Daniel is taking a cargo of furs down the Mississippi when he is waylaid and knocked out by outlaw Sebastian Drake (Michael Ansara) but in the struggle he grabs and keeps an identifying diary. Resuscitated by a trapper, Dan follows Drake's trail.
Season 2's string of road adventures continues, and New Orleans as a locale always adds some depth to Dan's sojourns. He walks by accident into a search for pirate treasure. Among the schemers is Ansara, in the first of his two DB appearances. The Syrian-American character actor always put an extra shine of menace or integrity to any Westerns role he took on, both in the hero and villain slots. Hungarian-American Nina Talbot makes a convincing Frenchwoman and femme fatale. Rounding out things with Gabby Hayes patter is supporting journeyman Douglas Fowey as trapper Rufus Hoops.
This is a Dan solo outing bereft of sidekicks and Boonesborough background, so guest stars are called to step up during the money hunt. The plot is complex by DB standards, which in a 45-minute format always slows the setup at the expense of the action payoff. It would be interesting to know what the producers used for the New Orleans panorama shots - they look more like a Chesapeake Bay coastal town.
The hour is also unique in that Dan, far removed from Boonesborough, gets to interact with an attractive female lead other than Rebecca. Fess Parker at this point was at the peak of his debonair aura, and it's interesting to contemplate how the series might have turned if just one more historical liberty had been taken and the Boone family left on the writers' table. Some swashbuckling stories might have done with a bachelor Boone squiring a series of guest star sirens a la Captain Kirk.
New Orleans will provide several settings over the course of the series, with the writers usually mistaking it as French-ruled in the late 18th century. It was instead under Spain's control, but the matter is bypassed entirely here. A little extra effort might have worked a younger Louisiana pirate and War of 1812 hero John Lafitte into the story.
A predictable chase episode, but an intriguing one for sketching out a direction untaken by the series.
Season 2's string of road adventures continues, and New Orleans as a locale always adds some depth to Dan's sojourns. He walks by accident into a search for pirate treasure. Among the schemers is Ansara, in the first of his two DB appearances. The Syrian-American character actor always put an extra shine of menace or integrity to any Westerns role he took on, both in the hero and villain slots. Hungarian-American Nina Talbot makes a convincing Frenchwoman and femme fatale. Rounding out things with Gabby Hayes patter is supporting journeyman Douglas Fowey as trapper Rufus Hoops.
This is a Dan solo outing bereft of sidekicks and Boonesborough background, so guest stars are called to step up during the money hunt. The plot is complex by DB standards, which in a 45-minute format always slows the setup at the expense of the action payoff. It would be interesting to know what the producers used for the New Orleans panorama shots - they look more like a Chesapeake Bay coastal town.
The hour is also unique in that Dan, far removed from Boonesborough, gets to interact with an attractive female lead other than Rebecca. Fess Parker at this point was at the peak of his debonair aura, and it's interesting to contemplate how the series might have turned if just one more historical liberty had been taken and the Boone family left on the writers' table. Some swashbuckling stories might have done with a bachelor Boone squiring a series of guest star sirens a la Captain Kirk.
New Orleans will provide several settings over the course of the series, with the writers usually mistaking it as French-ruled in the late 18th century. It was instead under Spain's control, but the matter is bypassed entirely here. A little extra effort might have worked a younger Louisiana pirate and War of 1812 hero John Lafitte into the story.
A predictable chase episode, but an intriguing one for sketching out a direction untaken by the series.