The Brady Bunch: Out of This World - Peter and Bobby Have a Close Encounter!

Whoa....what the hell is going on here?  The Brady Bunch on Midnight Cinephile?  You bet!  In particular the classic Season 5 episode, Out of This World in which Peter and Bobby see a UFO and typical Sherwood Schwartz hilarity ensues.  I hadn't thought about The Brady Bunch in a long time, let alone this episode, but I happened upon it late one night and immediately knew that I needed to babble about it here.

"To Peter and Bobby......love.....Buffalo Bill...."

 The episode starts with Peter and Bobby getting an autograph from Brigadier General James A. McDivitt, who was being interview on a TV show about his UFO sighting.  That night, Bobby wakes Peter up when he hears a strange sound outside.  The boys look out the window to see a bright red UFO hovering in the sky.  The boys excited tell everyone what they saw and are naturally met with skepticism.  Determined to get proof, the boys camp out in the back yard with Carol's camera and snap photos when the UFO re-appears.

RUUUUNNNNN!  The Invasion has begun!

Bobby and Peter realize that they are about to be probed.....

After the photos are developed, Mike makes a call to the Air Force to have them look at the photos and get their expert opinion.  The Air Force sends Captain McCartney to The Brady residence to investigate.  The Captain doesn't believe in UFO's, until the strange noise is heard again and he see's the glowing red phenomena for himself.  He immediately starts to call his superiors to report the incident.  Things are not quite as them seem however, as it turns out that Greg has been pulling a prank of Peter and Bobby.  He shows the general how he created the UFO with a clear plastic tarp, a red flashlight and a whistle.  Being that this is The Brady Bunch, all's well that ends well and Greg is let off the hook by the Captain in return for Greg's silence that The Captain fell for the prank himself.

There is a fun sequence in which Bobby dreams that the UFO lands he he meets the occupants, little green skin folk called Kaplutians.  They want to take Bobby to their home planet to meet their people.  They promise to have him back in a short amount of time...."about 3,000 years".

I had a caption for this....but it was far from appropriate.

The whole episode is quite charming and while there are many other episodes that are far more recognized such as Season 4's The Subject Was Noses, (in which Marcia makes two dates for Saturday night, then is accidentally hit in the nose by a football that Peter and Bobby are playing with..) this episode really captures what I loved about the show when I was a kid.

Where's Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones when you need them?!?

When I was but a wee little cinephile, I used to get all sorts of books on UFO's from the public library.  I would study all the pictures and try to imagine what it would be like to actually see a real life UFO.  This episode let me kind of see what it would be like.....and incidentally also introduced me to the concept of UFO hoaxing.

Out of This World aired on January 18th, 1974, toward the end of the 5th season (It was episode 16 of 22)  and as far as I'm concerned is one of the best.  If you like finding "out there" episodes of retro tv shows, you can't go wrong with this one!