The Mork & Mindy Special a one-hour, two episode story arc for Mork & Mindy, the spinoff of Happy Days. Written by Dale McRaven, both episodes in the episode arc, directed by Howard Storm, premiered on ABC-TV on September 14, 1978.
Plot summary
Part 1
Mork's boss, Orson, assigns Mork to study the planet Earth. After landing in the woods near Boulder, Colorado, he meets Mindy McConnell who was stranded there by her lecherous boyfriend. Back at Mindy's apartment, she discovers that Mork is an alien, and offers to help him study Earth. In a flashback sequence, Mork tells Mindy about a previous visit to Earth when Arthur Fonzarelli arranged a date for him with Laverne De Fazio.
Part 2
Mork continues his story about his date with Laverne. When Mindy's father, Fred, discovers that Mork had moved in with Mindy, Deputy Tilwick offers to scare Mork off. Tilwick believes Mork is insane and tries to have him committed.
Notes
- This originally aired on ABC as an hour-long episode. It was split into two parts for syndication.
- Advanced promos showed a glimpse of a deleted scene in which Laverne thinks Mork's name is "Mark" and Fonzie corrects her.[1] This occurred immediately after she met Mork, so to bypass the joke the second half of the show begins with a voice-over by Laverne asking, "What's this guy Mork look like?"
- There was not a traditional pilot shot. Creator Garry Marshall cobbled together footage of of Mork's appearance on Happy Days with clips of Pam Dawber in an unsold pilot called Sister Terri and sold ABC on green-lighting the show.
- Pam Dawber did not audition, the role was given to her. The first time she met Robin Williams was on the promotional press tour, prior to shooting episodes.[2] Williams greeted her with a Russian accent.[3]
- The verbal exchange between Mork and Dr. Litney regarding his anklewatch was repeated practically verbatim in "The Greatest Shmo on Earth," an episode of the animated series.
- The episode was novelized at least three times. Mork & Mindy: A Video Novel is a comic-book like paperback novel filled with color stills. Cora, Fonzie and Laverne were all omitted from this version. The paperback novel Mork & Mindy is a novelization by Ralph Church which includes additional storylines from Mork Moves In and Mork Runs Away. An abridged version of the story also appears in The Official Mork & Mindy Scrapbook in a chapter entitled "The Story of Mork.".
- This episode was spoofed in the 2011 porn movie Mork & Mindy: A Dream Zone Parody.
Promo
Gallery
Guest stars
- Henry Winkler as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli
- Penny Marshall as Laverne DeFazio
- Jeffrey Jacquet as Eugene
- Geoffrey Lewis as Deputy Tilwick
- Dick Yarmy as Dr. Litney
- Michael Prince as The Judge
- Jeff Harlan as Bill Mason
- Woody Eney as Prosecuting Attorney
- Hank Jones as Defense Attorney
- Leslie Vallen as Pamela, the Court Reporter
