Daktari (1966) s01e01 Episode Script

Would you believe it? Rosie is more aggressive than Wilbur? Not only that, Franklin's more repulsive than Rosie.
Wait a minute, you're going too fast for me.
Rosie's increased aggressiveness and Franklin's overly inquisitive? Hey, you two better hurry before it's all gone.
PURRlNG.]
Well, well, well.
lf it isn't our old friend, District Officer Hedley.
Good morning, everybody.
Morning, Hedley.
And the top of the morning to you, Clarence old boy.
How are his eye exercises coming along? Oh, twice as good as usual.
Daktari, Paula, Mike.
My superiors tell me from time to time CHUCKLES.]
you do serious work around here.
Such as migration problems, immunization, breeding survival problems, vaccine developments, etcetera.
But this? You're not gonna tell me you make a serious study of cubs paddling about in porridge.
Oh, that's exactly what we're doing.
We have our hands full with these motherless cubs.
Oh, how l hate people who kill and maim animals.
Well, young lady, you'll be glad to know that l've doubled my force of eskaris.
We'll rid this reserve of poachers once and for all.
That's good news, Hedley.
l say.
Those aren't tiger cubs.
Because l know for a fact we simply don't have tigers in Africa.
BOTH LAUGH.]
You know, you're absolutely right.
We imported them from lndia.
They're part of our study of animal compatibility.
GROWLlNG.]
Come on.
Whoa, she's lively.
Come on, Tara.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Whoa! Whoa, is she lively.
Come on.
Whoa.
Well, for one thing, she's feeling better.
That's for sure.
Yeah.
Limp's all gone, huh? We'll watch her, then release her.
Settle down.
There.
Now, that's much better.
You sign all your work that way, old boy? Well, we mark all the animals we treat.
Judy.
Get away from there.
You've had your lunch.
Don't start sponging or you'll regret it.
CHlTTERS.]
Jack, you wanna take her on back? All right.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Well, l guess you better get going.
Say, Hedley, Jack and Mike planted some grasses out by the Kamola waterhole.
We're on our way to see if it stopped the hippos from migrating.
- Care to come along? - Can't.
No, l'm gonna make several thousand square miles safe for the animals.
l don't want any more baby orphans.
Heh, heh.
Fair enough.
Well, refreshments are always on the house.
Fine.
Thank you.
Goodbye, all.
Take care.
Well, come on.
Let's get going.
TRUMPETlNG.]
Well, there's the money, my boy.
That's what we've been waiting for.
Now be very quiet.
l'll get the mother.
When the herd takes off, you start after the baby.
You sure this is right, Uncle Frank? l mean, this isn't a game reserve.
l told you this was open country, didn't l? Lt's overrun with elephants.
They're ruining everything.
All right, you take after the baby.
l'll keep you covered.
You head her off, l'll cut behind her.
SQUEALlNG.]
Well, that was 4000 bucks you let get away.
l tripped.
There was a log in the ground.
Let's get the truck.
l'm an animal dealer my father was an animal dealer and my father's father was an animal dealer.
- But trying to make one out of you - Are you sure this isn't a game reserve? - Lt's - Of course, l'm sure.
l know this country like the back of my hand.
Get in.
GROWLS.]
Well it looks as if our colony of hippos has given birth to at least four little ones.
The grasses we planted did the trick.
They're not gonna migrate.
Leave it to Jack.
He's such a whiz at botany, isn't he? lf he is such a "whiz at botany" why don't you ask him to help you with your correspondence course? You could do with a few A's.
Ask him? l'm waiting for him to ask me.
SlGHS.]
Judy, really, not again.
Jack, why aren't you watching her? Oh, what's up? Don't you know better than to do a thing like that? Well, l can't watch her every minute in the day.
Hey, Jack, look.
Dad, come quickly.
She can't be more than a year old.
Just a baby.
Yeah.
Well That's strange.
Well, that Toto is lost, Paula, and half-scared to death.
She sure is.
Well, she's been traveling alone and fast for at least a couple of hours.
lsn't there an elephant herd up near Nangoro? Yes.
We better take her back with us.
lt's dangerous for her to be here alone.
That poor baby.
Let's see if we can catch her.
Jack, do you wanna grab a rope? TRUMPETlNG.]
There we go.
Whoa.
Steady.
There we are.
Steady.
There she goes.
Steady.
Jack, you You wanna put the elephant up on the truck? Do what? Stick the elephant on the truck.
All right, you guys, l'll take her.
PAULA CHUCKLES.]
Come on, Judy.
Come on, Judy.
Wameru Study Center.
So that's it.
Well, that's what? Oh, well, they're doing our work for us.
We can't Just stay here and let that go by.
We're gonna get our elephant after all.
Come on.
All right.
Steady.
Steady, steady.
There we go.
Steady, steady.
Paula, see if you can hold her steady, will you? Okay, Marsh.
L got what l need.
Jack, what exactly are those slides for? Well, they're soil and pollen samples from her feet.
hope they'll help me find out where she comes from.
Oh.
Jack did offer to help you with your botany.
l changed my mind.
Uh, do you have any idea what might have happened to Toto's family? No, l don't.
Lt's very unusual.
Mother must be dead.
The rest of the herd would've taken care of her though.
lt's gonna be difficult to trace because the rain washed out all the tracks.
Judy, hand me the bottle.
Well, what do you know? Miss Judy Nightingale.
JUD Y CHUCKLES.]
There she goes.
There you go.
Well, what do you know? Now, remember, we're Just sightseers and picture-takers.
But why do we have to lie about it? Just do as l tell you.
Come on.
Hi there.
Oh, it's all right, he won't hurt you.
Come on inside.
l'm Frank Tabor, my nephew, Mark.
How do you do? L'm Dr.
Tracy.
My daughter, Paula, my assistants Mr.
Makulu and Mr.
Dane.
Hi.
How do you do? Hi, Mark.
We've been taking pictures in the bush country.
Mark is visiting me from Philadelphia.
We've heard about your place and the good work you're doing.
We wondered if we could have a look around.
Certainly, help yourself.
lsn't that cute, Mark? That little baby elephant? Oh, Toto? We found her running loose in the brush.
Daktari's been patching her up and restoring her faith.
That's the Swahili word for "doctor," isn't it? Well, you know that.
Oh, l've always loved Africa.
l've been reading about it since l was a kid.
Since he was a kid.
Get that.
JUD Y CHlTTERS.]
Judy, this man is a friend.
l sure am, Judy.
Oh, she's Just a little temperamental, like the rest of her sex.
l still can't believe that you can keep a lion right next to a baby elephant.
Oh, that's Clarence.
He's a little cross-eyed, but we're giving him eye exercises.
Gee.
Uh, would you mind if l fed the baby elephant - while Mark takes a picture? - Why, no, not at all.
lt'll do her good to get used to people.
Well, this is certainly an impressive setup you've got here.
Well, thank you.
lf you've finished looking around, uh, come into the dispensary.
- We'll be in there.
- All right.
Shall we go? l Just can't take my eyes off of this baby elephant.
Since when are you so friendly with animals? They got her illegally.
She really belongs to us.
l thought you were gonna buy her.
l would if l could, boy.
l would if l could.
Now, come on.
Let's not keep them waiting.
MEWlNG.]
You mean you can let all these animals run loose in the same room? Yes, we can and do.
You see, we make studies in biology, botany zoology, ecology, and even anthropology.
We found through affection training very few animals are born enemies.
Would you like to see some of the field studies we're making? - They're outside, beyond the pens.
- L'd like to very much.
lf Jack doesn't mind, that is.
lf Jack doesn't mind, that is.
Jack doesn't mind, so Jack's busy.
CLEARS THROAT.]
He's working on pollen dust from the elephant to see if he can determine where it came from.
Uh, rather hard to find an elephant that young on the loose.
ls it really? That's an interesting gun rack.
What kind of a rifle is that? Those? Well, l'll show you.
This is a hypodermic rifle.
lt fires a hypodermic proJectile which pierces an animal's skin, puts them to sleep instantly.
This way we can administer medication without having to trap them or lasso them.
The small ones are for small animals? Yes, um, well, this is the large one, number one, which is for, say elephants.
Um, number two for hippos and rhinos three, four for wildebeests, zebra, etcetera.
l guess a man would need about six, right? Oh, l'd say about seven, if you ever had to use it although l don't know why anyone would.
And this? That's the antidote.
Marsh, l think l can tell you what we wanna know.
Our elephant traveled about 20 miles originally from those low hills Just east of Nangoro south of the river.
Well, l'm impressed.
We'll see if we can locate Toto's parents.
Mark, maybe you'd like to stay over and ride out with us.
Uh, no, l'm afraid we can't do that.
We've stayed too long already.
l'm expected in Monduli tomorrow.
Thank you for your hospitality.
Bye.
You're welcome.
So long, everybody.
Bye.
Come along, Mark.
That uncle of his sure leads him around by the nose, doesn't he? And some relatives are really domineering.
And some aren't domineering enough.
- L know.
My botany.
- Right.
Well, come on.
Let's see if we can figure a way to get that Toto in the truck.
LlON ROARlNG.]
GROWLlNG.]
ELEPHANT TRUMPETlNG.]
Okay, Paula, start moving with the bottle.
Come on, baby.
Come on.
Hold him.
Oh, she's crushing me on this side.
- Wide load.
Don't worry.
This will be a cinch.
Gently, everyone.
That's it.
You're all smarter than he is.
Remember, he's Just a baby.
Well, what do you know.
They're making it real easy for us.
What are they doing that for? Oh, they're pretty smart.
Getting it used to the truck so they can take her back to her herd.
And all the time, l thought we were gonna have to walk her out.
Yes, my boy, our luck is sure changing.
Yep.
But which way? Come on, baby.
And Just give her a little push.
Yeah, that's right.
Jack, a little harder.
Thattaboy, Mike.
Come on.
- Paula, a little more milk.
Come on.
You go.
She'll go, she'll go.
Come on.
Attagirl, Toto.
A little more pushing.
Attagirl.
Ah.
L knew you could do it.
There.
You see? l told you it'd be easy.
Yeah.
All right, Judy.
Lt's your turn.
Okay, Judy, bring Clarence.
ELEPHANT SQUEALlNG.]
Hey, get the tailgate up there.
Okay.
Hey, look at this load we got, you three.
Everybody's set now.
My, my.
They'll be okay.
Let's get the canvas down.
Nice and tight.
CHlTTERS.]
All three of them are in there.
Come on.
Judy, that's a good girl now.
That's a good girl.
Now, you Just be quiet, everything's gonna be all right.
Everything's gonna be all right.
But, Uncle Frank, Clarence and Judy don't belong to us.
Oh, they do now, my boy.
l told you our luck was changing.
Unexpected, but quite a haul, my boy, quite a haul.
Give me your rifle.
l said give it to me.
Now, when l give the word, you push.
Now, push.
Let's see, 15 plus seven times 25 is That works out, proper dosage.
- Did somebody move the truck? - No, why? - Lt's gone.
Lt's missing.
- Lt's what? Someone's taken the truck and the animals are in it.
l Just know something happened.
l Just know it.
Well, Paula, come on, calm down.
There must be some explanation for this.
l'm afraid there is.
l found this where the truck was parked.
Well, l'll give you one guess, Uncle Frank and Nephew Mark.
Thieves.
Those kidnappers.
They've stolen my animals.
See if you can get Hedley on the transmitter.
Come on, we better hurry.
l'll wager they're going to sell them.
They'll bring a fancy price too.
They won't get through the border.
Well, don't be too sure.
Tabor's no fool.
lf he sneaked in, they'll find the same way out.
l Just remembered, today's Tuesday and Hedley's on his rounds.
Drive to Bogoso.
That's where he goes on Tuesdays.
Bring him back with you and watch for red flares.
- L'll get the flare gun.
- Hurry, Dad.
- Yeah, what about provisions? - L Just checked them this morning.
- Two days' supply.
- Good.
Here it is.
Better take this too.
No telling where they might lead you.
Yeah, thanks.
Well, we're three hours from the border and we've had a four-hour head start, right? l'll check the animals.
l thought so.
Now, you cut that out, boy.
Don't you provoke me like this again.
You've forcing me to become a criminal and l don't like it.
Have you ever given any thought to my situation? l thought we were trapping in free country.
You lied to me about that too.
l am contributing to your education, aren't l? What more do you want from me? When your father died, l thought l could make a man out of you by teaching you my business but l can see, it's hopeless.
Well, you don't have to do things illegally.
lf l don't bring this elephant in, l go to Jail.
l spent the advance money.
You spent it? You're Just soft-hearted about these animals.
A few weeks' time, they'll be in some nice comfortable zoo.
Zoo? They'll be miserable in a zoo.
- L said forget it.
You make sure those knots are tight and we'll get rolling.
We'll be across the border sell the animals and disappear.
Then you're going back to Philadelphia.
Come on, hurry up.
Mark, come here.
- Where are the keys? - L don't know.
L didn't touch them.
lf this is another one of your college-boy tricks l didn't.
l said hand them over.
Uncle Frank, please, believe me, l didn't touch those keys.
Mangy little chimp.
She threw the keys away, huh? l thought l heard something.
You tie that up.
Yeah, they were after Toto right from the start.
They killed the mother to get the baby.
Yeah, while she was still nursing too.
They put on quite an act back at the compound.
Oh, yeah, they sure did.
What gets me was Judy was the only one who could see through it.
l should've known that animals are better Judges of people than people.
Well, they're not so dumb.
They know how to cover up their tracks.
Look, l'll head up the road.
You take the shortcut and l'll meet you at the crossing.
- Lf l spot anything, l'll send up a flare.
- Right.
lt's only a few miles from here.
Keep straight on.
Take the next turn to the left.
Here they are.
Another trick like that, Miss Smarty, and you've had it.
That goes for you too, Mark.
Uncle Frank, no.
Now, you have more sense than to shoot me, Tabor.
Look, be reasonable.
All l want are the animals.
l'm not a policeman, Tabor.
You give me the animals and the truck take off on foot and l promise l won't follow you.
All right.
You've got yourself a deal.
Come on.
- Dr.
Tracy, l wanna apologize - You're wasting time.
CHlTTERS.]
Well, hi, you three.
Well, you certainly have had yourself a trip.
Oh, Mark, l forgot the compass.
You'd better go back and get it.
Okay.
Doctor Tracy, l'd like to get our compass and a couple of my things.
Go ahead.
Won't be long now, fellas.
Oh, great.
Well, don't look so shocked.
He'll recover.
Just help me get him out of sight.
Come on.
GROWLS.]
Well, that's all we needed.
- You can't blame the chimp for this.
- Shut up.
l'll get the spare from the back you get the Jack from under the seat and start working.
- Forget the tire, the animals are gone.
- Gone? - But how? - Miss Ugly again.
Well, that's the last stunt she'll ever pull.
- Let's go before they get away.
- You go that way, l'll go this.
SQUAWKS.]
Ah! GUNSHOT.]
GRUNTS.]
GROWLS.]
Mark.
Mark.
Where are you, Mark? Mark, where are you? Mark? Over here.
GROANS.]
CHlTTERS.]
GUNSHOT.]
Ah! You all right? Daktari, are you all right? Yeah.
Thanks for the antidote.
l don't know quite what to say.
ELEPHANT TRUMPETS.]
Easy, baby.
There, that's a good little girl.
Nobody's gonna hurt you.
Just stand still.
There now.
That's a good girl.
Easy, baby.
Nobody's gonna hurt you.
Easy, baby.
Nobody's gonna hurt you.
Mark.
Ahh! Mark.
Mark, come here and untie me.
Mark, where are you? Mark.
Mark, come here and untie me.
Mark, where are you? ROARS.]
GlBBERS.]
Really, that Judy.
BOTH LAUGH.]
Well, l hope they don't put him in Jail.
l don't know why l should feel that way, but l think he's learned his lesson.
Well, maybe so, but l don't think Hedley agrees with you.
They've been in there a long time.
l'm afraid he's really throwing the book at old Uncle Frank.
Oh, l'm not so sure.
After all, Hedley's Just as interested in saving human beings as we are in saving animals.
l've had a long chat with Tabor here, and l've reached a decision.
l'm sentencing him to one year of hard labor on the game reserve.
As an assistant game guard, under Mark's custody.
Sentence will begin in my office tomorrow morning.
- My custody? - Do you think you can handle it, boy? - L'll sure try.
- Thanks, Hedley.
You won't be sorry.
Let's go.
Well, that's that.
Hmm.
One part district officer, one part Solomon.
What does he mean? He means, Paula, that no one can spend a year on the game reserve without learning to love animals.
English.]