Baa Baa Black Sheep – Volume One + Volume Two (aka Season
One aka Black Sheep Squadron)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
I always
thought Robert Conrad was underrated as a star and actor, though the enduring
appeal alone of The Wild Wild West
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) attests to his star power. Baa
Baa Black Sheep (aka Black Sheep
Squadron) was his other hit show, though A Man Called Sloane could have been a third if it had been handled
properly. Black Sheep debuted in 1976 and both Universal & Stephen J.
Cannel had high hopes for it, but it only lasted two seasons and Universal is
issuing it slowly in season-splitting volumes on DVD.
Conrad
was joined by John Larroquette, Larry Manetti, Dana Elcar, Jeff Mackay, Dirk
Blocker, James Whitmore Jr. and an underused Simon Oakland as his boss as they
battle the Japanese Militarists, their Kamikazes and the rest of the original
Axis of Evil in the South Pacific (they even sing their theme song, more or
less) as Conrad plays head pilot Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, whose autobiography
was the basis for the show. Considering
the limited budgets, the show is not bad, but always had an odd, claustrophobic
feel and always felt like an attempt to combine TV hit M*A*S*H and an action show, especially the kind of silly ones
Cannell would be come known for.
Guests in
these first two sets include Kent McCord, James Darren, Anne Francis, Kenneth
Mars and Sorrell Booke. There were many
extras and lesser-known actors on the show too, but despite being a War genre
fan favorite, the show never really worked and would only have a second season
before folding. It likely would have
been a larger hit in the 1980s and did well for CBS on their Late Movie rerun series
when they were licensing so many Universal hits. The first set has the original TV movie ands
10 shows, while the second wraps up the first season with the other 12
hour-long shows, including a two-parter.
Fan will enjoy this, but others might have a mixed reaction at best.
The 1.33
X 1 image can be grainy and enough old stock footage is used to interfere with
picture fidelity in any show, but these look good enough for their age, if not
the best transfers we have seen for a 1970s Universal TV show. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also just fine,
varying little from show to show. There
are no extras sadly, but if you like War genre tales, Baa Baa Black Sheep just might be for you.
- Nicholas Sheffo
