Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco by Richie Narvaez

Jackson” and he says, “Don’t just stand there, you lazy git! Get to work! What are we paying you for?”

The janitor, crestfallen, looks down at the mess they’ve made.Īn imposing authority figure then comes by. The other man, with a nametag that reads, “Costell,” takes the mop, spilling the bucket, and says, “I’m sure you could use this to fight evil aliens, Major Juan, huh?” The two officers exit laughing. One of them, with a nametag that reads “Abbot,” stops and gives the janitor a mock salute.

Two male officers dressed in primary-colored uniforms walk by. (Yes, in the future they still use mops!) The camera closes in on a short, swarthy man with a thick mustache who is mopping the deck. A navigator announces, “Approaching Jupiter, captain!' (The planet Jupiter is played by a rather good matte painting of Saturn by legendary sci fi artist Emsh.) We see the captain of this ship and his crew are handsome men and women, who seem to spend more time giggling and flirting with each other than attending to their duties. And rewatch it I did, 17 times in a row.Īs with every episode of the series, this one started with a brief cold open.Ī Terran rocket ship nears a planet. I had not seen the episode since that one time it originally aired, so it was with great anticipation, as well as a giant bowl of popcorn, that I sat down to rewatch it. But this spring at I-Con IX in Stony Brook, I was fortunate enough to obtain a pirated cassette of the episode. Yet the “Major Juan” episode-while undeniably campy in some respects, which you have to remember was part of the aesthete of the times (2)-demonstrates how clearly wrong that executive was.Īs all of you know, the series has not been released on video. The series was never a favorite of network executives, one of whom infamously deemed it “not cerebral enough.” The low-rated series, which ran only October ’69 to May ’71 on Friday nights on ABC, achieved cult status in syndication in the late ’70s. The strange thing is, it only aired once (on October 9, 1970). My favorite episode of the classic TV series Mission Venus (1) is without a doubt “Major Juan.” That episode was significant not only to science fiction and to Latinos, but especially to moi. From the fanzine The Missionary, dated July 1990, by Willie Colon (real name and address withheld by request)

Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco by Richie Narvaez