| "The Fluke Spook" | |
|---|---|
| Season 1, Episode #16 (#16) in series (26 episodes) | |
 | |
| "The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour" episode | |
| Guest Star(s): | Mark L. Taylor Frank Welker |
| Network: | ABC-TV |
| Production code: | 1x16 |
| Writer(s) | |
| Director | |
| Original airdate | November 13, 1982 |
IMDB 
|
The Fluke Spook |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "The Invisible Mork" | "Mayhem for the Mayor" |
| List of Mork & Mindy seasons/episodes | |
The Fluke Spook was a Mork and Mindy episode from the ABC-TV animated The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour series, the 16th series episode.
Synopsis[]
When the kids' camping trip gets rained out and a peeved Doing ruins their transport, Mork, Mindy, Hamilton and Chip wind up taking refuge in a creepy old house where diamond thieves have taken up residence.
Plot[]
Hamilton arrives to pick up a country/western dressed Mindy and Mork for the School Hayride, Mork skidding in on her call to pick her up and carry her out to the car, eager to experience his first hayride. At the picnic however, while Mindy hangs out with Mork on their blanket, Hamilton is smugly telling his sidekick, Chip, that Mindy is going to be his steady girlfriend before the picnic is over. Unaware that Doing is eavesdropping from the bushes.
When Chip points out that Hamilton has been saying that for years, but Mindy still goes for 'spacey' Mork, Hamilton reveals his plan to make Mork look a fool in front of Mindy, by liberally sprinkling chicken feathers over Mork's burger. Doing tries to warn both Mork & Mindy, but they mistake his agitation for hunger, and Mork bites into the burger happily, proceeding to choke, writhe and spin alarming Mindy. An angry Doing growls at the laughing Hamilton before going for him, ripping off his vest and shirt, until Mindy drags him off admonishing Doing for his behavior. As she does so Hamilton quietly comments to Chip that it's going even better than expected, Mindy irked at both Mork and his pet.
An abashed Doing wanders off and angrily takes revenge on Hamilton by biting and puncturing every tire on his car. Just as a storm starts to break. With everyone at the picnic fleeing, the four of them finding themselves stranded, with only one spare tire. Spotting an old house, Mindy suggests they go there to phone for help. But when they get there they find the place run down and creepy, Mork starting to freak out when an eerie voice seems to tell them to 'Go Away'. Scoffing at Mork's fear, Hamilton says there's no such thing as ghosts and leads them inside, suggesting they split up to find a phone. Once apart, Hamilton dons an old sheet telling Chip he's going to scare Mork and make him look like a nerd in front of Mindy, not having seen a hand grab at Mindy from behind a mirror, as she and Mork explore another part of the house.
His ploy starts to work Mork and Doing scared as he approaches them, but Hamilton doesn't spot the seemingly real ghost behind him in turn. Thinking it's Chip behind him making the noises, Hamilton freaks out on turning to see the ghost, running and leaving the sheet behind him, relieving Mork. Mindy pointing out that Hamilton may not have been a ghost, but the other one certainly is. Cowering against the fireplace with Mindy, Mork's elbow accidentally hits a hidden button and the fireplace swivels leaving the kids in a hidden room, full of monitors and a running projector system. When Mork swivels the projector the ghost shows up on an interior wall, startling Mork, but Mindy realizing it was all just a projection and that someone has rigged the entire house to scare people, wondering why.
Mork finds that days paper, but Mindy notes it's actually 5 years old, the headline reading about the capture of thieves who stole a million dollars in diamonds. Diamonds that are still missing. Mork wonders how they could catch the thieves but miss the diamonds, Mindy unsure, but sure that someone is trying to scare them away from the place, and they are going to find out why. Outside in the continued storm, a grappling hook comes over a wall, and a bald heavy named Curly tells the brains of the operation Prof. Grumpenstein that he's a genius having kept people away while they were in jail. The Professor telling them they retrieve the diamonds they hid away that night, full sure they are still there thanks to the ghosts he set up in the old place. Unknown to them in turn, they are being staked out by a pair of FBI agents, who report that the pair are heading over the wall. Ordered to follow them to the stolen diamonds they are instructed to re-arrest them when they do.
Back in the house, Mindy gives up she and Mork having looked everywhere in the secret room and having found no clues to what's going on. Except, Mork points out, for the big safe, which he proceeds to use his finger to zap open. Inside of which they find the small hoard of diamonds. Mork collects them announcing they'll return them to the 'police people', only to find a flaw in his plan as he cant' find a switch to reverse the fireplace door. On the other side of the fireplace however, Prof. Grumpenstein hits the hidden button to get access to the room, only for Mork and the diamonds to fly out and floor him and Curly. Alarmed at the diamonds being in Mork's possession, Mork tells the pair he's about to return them to the police.
When they try and tell him they're the police, Mork isn't buying it, saying he's seen 12 Adam 1 and the Hill Street Blue Boys and they wear Space Patrol uniforms. He doesn't' buy they're plain clothes either, and tells them the real test is that all police persons know karate. Grumpenstein says they know karate and gets 'Officer' Curly to demonstrate. Curly demolishing an old suit of armor enough to impress Mork who hands the diamonds over, just as Mindy hammers on the fireplace door from the far side, wanting to know what's going on out there. Inspired by Curly, Mork demolishes the fireplace to let her out. As she and Doing emerge, Mindy is cut short on seeing two men, but not the two crooks, the two FBI men wanting to know if they'd seen two men sneaking around. Mork confirming it, calling them the 'police persons' and telling them he gave them the stolen diamonds. The Agents claim they're the police, but Mork isn't buying that either, demanding to know if they know karate. The Agents scoffing and saying of course not, FBI Agents are all lawyers.
Mork, feeling vindicated, tells Mindy he feels they are the crooks and tells them he's going to arrest them, before using his 'Spaghetti Finger' which all Orkans were equipped with when they renounced violence long ago, and spins the long strands out around the two men, binding them together. Which is when one of the Agents manages o get his badge out to show Mindy. Alarmed, Mindy instructs Mork to get them free, but he tells her Orkan 'spaghetti' hardens instantly, and won't soften up again for another hour. Meaning it's up to the two of them to catch the crooks and retrieve the diamonds. When the two Agents try to follow them, tethered together, they're spied by Hamilton and Chip, Hamilton surmising they are the ones behind the ghost caper and resolving to capture them, to show Mindy he's a hero. Draping a sheet over them, he wraps them up, and jubilantly declares that once Mindy sees this she'll dump Mork for him.
Outside Grumpenstein and Curly think they have gotten away with it, but up at the top of the house, Mork is deploying Doing's radar tail to try and spot the crooks. He does so, but his tail gets caught in the weather vane, until Mork deploys his 'Hurricane Finger' to untangle him. The fortunate side effect being that Doing's tail gets wrapped around the running crooks instead, capturing them.
Downstairs, Hamilton crows to Mindy that she should feast her eyes on 'her hero', that the King of the Campus has single handedly captured the ghosts. Doing biting off the sack Hamilton improvised with the sheet, unveiling the two FBI Agents, alarming Hamilton. Making matters worse for him, Mindy takes a hold of Mork appreciatively and tells him that whatever he does, he may do it weirdly, but she loves him for his weirdness and kisses him. Chip snickering to a fuming Hamilton that he's bombed out again with her. Doing blowing a raspberry at him.
Trivia[]
General[]
- The 'Space Patrol' uniforms reference is a call back to Mork's encounter with Deputy Tilwick in The Pilot.
- Doing is confirmed again to be a Hibijonee, Mork stating they captured two crooks with "One finger and a Hibijonee Tail"
Pop Culture[]
- Curly both looks and sounds like Curly from The Three Stooges.
- Mork mentions the cop dramas 12 Adam 1 and the Hill Street Blue Boys. Obviously referencing Hill Street Blues, with 12 Adam 1 being a mash of Adam 12 and the 240 Robert (which happened to star Pam Dawber's then future husband, Mark Harmon).
Gallery[]
Characters[]
- Robin Williams as Mork
- Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell
- Mark L. Taylor as Hamilton J. DuPont XXV
- Frank Welker as Doing
Supporting[]
- Chip
- Professor Grumpenstein
- Curly
- FBI Agent 1
- FBI Agent 2