The Checklist: Sheena (S2 Ep11) “Stranded in the Jungle”
Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, first debuted in comic book form back in 1938.
In 1955 Sheena made the jump to the small screen when Sheena: Queen of the Jungle aired for 26 episodes in first run syndication.
Nearly three decades later, Sheena would be on the big screen for the first time when Tanya Roberts starred in 1984’s Sheena: Queen of the Jungle.
Then in the year 2000, Sheena would return to television with Gena Lee Nolin taking up the Sheena mantle in the series simply titled Sheena.
In this edition of The Checklist, I will take a look back at the 11th episode from the 2nd season and put it to The Checklist test…
- Synopsis: Sheena has to rescue her friend Matt Cutter and five members of a “Danger Club” who are stranded in the jungle and find themselves in the middle of civil war.
#1. Does the show have a quality open?
This is a question I always like to ask the first time a series is put to The Checklist test. First impressions are important, so a quality show open is important for first time viewers and it becomes a source of comfort for existing fans of a show. The opening theme of Sheena features the sights and sounds of Africa interspersed with scenes introducing the four principal members of the cast… including one titillating shot of the star of the show, Gena Lee Nolin, under a waterfall… Some action shots are thrown in for good measure and overall we get the flavor of what Sheena is all about. 1/1
#2. Were there any notable guest stars?
The episodes shines a spotlight on Sheena’s love of reading (she even gets some books she ordered from Amazon) and her eyes light up when she notices that one of the members of wealthy survivalists competing for the prize money is an author she met 20 years ago who signed a book for her when she was just a girl. I should point out that Sheena has very little recollection of her past, so this flashback is huge for her.
The author in question, Glenn Pollett was played by Gary Graham. I immediately recognized Graham guest starred in a variety of TV shows over the years and even had a starring role in the Alien Nation TV series and TV movies, but I will always remember him most as Achilles from Robot Jox. In the overall series, Graham’s Pollett may go down as one of the most important guest stars as he provides Sheena with another piece of the puzzle where her past is concerned… he remembered her last name! 2/2
#3. Does Sheena transform?
Shortly after Sheena’s friend and pilot, Matt Cutter (John Allen Nelson, Killer Klowns from Outer Space), takes off with his wealthy passengers headed to the drop zone where the “$5 Million Dollar Survival Game” will begin, Sheena hears a report on the radio about a civil war that has broken out… exactly where Cutter was heading.
Sure enough, Cutter and his passengers have to jump out of the plane sooner than expected (and who could blame them with all the crappy early 2000’s CGI explosions going on around them), but Sheena activates her Wonder Twins powers and transforms into a hawk to swoop in and save Cutter and then assist him in rounding up his passengers including the author she desperately wants to speak to Glenn Pollett.
Later, when Cutter and the others are captured by one of the two armies at war… Sheena goes all Incredible Hulk and transforms into a beast that wreaks havoc on the army camp site and allows Cutter, Pollett and the others to escape. 3/3
#4. Were there any romantic sparks between Sheena and Matt Cutter?
From my limited Sheena viewing experiences and from doing a bit of research, I found the writers never really committed to making Sheena and Cutter a couple… of course it didn’t help that in this particular episode Sheena was preoccupied with the possibility of learning more about her past from Glenn Pollett. And Matt wasn’t exactly at his most attentive where Sheena was concerned as he was in total fan boy mode over his boyhood football hero, who was among the wealthy passengers Matt was hired to transport.
I imagine the show would have eventually got to the point where Sheena and Matt became romantically involved, but it certainly didn’t happen in “Stranded in the Jungle” and there were only two more episodes in Season 2 before the show was cancelled. 3/4
#5. Was this a Carl Weathers episode?
Who better to say “ACTION” on the set of television series or movie than Action Jackson himself, THE Carl Weathers. Weathers directed 5 episodes of Sheena over the course of its two season run including “Stranded in the Jungle”. 4/5
- Final Score = 4/5 (80%) The Sheena series borrowed a lot from things that worked… there’s the obvious Tarzan comparison… casting two Baywatch alumni and incorporating elements that made that show the #1 show on the planet at its height was a wise decision… they even managed to borrow from The Incredible Hulk. But maybe the line item that cost this episode of Sheena a perfect score is also what got the show cancelled… people love when attractive TV characters hook up and Sheena was not teasing the romantic possibilities between Sheena and Matt Cutter enough to keep people tuning in week after week to find out if that would be the week the sparks would really start to fly!
