Synopsis
Includes:
F Troop: The Ballot of Corporal Agarn (1966)
F Troop: Wilton the Kid (1966)
F Troop: Reach for the Sky, Pardner (1966)
F Troop: The Great Troop Robbery (1966)
F Troop: The West Goes Ghost (1966)
F Troop: Yellow Bird (1966)
F Troop: The Singing Mountie (1966)
F Troop: For Whom the Bugle Tolls (1966)
F Troop: Did Your Father Come from Ireland? (1966)
F Troop: The Loco Brothers (1966)
F Troop: Bring on the Dancing Girls (1966)
F Troop: Survival of the Fittest (1966)
F Troop: The Return of Wrongo Starr (1966)
F Troop: How to Be F Troop Without Really Trying (1966)
F Troop: Miss Parmenter (1966)
F Troop: La Dolce Courage (1966)
F Troop: Bye, Bye, Balloon (1966)
F Troop: Guns, Guns, Who's Got the Guns? (1967)
F Troop: What Are You Doing After the Massacre? (1967)
F Troop: Only One Russian Is Coming! Only One Russian Is Coming! (1967)
F Troop: The Day They Shot Agarn (1967)
F Troop: That's Show Biz (1967)
F Troop: V Is for Vampire (1967)
F Troop: The Sergeant and the Kid (1967)
F Troop: Is This Fort Really Necessary? (1967)
F Troop: A Horse of Another Color (1967)
F Troop: Marriage, Fort Courage Style (1967)
F Troop: Carpetbagging, Anyone? (1967)
F Troop: The Majority of Wilton (1967)
F Troop: Our Brave in F Troop (1967)
F Troop: From Karate with Love (1967)
F Troop: The Ballot of Corporal Agarn
Agarn (Larry Storch) has greatness thrust upon him when it turns out that he holds the deciding vote in a hotly contested mayoral campaign in his home town of Pasaic, New Jersey. Before long, both of the candidates--Derby Dan McGurney (Tol Avery) and George C. Bragen (Lew Parker)--have descended upon Fort Courage to curry favor with Agarn and win his absentee ballot. The fact that McGurney has a pretty daughter may persuade the Corporal to break the electoral deadlock--and then again, maybe not. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Wilton the Kid
Ken Berry essays a dual role in this episode as mild-mannered Captain Wilton Parmenter and his ill-mannered lookalike, a fugitive bank robber named Kid Vicious. As O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker), Agarn (Larry Storch) and doddering Sheriff Lawton (Sterling Holloway) conduct an extensive search for Kid Vicious, the outlaw overpowers Parmenter and assumes his identity. It looks like the only way we'll be able to separate the good guys from the bad guys is to have Wrangler Jane (Melodie Patterson) identify the real Parmenter--for whom she has been carrying a torch since Episode One. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Reach for the Sky, Pardner
Charles Lane takes temporary leave from his "Homer Bedloe"duties to essay the similar role of Fort Courage banker Mr. McGuire. After the F Troop payroll is stolen by bandits, McGuire threatens to foreclose on the saloon owned by Sgt. O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker). To prevent this, O'Rourke and Agarn (Larry Storch) board the next payroll stage, determined to duke it out with the bad guys--or at least, to appeal to the villains' better nature! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: The Great Troop Robbery
Milton Berle guest stars as Wise Owl, an Indian psychiatrist (!) who moonlights as a thief. In order to continue robbing Indians and white men alike, Wise Owl contrives to shift blame for his crimes on Cpl. Agarn (Larry Storch). Helping matters along for the cagey Native American shrink is the fact that Agarn has lost his memory after a bump on the noggin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: The West Goes Ghost
O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker), Agarn (Larry Storch), Dobbs (James Hampton) and Vanderbilt (Joe Brooks) buy their way out of the army and take up homesteading in a ghost town. Though prospects for success seem bleak, O'Rourke advises his comrades to be patient: The railroad will be coming through soon, and they'll be millionaires. Unfortunately, the town's reputation for being haunted seems to be well-founded, and before long the four pals are shivering in their boots at the sound of things going bump in the night. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Yellow Bird
Julie Newmar guest stars as Yellow Bird, a white girl stolen by Apaches in infancy and raised as one of their own. Hoping to collect a huge reward, O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) offers to rescue Yellow Bird on behalf of her father, millionaire mining tycoon Gideon D. Jeffries (Jacques Aubuchon). Unfortunately, the girl has no intention of being rescued--and to make matters worse, she has fallen in love with Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) and refuses to leave his side. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: The Singing Mountie
F Troop launches its second season with the series' first color episode, in which Paul Lynde guest stars as singing Mountie Sgt. Ramsden, an incongruous new arrival at Fort Courage in Kansas. When not entrancing Wrangler Jane (Melody Patterson) with his splendid tenor voice, Sgt. Ramsden is searching for the notorious "Burglar of Banff" (emphasis on the second "F")--who may or may not be French-Canadian trapper Lucky Pierre (Larry Storch), the lookalike cousin of F Troop's Corporal Agarn (also Larry Storch. With this episode, Don Diamond becomes a regular in the role of timorous Hekawi Indian Crazy Cat. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: For Whom the Bugle Tolls
Richard X. Slattery guest stars as Col. William Bartlett, the latest in a long line of Inspector Generals whose mission is to make life miserable at Fort Courage. Theorizing that a fort is only as good as its bugler, Bartlett demands to hear a reindition from F Troop's resident horn-tooter, Hannibal Dobbs (James Hampton). Inasmuch as Dobbs is the world's worst bugler--heck, he's the worst in the universe--O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Agarn (Larry Storch) must do some quick thinking to mollify Bartlett. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Did Your Father Come from Ireland?
Forrest Tucker plays a dual role in this episode as both Sgt. O'Rourke and O'Rourke's Irish-born father. Arriving in Fort Courage fresh from the Emerald Isle, the bombastic elder O'Rourke quickly sets abuout transforming the fort into an American replica of the Auld Sod. When it becomes obvious that O'Rourke Sr. has no intention of returning home, Cpl. Agarn (Larry Storch) must persuade him to do so--by disguising himself as a leprechaun! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: The Loco Brothers
Med Flory and Jim Danis appear as the Loco brothers, a pair of renegade Indians who have jumped the reservation to embark upon what the Army regards as a campaign of terror. Acting upon orders, Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) sets out to capture the Locos--only to end up being captured himself. As the F Troopers send out a rescue party, Parmenter discovers that the Brothers are not all that wild, but merely lonely. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Bring on the Dancing Girls
The entrepreneurial Sgt. O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) may have to relinquish ownership of the Fort Courage saloon to blackmailing con artist Dan Larson (Peter Leeds). Determined to hold on to his ill-gotten gains, O'Rourke conspires with his confederate Agarn (Larry Storch) to beat Larson at his own game. The scheme involves dancing girls, of course, else this episode might have borne a different title! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Survival of the Fittest
Comic actor George Furth, who later cowrote the hit Broadway musical "Company", appears in this episode as by-the-book Army captain Jonathan W. Blair. Arriving at Fort Courage, Capt. Blair chooses O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Agarn (Larry Storch) in a grueling survival test. Equipped with only a knife, a couple of a canteen cups and a self-contradictory Army manual, the two troopers face a horrible demise unless O'Rourke is able to cadge a few free meals from a few unwitting sources. Showing up as an undertaker is Arthur Julian, who wrote this and several other F Troop episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: The Return of Wrongo Starr
Henry Gibson returns as "jinxed" Army private Wrongo Starr, a character introduced in the first-season episode " Wrongo Starr and the Lady in Black" (excerpts of which are seen in sepia-tone). The troopers of Fort Courage are horrified to learn that Pvt. Starr has been assigned to guard a load of dynamite by their feckless commander Wilton Parmenter (Ken Berry). The odds on Starr blowing Fort Courage to smithereens are increased by the arrival of a very hungry goat. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: How to Be F Troop Without Really Trying
Because of new orders issued by Washington, everyone at Fort Courage is transferred to another outpost--everyone but Corporal Agarn (Larry Storch). On his own for the first time in his military career, Agarn is saddled with the duty of training the newly arrived "G Troop"--which in its own way is even more inept and incompetent than F Troop. Meanwhile, Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) and Sgt. O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) try to cook up a scheme to get their transfer orders rescinded. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Miss Parmenter
Patty Regan guest stars as Daphne, the sister of Captain Wilton Parmenter (Ken Berry). Breezing into Fort Courage in search of a husband, Daphne chooses fort bugler Hannibal Dobbs (James Hampton) as a likely victim--er, candidate. As it turns out, Daphne may not be a bride, but she's a swell nurse, especially when helping to remove the appendix of Hekawi chieftan Wild Eagle (Frank De Kova). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: La Dolce Courage
Agarn (Larry Storch) unwittingly becomes the third corner of a romantic triangle involving a gorgeous Sicilian girl named Gina (Leticia Roman) and her hot-blooded suitor Mario (Joby Baker). As a result, Agarn is literally a marked man: it so happens that Mario is a member of a secret terrorist society called the Black Foot. It will take the combined efforts of Sgt. O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and the Hekawi Indians to prevent Agarn from sleeping with the fishes! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Bye, Bye, Balloon
In this classic episode, Harvey Korman guest stars as Col. Heindrich Von Zeppel, a Prussian balloonist. Under Von Zeppel strict Teutonic rule,the men of F Troop are trained to join the U.S. Balloon Corps--but the results are not quite what the Baron had in mind. Episode highlights include a fleeting reference to the popular ABC series Batman and a beautifully choreographed slapstick ballet involving Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry), a letter, and innumerable catastrophes. And in case you have trouble remembering this episode, we offer three little words: "It...is...BALLOON!!" ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Guns, Guns, Who's Got the Guns?
Fort Courage is paid a visit by Colonel Adams (Arch Johnson), who informs Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) that someone in the vicinity is selling guns to the Apaches. Before long, everyone in the fort is suspecting everyone else of being a guilty party, which wreaks havoc upon the various business ventures of O'Rourke Enterprises. More out of self-preservation than patriotism, O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker)and Agarn (Larry Storch) set out to lay a trap for the elusive gun-runner. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: What Are You Doing After the Massacre?
Phil Harris guest stars as Flaming Arrow, a 147-year-old Indian chieftan who is determined to reclaim the United States for his own people. He begins his campaign by forming a blockade around Fort Courage, threatening to starve the F Troopers into submission. It is up to Agarn (Larry Storch) to talk Flaming Arrow out of ending his siege by posing as the venerable chieftan's old friend George Washington! (Trivia note: the episode's memorable "Hello, Dolly!" dialogue exchange was among the sequences cut for its second network showing to make room for a five-minute political advertisement.) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Only One Russian Is Coming! Only One Russian Is Coming!
Larry Storch appears in a dual role as Corporal Randolph Agarn and Agarn's Russian cousin, Cossack officer Dmitri Agarnoff. Upon his arrival in Fort Courage, Dmitri makes a beeline to the town's prettiest gal, Wrangler Jane (Melodie Patterson), sweeping her off her feet with his own special brand of Borscht-thick continental charm. All of which makes Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) mighty jealous--but is the Captain willing to declare his affection for Jane before she leaves for Siberia with Dmitri? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: The Day They Shot Agarn
In the series' second takeoff of the TV western Branded, Cpl. Agarn faces death by firing squad for the murder of Sgt. O'Rourke. As Agarn awaits his fate, flashbacks reveal how all this came about (and though we don't want to spoil the suspence, it can be noted that O'Rourke is still alive and kicking). The storyline is fused together by a plaintive ballad, composed by F Troop producer Herm Saunders and the episode's cowriters Austin Kalish and Irma Kalish, and performed by John Mitchum, who'd made several appearances in Season One as Trooper Hoffenmueller. (And yes, John Mitchum is the brother of Robert Mitchum). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: That's Show Biz
In this sublimely anachronistic episode, Agarn (Larry Storch) resigns from the Army to manage a singing group called the Bedbugs (played by real-life musical quartet The Factory). Though their rock-and-roll tunes are decidedly ahead of their time, the Bedbugs bid fair to be a success on the Indian-tribe circuit--until O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker), hoping to woo Agarn back into the service, comes up with his own group, "The Termites." This is the episode in which Wrangler Jane (Melodie Patterson), decked out in a hippie costume, performs Bob Dylan's "Tambourine Man", some 85 years before the song was written! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: V Is for Vampire
Vincent Price is perfectly cast to type as Count Sforza, a Dracula-like Transylvanian nobleman who has taken up residence in a spooky old mansion near Fort Courage. When Wrangler Jane (Melodie Patterson) suddenly disappears, the troopers are convinced that she's been kidnapped by the sinister Sforza. The climax finds O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker), Agarn (Larry Storch) and Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) prowling around the shadow-laden mansion in hopes of rescuing Jane--only to make a startling discovery about the supposedly vampiric Count. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: The Sergeant and the Kid
Child actor Peter Robbins, who provided the voice of the title character in the classic cartoon special A Charlie Brown Christmas, appears in the flesh as 10-year-old Joey Walker. When Joey runs away from his widowed mother (Pippa Scott) in hopes of joining the Cavalry, Sgt. O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) takes it upon himself to persuade the boy to return home. There's only one problem: During his brief stay at Fort Courage, Joey has proven to be the best trooper in the whole place! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Is This Fort Really Necessary?
F Troop ends its two-year run with an episode featuring Patrice Wymore, the former wife of movie star Errol Flynn. Wymore is cast as Peggy Gray, the sweetheart of Army efficiency expert Major Terrence McConnell (Charles Drake). When McConnell shows up at Fort Courage to claim his bride, the F Troopers immediately leap to the wrong conclusion, assuming that the Colonel is going to close down the fort immediately! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: A Horse of Another Color
Hoping to impress Wrangler Jane (Melodie Patterson), Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) vows to capture an elusive wild stallion. Meanwhile, Sgt. O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) hopes to corral the horse himself, not as a present for Jane but in order to sell the animal to a circus. Inasmuch as Parmenter's efforts to master the lasso have resulted only in his tying himself in knots, it looks like O'Rourke will prevail--but the episode is still young. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Marriage, Fort Courage Style
O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Agarn (Larry Storch) have hatched another scheme to sell mail-order brides to the troopers, only to face stiff competition in the form of marriage broker Samantha Crawford (Mary Wickes). After considering the matrimonial prospects offered by Samantha, both O'Rourke and Agarn suffer nightmares about what their lives would be like as husbands. Thus chastened, they combine the efforts to rescue Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) from Samantha's clutches. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Carpetbagging, Anyone?
James Gregory, previously seen in two first-season F Troop episodes as Major Duncan, returns to the series in the role of smooth-talking carpetbagger Big Jim Parker. Managing to gain financial control of Fort Courage, Big Jim evicts the F Troopers and tells them to vamoose. O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Agarn (Larry Storch) decide to scare off Big Jim with a phony Indian raid--assuming that the peace-loving Hekawis are willing to cooperate. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: The Majority of Wilton
On the eve of his promotion examination, Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) comes down with a nasty cold. This is the cue for everyone at Fort Courage to test out their home-made remedies on the hapless Captain. Needless to say, the cures prove to be worse than the disease--but the "best" is yet to come when Parmenter actually takes the exam. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: Our Brave in F Troop
Suffering from a toothache, Wild Eagle (Frank DeKova) sneaks into Fort Courage to visit the dentist. At the same time, General Sam Courage (played by Cliff Arquette in a rare appearance minus his familiar "Charley Weaver" makeup) shows up to inspect the fort that bears his name. To prevent Wild Eagle's capture, the troopers disguise him in an Army uniform. You guessed it: the resourceful Hekawi chieftan proves to be an exemplary soldier--so much so that General Courage promotes him to fort commander! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
F Troop: From Karate with Love
Fort Courage endures a Japanese invasion in the form of a fierce Samurai warrior (Mako), who has arrived in town in pursuit of a runaway Japanese girl named Miko (Miko Mayama). In their efforts to protect the girl, the troopers run the risk of seeing their fort reduced to rubble by the warrior's powerful karate chops. As it turns out, the strongest defense against the Samurai's hands is little Miko herself . ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
