Episode
My Favorite Martian: Hitchhike to Mars
Overview
The Inter-Galaxy Corporation is launching a rocket to either Mars or Venus. Martin needs to convince them to choose Mars, so that he can stowaway and get home. J.M. Buckley, Inter-Galaxy's President, is an indecisive man, but is highly superstitious and makes many decisions on these superstitions. He is leaning toward sending the rocket to Mars, but two things are distracting him from making the announcement of such: it's Friday the 13th, and he's missing his lucky rabbit's foot. Martin overcomes the date superstition by making Buckley think that Friday the 13th is the luckiest day on the calendar. The missing rabbit's foot on the other hand Martin and Tim need to find. They locate it, but in cat-chewed state. Martin realizes that many rabbit's feet look similar and he uses his powers to recreate it to its original visual state. That's all Buckley needs to make the announcement to send the rocket to Mars, the launch to take place in two days. To thank the corporation, Martin suggests adding a magnetic oscilloscope, an invaluable piece of equipment for the mission, to the rocket. This act of kindness on Martin's part is also his error: with the addition of the oscilloscope, there is no more room for a stowaway.
Details
- Series
- My Favorite Martian
- Season
- Season 1
- Episode
- Episode 21
- Air date
- 1964-03-01
- Runtime
- 30 min
Episode context
Hitchhike to Mars is Episode 21 in Season 1 of My Favorite Martian. It aired on 1964-03-01. The runtime is 30 min.
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Episode 20: My Nephew the Artist
Martin wants to help Tim with the household expenses, and without a money earning activity, decides to sell art he's currently painting to relive boredom. Martin can paint in the style of any famous artist. Mr. Green of the Green Gallery notices Martin's first piece is just like a Van Gogh, and eagerly takes and sells it. As such, Mr. Green commissions Martin to paint some more and they sell as quickly as Martin gets them to the gallery. Mr. Green wants to have a showing of Martin's work. When Tim mentions that this might not be a good idea as it may raise questions about Martin himself, Martin offers Tim up as the true artist of the paintings. At the show, Mr. Bentley, the art expert brought in the evaluate the show, is skeptical that Tim painted all the paintings, since they are all in different styles. Mr. Green suggests that Tim provide a real life demonstration of his painting process. Martin assures Tim that with his help, he can indeed paint. However, when Tim's demonstration is supposed to start, Martin has an allergic reaction which is affecting his Tim-assisting painting finger. Martin has to find out what he's allergic to and get rid of the item. Tim is nervously on his own until Martin finds the allergy inducing source. Martin discovers the source is a corsage worn by Mrs. Bentley. Martin manages to get rid of the corsage, and Tim, with Martin's help, proceeds with his painting demonstration to great fanfare. Mr. Bentley deems Tim a major art talent. However Martin announces that Tim has given up on emulating the masters, and will strike out as an artist on his own merit and own style. As such, Tim is a failure. Tim's art career is over, much to his relief.
Episode 22: Uncle Martin's Broadcast
Tim discovers that Martin's antennae can pick up radio and television signals and other things. While Martin's asleep, Tim tunes him into a police frequency hoping for a newspaper scoop.
More episodes from this season
Episode 19: Now You See It, Now You Don't
At the museum, Martin discovers that the long-time curator, Wilbur Canfield, is very unhappy. He has just acquired a new expensive Egyptian piece for the museum, but the museum's board is questioning the authenticity and therefore merit of this acquisition. Because of this, Canfield himself is now questioning his own abilities, as he feels he may be getting too old to do his work properly. The board is calling in an independent expert, Pietro Donati. What's worse, Canfield once discredited Donati's evaluation. Martin will know the piece's authenticity, if he can only get a look at it. In doing so, Tim can get an exclusive story and Martin can validate Canfield as an expert in the field. But the artifact is stashed away behind security until Donati's arrival. Since Martin can't get close to it, he decides instead to levitate it to him. After Martin finds that it is indeed authentic, he has to get it back to the museum. However security is aware that it's missing and thus the museum is secured even more than usual while they try to locate the artifact. After some tricky maneuvering, Martin does manage to get it back into place, although to the bewilderment of security. However, Martin forgot to check for the mark of Ra, which definitely identifies the artifact as authentic. When Donati arrives to inspect the piece, he deems it to be a fake since the mark of Ra is not there. However Martin tells him to look a little more closely under the couple thousand years of residue. The mark is indeed there. Therefore it ends well for Canfield and Donati. The only person with an unhappy ending is Tim - his exclusive story was so good, Mr. Burns appoints him editor of culture, which is not exactly his cup of tea.
Episode 23: An Old, Old Friend of the Family
After Martin makes Tim miss a deadline, Martin decides to help Tim get an exclusive interview. Jakobar, the rogue leader of Kobima, is the story's subject matter. Martin is a legend in Kobima and has inside knowledge of Kobiman legend since he was good friends with Jakobar's great-grandfather Kobima, for who the country was named. After displaying the sign of Cocobahn - Martin's name in Kobiman - Jakobar agrees to see Martin. Martin talks Jakobar into making himself accessible to the media, namely Tim, but later reneges since he still has the suspicious mind of an outlaw leader. Martin needs to convince Jakobar to be a more forthright leader for the betterment of Kobima, which will perish as a country otherwise, this strategy which again includes being accessible to the media. Because of Martin's sage advice, Jakobar muses that Martin may actually be Cocobahn.
Episode 18: Who Am I?
Martin and Tim are on their way to interview Professor Eugene Downey, the foremost expert on rocket fuel - Martin thinks the professor can assist in getting him back to Mars - when Martin is hit on the head with a monkey wrench. Martin gets amnesia from this concussion. He has no idea that he's a Martian, despite Tim telling him so. The only thing Martin and Tim can agree on is that Martin needs to go see a doctor. At Dr. Gilbert's office, Martin does learn that he has the power of levitation and the ability to disappear, still not quite believing why. The doctor, who witnesses the levitation, is told it's all magic. Back at the apartment, Tim almost has Martin convinced of his true identity when Martin is once again struck on the head, this time by a hammer. That's all he needed as he regains his memory. It's too late however: Professor Downey has already left town for good.
Episode 24: Super-Duper Snooper
Mrs. Brown is taking a course on how to be a private detective, and her first assignment is to prepare a dossier on an unsuspecting person. Her choice of subject is Martin. Of course, Martin knows what she's up to, but he is still a bit concerned about her discovering his Martian identity. Mrs. Brown finds Martin's flight log, which is written in Martian, but again Martin is concerned since the uneducated are too dense to know any better. She takes a photograph of it, which Martin is worried she will pass onto authorities, who, when they are unable to decipher it, will suspect him of being a foreign spy. She apparently has mailed the film to her teacher, J. Nathaniel Pierce, who is more shyster than teacher. Martin needs to apprehend the film before Pierce gets a hold of it. At Pierce's office, Martin searches to no avail, and must endure a sales job by Pierce before he finds out that the mailman can't and won't deliver Mrs. Brown's film since she failed to put postage on the package. From there, it's a an easy task of levitation for Martin to get the film and ultimately protect his identity. For Mrs. Brown's own safety, Martin tries to talk her out of taking the course since she will be facing brutish criminals. She heeds his advice: instead of quitting the course however, she decides to protect herself by also taking judo lessons.
Episode 17: Going, Going, Gone
Something is causing Martin's metabolism to go haywire. In succession, he loses control of his levitation finger, he magnetizes his clothing, he levitates, he becomes electrically charged, he shrinks and then he disappears. He finds out the cause is an increased activity of sunspots, and on Earth there is no way to control their effects on Martians. After five days, the sunspots are still occurring and Martin is still invisible. The authorities, based on a recent insurance policy Mrs. Brown sold Martin with Tim as beneficiary, suspect that Martin's "disappearance" is due to Tim killing him for the insurance money. Circumstantial evidence points in that direction. Martin can't let Tim go to jail for this, and Martin decides to tell the authorities the truth about his Martian identity. Just then, the sunspots cease and Martin reappears, just in time to save Tim and protect his own identity.
Episode 25: The Sinkable Mrs. Brown
Pete Dudley, a real estate salesman, convinces Mrs. Brown that she should sell her ramshackle of a house, which causes a problem for Tim and Martin, especially in hiding the spaceship. Dudley already has prospective buyers, Edgar and Emily Graham, who would be especially interested in the garage since Mr. Graham wants to make it into a workshop. When the Graham's show up unexpectedly for their first visit, Martin has to hide the spaceship. The only thing he can do is to levitate it with his levitation finger, which even for Martin is difficult due to the ship's large size. They manage to hide the ship long enough for the Graham's visit. Dudley makes Mrs. Brown sign a contract for a $100 advance in commission. After doing so, Mrs. Brown is having second thoughts about selling the house. Martin decides the best avenue to take would be to show the Grahams and Dudley just how ramshackle of a house it is, which he does of course with a little help of his Martian powers. As such, Dudley not only loses the sale, but the Grahams as clients. Martin also gets Mrs. Brown's $100 back for her. And as for Dudley, he decides to leave the real estate game due to some frayed nerves.
Episode 16: Rx for Martian
Martin can make it back to Mars since Mars has deviated from its regular orbit temporarily and is thus closer to Earth than usual. Martin has a 10 hour window of opportunity. Just as he is about ready to leave, he slips down the stairs and sprains his ankle, which also sprains his disappearing antenna. Mrs. Brown immediately calls an ambulance to the scene. When the ambulance physician takes Martin's vital signs, they rush him to the hospital since his vital signs aren't "human". The intern at the hospital has the same reaction. Martin knows that to get them to discharge him from the hospital, he needs to appear humanly normal and thus does everything he can to have normal human vital signs. He passes that test, but when the doctor requires a fluoroscope, Martin is worried since the gamma rays from which will make him explode. Tim manages to take the fluoroscope for Martin, but the doctors keep Martin in the hospital to figure out why the fluoroscope shows that he has the body of a 20-year old. With one hour to spare, Martin regains the use of his disappearing antenna and manages to escape from the hospital. Just as he is ready to leave Earth for the second time, Martin slips down the stairs once again and sprains his other ankle. Nothing can help him this time and he misses his opportunity to get home to Mars. But Martin surmises that home is where you hang your hat, and that just happens to be Earth for the time being.
Episode 26: Martin and the Eternal Triangle
Since Tim is unavailable for an outing, Martin asks Mrs. Brown out on a "date". Mrs. Brown herself can't make it since surprisingly she already has a date for that evening. Martin feels dejected, but he doesn't know why. Tim lets him know that he is jealous of Mrs. Brown's new suitor, Andre Philippe Charles Dupre, a suave, debonair fashion designer. On first glance, Martin must admit that Andre is a charming and accomplished gentlemen, worthy of Mrs. Brown's affections. But Martin digs a little deeper in hopes of finding fault with Andre. When Martin finds nothing, he feels ashamed about his selfishness, and vows to further the happiness of Mrs. Brown, a person for who he has deep affection, by doing whatever he can to foster her relationship with Andre. Martin does this despite gleaning from reading her mind that Mrs. Brown does not find Andre to be as romantic a suitor as she had hoped. Thus while Mrs. Brown and Andre are on a dinner date, Martin does whatever he can to make Andre appear the most romantic of suitors. Andre proposes, but Mrs. Brown turns him down and decides not to see him again. She felt the evening was too perfect and thus their relationship would have no where to go. She mentions to Tim and Martin that women prefer men with a few imperfections, she implying that Martin is that man for her.
Episode 15: Poor Little Rich Cat
The stupidest idea Martin has heard of since he's been on Earth: Rosemary Willis leaving her cat, Max, $650,000 in her will. Morton Beanbecker, the lawyer for the estate, is threatening Tim with a lawsuit if he continues to editorialize about the stupidity of the will and deceased Rosemary Willis. However, Beanbecker also mentions that Mrs. Willis wrote a subsequent will leaving her estate to a children's orphanage, that will which was either never signed or hidden. Martin reads his mind that he really wants the second will to be found despite his threatening words to Tim. Tim and Martin find out that Max's trustees are Rosemary's sister, Aggie, and Aggie's husband, Charles. As Aggie and Charles are lavishing money on Max and themselves in the process, Martin and Tim think Aggie and Charles hid the second will. However Max tells Martin himself that he is miserable with all the money, and it was he himself who hid the second will only because Rosemary did forget to sign it. Max leads Martin to the will. Beanbecker and Martin pour through legal books to find precedent to overturn the first will, without success. As Aggie says she hears from Rosemary in her sleep, they decide to hold a séance, where Rosemary - really Martin - will tell Aggie that she wants the money turned over to the orphanage. The ever obliging younger sister Aggie does as she's told.
Episode 27: Danger! High Voltage!
Martin needs to electrically charge himself for his trip back to Mars. However he overcharges himself. He needs to rid himself of the excess electricity, and when he initially tries to discharge it, he blacks out half of Los Angeles. Martin is facing two problems. First, if he is overcharged for an extended period of time, he will exhibit unusual symptoms such as a plaid designed face. A current symptom is his continual sneezing which is causing electrical switches to turn on. And second, the power company is narrowing the source of the blackout to the O'Hara's neighborhood, and have called in the police to investigate the malicious tampering with the power grid. Martin figures the best course of action to discharge the electricity in a hurry is to do it direct at the source: the power house. In his invisible state, Martin hitches ride in the power truck that's come to investigate their neighborhood. After distracting the power man on duty, Martin manages to discharge his excess electricity safely back into the system. But once again, he's missed his opportunity to get back to Mars.