Episode Guide: Season 16 1969-1970

"Last Chance" (09/28/69):

On a surveying mission of the forest, Scott and Bob are delighted to find wolves restablishing themselves in the area. Then the male is shot while hunting for his pregnant mate and the rangers must save him—and change the hunter's mind about wolves. Jim McKay: Ron Hayes.
   • Note: This is one of the few episodes after "The Holocaust" that Bob and Scott are in together.

"Success Story" (10/05/69):

Scott and Lassie help a Job Corps volunteer who just isn't making the grade.

"Patsy" (10/12/69):

Lassie, staying the afternoon with Mr. Hilliard and his pet chimpanzee, who must move from their home to make way for an acqueduct, must save Patsy when she runs in fear directly onto the construction site. Hilliard: William Bramley. Munson: John Harmon.

"No Margin for Error" (10/19/69):

During a surveying trip at a former bombsite sleighted to become a national grassland, Scott carefully disarms an unexploded bomb that is next to a trapped man while Lassie shuttles supplies to him. Jeff Treat: Richard Evans. Chuck: Ross Elliott. Sheriff: Roy Engel.

"Lassie and the Water Bottles" (10/26/69):

Widowed Sarah Caldwell will have to give up the family ranch if she can't keep water on the property, so Scott helps her install "water bottles," large vinyl storage "tanks." But a thirsty fawn gets himself trapped inside the slippery containers. Sarah: Barbara Hale.
   • Note: Hale was a regular on another CBS mainstay, Perry Mason.

"Survival" (11/02/69):

As they take an elk survey, Scott and Lassie's helicopter ride turns deadly when the vehicle has has mechnical problems and crashes in the snowy wilderness. Pilot Bert tries to at least fix the communications system, but that too is beyond hope; they must rely on their survival gear and wait for rescue. Bert: Skip Homeier. With Mark Roberts and David Westberg.
   • Trivia: Bert has been flying since World War II.
   • Note: This is one of the few episodes after "The Holocaust" that Bob and Scott are in together.

"Father and Son" (11/09/69):

While surveying Government rangeland, Scott is hurt by a careless rifle shot fired by young Tom Bradley, a boy who has taken to playing hookey and staying in the woods after his mother's death; later, another shot of Tom's gone wrong injures his father. Tom: Teddy Eccles. John Bradley: Russell Johnson. Ezra Trask: William Keene. Ranger: Patrick Waltz.

"The Sky is Falling" (11/16/69):

Neeka, spending his vacation with Scott and Bob, is delighted to help the rangers out at the Roaring Camp spur line, a railroad that will run directly through the majestic redwood forest. There they befriend a persistent little bantam chick (Neeka names him Fairbanks) who is constantly wandering into trouble. Dan Harlan: James Westerfield. Neeka: Mark Miranda.
   • Note: This is one of the few episodes after "The Holocaust" that Bob and Scott are in together. It contains a lovely scene where Dan shows the visitors a beautiful redwood grove and Neeka says reverently, "It's almost like being in church." Yep, it's God's and He built it all Himself.

"No Greater Love" (11/23/69):

Bob has the weekend off, so he takes Neeka fishing on the Columbia River, but on a hike, Lassie and Neeka discover a crow building her nest in a dangerous place. When Lassie attempts to save the bird, she is swept down the icy cold river. Neeka: Mark Miranda.

"More Than Meets the Eye" (11/30/69):

On a nature hike, Scott and Lassie help Kathy, a withdrawn and fearful girl who is attending school with other blind children for the first time. Kathy: Kathy Martinez. Greg: Alex Valdez. Steve: Bert Borja. Nancy, Sandra and Sherry are played by Debbie Parker, Regina Brink, and Sheila Killian, but there is no way to distinguish which actress played which girl.
   • Note: This episode, which featured the Whispering Pines Braille woodland trail in the San Bernardino National Forest of California, one of only three existing at the time, was profiled in a TV Guide article.

Scott recites a lovely poem to Kathy that Sharon Turner and an anonymous friend transcribed. Prolific episode writers (and the authors of this particular episode) Bob Schaefer and Eric Freiwald wrote the poem specifically for "More Than Meets the Eye":

Walk softly, through the woodlands.
Listen. Nature’s majesty abounds.
The whisper of the wind. Hear it?
The fragrance of the air. Breathe it.
The crisp cool water. Taste it.
Touch the beauty of the moment. Feel it.
There’s more to life than meets the eye.
Some with sight are often blind.
Close your eyes, and listen with your mind.
Pungent trees, humming wings,
Rustling leaves of nature sing.
Spongey bog, crackling pine,
Mossy log and honeyed vine.
There’s more to life than meets the eye.
Close your eyes, and listen with your mind,
Listen with your mind.

Schaefer and Freiwald also wrote other song lyrics for the series, probably those for the ballad that accompanied "Lassie the Voyager" and the "Bonnie Lassie" theme used in season 17, and possibly also the "Charlie Banana" song.

"The Chase" (12/14/69):

Scott and Lassie help a doe who has been chased to exhaustion by snowmobilers.

"The Blessing" (12/21/69):

Manuel Sandoval sneaks over the border with his deaf dog Poco, hoping that the Blessing of the Animals as Mission San Luis Rey will restore the little terrier's hearing in time for Christmas. Manuel: Tony Davis. Father Matthew: Med Flory.
   • Note: This episode was directed by Bonita Granville Wrather.

"Superstition Canyon" (12/28/69):

Lassie babysits a prospector's burro.

"The Road Back" part 1 (01/04/70):

Scott and Lassie, in San Francisco's Chinatown for a mini-forest project, befriend the children in a Chinese school. When Lassie is struck by a car while saving one of the children, she appears to have amnesia. So when a fire breaks out at the vet's office where she's staying, she escapes to the streets with no idea where she belongs. Elizabeth Chan: Andrea Tong. Kim: Lisa Lu. Veterinarian: John Zaremba.
   • Note: Some nice views of San Francisco Bay in this first episode.

"The Road Back" part 2 (01/11/70):

The next morning, Lassie's search for her identity takes her to a wax museum at Fisherman's Wharf and finally down to the waterfront, where she is befriended by a down-on-his-luck young fisherman with a family and a boat loan he can't pay immediately to his creditor, Tony. Gil: Sammy Jackson.
   • Note: More San Francisco: the Fisherman's Wharf Wax Museum and surrounding area, plus the docks at Sausalito across the bay.

"The Road Back" part 3 (01/18/70):

While heading back to San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge, Lassie befriends Sue, a lonely runaway teenage girl. Next day, a weary Scott continues to work at the school while Lassie brings together her new friend and a lonely soldier. On her own again, she is mistaken for a possibly rabid collie named Tawny. Elizabeth Chan: Andrea Tong. Kim: Lisa Lu. Danny: Rob Hughes.
   • Note: More lovely San Francisco scenery in this episode, as Lassie climbs Coit Tower. Hughes would turn up the following season in two episodes as Mark Saunders.

"The Road Back" part 4 (01/25/70):

Her memory recovering, and hunted by health officials and police as a rabid dog, Lassie is chased through San Francisco streets, including down flower-lined brick-paved Lombard Street, "the crookedest street in the world." Meanwhile Bob joins Scott in the search. Elizabeth Chan: Andrea Tong. Kim: Lisa Lu. Radio Dispatcher: Lloyd Nolan.
   • Note: Also seen, the cable car turntable at Market Street—and Lassie rides a cable car. Okay, so the Department of Health guys find out Lassie is the wrong dog. They just leave her there in the street to be run over, saying it's a job for animal control! Yeesh! They could have at least tried to get her and have her escape and the story could proceed as it did!

"Winged Rescue" (02/01/70):

Lassie and Neeka are lost in the desert.

"The Cliff" (02/08/70):

Neeka and Lassie take a wrong turn on the self-guided trail at the Mesa Verde National Forest, and, while trying to find their way back, slip off a cliff where Neeka breaks his leg. As darkness falls, Bob and ranger Gene McClintock desperately search for the pair. McClintock: Richard Webb. Neeka: Mark Miranda.

"Warm Heart—Cold Nose" (02/15/70):

With Bob at a meeting, Lassie visits overnight with the Frasers, a blind man and his wife who live in the woods without any way of communicating with the outside world. When Edie Fraser is hurt during a walk, Clint and his guide dog Ginger start for help, but Lassie must save them from a cougar's attack and go herself. Clint Fraser: Ford Rainey. Edie: Ann Doran. Ed: Bing Russell.

"Whitewater Fury" (03/01/70):

While Bob and Dan are scouting out the rapids for a "whitewater trail" for tourists, Lassie finds a baby raccoon that has been poisoned by "pink snow"—the same material she has already eaten. The only way to get her help—a trip down the worst of the rapids. Dan: Buck Young. (The episode never explains what "pink snow" is: it's a poisonous red algae.)

"Chucka" (03/08/70):

Bob and his Navajo guide Sam find a dog swimming across Lake Powell on their way to survey tribal lands and rescue him; he is Chucka, an indolent dog who'd rather rest or play than tend sheep. But Chucka must "grow up" quickly after his shepherd owner, Charlie Ngani, is injured and Lassie must go for help. Sam: Med Flory.
   • Note: Lassie filmed against the splendor of Monument Valley. What more scenery could you want? Chucka is played either by Spike, who would have been at least 12 by the time this was filmed, or perhaps his son.

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