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Mork in Never Never Land

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"Mork in Never-Never Land"
Season 3, Episode #3
(#54) in series (95 episodes)

With Mindy feeling depressed over the chances of her getting a postgrad scholarship, Mork tries to cheer her up by bringing home his pen pal, Peter Pan, from the Happy Valley Sanitorium.
"Mork & Mindy" episode
Guest Star(s): David Spielberg
Virginia Capers
Dick Yarmy
Bebo
Network: ABC-TV
Production code: 303 (3x3)
Writer(s) Wendy Kout
Director Howard Storm
Original airdate November 20, 1980
IMDB Mork in Never-Never Land
Episode chronology
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"Putting the Ork Back in Mork, Part 2" "Dueling Skates"
List of Mork & Mindy seasons/episodes

Mork In Never-Never Land was was third episode from Season 3 of Mork and Mindy, also the 54th overall episode in the series. Written by Wendy Kout, the episode, which was directed by Howard Storm, originally aired on ABC-TV on November 20, 1980.

Synopsis[]

Mork goes to visit his pen pal, Pater Panofski, who harbours a secret of his own, while Mindy anxiously awaits word of whether or not she's received a college scholarship.

Plot[]

Morning in her apartment Mindy, still in her PJs, heads for the door telling Mork she is expecting something important in the mail. Mork, ever eager to be of service, stops her and speeds off to fetch it for her, baying like a hound after its quarry. As he disappears down the stairs an amused Glenda Faye arrives, Mork having zoomed passed her. querying Mindy on why Mork was scratching his ear with his foot. Mindy advising her that when Mork fetches the mail he does it with total commitment. Accepting Mork's weirdness as always, Glenda invites Mindy to join her on a jog. Which Mindy considers until Glenda informs her it's to Denver, and declines rapidly . Glenda bemoans the fact she doesn't drop by more often, not having many people to talk to since her husband, Randolph passed on. Mindy commiserates with her on her loss, Glenda feeling there will never be another Randolph...before springing up cheerfully suggesting Denver is pretty far, why don't they go to the House of Holes for a donut instead? Mindy thanks her but declines again, confiding that she's waiting for the results of a scholarship exam for Journalism Grad School.

Glenda feels sure Mindy is bound to get it as she was so smart in High School, confessing that she envied her. Surprising Mindy who points out that Glenda was the one out having all the fun! Grinning Glenda admits she envied her 'between the fun. Reassuring her that she's bound to get the scholarship Glenda goes to head out, smashing a vase on the way, happy to hear it's not a new vase...just one that's been in the family for generations. As she cleans up, Mork returns startling her with his Mail Call but when she looks through what he's fetched up, she's disappointed and agitated to discover that there's nothing from the Scholarship Committee for her. There is however something for Mork, a letter from his Pen Pal, Peter Panofski. Peter has invited him to visit him and Mork really wants Mindy to go with him but she turns him down feeling she wouldn't be very good company after still not having heard about her scholarship.

Ad - Mork in Neverland - TV Guide - 15 - 20 - 1980 2

TV Guide Ad - Mork in Neverland - 15 -20 -11 - 1980

Unknown to Mindy, Peter is a resident of Happy Valley Sanitorium. Relentlessly upbeat, optimistic and chirpy, he awaits Mork's arrival eagerly. However his 'friend' and fellow inmate, the grumpy Sid, is actively disappointed when Mork arrives for him, as Peter's optimism irritating him. He is doubly irked when Mork proves to be equally upbeat, and enthuses wildly about the Sanitorium, not understanding in the slightest the purpose of the rubber rooms and wire grates over the windows. When Sid blows the pair of them off, Peter bemoans the fact that people don't want to play anymore.

Mork commiserates, telling him how Mindy is depressed at the moment and doesn't want to play either. Peter explains its because Sid and Mindy have grown up. When Mork is quizzical, Peter tells Mork his big secret, he is actually the real Peter Pan, and is delighted when Mork believes him. Mork underlining his belief in him, by deciding to tell Peter his own secret of being from Ork.

Mork is in fact so cheered by both Peter's secret and outlook that he is eager for Peter to come home with him so he can help him cheer up Mindy. A little nervous but bouyed by Mork's enthusiasm Peter agrees, only for Sid to remind him that he can't leave the Sanitorium. Deflated, Peter tells Mork he can't go because it's against the Rules, and as the inmates are taken back from the Rec Room and Nurse Tula explains to Mork that they have to be locked up at night for their safety.

At home, Mindy finds out that one of her classmates, Julie, has picked up one of the limited scholarships on offer, along with the Rabozzo Twins. Mork arrives home, coincidentally having been dropped off by Mrs Rabozzo, and inadvertently rubs it in, calling down to tell her to congratulate the twins. Noticing Mindy's mood has dropped even further, he shifts the subject and as casually as possible tries to ask her why some people are locked up?. Mindy replying usually because they commit crimes. When he asks her what if they are locked up without having committed a crime, she tells him that in that case they should be set free. Something that immediately gets Mork's mental wheels spinning. Telling him that life on Earth isn't always fair, Mindy's depression deepens and dejectedly she heads to her room to eat and count the sparkles in her ceiling.

Feeling bad for her, and how tough adult life can be, Mork wishes that Peter was there to help her, and then resolves to do something about it. Breaking into Happy Valley, Mork finds Peter and tries to convince him to sneak out with him, telling him that Mindy needs him, the world needs him. But Peter is reluctant, having put himself into Happy Valley because no one believed him, and afraid Mindy won't either. But when he hears that Mindy believes Mork is from Ork, Peter resolves to go with him, even after Sid discovers them. Using his finger, Mork cuts through and removes one of the window grates, and Peter attempts to use his pixie dust to help them fly away. Both of them landing on the ground with a thud after they jump, which Mork explains away as bum dust.

The next morning, Mork summons Mindy out of her room enthusiastically to tell her, her worries are over. Confused as she hasn't heard about the scholarship yet, she watches as Mork calls Peter down from the attic, and is alarmed when Mork uses his finger, in front of Peter, to close the attic stairs. Mork tells her not to worry as Peter 'understands'. He then introduces Peter to her as Peter Pan. Thinking he's joking she plays along with Peter asking him if he lives in Never Neverland? When he tells her he moved to Happy Valley, she realizes he's an inmate from the Asylum and quietly starts to panic.

Pulling Mork aside to point out the trouble this could mean, breaking Peter out, Only for Mork to remind her that she said people who hadn't committed crimes shouldn't be locked up. Trying quietly but fervently to tell him he misunderstood and that Peter Pan isn't real, Peter overhears her. Appealing to her, Peter tells her that problems only seem big if that's all you look at in life. Before confusing her by telling her she should crow like a rooster, explaining that whenever they feel good in Neverland they crow. Both Mork and Peter try and convince her to try it, that'll help her forget her worries, but while she appreciates their motives she can't bring herself to do it. When the phone rings, she answers to find it's the Dean of the Grad School who tells her she's been unsuccessful. While she's on the phone Mork and Peter try to get her to crow down the phone to the Dean, but she chickens out.

Mork tells her that was the moment to let the 'little person' inside of her out, and set aside her adult problems, and he and Peter parade around the apartment crowing loudly, at which point Nurse Tula and an orderly from the Asylum walk into the apartment having heard them. Mork asks if Sid 'spilled the peas' on them but Nurse Tula tell shim she found his letters to Peter and figured out this is where he would have come. Mork tries to create a diversion for Peter to 'fly' out the window, but Nurse Tula stops Peter by telling him they need him at Happy Valley. That he cheers people up and Sid misses him. Hearing that Peter decides he has to go back to help them, and apologizes to Mork that he wasn't able to cheer up Mindy.

As Peter starts to go with Nurse Tula and the Orderly, Mork pleads with Mindy to crow, for herself and for Peter. But she resists, reluctant as she'd feel ridiculous. He reminds her she's been miserable all week already, so what is there to lose? Looking back at her Peter tries to convince her she needs to enjoy what she does have, instead of worrying about what she doesn't. Mork gives it his all, coaxing her to do it for him, and for the little person inside of her. Wheedling at her till she gives it a tiny crow and half curls up in embarrassment. Seizing on it, Mork encourages her further, urging her to give it some gas. Trying again, she manages a slightly more robust noise. With Mork urging her on one final time, she lets out a full blooded crow, delighting them all.

Laughing she finds to her amazement that it really does work, and goes to Peter to tell him that she believes in him, which makes him incredibly happy. After they leave, Mindy thanks Mork, telling him she really does feel better, and she's been thinking. She doesn't need to go on to do Post Grad work, she can go out and try for a job without it and that's what she's going to do, even if its a little scary. At that point they hear Peter's voice and turn to see him floating outside the upstairs window, saying goodbye and that he'll see Mork next visiting day. Flabbergasted Mindy charges to the window, watching him fly away. Looking back at Mork she asks if he helped Peter do that? To which he wonders if she really wants to know? Deciding that she doesn't, he tells her he doesn't either.

The episode ends with Mork doing the 'Funky Orkan' as he makes his report to Orson, telling him he has a terminal case of Peter Panitis, the only disease that is belter than the cure. He reports that some people on Earth take their lives too seriously and forget to have fun. When Orson complains that it's alright for Mork, he gets to have all the fun while he does all the work, Mork reminds him there's a child in all of them, and tries to get him to crow, but Orson won't have any of it...until Mork leaves...or he thinks he has.

Trivia[]

General[]

  • This is the first time that it's mentioned Mindy and Glenda Faye were classmates.
  • Sid, Peter's grumpy fellow sanitorium inmate is played by Dick Yarmy who rather ironically previously played Dr. Litney the psychiatrist who testified against Mork in his sanity hearing in The Mork & Mindy Special (as well as appearing as Ron the Bare Facts strip joint manager in Season 2's Dial 'N' for Nelson).
  • Robin Williams went on to portray Peter Pan in the 1991 film Hook, directed by Steven Spielberg. The unrelated David Spielberg portrayed Peter Pan in this episode.

Pop Culture[]

  • Mindy tells Mork, "We've got big trouble here," and he asks, "Right here in River City?" This is a reference to the song Trouble from The Music Man.
  • Mork's Jack Nicholson impersonation is both a joke about 'playing Jacks' and a gag about the Sanitorium, with the quote being directly taken from 1975's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
  • Mork celebrates with a Jose Josanadan! A nod to Gilda Radner's Rosanne Rosanadanna on Saturday Night Live.
  • "A job for Morky Bell" is a reference to Peter Pan's Fairy Friend Tinker Bell
  • Mork also does an Edgar G. Robinson impersonation as he breaks Peter out of the Sanitorium, Robinson having made the 1954 gritty prison break movie Black Tuesday
  • Mork tells Mindy he's sacked her problem like 'Mean Mork Greene' a reference to Joe Greene the Defensive Tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1969 - 81) whose offensive style earned him the name Mean Joe Greene.
  • Mork references The Wizard of Oz again by saying to Peter, "There's no place like the home."
  • Mork tells Colonels Sanders the figurehead of Kentucky Fried Chicken to watch out...when Peter starts to crow like a Rooster.


Quotes\Excerpts[]

  • Mork: Aww Mind, maybe your scholarboat will come tomorrow
  • Mindy: That's Scholarship
  • Mork: Oh, I guess I'm just a little dinghy huh? Ahrr Ahrr

________________________________

  • Mork: I don't know why people are unhappy when there are so many clowns in government.

________________________________

  • Mork: Well, where I come from everybody believes in you.
  • Peter Pan: Oh, well, where's that?
  • Mork: I come from a place far, far away where the plants are as intelligent as the people. And the sky is yellow and brown.
  • Peter Pan: Pittsburgh?

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  • Mork: C'mon Mind, you believed in me! Why don't you believe in him?
  • Mindy: Because you really are Mork from Ork, and he's.....right here in my apartment!!

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Image Gallery[]


Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest starring/Recurring cast[]

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