Consume All Media! Hop Harrigan: "Chapter Fifteen: The Fate of the World"

Joe Heath is a big fan of comic books and watching things in order. So they made this spreadsheet containing every serial, short, film, television episode, commercial, motion comic, and web series based on a comic book. Now they're watching them all. Previously, Joe watched the fourteenth chapter of Hop Harrigan. This time, they conclude with the fifteenth.

Hop Harrigan: “Chapter Fifteen: The Fate of the World” - 18:28 (Available on Dailymotion)

Jackie’s chute opens and Jackie safely makes it to the ground. Craven heads back to the hangar and Hop follows, leaving the chute on the side of the road. LITTERING.

Craven gets his car and calls the Chief Pilot (remember him? The shadow guy?). The Chief Pilot completely ignores Craven.

Tobor sets up a device to destroy the world at noon. For some reason, Retner is fully onboard with this plan. He even seems pretty happy when Tobor says that Retner will have the honor of being the second-to-last person to die on the planet. Tobor will obviously be the last.

Hop calls Arnold and says actually Craven was bad all along and I told you so. Riley is also there to tell Arnold that it was Craven who shot him, because he had secretly tested everyone’s hair compared to the hair he had scraped from Tobor’s hat (remember that? It was weird?).

The police manage to catch everyone but Craven. Craven’s too busy shooting the Chief Pilot for treating him like crap.

But then Craven is caught. His captor briefly looks at the Chief Pilot’s body and says “Oh, so that’s who the Chief Pilot was!” and then you as a viewer remember that was something you were supposed to care about.

Meanwhile, Ballard wanders in from the desert, so Riley brings him to Hop. Ballard tells Hop that Tobor is harnessing the power of the sun.

Arnold calls them and says that Tobor is threatening to destroy the world. Ballard knows the way in, so everyone but Gail and Jackie head out.

A stock footage war montage happens with shots of Tobor yelling superimposed over it.

This is a pretty fantastic scene. However, it’s incredibly bizarre that it’s dropped pretty much right at the end of the serial. This is how you introduce a villain!

Anyway, Tobor blows up a mountain to test out his machine and prove he’s serious about this supervillain business.

Hop, Tank, Ballard, and Riley slowly trek their way to Tobor’s mountain.

In a last minute reveal that means absolutely nothing, we learn that the elevator to Tobor’s lab is a fake and they can just walk right in. So that’s what they do.

Somewhat anticlimactically, Riley shoots Tobor, Retner, and his machine. Everything blows up and burns down. Hop did absolutely nothing during this.

Everyone convenes afterwards to congratulate themselves and tie up loose ends.

Ballard finally reveals just what his deal is. He says he represents the future. Had he got Tobor’s invention, he would have destroyed it to protect the world. I’m still not sure if he was actually from the future or just trying to be poetic.

Riley reveals the identity of the Chief Pilot. It was Gwen. Which I didn’t see coming because 1. the shadow of the Chief Pilot was portrayed by a man, 2. I completely forgot that Gwen was a character and occasionally got her confused with Arnold’s secretary, and 3. I almost forgot that the Chief Pilot was a character. Everyone reacts to this revelation with a distinct sense of boredom.

Arnold wants to give Hop a new job, but Tank wants to go on vacation. But Hop says they gotta pay the bills. Jackie agrees and says with more money, they can get a better plane. Tank “comically” gives up and passes out into the secretary’s arms.

I hate this serial so much.

Should you watch it, though? Tobor fully comes into his own, but his time to shine is cut woefully short. Everything is wrapped up and nothing makes sense. Or maybe I just don’t care.

SKIP IT.

Not just this chapter, but the whole thing. It’s incredibly tedious and boring. It doesn’t even have the entertainment value of being the first adaptation of a popular character like the Batman serial had. It’s just… bad.

With the rise of superhero comics and the end of World War II, interest in aviation heroes like Hop Harrigan went on the decline. 1948 marked Hop's final regular appearances in the comics as well as the end of his radio program. Hop Harrigan never returned to the screen. Frankly, after his first outing, I think we’re better off for it. Though I wouldn’t say no to a Jackie and Tobor spinoff…

And (sadly) that’s it for 1946! We saw a disappointingly grounded aviation adventure.

Tune in next time when we talk about yet another vigilante... The Vigilante!

A version of this article was previously published on The Dipp.

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