The Love Boat Conspiracy!

A friend of mine recently asked a very important question:
"If Captain Stubing was such a great Captain, why did he never commanded a starship like the Enterprise?"

Well young Bradley, I'm glad you asked. The Love Boat Conspiracy, (aka Love Boat-Gate) goes deep into the politics of 1970's television, (Fortunately these politics do not affect our tv today).

Conceptually ahead of it's time, (it would eventually inspire shows like Lost), week after week the crew of The Love Boat were desperately trying to find an island... Fantasy Island. Mr. Roarke, (Ricardo Montalban) kept his Fantasy Island well hidden so he could focus on his plans for world domination.  Those who followed Roarke knew him by another name... Khan Noonien Singh, (aka Khaaaaaaan!!!).

Each week, the crew of the Love Boat endured many dangerous trials as Khan constantly threw new challenges at them. Unfortunately many scenes were cut due to the network wanting to focus more on celebrity guests, feeling the character of Khan would never catch on.

In the final episode, the crew captures Khan moments before his attempt to launch nuclear missiles at the US and Russia. With unprecedented, never-before-seen burrowing skills, we learn how Gopher got his name, (Fred Grandy also did all his own stunts for the show), he managed to swing in from the shadows, stopping Khan at the last minute and finally imprisoning him and his army onto an experimental cryogenics ship called the Botany Bay.  They remained in suspended animation until Captain Kirk revives them years later, (as seen in the classic episode of Star Trek, Space Seed... originally titled Return of the Love Boat Villain).

Sadly, Captain Stubing, (Gavin MacLeod) was killed in the last episode when he discovered Doc, (Bernie Kopell) was a double agent, which is why he was not around to command a Federation starship.

Many years later, all the outtakes and deleted footage were buried and labeled classified after Gopher became a state senator, and were never seen again.



Yoda however never appeared... cause that would just be silly.
Deeesher