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| "Gault's Brain" | ||||
| Season 3, Episode 12 | ||||
| Air date | December 29, 1978 | |||
| Written by | Arthur Weingarten (teleplay) John Gaynor (story) | |||
| Director | Gordon Hessler | |||
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Plot[]
Summary:[]
A billionaire tries to regain his health and youth, keeping his brain alive after his death. Wonder Woman must prevent him from having his brain transplanted into the body of a young Olympic hopeful.
Synopsis:[]
Diana comes to investigate the scene of a fire at a Gault Industries facility that had been working on a top secret government contract. This is the second major disaster the company has seen since Gault died and Stryker took over running the company. Stryker reiterates to Diana that it's a private company and he's still not willing to work with the IADC, raising Diana's suspicions.
Stryker leaves the scene to attend Gault's funeral. In the open casket, a straight cut can be seen all the way around Gault's forehead. Secretly observing the proceedings via a security camera, Gault's brain is alive in a jar. He's read War and Peace in a single hour, and demonstrates to his assistant, Tara, his ability to telekinetically move various objects around the room. Dr. Crippin explains that, as he'd theorized might be the case, the brain is capable of unlocking these latent powers when freed of the burden of keeping the body running.
The next day, Tara talks to Morton, a would-be Olympic decathlete, about an offer to run a private gym. He's not interested, but she convinces him to come to her "uncle's house" to at least hear the details and interview for the position.
Diana comes to Stryker's office to press him to cooperate, threatening to get a warrant. He continues to refuse. She points out an unknown newcomer is in the process of a hostile takeover of the failing company, but he insists he knows nothing about the man.
Gault, hearing that Diana is pressing the investigation, orders his henchmen, Turk, to dispose of her. Turk poses as a taxi driver, but once she's inside the cab he activates the car's new "heating system," which turns out to be full of knockout gas. She wakes up inside a barrel being dumped in the river. As the barrel sinks, it rolls along the slope of the riverbed, spinning Diana inside. Wonder Woman escapes. Diana suspects Stryker ordered the hit because he was upset that she was continuing the investigation, but Steve points out that it's too sloppy and obvious. The cab is found, and three sets of fingerprints are recovered. Ira identifies all three and, via Rover, provides photos and bios. The first is an elderly lady, the second is Diana, and the third is Turk. Steve ruefully laughs at Ira's attempted prank in putting the other two in the report.
Gault is worried an Olympic hopeful will be too famous to use, but Tara reminds him that it's her choice, and he's responsible for taking care of the details. Gault admits that, in exchange for her taking care of a dying old man for several years, they'd made a deal that she could choose whatever body she wanted.
Diana shows up, still alive, to Gault's consternation, and meets Morton, who's there for an "interview." Diana asks about him and the other athletic men she saw exiting the building, referring to them as "the body beautiful," but Tara casually says they're looking to hire security guards and claims to have no idea why he'd look familiar to her.
Tara leads Diana to the living room, where Gault's brain is hiding behind a curtain. She tells Diana that Turk works for Stryker now. Gault uses his powers to cause a decorative suit of armor to raise its axe, but Tara's glance tips Diana off before it can behead her. Diana, shaken by the close call with armor that had not been so close to her when she sat down, says she has a good idea what happened: ghosts.
Back at the IADC, Steve is impressed that Diana recognized Morton, but she points out he has certain features that make him more memorable to women than men. But she doesn't buy the story that they'd need security guards who "look like Bruce Jenner."
Wonder Woman interrogates Stryker, who is out skeet shooting. He tells her that Turk is taking orders from Tara, Stryker is not trying to sabotage the company, and the only person who hated him and wanted to ruin him was Gault. Wonder Woman thoughtfully reflects on "ghosts." Before she leaves, she gestures to the rifle and asks if she can have a turn. She takes the gun, but only long enough to remove the shells, throwing them with her bare hand and hitting all three clay pigeons in rapid succession. She tells a stunned Stryker that her way feels more sporting.
Ira finds Morton has a clean record and no connection to Gault Industries, but says that, at that very moment, Morton's school records are being altered, raising his GPA and changing his major to business. Steve has Ira remotely cause a malfunction at the school data center to stall the hacker.
Instead of heading directly to the data center, Steve shows up at Gault's house and asks to speak to Morton. Tara leads Steve to the same chair Diana had used. He notes the armor, but is apparently unaware of Diana's close call with it. Tara eavesdrops as Steve reveals what they know to the befuddled athlete. Gault, satisfied that Morton's genuine innocence and lack of any clue is perfect, allows the interview to conclude without attacking Steve. Steve heads to the data processing center. On the way, he calls Ira, instructing him to wait another five minutes, allow the hackers to finish the job, and to have Diana meet him there as soon as possible. He apparently did not call anyone else to make the arrest while he drove out to Gault's estate.
Steve arrives at the data center just in time to chase Gault's men. They make it to their car and try to run him down, but he rolls out of the way and shoots out one of their tires, causing an accident. While Steve assures the civilian driver of the other car that he's an IADC agent, Turk gets away. The other henchman is still in the car, dazed from the collision, but he doesn't know anything of consequence.
Diana heads to Gault's house as Crippin prepares to inject Morton with anesthetic. Morton objects, darts past the lumbering Turk, and makes a run for it. Turk, Tara, and Crippin, knowing the house better, are able to head off the decathlete running for his life before he can make it to the front door. He darts to the living room, where Gault spells out the plan to put his brain in Morton's body. Morton goes to break Gault's jar, but Gault halts him with the knight's axe at his throat.
Wonder Woman evades the guards, subdues Turk, and bursts into the operating room. Gault uses his powers to throw things at her while he, Tara, and the doctor escape. Wonder Woman defends herself against the flying debris with a large barbell while Morton lies unconscious on the operating table with a ceiling-mounted drill slowly bearing down on his head. She destroys the drill controls with her tiara, but the bad guys escape in a van.
A little later, Turk is put into a police car while Diana and Steve agree that Gault's escape means he will certainly be hatching another nefarious plot. Morton, his head having been shaved bald in preparation for the involuntary surgery, emerges from the house wearing one of Tara's wigs, a clownish platinum blonde afro, providing the episode's closing laugh.
Cast[]
- Lynda Carter as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
- Lyle Waggoner as Colonel Steve Trevor, Jr.
- Floyd Levine as Stryker
- Cathee Shirriff as Tara Landon
- Erik Stern as George P. Turk
- Peter Mark Richman as Dr. Crippin
- John Carradine as Harlow Gault
- David Mason Daniels as Morton Danzig
- Ari Sorko-Ram as Emil Berger
- Tom Kratochvil as IRAC (voice)
Notes[]
Although known to the world at the time as a handsome male-presenting Olympic decathlete, Caitlyn Jenner came out as a transgender woman in 2015, making Diana's reference to her as a supremely attractive male specimen rather ironic in hindsight. Of course, Diana grew up on Paradise Island, surrounded pretty much exclusively by Olympic-level (or better) female athletes.