Season 1: Episode 1: Pilot
From Bravo 3/44th
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Contents |
Overview
- Directed by
- Bill L. Norton
- Written by
- Steve Duncan & L. Travis Clark
- Guest Star
- Keith Amos ... Pvt. Clyde R. Lawrence
- Also Starring
- Bob Fimiani ... Major Braun
- Terry Cook ... Sgt. "Mad Dog" Dunn
- Brian Kenton ... Lt. Crippen
- Bryan O'Dell ... Wounded Soldier
- Anthony Curry ... Lieutenant
- James Walker ... Mickey
- Original Air Date
- 24 September 1987
- Title Card
- The twelve month period American soldiers were required to serve in Vietnam was known as their tour of duty.
Episode Summary
Firebase Ladybird, under the command of Captain Rusty Wallace, suffers heavy casualties after North Vietnamese Army sappers nearly overrun the base. Among the survivors? Specialist Marvin Johnson, Specialist Randy "Doc" Matsuda, and Private Marcus Taylor. Staff Sergeant Zeke Anderson goes to division headquarters to recruit replacements, where he selects Private Clyde Lawrence, Corporal Daniel Percell, Private Scott Baker, Private Alberto Ruiz, and Private Roger Horn. And it is here at Chu Lai that he meets the platoon's new leader, Second Lieutenant Myron Goldman.
The guys don't waste time making war, amongst themselves. Goldman snubs Anderson, Taylor and Ruiz show each other the business end of knives and machine guns, Ruiz terrorizes Baker, and Horn fights against fighting. The new unit's first official skirmish doesn't start any more smoothly, either. Horn abandons his weapon, Lawrence freezes up, and Goldman threatens to court-martial both his sergeant and his RTO, all in the first three minutes!
But Ruiz's pet lizard leads to the discovery of the enemy camp, and the men get their act together. Goldman defers to his sergeant's experience in the heat of battle, Johnson avenges a buddy's death, and Bravo Company evens the score. And, to Wallace's amusement, Anderson and Goldman make nice.
But this episode ends as it began: with sneaky NVA bastards and Americans on shaky ground. In the battle's aftermath, a stray enemy survivor attempts to take out the unsuspecting lieutenant, and Horn is forced to make a quick decision, leaving questions for later... (summary by Erika)
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Transcript (see transcript listing)
Excerpt from [1:40 / 1:44] Listening Post in the Jungle - Night
ANDERSON: Oscar Papa One, Oscar X-ray. Over.
ANDERSON: Oscar Papa One, how copy? Over.
ANDERSON: Do you have movement at this time, over?
JOHNSON: They sleepin'. They gotta be sleepin'.
MICKEY: Unless their radio's broke.
ANDERSON: Oscar Papa One, Oscar X-ray, come on, come on. Somebody talk to me, you jerks sleepin', or what? Over.
ANDERSON: All right. Johnson, you call the CO. You tell him what's goin' on out here.
ANDERSON: I'm gonna' wake those boys up.
JOHNSON: It's nothin, Mickey.
MICKEY: Bravo, Bravo, Oscar X-ray, over.
MICKEY: Bravo, Bravo, Oscar X-ray, over.
ANDERSON: Come on, Peterson--
ANDERSON: Johnson, Mickey get in the hole! Drop down, Mickey! Down, down! Back, back back! Come on!
JOHNSON/ANDERSON: Come on! Get moving! Hurry up, Mickey! Come on!
MICKEY: Aah!
Song Listing (see full series listing)
- "Goin' Back Home" (J. Fogerty). Performed by John Fogerty. Eye of the Zombie. Warner Brothers, 1986.
Scene: In the aftermath of an attack on the base, soldiers retrieve the fallen.
Buy Song / Listen via iTunes
- "Land of 1000 Dances" (C. Kenner). Performed by Wilson Pickett. The Exciting Wilson Pickett. Collectables, 1966.
Scene: At Chu Lai, fresh recruits play volleyball on the grounds.
Buy Song / Listen via iTunes
- "It's a Groove" ((B. Womack, L. Womack (Cooke))). Performed by Wilson Pickett. The Midnight Mover. Collectables, 1968.
Scene: Percell, Baker, Lawrence, Ruiz, and Horn enter the men's tent, meeting Matsuda, Johnson, and Taylor.
Buy Song / Listen via iTunes
- "When I Was Young" (V. Briggs/E. Burdon/B. Jenkins/D. McCulloch/J. Weider). Performed by The Animals. House of the Rising Sun. Brentwood, 1970.
Scene: The platoon head out on mission and come under fire at the LZ, while the rest of the company bail out.
Buy Song / Listen via iTunes
- "All Along the Watchtower" (B. Dylan). Performed by Bob Dylan. John Wesley Harding. Columbia, 1967.
Scene: Horn reacts to killing an enemy soldier; Anderson approaches him with support and advice.
Buy Song / Listen via iTunes
Trivia
- Anderson, Zeke
- learning to play the harmonica
- into blues music, familiar with the White blues-rock scene that spanned from Chicago to New York in the mid 60s (see Horn, Roger)
- four months into his third tour in Vietnam
- Baker, Scott
- a health nut
- from Anaheim, California
- into cars
- Dunn, Sgt. Mad Dog
- waist size bigger than 28
- Goldman, Myron
- graduated from Officer Candidate School
- from Queens, New York but doesn't sound like it
- father, Martin Goldman, a famous colonel in WWII, won the Congressional Medal of Honor at the Battle of the Bulge
- Horn, Roger
- plays harmonica
- from Chicago, Illinois
- friends include blues-rock musicians Paul Butterfield, Barry Goldberg, and Al Kooper
- against the war for political reasons
- Lawrence, Clyde R.
- from Detroit, Michigan. Motown!
- Percell, Daniel
- had ROTC in high school
- volunteered for Vietnam
- Ruiz, Alberto
- from the Bronx, New York
- hates rats and cars, likes lizards and subways
- Wallace, Rusty
- father was famous for baseball
- played football instead
- smokes pipes
Favorite Quotes
WALLACE: Where you from, Myron?
GOLDMAN: New York. Queens, sir.
WALLACE: New York? You don't sound like it.
GOLDMAN: Thank you, sir.
WALLACE: Don't mention it.
JOHNSON: Man, the lieutenant has a lot to learn.
TAYLOR: He better learn fast, or he's gonna get himself a bullet in his dunce cap.
Script Changes
Think you've read it all? Want to find out what changed between the broadcast version and what was in the shooting script? Check it out:
Alternate Takes
- Anderson's reaction to Johnson's grief over Mickey
- Anderson's reaction to Horn's decision to leave his weapon in the chopper
Aborted Concepts
Screenshots (see Screenshots page)
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