Episode eight of A Man Called Sloane (Originally airing on November 24th, 1979) features yet another "old enemy" of T.R. Sloane's – this guy's got a lot of old enemies! Didn't he ever, you know, kill, any bad guys?
In this case, it's a man named Tanaka (the always-welcome Mako),
a martial arts master, who's escaped from a Jakarta prison and founded
his own religious cult in the U.S. Aside from exploiting the youth of
America with his so-called religion, he also takes on odd jobs for
KARTEL, like kidnapping the daughter of a South American Premier (right
out from under Sloane's nose!).
KARTEL demands that the
Premier resign – publicly, on live TV – so one of their puppet
politicians can assume leadership of the country. UNIT's only lead is a
young woman named Carrie Baldwin (Nancy Conrad),
a former member of Tanaka's cult. Eventually, Sloane and Tanaka face
off in a decently staged – if too brief swordfight – and, with the help
of a faked newscast, the girl is saved.
This episode
is more down-to-earth than previous installments, with no big sci-fi
MacGuffin or mad scientists. Sloane even has to do some legwork this
time. Fortunately, Mako portrays Tanaka as a worthy adversary with some
honor and respect for his opponent, and he even gets to knock Robert
Conrad around a bit!
• More nepotism! Nancy Conrad is – no surprise – Robert Conrad's daughter. Like Conrad's wife, Lavelda (who guest starred in episode four), Nancy appears to have pretty much only acted in projects Mr. Conrad starred in, including Baa Baa Black Sheep and Murph the Surf!
• This is episode is written by TV veteran Dick Nelson, who scripted an earlier entry, "Tuned For Destruction," as well as several episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
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