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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spooky Owl!" data-source="post: 445545" data-attributes="member: 57984">Sometimes, GUNSMOKE has a problem with its episodic titles (but at least it didn't repeat those titles endlessly, as discombobulated DYNASTY did -- but even DALLAS used "The Sting" twice and GUNSMOKE used "Hostage" twice, so nobody's perfect ... DYNASTY used "The Testimony of The Man in the Vengeful Dinner Gown" seven times and no one ever noticed).But, unlike DALLAS and DYNASTY, the episodic titles for GUNSMOKE appeared on screen (at least, after Season 12). GUNSMOKE's choices for those titles sometimes seemed a little strange; too many episodes are named after guest characters' names (in keeping, no doubt, with the series' increasing semi-anthology structure during the hour-long format). But many of the titles just don't describe the story dynamic of the episode.I'm sure these are just personal quirks, but for all the high-and-mighty titles BIG VALLEY gives its episodes, I more-or-less don't have a problem with any of them (except, of course, for the series' title itself, given that BIG VALLEY feels largely interior and claustrophobic -- at least after the first few episodes -- despite the '60s decade being very much a valley). BONANZA had acceptably self-important episodic titles, too, even though the series itself is almost unwatchable today for any rational adult. (BONANZA was, in retrospect, really a sloppy kiddie show).Today, I'm rewatching a Season 17 episode from 1971, the only GUNSMOKE three-parter ever, and filmed in California's Sonora Desert, entitled "The Bullet" (Parts 1, 2 and 3)..... Really? "The Bullet" ??  The story has Marshal Dillon, who was (as per Arness' contract with CBS) shot every second installment for twenty years, once again shot, in the back, in the opening scene. The delicate nature of his injury, a slug in his spine, necessitates all the cast accompanying Matt by train to Denver where the greatest medical experts known to 19th century Man can perform the procedure to save the lawman's life and ambulatory capacity. But, as it turns out, there is gold on the train. Gold which attracts bandits to that train. Thus, Dillon's identity and health status must be kept secret lest the larcenist thugs discover him and plug him with a few more -- y'know -- bullets.The original script apparently bore the title "Gold Train". And that feels exactly right -- you've got gold, you've got a train, even the arid desert surrounding is golden... But, for some strange reason, the producers decided to change the name on-screen to "The Bullet" and it just sticks in my craw every time I've seen it... And it goes on for three hours.Miss Kitty gets a nice soliloquy speech, though, about her seventeen-year non-permanent relationship with the marshal, and it stirs Matt back into consciousness. Which is sweet. But by the time this three-part episode concludes and the villains are subjugated, the train pulls off towards Denver and "the bullet" has been removed from Dillon's back by Doc Adams anyway. But science says successfully fighting crime is good for the immune system, so you know he's gonna be fine. To be shot again another day.Then there's an episode from the previous season called "The Gun".... Okay, "gun" is already in the overall series' title. There are lots of guns in GUNSMOKE. That might even be why they called the series what they called it... Again, my eyelid starts to spasm involuntarily... The plot is that a young boy working in the freight office finds a gun used in a crime by a famous outlaw, and as the story progresses, the firearm changes hands multiple times and a trail of bloodshed predictably unfolds. Decent episode. But "The Revolver" seems a better metaphoric title; "The Gun" sounds artless, redundant, and bereft of any cleverness.There are others.<img src="https://static.tvmaze.com/uploads/images/original_untouched/494/1236946.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?