CHiPs (TV Series) Force Seven (1982) User Reviews

Weird

[MovieBuffMarine · 4/10 · 12 January 2020]

Sad and hard to watch. For one, the fighting sequences were poorly choreographed for this attempt at a spinoff for a new series; and two this was Larry Wilcox' last outing as Jon Baker on a substandard episode.

Good concept of some police special forces unit, but it didn't fare too well. While Fred Dryer and company are good actors, they failed to win any fans or the network at a shot at a new series.

While (kind of understandably) Jon Baker didn't have a proper send off (as Wilcox just up and quit the show), I couldn't belive he was only seen the first and final acts of this episode.

Very forgettable episode that is best left alone.

Odd episode.

[wkozak221 · 3/10 · 25 August 2018]

This episode IMO was odd. Fred Dwyer has an ill fitting uniform, then he has one eye and uses a whip. Really could have toned it down. He doesn't really use martial arts. When the blonde guy tries to hit him he just blocks him. The 2 pluses: Tony Longo doing ventriloquisism and the female member. Very attractive.

where's MAKO ? (asked by k g sugihara)

[karenemikaikitchen · 5/10 · 15 April 2016]

I only responded to this review because on my cable TV info page, the actor MAKO is listed in this CHiPs episode...but not listed in this info page!! SO of course I know who mako is and re-read his bio....this show is not listed, but who cares because he was such a fantastic actor husband father and contributor to the overall heightening of Asians and American Asians in the entertainment industry...I note he started the east west players org in 1965 and was also very vocal and supportive of info about the Japanese internment camps during WWII...(to say that was an abomination of civil rights is a highly understated comment...) AND he served in the US military!!! (well, I exist because of parents in army during Korean 'conflict') NOTE my name!! thanks for listening!!

'Force' Yourself to Watch...or Better Yet, Don't!

[elvimark01 · 1/10 · 23 April 2016]

Once again, CHiPs tries their hand at a spin off episode...only this time, it's even worse than their previous spin off attempt, Mitchell and Woods. At least with the previous episode, there was some sort of connection between the main characters and the episode's 'stars', which isn't apparent here.

Because this is CHiPs, we have to work Jon and Ponch into the action somehow. The episode begins with their pursuit and bust of a 'deuce' (drunk driver). They get the guy to exit the car, with all the usual attitude of course, and then Jon notices a folder that drops out of the car...specs for a missile, one that just happened to be hijacked a week earlier!

All of a sudden, our two heroes are gone--missing from the scene until the very end. We see a blond LAPD officer entering a mysterious building, where he's encountered by a man dressed in a karate uniform. That man is Lt. John LeGarre, played by football-star-turned-actor Fred Dryer, and he leads the Force Seven team, a team of cops that are martial arts specialists. The young officer is Rick Nichols (Tom Reilly), a major league screw-up who's getting a new lease on live via Force Seven (and due to having major martial arts skills). LeGarre manages to cure Nichols' attitude problems by besting him in a karate fight and showing the kid that he has a LOT to learn. We also meet the other members of the team: Cindy, the eye candy (played by Donna Benz, whom some folks may remember from a few Hawaii Five-O appearances) and goofball Sly (Tony Longo, who's played more than his share of goons...here he's just goofy, with an equally goofy ventriloquist puppet to match).

Their mission is to find and disable the missile...using only their martial arts skills...NO GUNS! Ultimately, they find the missile, and the main villain, Nakura, who's responsible for the loss of LeGarre's eye. He's played by John Rhys-Davies, obviously between movies and doing the part for the money.

It's all boring martial arts claptrap that went out with Kung Fu, not even having the camp value of the cheapest of martial arts movies. If they had it so the dialogue was out of sync, it would've been perfect. I also kept expecting David Carradine to show up from behind a piece of scenery and snatch a pebble out of Dryer's hand, but alas, that didn't happen! Maybe it's worth watching to see a subdued Dryer (as opposed to his more famous role on Hunter) or Donna Benz, but not much else.

I should also add...Robert Pine turns up in the final scene with Jon and Ponch, so he doesn't emerge unscathed from the wreckage. Fortunately, none of the regular officers appear. I assume they were rightfully happy to distance themselves from this crap.

O Horrible, horrible, most horrible

[pensman · 2/10 · 7 February 2017]

There no reason for another review, but I had nothing better to do, and when I turned on the TV it happened to be on MeTV and ChiP's was scheduled. I hadn't seen the show since it went off the air, I figured why not. Turned out it wasn't a real CHiP's episode but a pilot. I started watching and it was like watching a train wreck; no matter how bad it got, it just got worse. If you ever get a chance to see this episode, please do. DVR it and you will be dragging friends into your house and forcing them to watch.

I'll admit what made me watch from the start was the guest star list, and it wasn't Fred Dryer. It was seeing that John Rhys-Davies was in it. After all, he was Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark. I know he was in his share of bombs overs the years but nothing comes close.

The entire premise is ridiculous. A special group of cops is being assembled into a secret force. They will sneak in and out gathering information as "police ninjas": no guns, no warrants; just stealth, and nunchucks.

You might get a clue early on when one of four has a ninja hand puppet he talks to. Regardless, Nakura (Rhys-Davies) is the enemy mastermind who in a previous meet with Lt. John LeGarre (Fred Dryer) not only bested him, but took one of his eyes out. During a "stealthy" warehouse break-in, LeGarre and one of his team are captured. After they get tied up, Nakua looks at two of his men and tells them to kill LeGarre and bring him the other eye. Of course, LeGarre frees himself; and after scaring off the two would be killers, he frees the other officer.

Finally, we have the resolution when LeGarre and his team (4 in total) enter Nakura's stronghold, halt the missile from firing, and save the world or at least the part of California they are in. You can't beat the final fight between LeGarre and Nakura which features two terrible stunt men in masks fighting it out. Surely you believe a portly out-of-shape Nakura (Rhys-Davies) can do the hop, skips, and jumps required during this hysterical fight to the death. I exaggerate: fight until one is quickly out of breath. I especially enjoyed watching the now unmasked Nakura and LeGarre, as LeGarre is demanding the code to stop the missile. Nakura croaks out it's 666. Really. Then when the warhead has to be disarmed, one of the team has to use his "chi' (think of using The Force) as he places a finger on the trigger and with the mystical "chi" force, he causes the trigger to rise high enough so that LeGarre can grab it. And you wonder why this pilot wasn't picked up.

The only time we see Jon and Ponch are for a few minutes at the beginning and end of this season five episode closer. I have to believe Wilcox didn't return for season six because he was too embarrassed by this episode, and knew CHiP's hadn't just jumped the shark but was eaten by the shark.

Great way to end a binge

[kellyborseth210 · 2/10 · 9 November 2018]

It was not as bad as Mitchell & Woods...but it was really close. Was this an attempt to capitalize on Karate Kid??? Wax on...wax off goes the t.v. lol

The semi-official end of CHIPS

[oldchrome · 1/10 · 8 May 2024]

Although there had been many outlandish, poor, or substandard episodes by the time Force Seven had been greenlit and filmed (too many to list, but if you're a CHIPS-phile, you can think of many such episodes prior to Force Seven), the continued attempt to spin off another series with Force Seven by the shows creators was the final straw in more than one way.

As it was, the show went from (what I personally preferred) the first couple of seasons where the show combined a lot of light heartedness, even silliness (like Ponch wearing the fake goatee and mustache so as not to be recognized by Rosie Grier in traffic school), with the more serious moments which were intertwined. It was an entertaining, and good balance, but then they decidedly began to adopt a more serious tone until the show took itself too seriously and became totally a drama-action centric show.

We who loved CHIPS didn't want to see episodes where Jon and Ponch were absent from 99% of the episode, like in Force Seven or Mitchell and Woods. Even the episodes where either Erik or Larry were out due to real life accidents, contract disputes or on set tension related issues, weren't the same. We wanted to see the guys together.

This episode itself was horrendous. It was totally, 100% cartoonish. Perhaps they were actually trying to get approval for a cartoon series?

Lastly, it was Larry Wilcoxs' last time appearing on the beloved series and there was absolutely no replacing him.

They brought in the blonde pretty boys to add youth and to make up for the shine that had worn off Erik/Ponch by 1982 when he wasn't the heart-throb he became soon after the shows creation, but it definitely wasn't the same ever again.

To this day, I stop watching when the reruns reach the post Jon days, but then everything has it's run and finale.