Thursday, March 14, 2024

Classic TV Flashback: Inhumanoids (1986)


Inhumanoids

Debut: June 29, 1986
Starring: Michael Bell, William Callaway, Ed Gilbert, Chris Latta, Neil Ross,
Richard Sanders Susan Silo
Synopsis: Earth Corps, a team of scientists/explorers and their nonhuman allies are the surface's only defense against ancient, evil monsters from beneath the Earth.

Trey: Inhumanoids was a Hasbro toy concept developed initially by Marvel's Tom DeFalco, then further refined by Flint Dille. As was common in the 80s, there was an associated animated series to sell the toys by Sunbow. The cartoon began as a series of seven-minute segments on the Super Sunday anthology series, running to 15 installments that were later combined into a movie, which was then in turn split back into five half-hours and coupled with eight brand-new shows to form a complete season of thirteen half-hour episodes. 

The toys sold well, but not as well as Hasbro wanted using the success of G.I. Joe and Transformers as a metric, so it was cancelled. This had the effect of giving the writers of the cartoon a relatively freehand to go in a more horrific direction and more serial rather than episodic in its storytelling. According to Wikipedia: "Visually, the show was distinctive for its application of heavy shadow, use of split screens, and sometimes brow-raising for its graphic content, such as monstrous amputations or writhing deaths by toxic waste, which would be hard-pressed to sneak their way into contemporary 'children's hour' programming."

We watched the first two half-hour episodes.

Jason: I was a teenager when Inhumanoids hit the then-smaller screen, but I still cared about animation (and SF&F subject matter) enough to peek at new things here and there, if only to end up sneering. I peeked at Inhumanoids and sneered contemptuously.  

The monster designs appalled me, and their voice-acted shrieks repelled me before I could even begin to perceive the distinctive qualities that set it apart from other adventure-oriented animated series of its day. Which isn't to say what I witnessed in watching the first two episodes was necessarily good! 

The animation itself was limited, as TV animation almost always was, but the speed of the editing mitigated this a bit. The images were well executed, matters of taste and design aside. I will however never get over the ludicrous design of D'Compose, and his name isn't helping a tiny bit either. Those Barn Doors of Forlorn Encystment on D's chest and his Godzilla skull with glowing fangs and teeth are all toyetic as anything, but the whole exquisite corpse-style of design was in this case the magic bullet that assassinated my suspension of disbelief. 


Trey: I will grant the silliness of D'Compose as name. As to the design, I'm going to disagree--a bit. The simplicities of the animation does it no favors, for sure, and I can't deny its fundamental tokusatsu "monster of the episode" character, but I think there is a mythological undercurrent to D that the other two (being pure pulp monster riffs) lack. In his skull I see echoes of Mari Lwyd and in his snapping rib cage, Tezcatlipoca.

I think it's fair to say a mythological monster in such a pulp/kaiju world is a dissonant choice, certainly.

Jason: Point taken! As you mentioned, Inhumanoids had no qualms about (making an attempt at) scaring little kids to death! In general, tv cartoons of the era, when they tried to be scary, swiftly reassured audiences that there are no such things as monsters and order is always restored by the end of the episode. Not so in the world of Inhumanoids, a series designed to sell a line of toys to small children.

The storytelling in this show was unusual in its speedy pace, due at least in part to the original short format used for the Super Sunday compilations. As a result, the cuts were quick from shot to shot and scene to scene, somewhat jarringly so I thought. This condensed format had the effect of creating a firehose of narrative that advanced the plot visually and kept the dialogue minimal, to the point of confusion at times. If the story was to be understood by kids, their full attention would be required, which is actually a plus in my book. 

Trey: Yeah, there's very much a movie serial style rush from one peril to the next.

Jason: By the end of episode two, though, an impressive amount of world building has unfolded. It's unlikely but not impossible that if I sat still long enough to take this material in as a teenager, I might have found myself at least somewhat intrigued. Alas!

Trey: If there was ever a property that could benefit from an adult, film or TV series reboot, I think this one could bear the conceptual load.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Classic TV Flashback: The Champions (1968)


The Champions
Debut: September 25, 1968
Created by Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman
Starring: Stuart Damon, Alexandra Bastedo, William Gaunt, Anthony Nicholls
Synopsis: Three agents for the UN law enforcement division Nemesis get superhuman abilities after being rescued from a plane crash by a secret civilization in the Himalayas, and then use their abilities to take on threats to world peace.

Trey: The Champions is a British series broadcast in the UK on ITV during 1968–1969 and in the U.S. on NBC, starting in the summer of 1968. Dennis Spooner created the series, working with producer Monty Berman. The two would also be responsible for the later series Department S and Jason King. They would use writers on this series that had previously worked on The Avengers and Danger Man.

We watched the first episode, "The Beginning," on YouTube. It introduces the three Nemesis agents, Sharron MacReady, Craig Stirling and Richard Barrett, who crash in the Himalayas after an escape from a bioweapon facility in China. They awaken to find their injuries mysteriously healed. Soon, they learn they have had new abilities bestowed on them by their rescuers, the people from a hidden, ancient civilization. The evade capture by the Chinese military and return to Europe having completed their mission.


First thing, I was struck by a few parallels with the Challengers of the Unknown who debuted in 1957. A plane crash is the pivotal event that changes the course of their lives, and the Challengers' refrain that they are "living on borrowed time" is voiced by one of the Champions just after the crash. Then there's then names they are just similar but seem to fit together: the challenger takes on the champion, after all.

Jason: I noticed those similarities and perhaps a wee bit of the original Doom Patrol, if only in the manicured beard of their agency commander. Speaking of the names, I thought the three starring actors had better names for the genre than the characters!

For a spy-fi show with a touch of plain-clothes superheroes thrown in, I found it quite effective, despite budgetary limitations. 

The plane crash sequence was suspenseful despite the use of miniatures and a foregone conclusion. The fight scenes worked well despite the small soundstage and put me in mind of a less expensive Star Trek. 

Trey: I enjoyed the show quite a bit, too. It had the standard sort of groovy Brit style of the era and an intriguing concept. I'd be interested to see what more episodes are like. 

Jason: I especially like its successful threading the needle of earnest adventure story with its tongue positioned in precisely the right part of the cheek. 

Trey: My only quibbles might be there didn't seem to be enough of it! I think it would have been better served by a two-hour pilot, and maybe a central villain of the episode.

Jason: The production staff may have shared your concerns and sought to correct in future episodes. Perusing an online episode guide alerted me to the fact that episode 2's special guest antagonist was none other than Peter Wyngarde!

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Classic TV Flashback: Columbo (1971)


Columbo
Debut: September 15, 1971
Created by: Richard Levinson and William Link
Starring: Peter Falk
Synopsis: Rumpled and unassuming Los Angeles homicide detective, Lieutenant Columbo, doggedly reveals even the most well-concealed of crimes.

Trey: Columbo had two movie "pilot episodes" in 1968 and 1971, then series aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978 as one of the rotating programs of The NBC Mystery Movie. It was brought back in the 80s on ABC on a sporadic basis from 1989 to 2003. That's when I became acquainted with it.

Columbo was partially inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment character Porfiry Petrovich as well as (according to Wikipedia) G. K. Chesterton's cleric-detective Father Brown.

The first episode of the 1971 series follows the (at the time) innovative formula of showing the audience the crime from the beginning, thus removing the mystery ask, except in regard to just how Columbo will eventually catch them. It was written by Steven Bochco and directed by Steven Spielberg. In the episode, a member of a mystery writing duo resorts to murder to break from his less talented partner.


Jason: I remember the presence of Columbo in the pop culture of my childhood but don't recall ever having seen the show in its day, possibly due to the draconian bedtime I strove against in my single-digit years. For decades, references to the series and impersonations of Falk were ubiquitous. I've previously mentioned my general lack of interest in the crime drama genre which, like many things, was once strident but has softened over time. I enjoyed this chance to better acquaint myself with the series and character that became, for all intents and purposes, iconic.  

The young Spielberg wastes no time distinguishing himself with a cinematic approach and clever visual storytelling even as the credits roll. While perhaps trying a bit too hard at times, the episode amounts to a very effective portfolio piece. Somebody give this kid a feature!

Trey: Yeah, I think he's got something and is going to go places. Wonder whatever happened to him? I'd also call out writer Steven Bochco as the creator of Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue among other credits. 

Jason: The titular character doesn't show up until nearly the 20 minute mark, as goes the show's formula, and he doesn't disappoint. As everyone already knows, Falk is uniquely charming in the role. 
His opponent, as expertly portrayed by Jack Cassidy, couldn't be more arrogant, slimy and unlikeable, despite his sophistication and impeccable manners. The rest of the cast give naturalistic performances, leaving it to the leads to provide the understated climactic fireworks.

Trey: In latter series, they did a lot of celebrity casting of the "murderers of the episode" and that and the focus on their viewpoint sometimes gives you (or at least gave me) a bit of sympathy for them: "Alright, alright, Columbo. They're guilty! Quit playing with them and arrest them, already!" Not here, though.

Jason: As an unsophisticated newcomer to the genre, I give this show high marks. I'm tempted to watch more. 

Unlike many of the shows featured here in the Flashback Universe, this one is anything but obscure and much ink has been spilled on its behalf. I found this article to be an effective expression of the warm regard Columbo still enjoys. Exhibit A: BBC Why the World Still Loves the 1970s Detective Show Columbo. Oh, and here's a Columbo statue in Budapest, Hungary. My only regret is that his dog doesn't appear in this episode!

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Classic TV Flashback: Captain Midnight (1954)


Captain Midnight
Debut: September 9, 1954
Starring:  Richard Webb, Sid Melton, Olan Soule
Synopsis: Captain Midnight of the Secret Squadron flies around the globe in his jet the Silver Dart, fighting various criminals and spies with his sidekick Ichabod Mudd and aided by a scientist, Dr. Aristotle Jones.

TreyCaptain Midnight (later renamed Jet Jackson, Flying Commando on TV) is a franchise that debuted as a radio serial in 1938. The character's popularity throughout the 1940s and into the mid-1950s saw him appear in movie serials (1942), a syndicated newspaper strip (1942), a comic book (1942–1948) and of course a television series (1954-1856).

The series aired on CBS and was sponsored by Ovaltine and Kix/General Mills.

Jason: 'll just go ahead and admit this was a pretty fun watch for me, the heavy handed in-world pitches for chocolaty, vitamin-laden Ovaltine only adding to the goofy charm. 

However, it swiftly becomes clear why legislation was enacted in the 1960s to regulate children's television, especially as regards advertising content. But thank your lucky stars that hero of supply side economics, former president Ronald Reagan, rolled back these restrictions, or else we may never have gotten to know He-Man, GI Joe, and Optimus Prime quite as intimately.  

Trey: The Gipper made Tv safe for product placement again! This really is a whole number level of undisguised shilling, though. It reminds me of The Shadow radio show and its Blue Coal pitches, except with more kid appeal.

I should mention before we get too far along that we watched Season 2, Episode 3, "The Frozen Men." Noted scientist Dr. Hartley is kidnapped by foreign agents. Captain Midnight, Ikky, and Tut figure out he has been working with extreme cold to make a super-durable metal. There's an atomic bomb dropped in this episode, though not directly on our heroes.


Jason: Spoilers! Anyway, Richard Webb, whose portrayal of a Starfleet officer deranged by the rigors of their duty is forever burned into my memory banks...

Trey: That would be Ben Finney in the Star Trek episode "Court Martial."

Jason: Yes. Here he does an admirably straightforward job of embodying the Cold War American Hero. His jaw is square enough and he delivers lines with the precise diction every Cold War school child should strive to perfect.   

His sidekick Ikky, who in this episode at least is in near-constant need of a hot shower, provides the kind of comic relief that might have generated some laughs for children of the 1950s. For us moderns, the humor is barely detectable. I did laugh out loud when, certain his Captain was incinerated in a nuclear blast, Ikky frowns slightly and delivers a somber, momentary salute before immediately moving on with his life. 

Trey, the science in this science fiction is worth mentioning I think. You've forgotten more about science than I'll ever know. Can you give us a breakdown on the speculative elements in this episode? I hold no degrees in the sciences, but I'm pretty sure some liberties may have been taken.

Trey: Well, I think the whole idea of super-metal Protonium that is created from nothing by intense is utterly fanciful. Then there's the medication profrigidium that is evidently super-endotherm in its reactions. None of this is science but rather "Science!" as found in pulp media. Of course, that's not even mentioning the 50ss naiveté about the horrors of nuclear bombs.

Jason: I'll regretfully cancel my profrigidium order at the pharmacy.

Trey: You wouldn't like the co-pay, anyway.

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Classic TV Flashback: Jason King (1971)


Jason King
Debut: September 15, 1971
Created by:  Dennis Spooner, Monty Berman
Starring:  Peter Wyngarde
Synopsis: Playboy novelist, Jason King, after working as a consultant with an intelligence agency as a sideline, keeps finding himself thrust into the role of international, amateur sleuth.

Trey: The character of Jason King was created for the British spy-fi series Department S (1969). Spooner and Berman originally conceived the character as a sort of middle-aged, tweed coat and pipe smoking academic sort, but when Peter Wyngarde came on board, he had other ideas. According to Wikipedia, Wyngarde "applied much of his own personality, style and wit to the role." With the Swinging London style, and cool wit, the character was apparently compelling enough to spinoff. It ran for one, 26 episode season.

We watched the first episode, "Wanna Buy A Television Series?" on YouTube. I have to say it's perhaps the cleverest structured show we've watched so far--and unusual in the sense that the character Wyngarde plays in the most scenes in the episode isn't Jason King but rather King's blatant author-insertion protagonist, Mark Caine. Caine is solving a mystery set among the glamorous Mediterranean, as a group of criminals give a woman plastic surgery to look like a dead woman to attempt to scan yet another criminal. All these (fictional) doings are intercut with scenes of King trying to sell this script and series to an American TV exec. 

I thought the metafictional touches were quite clever, though I agree with the TV exec that the basic plot of the script King is pitching is pretty convoluted.


Jason: An opinion I share. Which would elicit exasperated rebukes from Jason King, who has only limited patience for unsophisticated Colonials unable to keep up. 

I also enjoyed the show's premise and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of its execution. The interplay between the frame story and the meta story was quite clever and frequently amusing. It felt good to be genuinely entertained by a piece of entertainment, no ironic detachment required.

Trey: Wyngarde's cool is definitely of its place and time. Without the clear context clues to know how his world takes him, I think he might be a bit baffling to the modern viewer.

Jason: Modern Bafflement Exhibit A: King's astonishing hair do and mustache situation!

Trey: The past is a different country. One with tonsorial excesses. 

Jason: But I was won over pretty quickly! As the story(ies) unfold, the cumulative effect of Wyngarde's multiple subtle and not-so-subtle characterizations reveal an entertainingly complex King, who is no mere Bond parody despite the intrinsic humor. 

According to Wikipedia this ITC production was shot on 16mm film (rather than the more expensive 35mm as a cost-saving measure) which makes it look infinitely better than Star Cops (produced 15 years later!) Jason King actually had a budget and it shows. 

Trey: Anyway, It's worth pointing out the influence this actor, character, and series had on comic books. The X-Men villain Mastermind is named "Jason Wyngarde" after the actor and this character and draws some from a villain he played in The Avengers episode "A Touch of Brimstone" which is where Claremont got his Hellfire Club. In Morrison's The Invisibles, Mr. Six has some of Wyngarde's style and appearance (including his moustache) and at one point works for an organization called Department X.

Jason: I am illuminated!

Trey: But wait! There's more! Outside of comics, the flamboyantly dressed protagonist of Kim Newman's The Man from the Diogenes Club, Richard Jeperson, is partially inspired by Jason King.

Jason: I have to admit the actor was never really on my radar until watching this show but he will always have a place in my heart for his portrayal of the diabolical Klytus in Flash Gordon. His performance in Jason King only enhanced my admiration.

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Classic TV Flashback: Star Cops (1987)


Star Cops
Debut: July 6, 1987
Created by: Chris Boucher
Starring:  David Calder, Erick Ray Evans, Trevor Cooper, Linda Newton, Jonathan Adams, Sayo Inaba
Synopsis: In 2027, British career cop Nathan Springer leads the International Space Police Force, nicknamed the "Star Cops," as they try to keep the "High Frontier" safe.

Trey: Star Cops was the creation of Chris Boucher, the writer of several episodes of Doctor Who and script editor for the entire run of Blakes 7.  It ran for only 9 episodes on BBC2, having never found an audience. Wikipedia opines it has since undergone a reappraisal and is praised for its fairly realistic approach to near future science fiction. We watched the first episode on YouTube.

Jason: It is fondly remembered by its fan base (it might be fair to say "cult following") as one of the rare TV shows to embrace hard science fiction, sacrificing the fantastic for scientific plausibility in its presentation of the near future. Very near, in fact, as the show is set in 2027. Other than failing to predict the dissolution of the USSR, how'd they do, Trey?

Trey: It's tough to say, in that, I feel it's not so much unrealistic as unconvincing. The technical details we are given that, in the abstract, seem accurate, but how it's realized in terms of set dressing and the like might as well be the fantasy of Dr. Who. Springs digital (AI?) assistant did seem well done though.

Jason: It certainly also embraces the mundane, sacrificing action and dynamic pacing for character exploration and the nuances of life in the near future. That said, by the end of the episode, we know a lot about Nathan Spring, the setting and the rest of the cast is introduced, he effectively solves two murder mysteries (one each on Earth and in orbit) while the climactic action sequence occurs entirely off camera.  


Trey: I think that's true. The script seems definitely interested in his character. I don't think it gives Calder enough support in turns of scenes or dialogue to really make a lot from that. His given the chance at some acerbic comments that seem very British.

Jason: Well, Boucher's script is notable, among other things, for its refusal to hold the viewer's hand. While the characters must spew exposition, it is often handled entertainingly, I thought. The Robert Altman-esque overlapping dialogue I found hard to parse, occasionally, but I appreciated the intent, which I take as an element of the relentless grounding in realism attempted here. 

Trey: Sometimes it seems the realism of a community theater production...

Jason: Like most BBC efforts of the era, the effects budget is minimal, and it shows. The unfortunate need to depict freefall so often hurts it. I did enjoy Spring's frequent episodes of space nausea, a realist touch used to humorous effect.

The miniatures and designs of space stations and shuttles are well done and ring true enough, especially for 1987, but it's all shot on videotape which just looks terrible, especially on big ol' 21st century TVs. It's a barrier to entry! 

Trey: Agreed on both counts. It desperately needed some cinematic lightning like Miami Vice. Speaking of which, did you notice the oversized suits on a couple of the Brit cops?

Jason: I did, and I'm tempted to contrast Star Cops with its relative contemporary (previously reviewed here) in other ways. With alarming frequency, SC zigs where the MV zags! Spring and Theroux are the Bizzaro World Crockett and Tubbs! MV is above all a visual spectacle and mood, while SC has sharp dialogue delivered by actors dangling from crotch-harnesses!

Trey: That says it all really.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Classic TV Flashback: Chico and the Man (1974)


Chico and the Man
Debut: September 13, 1974
Created by: James Komack
Starring: Jack Alberston and Freddie Prinze
Synopsis: A cranky, old, white owner of a rundown garage gets a new partner and friend in the form of a twentysomething Chicano.

Trey: Chico and the Man ran on NBC for 4 seasons from 1974 to 1978. It survived the tragic death of one of its leads, Freddie Prinze by suicide in 1977. It was the creation of James Komack who also was responsible for The Courtship of Eddie's Father and Welcome Back, Kotter. It's been suggested that the idea was taken from a couple of Cheech and Chong sketches, something that Komack (at least according to wikipedia) doesn't seem to have entirely denied.

We watched episode 8 from the 2nd season, ""Mister Butterfly" on Tubi. In this one, George Takei guest stars as a Japanese businessman who arrives at the garage believing Ed ("the Man") to be his long-lost father.

Two things to me are notable about this episode (and really series because I also watched the first episode). Both are things I knew so they aren't surprised, but they bear repeating. One is that these older sitcoms are pretty unfunny by modern standards. They have moments of humor, sure, but at best they are relatively less "joke dense" than modern sitcoms and at worst they rely on the lamest sight gags or just general amusement at certain sorts of stock or stereotypical situations. This last I think is mostly a trait of the form. It's present to greater of lesser degrees in "trad" sitcoms up to this day--there just get to be fewer trad sitcoms post the 90s.

Jason: By chance, I also watched (most of) the first episode, after experiencing mild bewilderment with the second season episode we selected. Doing so provided a bit more clarity on the series' intent and the flavor of comedy we should expect. Without getting into it too deeply, I agree that it just wasn't that funny (anymore) and that this social and topical kind of humor is very much rooted to the era it attempts to reflect. Funny faces remain funny over the years, as physical comedy is pretty much eternal, but as cutting edge as C and the M was in its day, the jokes (a nebulous term with many meanings and subcategories) just haven't aged well. 


Trey: Going with "rooted in the era," there's the degree of casual racism and racial stereotypes. The 70s was, of course, getting more honest about these issues after the whitewashing of America common to earlier sitcoms, so it's a trait of things like The Jeffersons, All in the Family, etc. So, Ed's and (in the first episode) these two cops' prejudice and racial slurs in the first episodes are typical of the recognizing the problems and building understanding sorts of elements of these shows. 

Jason: The show was emblematic of what seems to have been an earnest attempt at addressing this whitewashing and lack of representation for the diverse groups that made up the American viewing audience but is clearly a baby step in this direction and likely wouldn't have had the success it did with a more radical approach. The lovely opening montage, depicting early 70's life in an East LA barrio, accompanied by Jose Feliciano's theme song, set my expectations too high. 

Trey: Undercutting its good intentions, perhaps, is Chico's casual stereotyping of Asians in S2 ep 8. Or the broad stereotypically Japanese portrayal Takei and Beulah Quo (as his mother Mariko) are required to give. 


Jason: This stuff set me reeling, as my expectations were thwarted. I expected that stuff from The Man, of course, but not Chico! I wondered if depicting the cultural bias of the ostensible hero of the series wasn't some coded way of excusing the likes of The Man. We're all bigots in some way, after all.

The long shadow of WW2 hangs over the episode, so I was relieved that the stereotyping was of a slightly less-malignant variety than it could have been, which may have been intentional. 

Trey: On the positive side, I think Prinze's charisma is apparent even in just the slim space of an episode. I don't know that it sells me on his standup, but I could see him having had a long career. Albertson is likewise good in his role, such as it is.

Jason: He is charming throughout and his star power shines through the rough material. It may be my imagination, but I thought he might have been struggling with barely concealed discomfort throughout his performance. Whether that be due to his well-known personal problems or a displeasure with the material is unknown to me of course.  

Albertson's embodiment of the Man was pretty much perfect.  

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