While the Ironside crew race to stop a murder spree, this episode is more interesting for the two social issues that are portrayed: 1 - Vietnam vets adjusting to the world after returning from combat and 2 - Racial tensions regarding "black/white" mixing.
Vic Tayback (of "Mel's Diner" fame) has a small but important scene as a racist complaining about affirmative action for vets (!) and for diversity, while Percy Rodrigues is fantastic as a leader of a black separatist movement.
The Star Trek connection is overt in this episode. Fred Freiburger wrote the episode, so there's even a character who quote's the Vulcan IDIC phrase! And Percy Rodrigues appeared on Star Trek.
The character actors in this one are some of the best in television: Rodrigues, Frank Maxwell, a stalwart from Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Outer Limits (although I always get him mixed up with Charles Aidman!), and Virginia Gregg, who did classic Twilight Zone (Eye of the Beholder!), Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and many episodes of Perry Mason.
Vic Tayback (of "Mel's Diner" fame) has a small but important scene as a racist complaining about affirmative action for vets (!) and for diversity, while Percy Rodrigues is fantastic as a leader of a black separatist movement.
The Star Trek connection is overt in this episode. Fred Freiburger wrote the episode, so there's even a character who quote's the Vulcan IDIC phrase! And Percy Rodrigues appeared on Star Trek.
The character actors in this one are some of the best in television: Rodrigues, Frank Maxwell, a stalwart from Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Outer Limits (although I always get him mixed up with Charles Aidman!), and Virginia Gregg, who did classic Twilight Zone (Eye of the Beholder!), Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and many episodes of Perry Mason.
