#michael dunn

[dakywich]

do NOT ask me what TOS is about, i have no idea

[celestial-alignment]

from "The Night that Terror Stalked the Town"

Featuring a lovely musical interlude with Loveless and Antoinette, Jim punching Voltaire "in the tummy" and Loveless seeming to show genuine concern for Jim (even though he has his ulterior motives).

Honestly, I could just listen to Michael Dunn talk and sing for hours.

[tprings-hair]

3x10: PLATO'S STEPCHILDREN

pt 1 | pt 2

[missanthropicprinciple]

I think it would have been cool if Alexander from Plato's Stepchildren became a member of the Enterprise crew for a while.

[hotvintagepoll]

Who is the scrungliest little guy?

Sammy Davis Jr.

Michael Dunn

Voting ended onDec 5, 2024

Sammy Davis Jr. (Anna Lucasta, Ocean's Eleven, Porgy and Bess)—It feels disrespectful to describe one of the most talented performers in history this way, but he's got the "little" down and he also always had a scrungy edge about him. Somehow always the coolest guy in the room despite this.

Michael Dunn (Ship of Fools, Kampf um Rom, No Way to Treat a Lady)—okay so he may be considered conventionally attractive HOWEVER. the way he does facial expressions has always read as especially scrungly to me even as a child. the wide eyes, the particular way he moves his mouth, the incredibly animated eyebrows. some parts of his body acting too, particularly the way he moves his arms and shoulders, has a certain scrungliness to it. this is especially evident in some of his longer running tv roles but I think it's also present in his films. Additionally, from what I can tell he seemed to be an all around pretty decent guy AND he's a killer singer.

This is round 2 of the contest. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. If you're confused on what a scrungle is, or any of the rules of the contest, click here.

Sammy Davis Jr.:

admittedly he may be too unremittingly cool for this. uh. but i just watched sweet charity and i felt he was super scrungly in that? maybe it's just the 1960s talking but i thought he ate this. sorry.

Michael Dunn:

an intense, meaningful, thoughtful character actor who always manages to run away with every role he's given, Michael Dunn shows up across projects in the 1960s. I don't know if he truly counts as a scrungle, because in so many of his parts he has such magnetism I wouldn't call his persona strange or feral or anything—but I think he's an underrepresented character actor who does bring a great well of warm quirkiness to his parts! i hope you include him because I wish people knew more about him. One last fun fact is that he was nominated for both a Tony and an Academy Award.

I love this part because Michael Dunn's character is right! And warm, and it's comforting. Also a good showcase of his great expressions, at the end when he starts laughing.

[kwebtv]

Series Premiere (Pilot)

Get Smart - Mr. Big - NBC - September 18, 1965

Sitcom

Running Time: 30 minutes

Written by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry

Produced by Jay Sandrich

Directed by Howard Morris

Stars:

Don Adams as Maxwell Smart / Agent 86

Barbara Feldon as Agent 99

Michael Dunn as Mr. Big

Vito Scotti as Dante

Janine Gray as Zelinka

Kelton Garwood as Garth

Karen Norris as Mother

Edward Platt as Chief of Control

Red as Fang / Agent K-13

[rwpohl]

ship of fools, stanley kramer 1965

[larsisfrommars]

The Night of The Murderous Spring Is So JUICY!

I think I need to talk about how insanely gay this episode of Wild Wild West is or I might EXPLODE. I know a lot of us who already watch the show knew this episode was ridiculous in the gay subtext department but I feel compelled to go in-depth about putting it into words.

Let’s not even dig into the fact that before drugging Jim Dr. Loveless proudly proclaims that he will make James West “kill the thing he loves” and was referring to Artemus when he said that! That’s already wild enough as it is.

For me like, through a shipping/gay subtext lense, I could already tell Artie was into Jim. There is a mountain of evidence to interpret their relationship that way at least on Gordon’s end. For West it was a little more sparse until and especially THIS episode. Which confirmed for me as relatively new to this show and fandom “ohhhh!! He really DOES reciprocate whatever ambiguously gay mess is happening here!”

The version of Artemus that Jim subconsciously conjures up for himself is so interesting. And of course, it appears to him when he’s in desperate need of comfort, of a rock to cling to, but can find none. So his hallucinating brain projects what he NEEDS most, not some lovely young lady (familiar or otherwise) to tell him everything is alright, but Artemus to take care of him. He WANTS to be taken care of and comforted by Artemus and no one else. I’m not crying YOU are crying!

His version of Artemus is pretty close to the real deal but there’s something… softer about this projected version. He’s not completely different, I wouldn’t even say out-of-character. But he is gentler, more patient and forgiving, and very much there to play guardian angel for Jim. All of his positive traits are exaggerated in Jim’s eyes, like hes always seeing the guy through rose colored glasses.

I say this because part of why I got a bit suspicious of this version of Artie was him being way too calm and forgiving when Jim starts being aggressive towards him due to the drug. Yeah Artie loves Jim but like, he’s got his own sense of self-preservation, intelligence, and a bit of a temper. I was expecting a joke or some sternness or something, hell maybe taking Jim’s gun from him. But of course he doesn’t and he can’t, because he’s not real and he’s there to comfort. Jim can’t be thrown off the course that’ll lead him to killing Artie by his hallucination’s own intervention. He’s himself but oh so slightly off.

Another thing was something that “Artie” said that didn’t actually make a lot of sense compared to the rest of established canon when Jim first starts getting temperamental. “Hey it’s me remember? Artemus Gordon? Mrs. Gordon’s son.” Now I know there’s probably some throwaway Doylist explanation for this, but the Watsonian in me prevails.

Artie never brings up either of his parents before this or ever again to my knowledge. Jim only mentions family once in a previous Dr. Loveless episode. It’s the kind of thing you’d say to someone where you’d known each other your whole lives, implying Jim would somehow know his mother. Now unless I’m mistaken they met each other in the military as adults. Which means Jim’s subconscious emotions have made him feel as though Artie’s known him his whole life. Which is some soulmate sounding mess if I ever heard it.

Then there is the crescendo of this madness where Jim shoots the illusionary Artemus in cold blood. Which is easily some of the most heartbreaking acting in the series. I have watched it a normal amount of times (lying)!! Dying “Artie” looks confused and betrayed but he STILL reaches out to Jim like he like wants Jim to know that it’s okay?! OUCH. Then of course there’s the little “why?” before he dies that pushes Jim over the edge.

Jim completely flies off the handle after Artemus’s apparent death. Careening through the street, threatening the hotel staff, trying to get himself arrested for murdering Artie. I don’t know whether it was a side effect of how much hallucinogen he ingested or what. He straight up faints like some tragic Victorian protagonist after returning to his room, overwhelmed by the evil that he has seemingly done.

When he comes back around he is not at all acting like the Jim we know and love. It’s almost like he wants Loveless to kill him with the way he goads the guy. He’s despondent and jaded and being reckless with his own life. He only snaps back to normal when he discovers Artie is in fact alive and well. Which is such a beautifully loaded reunion. He responds to Jim’s unusual tenderness with a sassy joke (which is of course how we know this one is real). It feels very akin to the Kirk and Spock reunion at the end of Amok Time.

I also think it’s worth noting that I think the first time I ever heard James West utter the words “Artie! Help me!” when he’s trying to prevent the ducks carrying the murder-LSD from being released (this episode is NUTS). Which you know in light of the events of this episode is a big step in Jim being a bit more vulnerable as a character. So there is THAT too.

Hey, and maybe it’s just me, but whether it was deliberate or not, something changed about the whole tone of the show after this particular episode. It felt like the showrunners were slowly having it dawn on them the show is at its strongest when it plays off of the bond shared by these two characters. This episode along a few other gems from season one seem to have clinched it. I noticed in season two so far they’re using Artie and Jim’s relationship as a support beam where it was more of a flexible suggestion before. Which has ✨implications✨ whether you interpret the relationship as gay or not. The events of this episode cracked Jim West’s very hard shell, and made these two characters closer than before.