The first color season! How exciting! Look at that new credit sequence -- watch David Hedison flip those dials in full technicolor action! Is it my imagination or are they speaking more loudly at the beginning? Was that because it was being filmed in color? The music's a bit jizzy-jazzier too.
This mostly land-based adventure takes us beyond the borders of Soviet Russia and deep into James Bond territory. The idea of Adm. Nelson being turned into a human bomb has potential, and there's a tense moment with him on a racing boat, but for the most part it's drowned in too much faddish secret agent silliness, complete with a beautiful double agent, two Q-style gadgetry explanation scenes, and a midget in disguise. I found myself laughing more than bitiing my nails. This episode ramps up the sex appeal a little -- no, no, not between Nelson and Crane -- and one thing it does have to recommend it is Susan Flannery reprising her role as "Katie" from season one's "The Traitor". Admirably, she's treated as an equal member of the team and allowed to join in on a lot of the epsionage fun. One has to wonder if maybe they finally realized the show needed a little more female energy and intended to make her a recurring character, but according to IMDB this was her last appearance in the series.
Guest starring Ina Balin, who would go on to play a much more major role in (real) history by assisting in the evacuation of the An Lac orphans during the fall of Saigon.