User Reviews

Once again reinforcing its "go Green" message (predating the environmental friendly movement of today), Ark II's "The Cryogenic Man" (I can't stand the fact that the title isn't plural, because Fiedler is just as much a factor in the plot's importance as the more recognized Backus) pokes gleeful fun at capitalism and industrial age assembly line business philosophy, as well as, address how corrupt business practices perhaps fuels the pollution that sent the earth into a tailspin (along with population explosion out of control and continual war). The Ark II crew re-awaken (at the near cost of their own lives, due to a potential explosion that might have resulted from using power from the Ark cruiser to connect with the cryogenic chambers) two men from the 20th Century (500 years from the setting of the show) from deep sleep suspended animation. Richard Backus (of Gilligan's Island fame) and the one and only John Fiedler (the voice of Piglet on Winnie the Pooh, and a character actor who perfected the nervy, feeble-voiced, small-statured tag-along yes-man) are businessman and his associate respectively, awakened to find a world far from what they left. No skyscrapers, commerce, malls, luxuries, or even cars, Democrats or Republicans, and this don't exactly sit well with Backus. A suitcase full of cash that meant so much in the century of Backus is meaningless 500 years later; the poor bunch occupying the area (wearing dirty scraps for clothes, looking as if bathing water is not in good supply) he once called home is only concerned with decent crops to survive, not having a clue as to the once dependent purpose of monetary wealth so important to men like Backus. Backus eyes his liquid compound plant, once producing a fertilizer that carried his name's trademark, and sees the ability to grow crops in seconds, knowing (as Fiedler is quick to inform him) that there's a toxic compound that could produce unhealthy results upon consumption. Backus isn't willing to let Rose's testing of the fertilizer deter him from success, but that damned plant is a junkheap about to combust. Rose and Jonah are captured and put under cryogenic sleep thanks to Backus' manipulation of the town's starving group, but the Ark II's resources will be needed in order to stop the plant from coming unglued. So the danger of awakening Jonah and Rose from deep sleep will once again present itself, and it will be up to Fiedler's help of Samuel and chimp Adam in order to succeed. I love the Planet of the Apes reference when Backus reacts to Adam upon his awakening, and seeing Backus and Fiedler, so out of place in such a setting as the apocalyptic future, is a rather surreal treat. I'm not sure how they would survive absent the usual amenities they're so accustomed, but the sight of them, such fish out of water, is splendid.

As an unabashed fan of Filmation, I find all 15 episodes of ARK II well worth watching (even the wince-worthy "Wild Boy" misadventure), but the bar is set high when one episode boasts the titanic talents of Jim Backus and John Fiedler. "The Cryogenic Man" turns out to be great fun, but also the strangest and most credulity-stretching episode of the series.

The ARK is assisting in the reviving of two men who were placed in suspended animation in the 20th Century because, as Jonah reads authoritatively into the ARK II Log, "at the time, medical science was unable to cure their illnesses." Seeing as the ARK crew merely run a few extension cords out to an open-air garage to jumpstart these gentlemen I wasn't confident this brave new world had any advanced medicine to offer them. But all mention of illness is forgotten once the men are revived. Maybe like Woody Allen's 1973 film SLEEPER, from which this episode seems to draw inspiration, they only went in for a hangnail and due to a record coding mishap were put on ice for 500 years. Oops. (That's Obamacare for ya!)

Backus here plays Arnie Poole, a business tycoon much like his Thurston Howell III character from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. Despite a long career on radio, cartoons (MR. MAGOO), television and in film (e.g., playing James Dean's apron-wearing father in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE), Backus simply is to many people Thurston Howell III. And I rank myself among them and thoroughly enjoyed seeing Backus back at it, waving around cash and whispering cynical asides to his toadying assistant Norman Funk. (Don't ask why and what would be the likelihood an assistant would be frozen alongside his boss--one of many questions to set aside in order to enjoy the show)

Playing Funk was the ubiquitous John Fiedler, then enjoying recurring appearances as put-upon milquetoast Emil Peterson on THE BOB NEWHART SHOW, but best remembered by science-fiction fans as the oily Hengist in the "Wolf in the Fold" episode of STAR TREK.

The cryogenic tubes in which Messrs Poole and Funk sleep reminded me of those seen in the opening of PLANET OF THE APES. That movie is also brought to mind when Backus stirs and looks square into the face of Adam and shouts that the world has been taken over by apes ("and they talk yet!" adds Arnie). Poole has slept 500 years in a three-piece suit clutching a briefcase full of cash to his chest. He emerges a little wobbly, but within moments is apprised of the calamity that wiped out the world he knew. Jonah attributes the apocalypse to pollution, overpopulation and war.

Poole is prepared to rebuild the world just as it was, and offers hard cold cash to the clueless locals who now populate his namesake city of Pooleville. He tries to cut a deal with village leader Jeb, asking whether he's a Democrat or Republican, appalled to learn from Ruth that those concepts no longer exist.

What does exist is the remains of Poole's old factory, which produced a liquid chemical fertilizer that made crops grow miraculously fast. Kicking in the dirt, Poole finds a bottle perfectly preserved just under the surface and demonstrates its value by growing a big head of lettuce in seconds. The villagers are excited at the prospect of big crops and encourage Backus. Galvanized, Backus turns a few wheels on a rusty standpipe to get production restarted. Meanwhile in the ARK, party-pooper Ruth discovers the fertilizer is toxic and comes out to tell Backus he can't produce it (which made me wonder what are the extent of the ARK crew's powers?).

Backus, not cottoning to backtalk from "bureaucrats," in short order imprisons Ruth and Jonah in the cryogenic tubes. Funk is dispatched to lure Samuel into a trap, but Funk's conscience keeps him from following through, which gets him fired after over 500 years of faithful service. It isn't long before Backus has a mishap on his hands, soapsuds billowing out of his ancient factory. With the rescued Jonah's able assist, all is soon set aright. A nice touch is Backus naming Fiedler his business partner.

"The Cryogenic Man" (inexplicably singular, ignoring Fiedler) is a fun episode, but a real departure from the ARK's other adventures that are more grounded and plausible (within the show's confines, of course). Nonetheless, I admit I thoroughly enjoyed watching this one and anticipate many rewatchings simply to see Jim Backus and John Fiedler at work in the world of ARK II.