Operation McClaine

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“Operation McClaine”
Joe 90 episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 12
Written by Gerry Anderson
David Lane
Directed by Ken Turner
Production no. 4
Original airdate December 15, 1968
Episode chronology
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"Relative Danger" "The Unorthodox Shepherd"
List of Joe 90 episodes

"Operation McClaine" is the 12th episode of the Supermarionation television series Joe 90. It was the fourth episode to be produced. Its original UK air date was December 15, 1968 on ATV Midlands. It was written by Gerry Anderson and David Lane and directed by Ken Turner.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

A famous writer is in urgent need of a brain operation. However, when the only neurosurgeon with the required knowledge and experience is injured in an air crash, it is up to Joe to carry out the procedure himself…

[edit] Plot

In an operating theatre at Westbourne Hospital, Doctors Blakemore and Sherman, with the aid of two nurses, rehearse a complex brain operation soon to be performed on the famous French writer Maurice Estoral, who is afflicted by a meningioma. Having been requested to check the reliability of the surgical equipment, Professor McClaine is also present. Mac is a huge admirer of Estoral's work and is unsettled by the novelist's frail condition: unless he receives the operation within the next few days he will almost certainly die.

Estoral's operation will only be the sixth of its kind to date. There is only one man in the world capable of performing this type of surgery: Dr Emil Kados, who is flying out to England at that moment. However, the airliner that he is travelling in is struck by lightning during a thunderstorm and crashes, leaving most of the plane's passengers and crew dead and Kados among the critically injured. Visiting the unconscious neurosurgeon in a Swiss hospital, Blakemore and Sherman can immediately see that he is in no position to carry out the operation.

Mac is devastated by the double tragedy and contacts Sam Loover with a proposal: that another doctor be given Kados's brain pattern to undertake the procedure. Sam, however, is adamant that no more people should be involved with the BIG RAT project, warning that increased awareness of Mac's invention would compromise its usefulness. Joe is eager to take on the brain pattern himself, but backs down when Mac reminds him of the absurdity of a young boy in the operating theatre. Despite this, Mac takes Joe to Switzerland to record Kados's impulses, all the time vowing to keep his promise to Sam not to include more people in their plan to save Estoral.

Back in England, Dr Blakemore has reached the conclusion that he must perform the operation, even though he lacks the necessary skills and his chances of success are therefore practically zero. Estoral agrees to risk death if there is the slightest possibility that he could be cured of his condition. Having returned from Europe, Mac calls Blakemore to suggest that he be on hand throughout the process to monitor equipment. Blakemore is grateful for the professor's offer of help and reveals that the operation is scheduled for ten o'clock the next morning.

That evening, Mac receives a brain transfer on the BIG RAT. At dawn, the McClaines leave their cottage and drive to the hospital in Mac's flying car. Mac orders Joe to wait in the vehicle as he enters the building and mans the apparatus while Blakemore, Sherman and the nurses prepare for the operation.

An anaesthetised Estoral is brought into the theatre shortly before ten o'clock, but as Blakemore is about to commence, Joe suddenly enters the room kitted up in surgeon's attire. Instantly, Mac draws a gun on the medical staff, threatening to shoot Estoral if they prevent Joe from carrying out the operation. Blakemore believes that Mac is insane and stops Sherman from passing a scalpel to the boy, but Mac just avoids Estoral's head with a bullet and the doctor is forced to let the operation go ahead. As the minutes and hours pass, Blakemore becomes ever more impressed with Joe's surgical talent and is speechless when, shortly after three o'clock, Joe announces that the procedure is complete. Mac, now in a cheerful mood, advises Blakemore to accept the public's inevitable view that it was he who performed a successful operation – any other explanation would sound too outlandish.

On their way home, the McClaines happily discuss how it was actually Joe who was given Kados's brain pattern. Mac, meanwhile, was using the impulses of a top WIN agent to become a crack shot with a pistol.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Regular voice cast

[edit] Guest voice cast

In speaking order:

  • Dr Blakemore — Jeremy Wilkin
  • Nurse Linda — Sylvia Anderson
  • Nurse John — David Healy
  • Dr Sherman — Keith Alexander
  • Maurice Estoral — Keith Alexander
  • Flight Attendant — Sylvia Anderson
  • Dr Emil Kados — David Healy
  • Airport Tannoy (voice) — Jeremy Wilkin
  • Hospital Receptionist — Sylvia Anderson

[edit] External links