Return of the Turks

Return of the Turks
Episode #	210
Air Date	November 25, 1978
Briefing	?

Title screen

Brief Plot

Ponch gets a commendable incident report for issuing 278 citations in a month, but he doesn't remember writing all of them. When Ponch and Getraer go through the tickets, they realize that many have the same serial number. A couple of Ponch's high school buddies cause chaos by bumping into dozens of cars on the freeway.

Plot

Jon returns from some time off to learn that Ponch got a record number of 278 citations in one month. Then they respond to a call of an officer down and find he limped off. After the theme, Ponch and Jon stop a van and find out the driver is one of Ponch's high school buddies. Later, two of Ponch's buddies are out on the highway ram 22 cars and lose control. When Ponch and Jon chase them, they refuse to stop. They manage to lose Ponch and Jon so they park the car, take the plates off, and run. While Ponch and Jon are at lunch, Jon talks about his previous partner Gary who died chasing a speeding car. Gary's brother Pete works at the place where they were eating. Back at central, Sarge withdraws Ponch's commendable incident report when he finds out that not all of the citations were Ponch's...some were faked. The next day, one of Ponch's friends (Rudy) decides to try to ram more than 22 cars. He ends up causing an ambulance carrying a girl in an iron lung to overturn. As our heroes arrive, the fake CHP leaves. Ponch pumps the lung in the ambulance while Jon tries to keep pipes from crushing the ambulance. The pipes are finally lifted and the girl is transferred to an upright ambulance. Later Ponch responds to a stalled vehicle, and Jon watches the fake CHP. Back at central, Jon figures out that Pete got ahold of one of Ponch's citations to copy and that he has been acting as a CHP. Jon follows him the next day in his truck...speeding past him on the highway and getting pulled over. Pete explains that he thinks its his fault that his 28-year old brother Gary is dead. Jon arrests Pete and tells him to turn himself in the next day. Later, Ponch and Jon chase after Rudy when he's out playing bumper cars on the freeway. They find him hiding in a junkyard. To keep him from escaping, Jon almost kills him with a forklift. The next day, Ponch and Jon find out that Pete turned himself in and will probably just end up on probation. They also help the girl in the iron lung celebrate her birthday.

Guest Stars

• Kaz Garas as Sid
• Mark Thomas as Rudy
• James Houghton as Pete Bertram
• Dee Wallace as Angy

Also Starring

• Brianne Leary as Sindy
• Brodie Greer as Baricza
• Paul Linke as Grossman

Co-Starring

• Tara Talboy as Kathy
• Loyita Chapel as Blonde
• Nancy Sinclair as Redhead
• Newell Alexander as Motorist

Featuring

• Lanny Duncan as Van Driver
• James Ferrier as Intern
• Christopher Skinner as Businessman
• John Wheeler as Wally
• Alyscia Maxwell as Housewife

Crew

• Produced by: Cy Chermak
• Written by: Stephen Lord
• Directed by: Barry Crane
• Executive Consultant: Rick Rosner
• Story Editors: William D. Gordon & James Doherty
• Associate Producers: Wm. L. Young and Paul Rabwin
• Developed for television by: Paul Playdon
• Music by: Alan Silvestri
• Theme by: John Parker
• Music Supervisor: Harry V. Lojewski
• Director of Photography: Robert F. Sparks
• Art Director: Joseph M. Altadonna
• Editor: William Neel
• Unit Production Manager: Wm. L. Young
• Assistant Director: Ron Grow
• 2nd Assistant Directors: Mary Lou Maclaury & Randell Henderson
• Script Supervisor: Jack Gannon
• Set Decorator: W. Joseph Kroesser
• Production Consultant: Bob Hayden
• Technical Advisor: Dick Barton
• Sound: Maury Harris, Hal Watkins, C.A.S.
• Stunt Co-ordinator: Paul Nuckles
• Wardrobe Supervisor: Shelly Levine
• Makeup: John M. Norin
• Casting: Michael O. Hanks
• Locations by: Cinemobile Systems
• With Appreciation to Glen B. Craig, Commissioner California Highway Patrol
• Motorcycles Furnished by: Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
• Automobiles furnished by: Ford Motor Company
• Filmed in METROCOLOR / Titles and Opticals MGM
• Rosner Television in association with MGM Television

Fun Facts

Dee Wallace as Angy

• Dee Wallace, who plays Angy, also played the mother in the 1982 film, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.
• Alyscia Maxwell also appears in the Season 1 episode, "Cry Wolf" and the Season 3 episode, "Nightingale."
• When Jon and Ponch lose the blue car, they end up ouside The Culver Hotel in Culver City. Just before the chase ends, you can briefly see an awning from Adam's Hotel. This used to stand opposite the Culver Hotel on the corner of Main Street and Washington Blvd, but was demolished in the late '80s after a fire (the intersection is now much wider). View in Google Maps

Mistakes

• The ambulance that rolls on it's side has no emergency lights on top when we first see it. In subsequent shots, it has a red/blue lightbar.
• Watch for a white Pontiac Bonneville during the "Freeway Boppings." It is hit hard on the drivers front during the first round with Rudy. In the last round, it is seen again getting hit on the passenger side and sliding down an embankment. After Sid gets out of Rudy's car, The same Bonneville gets rear ended and slides down yet another embankment.

Reflected lights

• Two banks of lights are reflected in the door of Sid's van as he says goodbye to Ponch in the pre-titles scene.
• As Rudy moves up to sideswipe the brown Mazda (the first car he hits), the front fender of the Mazda shows damage in the forward-looking shot from inside Rudy's car, even though the first impact in that area doesn't occur until a few seconds later.
• The interior of the overturned ambulance is obviously a set, with wooden rear doors and square windows.

Buy this Episode

• Return of the Turks on DVD at Amazon.com

Preceded by: "The Sheik"

Return of the Turks 210

Followed by: "Supercycle"