Moving Violation

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Moving Violation
Episode # 104
Air Date Oct 13, 1977
Briefing Drunk driving seminar and church bus is stolen again
Title screen

Brief Plot

Our heroes rescue a man from an overturned van filled with snakes. Plus: Ponch goes to traffic school.

Plot

A Cessna lands on the highway

As Ponch talks about career alternative, he spots a plane in trouble. It has to make an emergency landing on the freeway. Ponch and Jon hold back traffic. The plane lands just before a bridge and the female pilot mistakes Ponch for a Sergeant. Ponch plays it up and gets a date with the pilot.

After a call comes in for a bus stolen from the First Baptist Church, Jon spots it around the next corner. In order to get in good with Getraer, Jon lets Ponch take credit for finding the bus. At Central, Getraer gets distracted and selects the wrong snack. Since he's so pleased with Ponch, he gives him the Ding Dongs.

Ponch gets a ticket

That night, Ponch is driving his date to dinner in his motor home and she realizes he's just an officer. He gets distracted by her and changes lanes without signaling. He gets pulled over and takes the ticket. He doesn't flash his badge to get out of it either.

Rosie Grier rips apart his car

Later, Jon and Ponch pull over a guy in a tiny car for speeding on the Pomona Freeway. He gets upset and starts ripping apart his car by hand.

During lunch at Lucy's Drive In, Ponch finally gets Jon to listen to his problem. Jon suggests he go to driving school so that the ticket doesn't go on his record and Getraer doesn't find out. Getraer calls Jon at the drive in and asks him to do an accident call.

One of the most touching scenes of the entire series

On the accident call, Jon and a neighbor visit a woman at her house. They sit down in her living room and Jon breaks the news that her husband was in a traffic accident in Bakersfield. He died on the way to the hospital. The woman's son sees the back of Jon's head and runs in yelling, "Daddy, Daddy!"

Ponch is in disguise

After one of the most touching scenes of the whole series, we see Ponch going to traffic school in disguise to get out of the ticket. He ends up sitting next to a hippie girl who rode a horse on the freeway.

Watch out for snakes!

The next day, Ponch and Jon chase after a blue University of California van that clipped the door off of a fat guy's station wagon. After a thrilling chase, the van flips over and the guy screams for help...because the van is filled with snakes! Baricza and Fritz show up and break the windshield while Ponch and Jon freeze the snakes with the CO2 fire extinguishers.

During the briefing, Barkley brings the reverend into the briefing room to report his bus stolen again. Getraer asks Hunter to "put it on the air."

Ponch tries to stop the runaway bus

Everyone heads out and it's not long before Fritz spots the stolen bus driving slowly eastbound on the Angeles Crest Highway near Foothill Drive. Fritz lets Ponch take credit and the three of them manage to pull it over. They make everyone get off the bus. As the old guy explains why they stole the bus, it starts rolling with an elderly couple still on board. Ponch jumps on and tries to stop it but can't. He backs it down the hill while Jon clears the way. When he gets to a runaway vehicle median strip, he uses it to stop the bus.

Jon joins Ponch in traffic school for no particular reason

In the final scene, Ponch (in disguise) drags Jon (not in disguise) to traffic school. After a minute, the guy who pulled apart his car walks in. He recognizes Ponch and Jon walks out.

Great Quote

"Are you crazy? That guy could wipe out the entire front line of the Dallas Cowboys! We need all the backup we can get!"
-Ponch

Guest Stars

Crew

Fun Facts

N73387
  • The plane's FAA registration number is N73387. It had a crew of Louis Odell Burton and Frank L. Pine of Tallmantz Aviation. The plane is a Cessna 172M manufactured in 1976. According to Airport-Data.com, it is owned by an individual in Escondido, CA and is still in service as of July 2007. (FAA Registration Information)
  • A sign shows gasoline for 55 cents per gallon.
  • In the scene where Jon has to tell a woman that her husband died, the kid who ran in yelling "Daddy! Daddy!" at Jon is played by Derek Wilcox, Larry Wilcox's oldest son.
  • In the Space Ghost: Coast to Coast episode "CHiPs", Moltar was watching this episode. We saw the scene with the overturned, snake-filled van.
  • On the DVD release, Erik Estrada tells a story during Ponch's Police Tips for this episode where he got pulled over by a CHP officer. Although Erik didn't identify himself as Ponch, the officer had apparently called base camp to tell people, "Hey, I just busted Ponch!"

Mistakes

  • In the scenes before the theme, watch the skies. Sometimes they're foggy and sometimes they're clear.
  • Pilots of small planes, such as the one that lands on the freeway, don't usually wear helmets.
  • When the plane begins to line up for landing we see a road sign suggesting that they are further south on the Glendale Fwy than in a subsequent shot where Ponch chases down the red car. Ponch and Jon are heading south, so this could not be.
  • Although "Oak Street, just south of Washington" where Jon found the bus really is about "half a block from Central", that area has either changed a lot over the past few decades or the scene was filmed elsewhere.
  • During lunch, Getraer calls Jon at Lucy's Drive In. Officers have to call in that they're going to lunch...but not where. It's close to Central, but how does Getraer know they're there? Do they always eat there on that day of the week?
  • After the van breaks the door off the fat man's station wagon, it disappears from the road.
  • On the board during the briefing, under "Project V" it says "Car Officers Sign out for your cars". You mean they've just been running out and jumping into the first one there? I'd think they'd have assigned cars which means there's no need to sign out since you know who's in what car.
In the background, Jon seems out of character
  • As the briefing ends, there is a shot of officers walking out the door. Jon has someone else in a headlock. After he lets go, the other officer grabs Jon's butt.
  • On the runaway bus, there are three people...Ponch and the senior citizens. In some shots (especially while driving through the gravel just before the bus stops) you can see a fourth person. (Don't mistake the boxes in the last seat for a person though...)

Buy this episode


Preceded by:
"Dog Gone" 		Moving Violation
104 		Followed by:
"Career Day"
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