Commander Stoner (Jack Albertson) is angry that Ensign O'Toole (Dean Jones) missed an important dinner party. He's been ordered to attend the next one, but runs out of gas trying to get there. At the party, Stoner tells O'Toole's buddies Lt. Rex St. John (Jack Mullaney) and Lt. Miller (Emmy-award-winning actor Stuart Margolin, "The Rockford Files") as they reach for champagne that the three of them will have fruit punch instead. Unknown to them, it is actually a strong Malayan drink that hits hard afterward. Stoner comically thinks it's bananas that gives the punch its unique taste. Meanwhile, O'Toole is forced to trek miles on foot carrying his lovely date (Pamela Searle) who hurt her foot. As Stoner drinks more he comments, "amazing what a little banana can do for fruit punch." A British officer (Ben Wright, cartoon voice actor and Herr Zeller in "The Sound of Music") imagines he has a woman on his arm after a drink, and Stoner and the men of the Appleby think they can see her too. The next morning the men learn that Stoner has been imprisoned by General Tong Ho (literary actor Edgar Barrier) for drunkenly driving a vehicle through the general's greenhouse. In order to save Stoner and keep it away from the captain who is preparing the ship to depart, O'Toole impersonates the captain.
Very funny and well-paced episode.
Very funny and well-paced episode.
