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THE NEW ADVENTURES OF BEANS BAXTER

baxter_beans_tv_tnaobb
 
Full Name: Benjamin 'Beans' Baxter
Nationality: American
Organization: The Network
Occupation Agent

Creator: Savage Steve Holland
Time Span: 1987 - 1987

ABOUT THE SERIES

Benjamin 'Beans' Baxter is an agent with The Network.

That organization is an American intelligence gathering organization, along the lines of the far more known CIA. It uses the U.S. Postal Service as a cover for many of its agents which is how Baxter gets involved with it. Baxter is hardly the normal type of individual the Network would want as an operative because he is still a teenager when he is approached to serve.

That introduction comes shortly after the Baxter family, consistent of a father, Ben Baxter, Sr., a mother, Susan Baxter, Ben Jr., and younger brother Scott 'Scooter', moved to the nation's capital from Kansas where 'Beans' was born and raised. Senior was a Postal employee, or at least that is what the family thought.

That changed when 'Beans' sees the postal van his father was driving blown up and he is left thinking his father dead. At least until he is contacted by a man from The Network who explains his father actually worked for that organization and was not really dead, only taken. Now for some reason, The Network needed young Baxter to help recover him.

As we are told at the beginning of each episode by that man, "Beans Baxter may look like your typical teenager but this kid has one of the most dangerous after-school jobs going. I should know; I'm Baxter's boss. The government calls me Number Two. You see, Beans Baxter is a spy; not even his mother or his little brother knows he's working on the side. If they did, it could endanger their lives. His father was one of the Network's top couriers until the notorious terrorist organization, U.G.L.I., headed by the sinister Mr. Sue, kidnapped Baxter. Now it is up to Beans and the Network to find his father and destroy U.G.L.I.'s plans for world domination. And if you think it can't been done, then you don't know Beans!"

That nasty organization mentioned has the full name of "Underground Government Liberation Intergroup" which really describes perfectly (not!) that their mission is to take over the world. The group has its expected number of dastardly henchmen following the orders of its leader, the devious and treacherous Mr. Sue, but it also has a fair number of very snarky, troublesome teenage agents helping it.

In addition to being called away at a moment's notice to help on a mission, finding some excuse to give his mother or brother for his absence, Baxter also has to deal with the infatuation of fellow high school student and 'the most beautiful girl in the school', Cake Lace. Luckily, Baxter is willing to deal with such hardships!

TELEVISION


Number of Episodes:17
First Appearance:1987
Last Appearance:1987
Network:Fox

REGULAR CAST
Jonathan WardBeans Baxter [ 1-2 ]
Jerry WassermanNumber Two [ 1-2 ]
Elinor DonahueSusan Baxter [ 1-2 ]
Rick LenzBen Baxter Sr. [ 1-2 ]
Karen MistalCake Lase [ 1 ]

This series on Fox was an action/comedy designed for teens. Some websites, including Wikipedia from which I got the dates and the plots, describe it as having two seasons separated by just a couple of weeks. IMDB lumps them all into one season, as I do here.


1 Beans' First Adventure, Part 1
Episode S1-1, first aired 07/18/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Benjamin Baxter, Jr., whose friends call him Beans, is a teenager, who after his family moves to Washington DC, becomes a secret agent. In the premiere episode, Beans witnesses his father's abduction. Beans fails to rescue his father, and the Network's "Number Two" informs him that he will only be allowed to continue working for the Network till his father is found and freed.

2 Beans' First Adventure, Part 2
Episode S1-2, first aired 07/18/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Benjamin Baxter, Jr., whose friends call him Beans, is a teenager, who after his family moves to Washington DC, becomes a secret agent. In the premiere episode, Beans witnesses his father's abduction. Beans fails to rescue his father, and the Network's "Number Two" informs him that he will only be allowed to continue working for the Network till his father is found and freed.

3 Beans Meets Shawn Weatherly
Episode S1-3, first aired 07/25/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Darla surprises Beans with a visit at the same time he is asked to house a gorgeous Soviet agent.

4 Beans Runs for President
Episode S1-4, first aired 08/01/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

An assignment to save the President's daughter interferes with Beans' candidacy for class president of his high school.

5 Beans and the Satanic Backwards Masking Conspiracy
Episode S1-5, first aired 08/08/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Beans investigates whether messages on records played backwards have a part in changes in the behavior of the son of the Network's "Number One" or director.

6 Beans' Wicked and Awesome Adventures at College
Episode S1-6, first aired 08/15/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

A case of mistaken identity hampers Beans' ability to discover if a student radical is involved with UGLI.

7 Beans in Ski Heck
Episode S1-7, first aired 08/22/1987
Director: Mary Beth Fielder
Writers: Martin Olson, Mary Jo Pritchard, Savage Steve Holland

On a ski vacation, Beans accidentally uncovers a scheme to kidnap diplomats.

8 There's No Place Like Omsk
Episode S1-8, first aired 09/12/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writers: Martin Olson, Mary Jo Pritchard, Savage Steve Holland

Beans meets with Svetlana, a defected Russian double agent who is severely homesick.

9 Beans Finds His Dad But...(Part 1)
Episode S1-9, first aired 09/26/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Beans locates his kidnapped father, but Mr. Sue hampers the rescue effort.

10 Beans Finds His Dad But...(Part 2)
Episode S1-10, first aired 10/03/1987
Director: Michael E. Steele
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Beans's second effort to rescue his father falls short.

11 Beans' Unpleasant Introduction to Modern Science
Episode S1-11, first aired 10/10/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

HAP, a robot which Beans is testing for the government, runs amok, attacking children and animals, and ruining a meeting with Darla.

12 Beans Goes to Camp
Episode S1-12, first aired 10/17/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

After UGLI steals a nuclear warhead, so Beans goes undercover at a parasailing camp to find it.

13 A Nightmare on Beans' Street
Episode S1-13, first aired 10/31/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Beans and his friends are set upon by a deadly pumpkin sent by UGLI's leader, Mr. Sue, and the Pumpkin Princess.

14 Beans' Home Life Gets UGLI
Episode S1-14, first aired 11/07/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writers: Andrew Katz, Larry Schulze, Savage Steve Holland

Hoping to coerce Beans' father Benjamin Baxter, Sr. to talk, an UGLI agent tries to get a photograph that will make it appear that Mrs. Baxter (Susan) is having an affair with him.

15 Beans Under the Weather
Episode S1-15, first aired 11/14/1987
Director: Tom Rowe
Writers: Andrew Katz, Larry Schulze

After Beans' younger brother Scott Baxter, called Scooter, invents a weather-making machine for a science fair, UGLI schemes to use it for their own ends.

16 Beans Gets His Driver's License (and It Isn't Pretty)
Episode S1-16, first aired 11/21/1987
Director: Tom Rowe
Writers: Rick Overton, Bruce Wagner, Savage Steve Holland

UGLI agents Jack and Henry attempt to stop Beans from getting his driver's license.

17 Beans in Jungleland
Episode S1-17, first aired 11/28/1987
Director: Savage Steve Holland
Writer: Savage Steve Holland

Beans infiltrates the Bad Seed gang when his brother Scooter is falsely accused of selling drugs.

MY COMMENTS

I never saw, or even knew about, this series back when it was on. Since it was designed for a much younger audience than I was at the time, though my maturity level was probably spot on. Now as I watch some of the episodes on YouTube to familiarize myself with it, I can see that I would have not spent much time back then.

The ever-talented Elinor Donohue, whom I remember from Father Knows Best and then for a short while on the Andy Griffith Show, plays the Mom and she is a delight. And the heard but not seen John Vernon is delightful as the head of The Network, Number One, although I am more used to him being the bad guy.

And Beans Baxter is, surprisingly, not at all annoying to watch in action. Everyone else, though, is a different matter. Except for the evil Mr. Sue, played wonderfully by Kurtwood Smith.

GRADE

My Grade: C+

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