Downwind from Gettysburg

So many things go wrong in this episode. First, the animatronic Lincoln that first appeared as "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" at the 1964 World's Fair was, decades before this episode aired, much more convincing and impressive. There is nothing new or astounding about the machine that Howard Hesseman's character developed. Second, the real Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address standing, not seated. The speech Lincoln gave was less than 300 words long and would probably have taken less than five minutes to say, even allowing for a somber, slower delivery befitting the occasion. Third, why place the animatronic Lincoln in a seat resembling the one in the Lincoln Memorial? The real Lincoln would have been unfamiliar with such a setting. Forth, Howard Hesseman's character commits battery and terroristic threats against the Booth character, both of which would be more serious crimes than destruction of property and some firearms violations. In fact, I thought Hesseman's character was far creepier and disturbing that the Booth character.

Early into the episode I guessed that the assistant whose name was John would turn out to be the assassin. Perhaps because the Lincoln animatronic somehow become too powerful and threatened the way of life of John and others. That would have been a far better story.

Howard Hesseman plays a master of robotics who builds a facsimile of Abraham Lincoln. It recites the Gettysburg Address and sits in a chair like the one at the Memorial. While it is unveiled to the public, a man dressed as John Wilkes Booth shoots the thing in the head, recreating the assassination. The rest of the episode is rife with the possibility of retribution from the creator. What transpires is a very satisfying conclusion. The idea for Hesseman is to try to understand why this was done and then to do the appropriate thing. It starts with thoughts of simple violence an then gets more sophisticated, invading the young vandal's psyche and exacting justice. Quite a good offering.