured by Lord Clydesdale (oops, there goes my willing suspension again) and Daniel helps him escape. The story gives the three of them the opportunity to give us a little history lesson by using the words "tyranny" and "liberty" as often as possible. The overall theme here: England bad, America good. Here's one of my favorite bits of dialogue:

Clydesdale: Isn't it possible that (Daniel Boone) has come to see you to receive instructions for spreading this caterous(?) rebellion to the frontier?

Franklin: The infection of liberty will spread without any help from me, my lord.

History just comes alive when it's told through platitudes, doesn't it?

In the opening title sequence, the producers obviously want to make the doer and dream-come-truer look as frontiersy as possible, so they show him using his expertise with the Kentucky extremely longrifle to bring down a bear, as well as a band of angry-looking white guys dressed as Indians. The difference? The bear dies offscreen, while the Indians drop dead right in front of us. Go ahead, show the savages dropping like flies, but let the bear have his dignity.

# posted by John Shannon : 8/28/2006