User Reviews

This episode was always, in my opinion, corny. A rabbit trap with room for its ears to enter? Bugs Bunny is rolling over in his grave. I think with this Gonculator contraption, Hogan is really trying to test out the Germans just to see how stupid they really are. The only smarts here are the man at the supply depot, that figures out it was just easier and smarter to tell Klink and Burqhalter that the Gonculator was top secret and he couldn't discuss it. Pretty good. Lutz told Klink that he knew nothing about the thing. Another bright idea, deny it exists. At least now we know that we can always build a better mouse, I mean, rabbit trap.

Here we begin with a woman snuggling with a German officer in a restaurant. We discover she is with the Underground and he is worried about the Gestapo and wants to find a way to England. The woman, named Lila, is next seen in one of Stalag 13's tunnels talking to Hogan. Hogan tells her he'll think of something, explaining that he always says that when he has no idea.

Of course, like usual, Hogan encounters his men and gets an idea from them. In this case, it's Carter, trying to build a rabbit trap so LeBeau can make him hasenpfeffer. He has a wooden box with an opening in the end shaped like a rabbit with large hole for the ears above the head. He goes through a quite funny scenario of how his trap will work. Schultz enters and Hogan immediately leads his men into acting like they have some special device Hogan calls a "gonculator."

Schultz decides to impress Klink by showing how observant he is, telling him about the "gonculator" which causes Klink to pretend that he knows just what such a device is. Later, we get General Burkhalter doing the same thing with Klink. Both men, in fact, try to learn about this invention from some supply officer, who has no idea, so he tells each of them on the phone that it is top secret.

Hogan develops his scheme into having his men attach every leftover electric device they have to the box, including wiring it for electricity, knowing Schultz is watching and reporting to Klink about their work. They dramatically stop work saying they cannot finish it without the "Lutz Diagram." This is to get Burkhalter to send for an electronic expert, a Major Lutz, who is the man we saw at the beginning who wants to escape Germany.

They get Lutz into the barracks and as he has Schultz plug the machine in, it pops and smokes and sizzles, causing the Germans to turn and cover up to protect them selves from the thing blowing up. While they are doing this, Hogan and his men quickly get Lutz down the ladder from the bunk into the tunnel, where Lila is waiting to help him escape. I won't spoil the explanation they gave Burkhalter about what happened to Lutz, but it was hilarious and, to me, quite a surprise.

It did surprise me as I watched this episode this morning, having not seen it for years. I remembered always liking this as a favorite episode in this series. I think part of the reason is that it was virtually all a comedy, with barely any serious scenes, and Hogan & Co. not in any danger at all-never even leaving camp. A 10 for all the laughs.

Overall, one of the funniest episodes in the series-which is why it gets one of the few "10" scores from me.