Talkdown (Joe 90 episode)

This article is for the Joe 90 episode. For the Protectors episode of the same name, click this link.

Talkdown
Air date	9 February 1969
Written by	Tony Barwick
Directed by	Alan Perry
Edited by	Alan Killick
Production Order
previous	Attack Of The Tiger
next	Breakout
Broadcast Order
previous	The Race
next	Breakout

Talkdown is the 20th broadcast episode and 22nd produced episode of British television series Joe 90.

Plot

Joe 90 receives a test pilot's brain patterns, and discovers why a hypersonic fighter plane has crashed.

Synopsis

A new hypersonic fighter plane of advanced design crashes while undergoing trials by test pilot Jim Grant, who succeeds in ejecting but breaks an ankle in doing so. The reason for the crash is a mystery. Exhaustive tests fail to reveal any defects, and the W.I.N. organisation is called in. Another plane is available, and a demonstration for a number of high-ranking officers is due. But Grant's injury makes it impossible for him to fly and there is no other pilot familiar with the machine, except for Joe 90, who is given Grant's brain patterns. The demonstration begins, and Joe gives a faultless display until it's time for him to land. Then over his W.I.N. transmitter he tells Mac and Sam that he does not know the landing procedure! The reason for the crash is now obvious, Grant must have had a mental block about landing. There is only one way to save Joe, and that is to make Grant talk him down. Mac and Sam rush to the hospital. But can they force him to overcome the fear which made him forget the landing procedure when testing the plane?

Cast

Regular Cast

Joe McClaine
(Len Jones)

Professor Ian McClaine
(Rupert Davies)

Sam Loover
(Keith Alexander)

Shane Weston
(David Healy)

Guest Cast

Jim Grant
(Gary Files)

Controller
(David Healy)

Operator
(Gary Files)

General
(Gary Files)

Doctor
(Keith Alexander)

Cameo Roles

General's Aide

Equipment Used

F116
(Hypersonic fighter plane)

Trivia

• The script gives the Flight Controller’s name as ‘Colman’.
• The F116 is revamped from the Flight 104 Airliner from the Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons episode of the same name, which also appears in stock footage from that episode in The Most Special Agent, International Concerto and Business Holiday, and then as the WAF B107 Bomber from Arctic Adventure and the Hypersonic C418 in The Fortress.
• After Century 21 productions shunt down the F116 model was reused in the Doctor Who story Colony In Space as the IMC spaceship.

Locations

Central Control

Hospital

v - e - d

Characters World Intelligence Network: Joe McClaine • Professor Ian McClaine • Sam Loover • Shane Weston Others: Ada Harris Revamp Puppets Episodes The Most Special Agent • Most Special Astronaut • Project 90 • Hi-Jacked • Colonel McClaine • The Fortress • King For A Day • International Concerto • Splashdown • Big Fish • Relative Danger • Operation McClaine • The Unorthodox Shepherd • Business Holiday • Arctic Adventure • Double Agent • Three's A Crowd • The Professional • The Race • Talkdown • Breakout • Child Of The Sun God • See You Down There • Lone-Handed 90 • Attack Of The Tiger • Viva Cordova • Mission X-41 • Test Flight • Trial At Sea • The Birthday Compilation Film The Amazing Adventures of Joe 90 Equipment BIG RAT • Joe's Glasses • Joe's Case Vehicles Mac's Car • Sam Loover's Car Locations McClaine's Cottage • W.I.N. Headquarters