Following three years each as an ensemble player
on Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, Leonard Nimoy apparently took just one stab at
becoming the lead of his very own TV series, notwithstanding multiyear runs
hosting the nonfiction shows In Search of
. . . , Ancient Mysteries, and History’s Mysteries. (Don’t fix it if it
ain’t broke!) Nimoy’s wannabe star vehicle, Baffled!, could just as easily have been titled Baffling!, seeing as how it’s
confounding that anyone thought the concept could sustain an entire series.
Even just watching the feature-length pilot episode, the only installment that
was made, requires patience. Adding to the offbeat nature of the project is the sheer Englishness of Baffled!,
which was photographed in the UK and coproduced by the British company ITC. Even
the pilot’s costar, Susan Hampshire, is British. (One version of Baffled! was released theatrically in
Europe, and a slightly different cut aired on American TV.)
Yet the
peculiarity of the project’s geographical origin pales next to the strangeness
of the storyline: Nimoy plays a racecar driver who suddenly manifests psychic
abilities, then teams with a paranormal specialist to solve supernatural crimes
in Europe. Quite frankly, even Nimoy’s presence is odd, thanks to the actor’s
aloof demeanor and lanky appearance—fascinating as he could be in the right
role, Nimoy was not the matinee-idol type this sort of project requires. In any
event, Baffled! opens during a race,
when daring driver Tom Kovack (Nimoy) has a series of weird visions that cause
him to ride off the road. For no good reason, he explains what happened on TV,
attracting the attention of Michelle Brent (Hampshire). Tracking Tom down, she
determines that his visions relate to a particular manor home in England, so
away the two go for an adventure filled with danger and intrigue. The plot has
something to do with a blowsy innkeeper (Rachel Roberts) tormenting an American
movie star (Vera Miles), with the movie star’s teenaged daughter (Jewel Blanch)
caught in the middle.
Baffled! hits
viewers with lots of hokey old-dark-house stuff, plus listless sequences of
attempted violence; the bit of Nimoy falling off a cliff and safely landing in
deep water is about as exciting as it gets. The acting is indifferent, the
plotting is turgid, and the supernatural element—mostly comprising shots of
Nimoy squinting while he has visions—adds little. Through it all, tinny music
that could have been copped from a
trove of Avengers outtakes—as in
Steed & Peel, not Captain America and Iron Man—honks and tweets on the
soundtrack. Nearly the only rewarding aspect of watching Baffled! is listening to Nimoy croak lines in a ridiculous UK
approximation of American slang. “I like you,” he says to Hampshire. “You’re
warm, enthusiastic, and—why shouldn’t I use the word—you’re a great-lookin’
chick.”
Baffled!:
FUNKY
