The Doctor Is Out (10 Dec. 1985)

In the lunatic asylum Dr. Richter is on to Murdoch, but gets abducted by armed U.S. army men. Murdock makes the team go after their leader, dodgy colonel Mack Stoddard, who was recognized ... See full summary »

Director:

David Hemmings

Writers:

Frank Lupo (creator), Stephen J. Cannell (creator),

Stars:

George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz

Cast

Episode cast overview:
George Peppard	...	John 'Hannibal' Smith
Dirk Benedict	...	Templeton 'Faceman' Peck
Dwight Schultz	...	'Howling Mad' Murdock
Mr. T	...	B.A. Baracus
Jeannetta Arnette	...	Betty / Sarah
Daniel Davis	...	Phillips
Richard Anderson	...	Dr. A.M. Richter
Danny Mora	...	Shelton
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Colonel Mack Stoddard
Richard Partlow	...	Sgt. Ratliff
Rodney Saulsberry	...	Price
Karyn O'Bryan	...	Wendy
Richard L. Duran	...	Pablo (as Richard Duran)

Storyline

In the lunatic asylum Dr. Richter is on to Murdoch, but gets abducted by armed U.S. army men. Murdock makes the team go after their leader, dodgy colonel Mack Stoddard, who was recognized by the docs daughter and as Face discovers is a military adviser to Curaguay in South America, and even plans to overthrow the president for wanting to end the profitable civil war. There Hannibal realizes the daughter is actually a reporter, but soon she turns out to claim a different identity in every situation, such as CIA agent or Stoddards daughter; the doc is found and once refused her as a patient...

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 December 1985 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal TV, Stephen J. Cannell Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In one scene a tarantula is seen traversing a spider web. Tarantulas actively pursue their prey while webs are designed solely for trapping. Tarantulas use their silk for mating, shelter, and molting. Besides, they are far too heavy to hang from webs, especially the one shown on the show.

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Quotes

Colonel Mack Stoddard: Visiting time at the zoo.
Hannibal: [laughs] Stoddard, you're quite a character. A regular recruiting poster. Hiding out here in the bushes playing Bomba the jungle boy, acting as God. Doesn't your ego get a little squeezed in these wide open spaces?

User Reviews

The wonderful and crazy "Maybe" that this episode gives !

It's about the gorilla war which was a very popular theme in the 1980s cinema. Just remember Uncommon Valor (1983), Let's Get Harry (1986), Rambo III (1988), Delta Force 2 (1990), etc. The action is plenty and well-made. The fun is here; I loved the mysterious girl who has multifarious characters; that was the episode's best. And I always had a thing for the 1980s music; something was mega entertaining about it through the TV shows. The mix of what remained from the 70's disco funkiness with the fast-paced orchestral tunes of the 1980s bewitches me utterly. It's like the best soundtrack for the 80s TV and my childhood.

However, the plot is breakable; why the crazy general kidnaps his psychiatrist, along with the report the last wrote, while he can easily kill him ? How the military officer recognizes Face as an A-Team man while Murdock, another A-Team man, is in front of him too, and not having real disguise as well? By the way, the same officer says that the A-Team is 3 guys ??! Why the A-Team is interested in stopping the assassination of some banana republic they totally don't know? From where they have all of this money to finance the traveling to that republic in the first place, especially when they collect no money for many operations like this; which was done for Murdock's emotional attachment towards his psychiatrist?. And finally, what was the point of that psychiatrist as not M.D one ?? Accordingly, the more pressing question would be why Murdock's T-shirt was having "Excellent" written all over it this time ?!

Still, there is highly interesting point. It remains at the wonderful and crazy hypothesis which the episode, consciously or unconsciously, propounds. The first line of it was Murdock saying to his doctor "It's all about running, running, and running". Murdock escapes from reality till he reached to a level where he doesn't know what's reality?, and what's not? (or so he claims). So what if all what he lives, and we do live with him, is only daydreams where he gets out of this hospital, just about everyday (!), gets together with his old war buddies to fight all the evil of the world, and beat it every time with devises that range between military improvisations and child plays, without having any injuries at all, killing anyone, or collecting real money, then, strangely enough, comes back to the hospital! Hence the whole infantile and nutty world of the A-Team could be just a creative figment of Murdock's infantile and nutty imagination. That could explain a lot. Especially when he's someone in deep love with watching numerous movies and TV shows for all the time. Otherwise, the writers of the show are bunch of Murdocks themselves!

Psychologically speaking, the supposed daydreams / the A-Team's winning war for supporting the goodness could represent perfectly the opposite of what Murdock was forced to live in Vietnam (a compensation's issue). And dramatically speaking what a marvelous twist that could have been. Nevertheless, no one could have ever exploited it, since it ruins completely the kind of credibility that the show has. But let me think of it from time to time. Even if it wasn't intended, unlike other intended enigmas in other shows at the moment (like : could Higgins be Robin Masters in "Magnum. P.I"?, or not?). So when Murdock says, in the start of the (The Doctor is Out), that "everything thing I dream of, comes true". I might replay "Yeah, as an A-Team episode !".

Despite the shortcomings it's above average A-Team's fun. It's not manufactured to think in the first place, but to run from reality. And Murdock's or not, it's a nice run anyway.