ORIGINAL AIRDATE: November 3rd, 1985 —

On this week’s show, we’ll “bond” with treacherous casino owner Catlin [SPECIAL GUEST: Vernon Wells!]

MISSION: When sixty million dollars disappears on its way to feeding starving African children, MacGyver is brought on to track it down. The search lands Mac in an island casino right out of one of James Bond’s far-fetched capers.

This week’s highlights include:

The insanely talented Vernon Wells did us the great honor of sharing his time with our program this week. He was such an asset to the series that he was invited back to play a second role in MacGyver’s third season, evidently at RDA’s insistence. Mr. Wells has had a long and prolific career, but he is perhaps best known for the roles of Wez in George Miller’s The Road Warrior and Bennett in Mark L. Lester’s Commando. More recently he enjoyed a 38 episode run as the main villain of Power Rangers Time Force, and he’s certainly not showing any sign that he is slowing. Keep an eye out for the several upcoming projects he mentioned during our chat:

– “The Promise” (which Wells will be directing himself!)

– “Less Than Human”

– 2013’s “Throwback” (and the upcoming follow-up “Starspawn“)

– “Western X” (a web series)

– “Tom Hennessy”

– “After The Harvest”

Editor’s Note: When this episode was recorded, MacGyver’s houseboat was still up for sale (with a mere $36K asking price) but is unfortunately off the market as of January 12th, 2015.

Schwarzenegger as John Matrix with some kind words about today’s guest.

And here’s more footage from that awesome episode ending stunt.

Acoustic Resonance (Physics)

Resonance occurs when a string, tube, or glass is vibrated at a specific frequency.  The result of which is sound.  Rubbing your fingers across the surface of a wine glass, for example, sticks and slips so quickly as you move your finger around the rim, that the once at the right frequency, the vibration of the glass produces sound that can be manipulated by add fluids to the glass which absorb the energy of the vibration.

Check out the article on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_resonance.

Watch S1E5: “The Heist” on CBS’s website or check the alternative streamability of this episode here.