User Reviews

This episode was a little attempt at a whodunit, with the murder of SID agent Swan.

There are references to Swan constantly harassing the little people, yet this seems to be the only appearance of Swan, tho there is another appearance by the actor in another episode, tho as a different character.

We also get references to events in the Mechanical Man and apparently Terror-Go-Round, if I'm not mistaken.

So now with a vengeful, out-for-blood radio reporter (Rhue as Frye), the little people are blamed for Swan's death.

The little people in turn suspect Mark, who reacts in a hot-headed manner for the suspicion.

Thought they were his friends. tsk.

Mark had taken off for three days to go fishing, it seems.

What kind of fish would he catch, one wonders.

Evidence consisted of a tube with M.W. on it. Mark was supposed to use this tube for putting fishing line or poles in.

He needed to put his initials on it? Further, is the tiny footprint at the scene of the crime with the star in the heel.

I guess it only matched Mark's heel.

I kind of envision the giants rounding up little people and checking those heels then turning lose those with no star upon it, like Dr. Seuss' Sneeches, with no stars upon thars.

As an animal lover, it would be along the same lines as one of my cats eating a canary and I have to figure out which one did it. If he doesn't have that Tweety Pie feather on him like Sylvester used to do, I'm gonna be lost.

From here, the episode simply ventures into more adventure.

Mark was abducted and framed it seems. Now Steve, Don and Fitzugh must set him free.

For some strange reason, when I recorded this episode off of Sci Fi (now being called Syfy), the title I had either from online or from the paper (probably online) was given as The Retaliator, and that is what I have it listed as, not Deadly Dart.

The name of this episode is "The Deadly Dart" and is also known as "The Retaliator."

I am confused here by two plot holes. Why was Mark sent into the air with one of Swan's arrows? If it was Swan himself, why?

Then later how was Mark captured by Sargent Barker, who was the killer at the end? Was there a scene missing from this episode? How was he captured? When?

Okay, now for some clarification, at the end of the episode, Sargent Barker stated that Mark was captured when he was caught snooping around S.I.D. Headquarters, but the television viewer is not shown that scene which was probably never filmed.

It is always fun to see 1960s actors and actresses from other series at the time make appearances on this show. Madlyn Rhue, who appeared in the STAR TREK episode SPACE SEED as Khan's Enterprise accomplice, is seen here as as Bertha Frye, the news reporter.

Irwin Allen's use of recycling props is show in this episode too. The teleport device used by Jack Albertson in the previous episode "Panic" appears to have been used as the magnetic device in the cave. It is as a previous reviewer stated strangely out of place in this episode.

The aspect of this episode that stands out is cluing the audience into what's happening while keeping the characters in the dark. Lazy writers try to build tension by keeping secrets from the audience. That creates mystery but not drama. Good writers build tension by keeping secrets from characters and making them react. That creates drama.

In this episode, the audience is shouting "but he didn't do it!!!!!!!!" all the while the other heroes are suspecting Mark of the murders. We, the viewers, know Mark didn't do it. But how is he going to convince the others? How are they going to get out of this sticky situation - giants descending on the area to find the little people accused of terrible crimes, as a reporter stirs up hatred of the little people? There's one odd scene. As Steve, Betty and Barry home in on Mark's radio signal, the signal finder leads them to metal plates in the ground. It turns out these have something to do with a magnet that pulls in little people. Oddly, the magnet also creates wind. Oddly #2, as he's being pulled in by the magnet (really the metal objects he carries are being pulled in by the magnet, Steve falls and pushes himself toward the magnet. It looks very bad.

Steve manages to destroy the magnet, a trap set by an SID inspector who was killed earlier in the episode. Barry sprains his ankle in the fray, so he's out of the remainder of the episode. Who knows why the writers didn't want Barry accompanying the crew at the end.

Inspector Grayson is even handed throughout the episode. He goes by the book, looking at the evidence and not jumping to conclusions about the little people.

This is one of the best episodes of the series.

Mark Wilson is accused of killing giants.

A nice episode with a very welcome guest star playing Grayson: John Dehner.

Dehner got great guest roles in other 1960s shows like Twilight Zone, The Man From UNCLE and in Voyage to the bottom of the Sea's Menfish episode.

One short scene looks very out of place and goofy as it was obviously placed in the hour to fill in the 50 minute running time or perhaps Irwin Allen jumped on the set and yelled "we need some blinking light hardware and explosions in this thing".

I am talking about the mid-episode footage where the little people get sucked into a cave that is meant to be a trap set by the giants.

The ending of the hour brings back memories of QM's The Fugitive series (1963-67) where the fugitive (Richard Kimble) would save a cop from death and be rewarded for doing so.