The Sexiest Sci-Fi Of The 70s Starred A Comedy Legend

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 35 seconds ago

Mork and Mindy is secretly hiding one of the 70s sexiest episodes of sci-fi television. The Happy Days spin-off that turned Robin Williams into a star and “Nanu Nanu” into a hit catchphrase went into Fall Sweeps with a two-parter episode, “Mork vs. The Necrotons,” unlike anything the series had, or ever would do. Casting icon Raquel Welch as an alien invader will do that. “Mork vs. The Necrotons” turned Welch’s appeal into the focus of the episode by literally weaponizing it. 

Invasion Of The Super Models

The Necrotons are evil alien conquerors out to use Mork’s knowledge of Earth to add it to their empire. For the first half of “Mork vs. The Necrotons,” Mork is trying to hide from the evil aliens even though he has no idea what they look like. Mork explains to Mindy, “they only know three emotions: Hate, Lust, and Greed,” going on and on about how evil they are. It’s all to set up the gag when Raquel Welch walks in as Captain Nirvana with her two henchwomen, Karma (Debra Jo Fondren, Playboy’s 1978 Playmate of the Year) and Sutra (Vicki Frederick, a Broadway dancer who appeared on Dream On 11 years later), all clad in skintight spandex. 

Mork and Mindy was filmed in front of a live studio audience that loses their minds at the reveal, but that was just the start. Nirvana abducts Mork to their spaceship, an art-deco sci-fi set complete with a hot tub in the middle. Torturing Mork to get him to reveal what he knows about Earth involves him spending time in a hot tub with Kama and Sutra, before Nirvana takes matters into her own hands. The wolf whistles from the audience are enough to blow out your speakers. 

Robin Williams Vs. Jigglevision

Airing in November, 1979, “Mork vs. The Necrotons” is winking to the audience, and Robin Williams would say later that “a lot of little kids went through puberty watching that episode.” At the time, ABC was gaining a reputation for “jigglevision,” a catchy term for its penchant to stack shows with as much sex appeal as possible. Which Williams wasn’t a fan of, saying “we lost a lot of the audience.” 

Adding to the cast’s mixed feelings about the very different episode was Raquel Welch herself, who, the episode’s director Howard Storm described as “every director’s worst nightmare.” Allegedly, Welch was concerned over being upstaged by her two henchwomen, amping up her own performance to be as sexy as possible on broadcast television and asking that Kama and Sutra wear masks. Given the audience reaction to the moment when the two henchwomen drop their robes and wear the smallest bikinis then seen on ABC. 

Robin Williams and Pam Dawber (Mindy, and future wife of NCIS’ Mark Harmon) may have hated what Mork and Mindy became with “Mork vs. The Necrotons,” but the audience obviously loved it. Television was going through an awkward growth spurt during the late 70s before it would be changed forever in the 80s with the rise of prime-time soaps Dallas and Dynasty, and the decade-defining Miami Vice. Mork and Mindy isn’t often thought of as being on the cutting edge of television, but Williams’ manic energy, comedic timing, and episodes that broke sitcom conventions turned the series into an all-time classic.