Pilot: Cocoon

Pilot: Cocoon. Episode 0. Originally aired September 20 1968. At the very end of the pilot for Five-O, McGarrett toasts his adorable love interest (a first Asian love interest for a white character in TV?) by declaring "Peace." Peace between the hippies and the cops. It's a wonderful note as the whole series would play out nothing really dominated its subtext as much as stateside anxiety about Vietnam and drug-dipping campuses. The Pilot is amazing, introducing both Kono and Chin Ho but having a different actor play Dan-o. More importantly it introduces us to Wo Fat, Steve McGarrett's archvillan. In this movie, McGarrett is lured to an abandoned ship, the Arcturus, where he is forced into a Manchurian-candidate like brain-washing experiment. Lesie Neilson also co-stars as one of the straight-heavies he played with such aplomb that he was able to turn that gesture-acting into a comedy career.