3-2-1 Contact: Fast/Slow: Speed Up, Slow Down
Fast/Slow: Speed Up, Slow Down
- 16.
- Season: 1
- Episode: 16
- First Aired: 1/28/1980
- Prod Code: P 116
The entire show is played in a series of flash clips lasting 13 seconds. Marc and Trini can't follow that, so Lisa runs the program again at normal speed.
In the celebrity tease, Donny Most "shows" his Happy Days compatriot Ron Palillo that some things move too fast or slow for the human eye and brain to perceive.
Lisa and Trini are making popcorn in preparation for Marc's birthday party at the workshop. Lisa fails to keep an eye on one kernel of popcorn popping.
FILM INSERT: High-speed and time-lapse photography of hummingbird flying, dandelion seeds departing from plant and spreading, clouds moving, orange rotting, milk and water drops, blades of grass sprouting, flower blooming, wild mushrooms, et al.
When Marc enters the workshop, Lisa and Trini give him their birthday present: a tape recording. Marc plays it. It starts out sounding normal: "There's a present for you/For each verse that we do/Our songs helps you find them/But the speed hides the clue," but on the third verse of Happy Birthday To You, Lisa and Trini's voices are sped up. Marc plays the tape at a slower speed. He then hears a clue very clearly. It leads him under the stairs to find a magic trick.
Harry Blackstone does his sleight-of-hand card tricks. In one, Lisa, Marc and Trini all pick the same card: the three of spades. Another trick is slowed down so that Marc can determine how Blackstone chose the card the gang had taken originally.
Marc is not as fortunate as Blackstone. "I guess I'm not safe at any speed." So Lisa and Trini play another verse of their song. Marc goes to the hamsters' nest to find his second present: a camera.
Blackstone then goes a rope trick. And then there's one of his favorite: the disappearing cage. Lisa, Marc and Trini each put a hand on one of the sides of the cage. Blackstone does a quick move, and the cage disappears. Marc thinks he can slow this trick down. He hints to the optical trick common to a flipbook, an animated cartoon, and a movie.
ANIMATION: A cat chase reaches its cliffhanger point. Then a man draws the next frame (or cel) of the cartoon. He piles a bunch of cels to make the conclusion of the cartoon. The cat outsmarts the dog that had been in pursuit.
The disappearing cage trick is slowed down, but Lisa, Marc, and Trini can't figure out how Blackstone pulled off the disappearing cage trick.
Now Marc has a working card trick. Lisa and Trini cut the deck three times between them and rearrange the top cards from each mini-deck. Then they reveal the top card: each is a king of a different suit.
THE BLOODHOUND GANGE: The Case of the Flying Clock, Part One
Repeat of a mystery installment first seen in Forces: Buoyancy and Gravity. Ricardo shows a trick in which he "hypnotizes" an egg to float in water. He is about to explain how he did the trick when the phone rings. Vikki takes a call from the Triple Z Insurance Company. The Gang investigates the theft of a valuable "flying clock." Mr. Keefe, a clock collector, shows a model of the flying clock in question. He has already put in the insurance claim for $150,000. Apparently the clock was stolen during the rainstorm the night before. Keefe says the miscreant got in and out of the bedroom window. In Keefe's story, he had started his shower and closed the bathroom door. After taking a phone call, Keefe entered the bathroom and saw the burglar's face reflected in the mirror. As the Gang leaves, Zack tells Vikki he could not find footprints on the bedroom carpet or around the ladder the burglar apparently used to steal the clock. A deliveryman tells Vikki and Zack he has a few bags of salt, which Keefe ordered for delivery next week. Ricardo finds a trail of muddy footprints leading up to a well. "Maybe the burglar was steamed at Mr. Keefe," he says, "and dumped his crazy old clock [in the well]." Vikki finds a snag in that belief: the footprint trail also goes from the well to the house. Vikki says she is going to take a clue—rather, a shower at her house.
Marc's concluding card trick fails. The only thing more sour than that is the last verse on Lisa and Trini's song. When it's played, all of Marc's friends enter the workshop to hold his birthday party.
- Writers:
- Marilyn Nissenson
- Director:
- Bob Bowker
- Stars:
- Glenn Scarpelli (Cuff, in The Bloodhound Gang [Season 1])
- Ruth Sherman (Theme Singer)
- Al Dana (Theme Singer)
- Damaris Carbaugh (Bloodhound Gang theme singer)
- Nan-Lynn Nelson (Victoria Allen [Vikki], in The Bloodhound Gang)
- Leon W. Grant (Marc (Season 1))
- Marcelino Sanchez (Ricardo, in The Bloodhound Gang)
- Hank Martin (Theme Singer)
- Tish Rabe (Theme Singer)
- Liz Moses (Lisa (Season 1))
- Kelly Pease (Zach, in The Bloodhound Gang [Season 1])
- Ginny Ortiz (Trini (Season 1))
- Recurring Role:
- Donny Most (Himself)
- Ron Palillo (Himself)
- Guest Star:
- Richard Kuss (Deliveryman)
- Anna Maria Horsford (Officer Dobbs)
- John Ridge (Mr. Keefe)
- Harry Blackstone (Himself)
- Show Statistics
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