User Reviews

"Explosion" is one of the greatest episodes in a series full of them. L.Q. Jones (previously seen in "The Earl of Durango"), an actor adept at playing despicable characters, guest stars as Roy Shandell, lifelong troublemaker and now stage robber and murderer, even shooting his partner in the back rather than split the money. Fortunately, this aftermath is witnessed by Johnny Yuma, who captures the unrepentant Roy and rides into the New Mexico town of Socorro to deposit him in the jail of Sheriff Barney Cagle (Ross Elliott, previously seen in "Land"). Roy's father Joe (Douglas Spencer) doesn't want to see his boy hang no matter how many lives he's taken, resorting to holding Johnny and the sheriff hostage with a bottle of nitroglycerin, capable of blowing up with even the slightest movement. By bartering for a horse, provisions, and a one hour head start, Joe believes that this will make it up to his son for all the years of struggle trying to mine for gold with little success. Unpredictable from start to finish, and one of the last roles for science fiction veteran Douglas Spencer ("The Thing," "This Island Earth"), dead from diabetes nearly two months prior to broadcast.