‘CHiPs’ Retro Recap: ‘The Spaceman Made Me Do It’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Thus far, our Retro Recaps of the police serial CHiPs have helped us to learn that there is no one singular moment that brings forth the demise of a popular television series. Instead, it is a series of missteps that send a show off the airwaves and slowly but surely, we’ve been seeing those moments play out over the course of the past couple of seasons. For season five saw the saga try not once, but twice… to create spinoffs instead of focusing on Ponch and Jon, and already we’ve seen some serious missteps pop up in season six. Such as extensive casting changes and a strange push to water down the storylines. 
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But while it is fascinating to watch a show deteriorate in real time and come to understand how its mistakes drive audiences away, often times it is the big mistakes that audiences attribute to the end and understandably so. Because sometimes they are so goofy and outlandish and downright silly, that they overshadow the simpler missteps and it just so happens, that a big and wild misstep, one that is supremely out there, is featured in the next episode of this storied franchise. For ‘The Spaceman Made Me Do It’ is a story that tried to capitalize on the popularity of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind by having Ponch and Bobby kinda, sorta face off against aliens. Yes, you read that right. Aliens.

The kind that apparently needed a young girl to help them steal diamonds in order to get their navigational systems going and that’s how Ponch and Bobby found themselves caught up in this wild plot. For they were the arresting officers of the girl in question, named Jodi, and well… a fair chunk of her journey in this tale revolves around her desire for everyone to believe that she’s telling the truth about talking to aliens, and her time with Ponch and Bobby also brings forth some odd encounters with the unexplained. Such as flashing lights in the middle of the night and a wild finale sequence where Ponch and Bobby are forced to try and keep the aliens in question from abducting Jodi to their home world and well, all of this makes for one supremely strange and uncomfortable tale, largely because… none of this works.

After all, this is a fluffy crime drama, one grounded in reality. So, to see Ponch and Bobby questioning their place in the universe and dealing with aliens lurking about in the darkness is silly to say the least and it completely removes you from the episode as well. Because this isn't at all what the viewer signed up for when they tuned in. To make matters worse, this off-putting twist once again ruins what could have been a powerful and moving storyline. Because Jodi’s broken home life and desire to escape from all things reality, could have offered up some realistic and heartbreaking motivations for stealing, and a solid reason for Ponch to jump in and try keep her on the straight and narrow. But instead, a fascinating character study takes a backseat to low budget special effects involving a ‘spaceship’ and the ‘spaceman’ mentioned in the title.

If anything, this really was quite the difficult episode to watch., for obvious reasons. And while there is nothing wrong with stories about aliens, or science fiction in general… it simply has no place in CHiPs. For this was a saga about everyday cops doing everyday things and trying their best to actually make a difference in the world and this just doesn’t work here in the slightest and it really is a storytelling decision that stinks of someone behind the scenes, demanding that the show be ‘hip’ or ‘with the times’ and that’s just unnecessary. Because this series became a hit by being a police serial that defied the norm and what’s truly scary about this story, is that we are only three episodes into the sixth and final season of this saga, and if it is offering up stories this outlandish this early on, who knows what kind of wild stories await us down the line. Until next time.

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