User Reviews

This episode sees Virdon, Burke and Galen in a village where Urko has challenged the local prefect, Barlow, to a horse race; no one refuses Urko and nobody ever beats him; he has the best horses and if that isn't enough he will cheat to see his horse win. Our trio are staying with the local blacksmith and his son, Gregor; the latter enjoys horse riding even though it is a capital offence for humans. When Galen is stung by a deadly scorpion Gregor offers to ride into town to get the antidote. He manages to get it but is identified by Urko's men who arrest him and sentence him to death. In an attempt to save the boy Virdon offers to ride for Barlow in the upcoming race. Barlow initially laughs and gives Virdon an unbroken horse so show that he can in fact ride. Inevitable he manages to ride it and all is set for the race… a race Urko is determined to win by fair means or foul… but mostly foul!

While this is another 'skill of the week' episode where the humans show how they know more about something than the supposedly superior apes in is rather fun. We get to see a lot more of Mark Lenard's Urko than usual; it is great to see that he is unpleasant to apes as he is to humans as he tries to cheat Barlow out of his land and horses. John Hoyt's performance as Barlow is nicely nuanced; he appears to be sympathetic to humans but it is clear that this sympathy is limited to what is in his interest. Morgan Woodward and Meegan King are solid as the blacksmith and is son; decent but not unflawed characters. The race itself is well handled; they even find a plausible way to explain why Urko won't immediately recognise Virdon which was good.

Virdon (well played by Ron Harper) agrees to race a chimpanzee prefect's horse against a horse owned by Urko (Mark Lenard in fine fierce form) that has yet to be beaten in exchange for a condemned human's freedom. Sesaoned 70's drive-in movie ace director Jack Starett, who gave us such treats as "The Dion Brothers," "Slaughter," and "Race With the Devil," relates the absorbing story at a steady pace and stages both the big horse race and lively climactic action with his trademark sinewy aplomb. The engrossing script by David P. Lewis and Booker Bradshaw nicely explores the themes of selfless heroism and discrimination (humans are forbidden by the apes to ride horses). The sound acting by the able cast keeps things humming, with especially stand-out work by John Hoyt as shrewd and shifty prefect Barlow, Morgan Woodward as tough blacksmith Martin, and Meegan King as Martin's rebellious teenage son Gregor. Gerald Perry Finnerman's sleek cinematography gives this episode an extra jolt of energy by keeping the camera moving throughout. A cool show.