F Troop: Season 02 (1966)

The second season of F Troop is filmed in color instead of black-and-white, and the ballad and action montage which opened each season-one episode has been replaced by a simpler opening title, featuring caricatures of the cast members rendered by MAD magazine's Mort Drucker. Otherwise, it is business as usual in the 19th century cavalry outpost of Fort Courage, as enterprising Sgt. O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Cpl. Agarn (Larry Storch), in league with peace-loving Hekawi Indian chief Wild Eagle (Frank DeKova), manage a vast array of questionable business concerns right under the nose of Fort Courage's clueless, clumsy commanding officer, Captain Wilton Parmenter (Ken Berry). Meanwhile, curvaceous trading-post operator Wrangler Jane (Melody Patterson) persists in her efforts to arouse Parmenter's romantic nature, to no avail. That F Troop is a comedy rather than a Western is once again made abundantly clear in its choice of guest stars. In the episode "The Great Troop Robbery," Milton Berle appears as intrepid Indian detective Wise Owl. "Where Were You at the Last Massacre" features Phil Harris as 147-year-old Indian warrior Flaming Arrow, who vividly recalls his meeting with the wife of President James Madison ("Hello, Dolly!"). "The Singing Mountie" stars Paul Lynde as the title character, a devastating takeoff of movie tenor Nelson Eddy. "V Is for Vampire" spotlights Vincent Price as a Dracula-like stranger who may or may not have kidnapped Wrangler Jane. "Bye Bye Balloon" finds Harvey Korman as stiff-necked Prussian officer Heinrich Von Zippel, whose attempt at lighter-than-air flight elicits the now-classic line from Wild Eagle, "It...is...balloon!" And "That's Show Biz" is a deliciously anachronistic outing featuring the singing group the Factory Rock Quartet, and highlighted by Melody Patterson's rendition of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" -- some 90 years before it was written. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi