Daniel Boone, season 3 heads for a strong finish with another secret-agent caper. While on a Philadelphia sojourn with Rebecca, Dan is covertly approached by Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams. The President has been abducted, and Dan is asked to be the ransom courier. But Rebecca cannot be brought in, and she is suspicious as Dan departs on his mission.
Several "Star Trek: TOS" alumni are on hand serving as mystery interest - Arnold Moss, Anton Karidian in "The Conscience of the King," as a dispossessed plantation owner and Sarah Marshall, Dr. Janet Wallace in "The Deadly Years," as his daughter. Torin Thatcher, resistance fighter Marpion in "The Return of the Archons," is a strangely jovial John Adams in a momentary appearance. Old West flavor is added by Henry Darrow, Manolito in "The High Chaparral," as a stage station hand, and Paul Brinegar, chuckwagon cook Wishbone on "Rawhide," as a stage driver.
A rare episode in which Dan and Rebecca do field work as a team. A nattily dressed Dan reprises his spy-in-a-tricorn role, and for once Rebecca is given some freedom to work as an independent agent, even at the gun-toting level. (Although she questionably insists on carrying a loaded flintlock pistol all the way from Philadelphia into Maryland; I'm fairly certain you could not accomplish that with flintlocks.)
More than a few historical guardrails are burst through here. The episode has to take place in 1800 as Adams is en route to the "dedication" of Washington, DC. I cannot recall any such event outside of George Washington's groundbreaking for the Capitol in 1793. Adams did first visit Washington City in spring 1800 and had moved there by November. The chase sequence is supposedly taking place from Philadelphia south toward Baltimore, but Rebecca briefly visits Dobbs Ferry, which is in Westchester County, NY.
Relations between Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson had deteriorated significantly by 1800, and we can humorously speculate that if Adams had really been abducted that Jefferson would have at least fleetingly considered the no action option. Jefferson is curiously absent from the entire DB series. Take it for what context you will, but its worth relating that Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge in the 1960's directed the US Embassy in Saigon replace a Jefferson portrait with a Washington one because "Washington was less controversial."
Much of the hour's action, aside from the obligatory tavern brawl, is in the coming and going. Production values are moderate; the same ranch road and stage station scenes seen in "Run a Crooked Mile" are recycled. But, the story (helped by no Boonesborough baggage) is engaging and a welcome diversion from the usual wilderness setting.
Several "Star Trek: TOS" alumni are on hand serving as mystery interest - Arnold Moss, Anton Karidian in "The Conscience of the King," as a dispossessed plantation owner and Sarah Marshall, Dr. Janet Wallace in "The Deadly Years," as his daughter. Torin Thatcher, resistance fighter Marpion in "The Return of the Archons," is a strangely jovial John Adams in a momentary appearance. Old West flavor is added by Henry Darrow, Manolito in "The High Chaparral," as a stage station hand, and Paul Brinegar, chuckwagon cook Wishbone on "Rawhide," as a stage driver.
A rare episode in which Dan and Rebecca do field work as a team. A nattily dressed Dan reprises his spy-in-a-tricorn role, and for once Rebecca is given some freedom to work as an independent agent, even at the gun-toting level. (Although she questionably insists on carrying a loaded flintlock pistol all the way from Philadelphia into Maryland; I'm fairly certain you could not accomplish that with flintlocks.)
More than a few historical guardrails are burst through here. The episode has to take place in 1800 as Adams is en route to the "dedication" of Washington, DC. I cannot recall any such event outside of George Washington's groundbreaking for the Capitol in 1793. Adams did first visit Washington City in spring 1800 and had moved there by November. The chase sequence is supposedly taking place from Philadelphia south toward Baltimore, but Rebecca briefly visits Dobbs Ferry, which is in Westchester County, NY.
Relations between Adams and Vice President Thomas Jefferson had deteriorated significantly by 1800, and we can humorously speculate that if Adams had really been abducted that Jefferson would have at least fleetingly considered the no action option. Jefferson is curiously absent from the entire DB series. Take it for what context you will, but its worth relating that Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge in the 1960's directed the US Embassy in Saigon replace a Jefferson portrait with a Washington one because "Washington was less controversial."
Much of the hour's action, aside from the obligatory tavern brawl, is in the coming and going. Production values are moderate; the same ranch road and stage station scenes seen in "Run a Crooked Mile" are recycled. But, the story (helped by no Boonesborough baggage) is engaging and a welcome diversion from the usual wilderness setting.
