User Reviews

This episode has many flaws, but Barnaby Jones still makes it enjoyable. A company is creating a missile guidance system & during a test, someone is killed & Barnaby is brought in to investigate. First problem is no way he'd be allowed to wander around the inner workings of a top secret program. Oh the plot has the run of the mill sabotage, extra marital affairs & co-workers conspiring against other co-workers. Yes you guessed it, all was done because of greed. Towards the end, the missile test in front of the military personnel had many flaws. No way onlookers would've been allowed to stand within 50' feet away while a missile was being fired. An obvious misfire resulting in an explosion would've killed everyone. Also Barnaby & Betty would not had been allowed to witness the test. Barnaby's cunning & intuitive problem solving skills with a hint of southern charm cracks the case without breaking a sweat.

This is a rare episode where it's very likely the script was written around the location! The center of attention is Rockwell International, the super high tech rocket company, part of Rocketdyne, based at Canoga Park, California. In it's day, it was a sight to see, employing tens of thousands of people in southern California.

Here, Rockwell is the base for the testing of a revolutionary missile guidance system. The problem is stiff competition among the hi-tech gurus, which leads to murder. Actually, a very good sci fi plot, taking a detour from the usual cloak and daggar stuff Barnaby gets into, written by Calvin Clements, Jr. He later produced MATT HOUSTON, which co- starred Buddy Ebsen.

There's a nifty cast of characters here to make up for the over the top plot. Dramatic actress Rosemary Forsyth plays Ruth, who shortly after this episode would become a regular on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. She appeared on many cop shows, best remembered on MANNIX for falling in love with Joe.

Michael Tolan, who actually had been married to Forsyth years earlier, plays Reed and Jack Ging is cast as Ray. Ging was terrific at playing "smirking" bad guys. Watch him here. Alex Henteloff plays Bill, another great actor, likewise quite popular as a villain. Alex seemed to always turn up as well dressed, professional baddies, usually with a plan.

I do agree with the last reviewer, realistically, Barnaby would have had to jump through lots of security hoops to be cleared to get into this top secret site. If he was lucky in the first place! Chalk it all up to poetic license 101 and just watch what happens next, which is always the ultimate cat and mouse game.

Worth burning the late night oil or super rocket fuel, and with some very good on location work. Watch Barnaby and Betty dance and the guy playing the accordian!

SEASON 4 EPISODE 6 remastered CBS dvd box set.

"The Alpha-Bravo War" is certainly not among the better episodes of "Barnaby Jones". That being said, even a sub-par episode is still worth watching on this well made series.

The plot is a bit insane. During the testing of a missile guidance system, the missile runs amok and hits no where near where it was supposed to...or was it? In other words, someone might have sabotaged it in order to make the test fail or to cover up murder. When the second test also runs awry, things seem obviously planned...but by whom and why?

The notion of folks killing with guided missiles seems awfully farfetched. The same goes for much of the episode. Plus, why would you have someone who knows nothing about high tech look into this? All in all, a lot of this one seems a bit hard to believe...though it is enjoyable.