1125 Hair of the Dog

Hair of the Dog
April 1, 1997

Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington D.C.


Sam leaps in to find himself naked in a wolf pen at the zoo! Having rejected Al's superstitious assumption that he is a werewolf, he is even more horrified to be told he is actually a wolf!


Written by: Helen Earl & Sue Johnson


Thanks,
TVS Team

Our rating system this season consists of five raters and three back-up raters! We took the average of six raters and came up with an average for that episode. Based on ratings of 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, the average of this episode was: 7.7


Please be aware that some reviews may contain spoilers! Some of the comments given were:

Valery S. Gemini said:
Sorry I'm a bit late for this review, I was AFTK for a few days... After the many traumatic, complicated and tragic leaps we've had recently, it was time for a more "light" story, and Ziggy's AF joke really worked on me - after all, we've already seen Sam leaping into animals before, haven't we? And I had a real good old laugh with that one, unlike a fellow rater I quite enjoy when Sam is in such embarrassing situations! A real pleasure.

RATING: 7

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Sporty said:
A great story, with a twist ending, imagine thinking it was one thing, and realizing it was something entirely different. I like the April Fools joke, very well done. I really like Stephen, he is so like his father. Great job!

RATING: 8

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Morris J. Finkle said:
I have to admit, this was a really weird leap. At first, I wasn't sure I liked it since I had no idea where the story was going; nothing really made any sense. And then, the punchline, when Ziggy shouts out "April Fool's!" Suddenly, the leap finally seems like it's back on track, and I found myself shaking my head and laughing. I had a feeling that Sam actually did not leap into a wolf, seeing as how a similar story's been done already, and it wasn't all that good.

Not the greatest QL story I've read, but a decent comedic April Fool's episode nonetheless. On a personal note: I always hate seeing women place Sam in such humiliating situations, especially when he's buck-naked for most of the time! And they call us men bad... *shakes head and rolls eyes*

RATING: 7

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Seeker said:
The absolutely crystal clear ?you are there? visualization that results from these two talented writers? crafting of this story, along with the attention to detail, and snappy dialogue is something I?ve come to appreciate from them, individually and, now, collectively. Well done, ladies! However?

I found ?Hair Of The Dog? only mildly amusing, and even that amusement was squashed by Ziggy?s triumphant cry of, ?April Fools!? Stephen being revealed as the perpetrator of this humiliating and demeaning joke at his father?s expense, albeit with the guilelessness of youth and in spite of his soaring IQ in not considering that those who were his objectives might not find the first crumb of the humor with which he?d intended his upgrade to Ziggy, effectively finished disposing of whatever remained of my amusement.

Further, even though the leap ended successfully, and Stephen made haste to rectify his youthful mistake after having had his eyes rudely opened to what his addition to Ziggy had resulted in, no matter how well intended, I think he got off way too lightly. I understand his remorse; after all, he is his father?s son. I also understand Sammy Jo going to bat for her younger brother. But allowing Al to be swayed even in the smallest way by Stephen?s ?puppy dog? gaze (so like his father?s), as well as Al?s attitude in letting the boy off with, in essence, a slap on the wrist - I?m sorry, but I disagree. If nothing else, I think Al should order that the air conditioning ducts and all other crawl spaces in and around the Imaging Chamber and the Control Room be secured and deemed accessible to only authorized personnel in the future and strictly off-limits to Stephen.

Lastly, lest it be thought otherwise, I do have a good sense of humor, and I enjoy a good joke as much as anyone. However, though ?Hair of the Dog? is a very well written and entertaining story that held my attention from start to finish, for the reasons stated above, I?m giving this a rating of 7.

RATING: 7

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Xanadu said:
I like a good April Fools joke - and Lord knows that this one would be the one that would put icing on the cake -- a computer going and playing a joke! :lol

The writing here is great! I love it... but... Stephen did get off a little easy... Maybe he needed to be *gasp* spanked by his Uncle Al.

All in all - a wonderful story! Thank you ladies! You gave me a laugh on a day when I really REALLY needed it.

RATING: 8

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Tom Jarret said:
I loved it. The ending made it for me. After reading so many of these stories for the last few years, I thought this was refreshing, a bit irreverent, and a perfect April Fools joke. Way to go.

RATING: 9

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Now, it's your opportunity to rate this particular story. Let the author(s) know how you rate this story. If you'd like to give feedback, please go ahead and leave a reply!

Thanks!
The Virtual Seasons Team

(Originally posted by MikeKraken at: 4/6/05 6:52 am)

Well, I'm a little late with reading it, but I'm glad that I did. I really liked when Ziggy called out, "April Fools!" I wasn't expecting that! I was seriously thinking that Sam had leaped into a werewolf of some kind... nice twist with that story of divorce.

Like one of the raters said, it felt like the leap was going nowhere until we found out it was a big joke, but I liked that flow, going from slow to fast all of a sudden. However, I am not a fan of the Stephen character. Perhaps it is because he reminds me too much of Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation (a genius kid who gets away with "stunts"), so that kind of brought down my overall enjoyment of the story.

You did a good job here, ladies. I gave it a rating of "3", bordering on a "4". It was a nice, light story with a great twist.

Following a flat, which had made her late and very grubby

Click to expand...

Maybe it's another British term, but what is a "flat" in this case? I'm imagining an apartment drifting down the highway in front of her... :lol

... Mike. ^_^

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MikeKraken's Web Site
Star Trek for Leapers forum
Future's Past RPG

(Originally posted by Dman176 at: 4/6/05 10:35 am)

Never heard of a "flat" tire, Mike?

Her car got a flat tire, which is why she was late and dirty (grubby)...

Damon

"Holographic observers! What a brilliant idea!" ? Professor Arturo, "In Dino Veritas"

(Originally posted by MikeKraken at: 4/6/05 11:37 am)

Ohhh, :lol . I didn't think of it that way. I was thinking of "following" as in she was driving behind this "flat". haha...

... Mike.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
MikeKraken's Web Site
Star Trek for Leapers forum
Future's Past RPG

(Originally posted by leaper1 at: 4/8/05 6:47 am)

Well thanks for the feedback guys and gals.
One of the problems with humour is that it is very individual in appeal. What makes one person laugh their socks off leaves another stony faced.
This was always a risky venture for us.
Sue and I embarked upon this story in response to a challenge.
Damon and others have commented in the past that we are sadists, and always hurt poor Sam or more often nearly kill him!
So a friend said we should try to show we are not 'one trick ponies' and write a comedic episode instead.
This was way outside our comfort zone as writers, but we took up the challenge and Hair of the Dog was what we came up with.
I guess it just goes to prove that we should stick to what we do best.

Helen

Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.
(Leo Buscaglia)

Leap and the net will appear. (Anon)

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.
(Charles Dickens)

(Originally posted by Dman176 at: 4/11/05 1:16 pm)

My computer has slowly been getting "fubar" for the past couple of weeks, so it's taken me a while to catch up on some posts.

There's not much I can add that hasn't already been said. I think this was a good attempt at a more comedic type of episode. I can understand what you said, Helen, about this kind of story not being in your "comfort zone," but I think you and Sue pulled it off fairly well. I will admit though, as some others have pointed out, that Stephen seems like he should be getting to a point where he's not so childlike and naive anymore. He's ten years old now (was born on February 12, 1996, Abraham Lincoln's birthday, if I remember correctly). His "prank" was just a tad too childish for someone of his current age and intellect... so hopefully, Stephen will have learned his lesson from this (which I'm sure he will) and begin to mature as a young pre-adolescent male.

I did notice Ziggy's comment at the end which basically implied that her program might be stuck with some small residual of that humor upgrade. Seems only natural with the current rate of Ziggy's evolution. Perhaps in 30 years' time, Ziggy will, for all intents and purposes, be acting like an average human being. She should be contemplating renaming herself "Eden" any day now, I would think.

Damon

"Holographic observers! What a brilliant idea!" ? Professor Arturo, "In Dino Veritas"