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Gunfight at the Mork-Kay Corral

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"Gunfight At The Mork-Kay Corral"
Season 3, Episode #7
(#58) in series (95 episodes)

Mork needs to resort to recreating the Old West to try and convince one of his daycare kids, Billy, that Outlaws and violence aren't as glamorous as the movies make them seem in "Gunfight at the Mork-Kay Corral" in Season 3 (ep.#7).
"Mork & Mindy" episode
Guest Star(s): Corey Feldman
Stephanie Kayano
Amy Tenowich
Jonathan Ian
Bebo
Network: ABC-TV
Production code: 307 (3x7)
Writer(s) Stuart Gillard
Director Jeff Chambers
Original airdate December 18, 1980
IMDB Gunfight At The Mork-Kay Corral
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"Mork, the Monkey's Uncle" "Mork's New Look"
List of Mork & Mindy seasons/episodes

Gunfight at the Mork-Kay Corral was the seventh episode from Season number 3 of Mork and Mindy, also the 58th overall episode in the series. Written by Stuart Gillard, the episode, which was directed by Jeff Chambers, premiered on ABC-TV on December 18, 1980.

Synopsis[]

Mork inadvertently encourages one of his Daycare kids, Billy, to swap a positive heroic role model in his doctor father, for a violent one in Billy the Kid. With Billy headed out to the old ghost town Billy the Kid was rumored to hang out in, Mork & Mindy have to track him down and somehow convince Billy that violence is only exciting in the movies, and has repercussions.

Plot[]

Fred enters the apartment with his tool box, confessing to Mindy that, having spent an hour trying to figure out why her Jeep won't start, he's stumped. Only to be embarrassed when Mindy tells him she already knows what it is. The battery is dead. However she in turn is stumped as to why it's dead. That is until Mork enquires as to whether leaving the lights on all night might have contributed to it? Under Mindy's arched eyebrow of a look he confesses he left the lights on, but only to make sure a wino sleeping in the gutter wouldn't get parked on. Mindy handles it with her usual tolerance for his unique 'courtesy' and Fred offers to drop Mork off at the Day Care Center.

Mork, however, is having jitters about his day at work, as he suggested to the kids at the Day Care Center that they dress up as their heroes, but he hasn't decided on his costume. Fred likes the idea, feeling kids today need heroes. Regaling Mork & Mindy, he recalls how when he was a kid he was into Western heroes. And that it used to be a lot easier to tell who the heroes were, as they all wore big white hats and played guitar. His favourite, he tells them, was The Lone Ranger, Mindy informing Mork that he'd definitely like The Lone Ranger, as always resolved conflicts peacefully. Mork seizes on the similarity to Squellman the Yellow, Ork's greatest hero who made an art of running away and hiding that the planet follows in all its conflicts to this day.

At the Daycare Center Mork duly arrives in dressed in a yellow chicken costume with a large Red S on his chest, Jonathan has come as Sugar Ray Leonard, Stephanie as Sara Lee and Lola as Truman Capote.. Mork asks Billy who is dressed like a doctor, who his hero is, and he tells them his father made him dress like a doctor like him, as he wants him to follow in his footsteps, but the boy relates to someone with his own name, Billy the Kid. Jonathan explains to Mork that he was a famous cowboy and he was supposed to have lived in the old ghost town, Windy Gulch, near Boulder. Billy is so enthused about him, that Mork encourages him to come as Billy the Kid if hew wants to.

Back at the apartment, to Mindy's consternation Mork returns home courtesy of a piggy back ride from Exidor. The crazy street preacher explaining he's heading out of town and wants Mork to take all his phone calls. Promptly handing him a phone handset. Mindy, as always rubbed up the wrong way by Exidor, quickly tries to makes herself scarce by escaping into her bedroom, pointing out Exidor's craziness as Mork prevails on her to stay. Exidor tells Mork he's leaving on a secret trip having inherited a treasure map from his late grandfather, which is blank. The real map, he says, tattooed on the inside of his eyelids. Loading up his 'team' onto his burro, he tells Mork he'll be back in a month and heads out.

Calling to Mindy that it's safe to come out, now Exidor's gone. She points out Exidor was 'gone' before he got here, then hopes his day has been going better than hers. Enthused, he tells her about the success of the hero costume event, recounting how he helped Billy getting a new hero, Billy the Kid. Mindy explains that that wasn't such a good choice, telling him why Billy the Kid was famous, that sometimes people get famous for the wrong reasons, and this can be a problem as kids tend to want to emulate their heroes, making Mork lament his haste.

As Mindy runs out to meet the tow truck to deal with her dead battery, Billy arrives all dressed up as Billy the Kid and asks Mork to go to the nearby ghost town Windy Gulch with him to play at shoot outs, as Billy the Kid was supposed to have hung out there. Mork says he has to stay and help Mindy bury her battery, and takes the opportunity to speak to Billy about Billy the kid's reputation, but Billy maintains Billy is a hero, and Mork is just a coward like Squellman. Mork tells him that even if it's just a game it simulates violence and suggests the alternate Squellman inspired 'Cherchez Moi', or Hide & Seek. Billy agrees, says he'll be It and tells Mork to go hide. Mork heads for the armoire as Billy counts, and as soon as he's hidden Billy leaves the apartment. Mork baits Billy that he'll never find him, and its to the sound of his disembodied voice that Mindy returns from dealing with her car. Opening the armoire door, she asks Mork what's going on, and when he tells her he's playing with Billy, she informs him that she saw Billy cycle off down the street, saying that Mork would know where to find him. Mork knows immediately he's gone to Windy Gulch, and heads off with Mindy to try and find him.

Once in the old deserted mining town, they split up with Mork heading into the saloon and Mindy to the livery stable. In the Saloon Mork calls out for Billy and is met by a water balloon hitting the floor near his feet. Billy appears all loaded up with another one and fires it as Mork tries to approach him, and draws another one just as Mindy enters. Billy squirms away from her as she tries to take hold of him to bring him home, saying she's just like his father. Mork suggests that if they try and take him home right now, then he'll be convinced violence is the way to go. Mindy says they can't leave him there, but Mork has an idea of how to address the dueling philosophies of violence and non-violence, so Mindy gives him the go ahead. As she watches on, Billy hands Mork a balloon so they can have a shootout. If he hits Mork, Billy's best, if Mork hits him, Squellman's best. Mork agrees, and they move to face off, but Mork informs him that Squellman doesn't use weapons and dashes his balloon to the floor. Mindy not sure of the value of what Mork is up to walks over to him, just as Billy fires off his balloon at Mork and it hits her flush on the back. Shocked and soaking she gives chase but Billy escapes out of the saloon, and Mork stops her, hoping the fuming Mindy now sees the subtle value of his philosophy (hiding), and to look on the bright side, she could now win a wet sweater contest.

A short while later, Billy returns, scouting the saloon from outside, and seeing Mork camped out on the floor he enters, balloon in hand and fires it at the prone figure, claiming victory only for Mork to pop up from behind the bar and indicate how smarts can overcome violence. Billy runs off to try again, and Mindy emerges from the bar alongside Mork to tell him she doesn't think this approach is going to work. As they ponder how to make Billy realize that violence and people like Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid are only glamorous in the movies, Mork strikes on an idea of how to show Billy why Billy the Kid never became Billy the Adult. Mindy sets up what Mork has in mind by loudly pretending she's heading off to the gas station to call Billy's parents, leaving Mork alone in the saloon. Billy emerges to call Mork out, and he appears at the saloon door, channeling Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name. Confused by Mork's shift from Squellman to Eastwood, Billy listens and is amazed as Mork brings the saloon to life, sliding beer glasses along the bar, setting the Pianola to playing. Billy thinks it's great but Mork points out it wasn't so hot when there were guns involved, especially when there was intense card game going on.

Sitting at the old card table, Mork channels a number of well known Western personas as things build to a fight, before using his finger to simulate a gunfight, shooting over chairs, and what glassware there is left on the shelves behind the bars. When Mork asks him if that seemed like fun to him, Billy admits that it was pretty scary. Mork is happy to hear it and proposes they head home, only for Billy to turn again, and raise his balloon ready to fire it at Mork, and this time throws and hits him with it. Mork goes into a prolonged 'death fall' in slow motion crashing through a low balcony and onto a card table below before collapsing on the floor. Billy's yells of victory brings Mindy running, to see Mork lying prone and 'unconscious' on the floor. Running to him in alarm, she checks on him as Billy tells her it was just a game. Mindy tells him adamantly that violence is not a game, before looking over Mork in concern, trying to get him to wake up. When he speaks he says he can't see too clearly, and further alarmed she tells Billy she thinks he needs a doctor, Billy wishes his father, the doctor, was there and runs outside to the trough to try and make a cool wash cloth for Mork.

As Mindy tries to tend to Mork worriedly, moving her hands to try and get air circulating to him, Mork asks if she can stop that as she's curling his eyebrows and then lifts his head and grins at her. .Indignant that he's okay, she stands up, and he tells her he had this brainstorm as he fell through the air that he'd improvise, like Squellman who had a flare for the dramatic. She tells him she's glad he's okay but she could ring his neck...Mork dives down as Billy comes back, Mindy resuming a concerned air. Billy uses the cold compress on Mork hoping it can help like it does when his father uses it, Mindy murmuring she's fairly sure it will, Mork rises up Lazarus like, complete with full evangelical zeal. Billy enthused that he made Mork better says he has a new hero now, and embraces Mork as it.

Billy decides he'd better get home to his parents, and asks Mindy if it's okay if he throws his bike in the back of her jeep. He heads out then heads back in again to tell Mindy someone left the lights on her jeep on. Mork swings around slowly to Mindy who is already eyeing him. Sidling up to her, trying to defuse her with a smiling 'Ahrr ahrr ahrr', he says he knows what she's thinking but it was advance planning really. He knew they'd need the lights on on the car, to help them find the jeep keys he'd already lost. Pleading for patience as she pats his cheek and squeezes his throat as she passes, she nods, and tells him she'll wait outside for him. Putting on his hat, Mork looks back around the saloon cocks a finger and says thanks' fellas, and heads out as the Pianola starts to play again.

The episode ends with Mork giving his report to Orson, dressed in a cowboy hat, in full Western drawl, with Bebo wearing Native American headdress. Orson tells him to get a grip, and wants to know what his report is about. Mork tells him heroes. Orson asks him are there many on Earth, and Mork says there are, but only the ones with 'pizzazz' seem to get any notoriety or fame. Orson feels like Earthlings equate heroism with glamorous deeds, and Mork agrees that the real heroes seldom get any headlines for what they do.

Goofs[]

  • Mindy 'explains' the Lone Ranger to Mork, however in Season 1, he did an entire riff as both the Lone Ranger & Tonto to entertain Sergei in Mork and the Immigrant, and Mork has referenced The Lone Ranger (and Tonto) multiple times over Season 1 and 2.
  • The shadow of a microphone can be seen moving across the rear wall of the day care center just before Stephanie asks when they eat.

Trivia[]

Orkan 'Facts'[]

  • Mork says Bingo is an old religious saying on Ork (but it is unclear whether this is a joke or not).
  • Squellman the Yellow has a Manual, '45 ways to Hide'

General[]

  • Corey Feldman had previously appeared on the show as Billy, one of Mork's children at the Pine Tree day care center, and it was decided that if it went well, his role would be expanded, which it was in this episode. Unfortunately, it would be the final appearance of Billy.
  • Robin Williams teased Corey Feldman about looking like Damien from The Omen, whistling "Ave Satani" and shouting, "Damien! Damien!" whenever the boy arrived on set. And actually refers to him as Damien Part IV in the show as Billy turns on Mork.
  • There are further references to Squellman the Yellow, 'The Proud Coward with the Golden Tail', the chickenhearted hero of Ork
  • Mindy namechecks Paul Newman & Robert Redford as 'handsome' and would reference them again in the very next episode Mork's New Look as being among those she would regard as her 'Perfect 10s' (along with Walter Cronkite, her father, and Mork)
  • Mork uses the same 'Spurs' sound effect he used when dressed as a cowboy in Mork's Greatest Hit

Pop Culture[]

  • The episode title is a reference to the famous 1957 Western, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas
  • Fred namechecks some of the big Movie/TV singing Cowboy heroes of the 30s, 40s and 50s, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Tex Ritter. Tex Ritter was the father of John Ritter, a friend of Robin Williams and the star of Three's Company.
  • Mork sings 'Happy Tails to you' for Squellman's rear disappearing into the horizon, a 'revised' version of Roy Rogers / Dale Evans theme song 'Happy Trails'
  • Mindy says Squellman and his 'going gets tough, the tough go shopping' philosophy makes him sound like the famous Gabor sisters, Magda, Eva & Zsa Zsa, the famous Hungarian actresses and socialites in Hollywood notorious for their style, high living and numerous marriages. .
  • Mork mistakes Billy the Kid for "the president's brother" who helped Ronald Reagan get elected. This is a reference to Billy Carter, whose scandalous Libyan involvement helped to ensure the loss of a second Presidential term for brother Jimmy Carter.
  • Mork refers to Billy as 'Little Yoda'
  • Exidor yells out the window to Frankie and Annette that surfs up, meaning Frankie Avalon & Annette Funicello, the stars of the Beach Party movies in which surfs up was the frequent cry.
  • Mork baits Billy that he'll never find him, claiming he studied with Claude Rains, who played The Invisible Man in the classic 1933 movie version of the tale.
  • Mork gives Billy a hint of Liberace, to his hiding place, the famed flamboyant pianist and celebrity having spent his life (and still was at this juncture) in the closet.
  • Mork does an impression of an Irish priest 'Father Mork' as he's looking for Billy, a callback to movies like 'Boys Town' , 'Angels with Dirty Faces' and 'Going My Way' where kind hearted Irish Catholic priests would work to get boys off the streets and into school for an education.
  • Mork cites the dueling philosophies that Billy is facing as being, violence vs non-violence, or like Ghandi vs Dick the Bruiser. Dick the Bruiser, was a former American football player and World Champion Professional Wrestler.
  • Mindy talks about Butch & Sundance not being heroes, just handsome. Meaning the 1969 movie Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, starring two of the world's most handsome actors, Paul Newman & Robert Redford.
  • Mork launches into an extended Richard Nixon impersonation around helping Billy asking Rose Mary at the end if she got all that, and to erase it, referring to Rose Mary Woods, Nixon's personal private secretary.
  • Mork faces down Billy, channeling Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name from Sergio Leone's 'Dollars Trilogy'
  • Mork runs through a gamut of lines and characters in the recreation of the card game, including Strother Martin's 'Captain' from Cool Hand Luke, Charles Bronson, Walter Brennan, Roy Rogers, & John Wayne.
  • Mork does an extended 'Peckinpah' style slow motion 'death', made famous in Sam Peckinpah's Westerns (something Robin Williams also does in the behind the Scenes clip from Dr. Morkenstein in the Adventures of Garry Marshall)
  • He does another Walter Cronkite impersonation in his report to Orson.
  • And follows this at the end with another impersonation of Garry Marshall.

Quotes/Excerpts[]

  • Fred: I've been working on your jeep for over an hour and I can't find out what's wrong with it.
  • Mindy: My battery's dead.
  • Fred: Oh.
  • Mindy: When I woke up this morning, my battery was dead. I can't understand what happened!
  • Mork: Well could leaving the car lights on all night have any effect on that?
  • Mindy: Why yes, it could. Why would you ask?
  • Mork: No reason, no reason, no reason at all.

________________________

  • Fred: Kids today could use some heroes. When I was a young boy, I used to like the Western heroes. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and Tex Ritter. Of course, in those days, you could always tell who the good guys were because they all wore big white hats and played guitars. I always used to wonder why they never rode into town playing a violin.
  • Mork: That's probably because all the Indians had all the bows. Ahrr! Ahrr! Ahrr! Imagine Custer's Last Concerto! *mimics getting hit by dozen arrows*

________________________

  • Mork: Woah, Min! Woahh parallel Universe! We have someone like that just on Ork!
  • Mindy: Really? On Ork, you have someone just like the Lone Ranger?
  • Mork: Yes, though he's more like The Lone Chicken. You see whenever there'd be trouble he would always hide. His favourite motto was, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!
  • Mindy: Sounds like the Gabor sisters to me.

________________________

  • Stephanie: Speaking of sugar, when do we eat?
    Mork: Stephanie, you just had lunch, and very few people can eat a whole turkey and live.

________________________

  • Mork: Who's your hero, Stephanie?
  • Stephanie: Sara Lee.
  • Mork: I might have guessed.
  • Stephanie: Aw, stick a brownie in your ear!
  • Mork: Stephanie, if you keep this up, one day you're gonna go on an elevator and it's gonna say, "Capacity: YOU!"

________________________

  • Mork: Who's your hero, Lola?
  • Lola: Truman Capote, for his accurate yet lyrical portrayal of the human condition.
  • Mork: Whew! Lola, one day you're gonna have a talk show all of your own.

________________________

  • Billy: My dad won't let me be who I really wanna be.
  • Mork: Who's that?
  • Billy: The guy with my name, Billy the Kid. He was a tough hombre! His dad never told him what to do.
  • Mork: Billy the Kid, isn't that the president's brother, the one that helped Reagan get elected?

________________________

  • Mork: Kids, time for our field trip! Today we're gonna go down to that chemical plant by the river and watch the dead fish race.

________________________

  • Mindy: Listen, I'm sure you two boys have a lot to chat about, so I'll just leave you two alone.
  • Mork: Mind, Now, Exidor is our friend.
  • Mindy: Exidor is your friend, Mork. Ya know, quite a few people think he's a little strange.
  • Exidor: I've heard those ugly rumors and they're grossly exaggerated! Do you have any chinchilla dip?
  • Mindy: I rest my case

________________________

  • Exidor: Frankie, Annette! Surf's up!

________________________

  • Mork: Mind, you can come out now, Exidor's gone.
  • Mindy: Exidor was gone when he got here!

________________________

  • Mindy: Billy the Kid was a murderer, he killed 21 people.
  • Mork:' Oh Mind, you don't know that for sure. I mean, you know how people gossip at funerals.

________________________

  • Mork: Why do Morks rush in where wise men fear to tread?

________________________

  • [A car horn honks]
    Mork: Boy, that goose must weigh a ton!

________________________

  • Mork: Mind! Mind! Please be careful!! He may have another balloon with your name on it too! Perky!

________________________

  • Mork: We've got to do something to help him, Mind.
  • Mindy: Yeah somehow we've got to prove to him that being an outlaw is only exciting in the movies. That Butch & Sundance weren't heroes they were only.....handsome. *grins*.

________________________

  • Mork: Some questions you can't answer, Billy, like how does Venus de Milo hitchhike?

________________________

  • [Mork pretends he's dying] Mork: And to Mindy, I leave all of my Tupperware...

________________________

  • Mindy: Well, do you think you wanna be Billy the Kid anymore?
  • Billy: No way, I've got a new hero now!
  • Mork: Who's that, Bill?
  • Billy: You, Mork.

________________________

  • Billy: Is it alright if I throw my bike in your jeep?
  • Mindy: Sure.
  • Mork: It's better than the other way around.

________________________

  • Mindy: Well, another day, another nervous breakdown!

________________________

  • Orson: Are there many heroes on Earth?
    Mork: Oh, yes Sir, there are. But it seems like only the ones with pizazz seem to get the spotlight. How many times, sir, have you seen Albert Schweitzer's picture on a bubblegum card? Think about that one, Sir. Oh I mean, it's because he can't throw a good curve-ball, but isn't that being a little picky?
  • Orson: It sounds like Earthlings equate heroism with glamorous deeds.
  • Mork: I think so, Sir. It's probably good for their T-Shirt industry. You always hear about the man who jumps over 13 buses, but you never hear about the John Doe who put him back together again.
  • Orson: Who's John Doe?
  • Mork: Exactly, Sir.

________________________

  • Mork: I think most real heroes seldom get a headline of their own. Imagine this, Sir...
  • [Imitating a news reporter] Mork: "Today million of Earthlings help one another, no film at eleven." And that's all she wrote, Orson, we'll get back to you next week if we get that grant from the Chrysler Foundation.

Image gallery[]

Cast[]

Guest stars/Recurring cast[]

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