Mork's Best Friend wss the 25th and final episode from Season 1 of Mork & Mindy, as well as the 25th overall series episode.
Written by Simon Munter, the episode, directed by Howard Storm, first aired on ABC-TV on May 10, 1979.
Synopsis[]
Mork gets a pet caterpillar.
Plot summary[]
"Mork's Best Friend" features the return of Robert Donner as Exidor, now involved in reincarnation ("I'm a spirit migration engineer!"), believing himself to be Julius Caesar, and lovely Mindy is Cleopatra! Mork's best friend is a female caterpillar he names Bob, offering so much love and care for a bug that Bickley sticks up for his 'stupid dog!' When Bob dies Exidor drops by for a sympathy visit with the magic incantation: "owa-tajer-kiam!" (Mork: "swiss cheese for brains!").
Bickley agrees to attend a service for Bob conducted by 'toastmaster' Mork: "don't ask me to view the body!" Mindy acknowledges that she's never gotten to know a caterpillar better than Bob, while Bickley breaks down in typical fashion with his salute: "with heavy heart and mournful eyes and tears that softly flow, we say our final sad goodbyes to a fuzzy escargot!" What no one realizes is that Bob wasn't dead, only moulting into a beautiful butterfly, reincarnated as Exidor might have appreciated: "maybe when you die, something beautiful happens."
Cast[]
- Robin Williams as Mork
- Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell
- Tom Poston as Mr. Bickley
- Robert Donner as Exidor
- Ralph James as Orson
- George Pentecost as Mr. Herman
Trivia[]
Animated Hizzoner "Mork & Mindy" ad from 1979.
- The same night that ABC originally aired this season finale, NBC broadcast the pilot of Hizzonner opposite it. The show starred David Huddleston as a small-town mayor and costarred Gina Hecht as a secretary in city hall. Hizzonner lasted 7 weeks; Hecht joined the cast of Mork & Mindy the following season.
Quotes/Scene excerpts[]
- Mork: Mindy, guess what followed me home?
- Mindy: What followed you home?
- Mork: Can I keep it, huh?
- Mindy: This is one of those questions I always dread. Alright, what is it?*Mork: It's real cute.
- Mindy: Mmm-hmm.
- Mork: It's fuzzy.
- Mindy: Mmm-hmm.
- Mork: It's about this tall.
- [Mork clamps his fingers down to an inch]
- Mindy: A dog that's been run over by a truck?
- Mork: Oh Mindy, that's so sick! Squashed dogs can't follow you home!
- Mork: Look! It's a kittypillar!
- Mindy: Oh, that's a caterpillar!
- Mork: Not for a few more weeks yet, it hasn't got hair on its chest.
- Mork: I like to call her Bob. See! She looked up when I said her name! *Mindy: Oh, that end isn't her head.
- Mork: Really? I thought she was smiling at me.
- Exidor: Mork!
- Mork: Exidor!
- Exidor: In this life, yes!
- Exidor: Mork, I have come here to preach the only true religion!
- Mork: What's the only true religion this time?
- Exidor: Reincarnation! We have all lived before and we shall all be born again!
- Mork: Wow, the ultimate deja vu!
- Mork: You'll enjoy meeting my new friend, Bob.
[Mork shows Exidor his caterpillar]
Exidor: You made friends with a fuzzy Tootsie Roll?
- Exidor: Why, this is no ordinary caterpillar, Mork. This is the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln!
- Mork: No!
- Exidor: Yes!
- Mork:How can you tell?
- Exidor: Is that the face of someone who would tolerate slavery?
- Mork: That's not her face.
- Exidor: Really? I thought she was smiling at me!
