The Lt. Columbo Forum

An area where fans from all over can ask each other questions and voice their own ideas and opinions on anything Columbo.

This Forum is fondly dedicated in memory of  "cassavetes45"  (Carleen Zink),
Columbo's greatest fan and a great friend to us all.
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The Lt. Columbo Forum
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Columbo and Science Fiction

The only episode I can think of that even flirts with science fiction is LOVELY BUT LETHAL, because of how miraculous the cosmetic seems to be. It's almost like the drug in Roger Corman's THE WASP WOMAN (which is also about a "cosmetics queen"), without the actual monster stuff happening later. My question is, what might have happened with it later? The cosmetic that backfired is actually the one that Karl substituted for the real one, so for all you know the real one actually was a miracle. Of course, Viveca threw it out the window when she realized there was no way she could actually use it, but was that the end of it? In spite of his drinking problem, could Murcheson have remembered how to make it all over again, after finding out that it worked after all?

Re: Columbo and Science Fiction

After watching "Playback" again last night, I can cite the entire process for the payoff clue as out and out science-fiction. You can not bring out clarity of detail of objects on a videotape (or film for that matter) by "zooming in". This is a cliche I would note that predates "Columbo" and was used as early as the late 1940s movie "Call Northside 777" (with a photograph) but the simple fact is that's not what happens when you enlarge something, whether photo or film and certainly not videotape where you can't improve the original resolution.