Season and Episode Number: Season 5, Episode 2
Episode Title: Burden of the Beast
Original Airdate: October 10, 1985
Writer: Paul Robert Coyle (teleplay); Paul A. Magistretti (story)
Director: Sigmund Neufeld, Jr.
Synopsis: Joey, a chimpanzee trained in limited sign language, is the only witness--and suspect--to its scientist owner's murder.
Guest Cast: Gretchen Corbett (Lisa Cambio); Hank Garrett (Paul Dreyer); Than Wyenn (Dr. Stefan Nyri); Tommy Madden (Stretch Mooney).
Rating (1-10 stars): 7/10
Review/Observations: Joey the Chimp's vocalizing sounds completely overdubbed.
Gerald McRaney and Gretchen Corbett both handle the chimp throughout the episode, but Jameson Parker never does. I wonder if it is customary for just a couple of actors to form a bond with a chimp for expediency, or if the chimp just didn't get along with JP!
It's genuinely touching and actually quite sad when Joey, not understanding what has happened, affectionately puts a blanket over the body of the murdered Doctor Nyri (Than Wyenn; whose character comes across as sort of a cold-blooded jerk in his brief time on screen).
Joey the chimp is probably inspired by Koko the gorilla, who learned sign language and kept pet kittens. Joey flips through a
National Geographic magazine which has a gorilla on the cover. Is it Koko?
There's a slowly circling 360 degree camera pan for the full duration of the scene in Town's office; the pan lasts for over a minute.
Lots of time spent on A.J.'s deck. One scene is when Rick and Marlowe try to give A.J. a surprise birthday present of Marlowe fetching the morning newspaper. They also meet Lisa Cambio there. Later, the Simons mull over what to do after Town says he can't help them without more evidence.
There is rare footage of the front of A.J.'s house, as well as the narrow street in front of it. There's also a shot of Dreyer walking alongside the walkway at the back of the house, and it's not the set version, either.
This being an animal-centric episode, Marlowe gets more screen time than usual, including one scene where he romps around Cecilia’s house and Joey dumps a bx of cereal over Marlowe’s head—he is unfazed by this! Joey then proceeds to lock Marlowe in Cecilia’s coat closet.
Temple Hill's news report on Joey sounds sensationalistic and alarmist. The media would
never do that nowadays!
Rick's usually-never-seen associate Carlos Escobar provides snakes--some of them poisonous--to the Simons for their Aussie shtick. "Carlos is generally very reliable with reptiles!" Rick admits there is one missing rattlesnake among the 17 or 18 rattlesnakes he brought A.J.’s house. Rick also thinks he may have miscounted!
Dreyer is embezzling from his own company by cooking the books and pocketing the difference.
"Stretch" Mooney, a diminutive associate of the Simons whom A.J. suggests they employ figures in the apprending of Dreyer. Stretch, dressed in a gorilla suit, complains that "It's eighty degrees in the shade, I'm in an ape costume, and your air conditioner's on the blink. This is above and beyond the call of duty, guys." Stretch will later appear in
The Skull of Nostrodamus (S5 Ep5).
Gerald McRaney looks to be tired of the chimp by episode's end if the awkward face Mackie makes means anything, when Rick gives Joey a present of a duplicate of his hat. However, it is a nice scene before that when Rick communicates with Joey using sign language.
Simon Back Story: Mrs. McDermott, Cecilia’s neighbor, admonishes Rick: "I should think a man of your age would be able to buy his own flowers. Well don't let me catch you catch you at it again!" Rick: "Oh, no ma'am. I remember what you did to my baseballs."
Notable Use of Music: The underscore in this episode is oddly low in the sound mix. It's especially low in the scene where Lisa Cambios is being tailed to Cecilia's house, a sleek-sounding marimba-keyboard cue. The low volume may be the mastering on the DVD or an attempt to make this story more serious by toning down the typically action-and-suspense-oriented score. Brief acoustic slide guitar cue in the establishing shot outside the Department of Animal Control. Cecelia's neighbor Mrs. McDermott sings a few bars of "Strangers in the Night."
Memorable Dialogue: "My brother establishes an instant rapport with some of our clients." A.J., speaking about Rick and chimp Joey getting along so well.
A.J: "Did I wake you?"
Cecelia: "No, I was making fudge. I always make fudge at dawn."
Undercover Shtick: At the Department of Animal Control, A.J. is dressed in Country & Western style long-sleeve plaid shirt, Ten-Gallon hat, and light blue jeans. "Hi, you got an elephant out here...My name is Steener. Uh, I drive a rig for Tex-Mex Saw...I just pretty near got wiped out by an elephant on the 805...
Rick and A.J. at the Safari Stars animal rental office, which looks like a set. The brothers dress in safari outfits. Rick wears dark aviator sunglasses, and a glued-on Van Dyke beard. Both he and A.J. speak with an Australian accent. The funniest bit is when A.J. claims to have shot a charging rhino "between the 'orns." When the receptionist tells him that Rhinos only have a single horn, Rick says that he shot two rhinos charging side by side with one bullet.
1980s-ness: Rick's hair and mustache are closely cropped, and A.J. sports his Little Boy haircut. Rick also wears his red, Magnumesque Aloha shirt with light blue jeans.
A.J. Wears the grey, black, and white short sleeve shirt in the final scene.
Town wears an avocado, brown, light blue, and gold striped short-sleeve shirt tucked into his jeans.
I thought Gretchen Corbett's permed hairdo in the fourth-season
Magnum, P.I. episode
The Look was supposed to be a way of deglamorizing her Holly Fox/Hudson character in order to disappoint her many Vietnam-era listeners, but Corbett sports the same kinky-curly hairdo here in
Burden of the Beast, which aired October 3 1985, over a year after
The Look, which means that doing that to her hair was
intentional. Oh, the 1980s...
Gretchen Corbett also wears a hideous medium blue overall jumpsuit.
San Diego References: While attempting to read the Marlowe-damaged newspaper, Rick reads aloud that "The Padres scored six runs in the third inning" against New York, who later tied and won the game in extra innings.
Visconia, Kapistania, Tolkovia, Mokrovia. 
Everyone else seemed just fine! 
