Posts from ‘television’
Voyagers! What the hell!? (O.O)
Okay let me start off by saying that I have watched a lot of television in my time and seen a bunch of shows that no one has ever heard of (the last two days here at QYDJ can attest to that) but I’ve got to fess up.
I had no idea what Voyagers! was.
I mean I had heard of the show and seen the occasional reference to it, it’s very possible that my podcasting partner Dan may have even talked to me about it (if not he I’m sure Matt probably has). But I’d never laid eyes on any actual footage until the other day whilst trawling YouTube.
Now hang on a second.
Let me get this straight, these guys jump or leap if you like back through time and they fix it when events have gone astray. I’m reasonably certain I’ve seen this before (or later as the case actually is) with Quantum Leap?!?
Actually if I was being completely fair I might point to the Time Tunnel but still I find it interesting that I never encountered this show before. So now I’ve got myself an interesting scenario, since I have absolutely no personal connection to this show at all I can watch it without fear of it ruining a cherished memory.
I have no idea who these people are but I respect the manliness of that vest!
However, it looks like it could be a little dated and I don’t know what my tolerance might be like of its acting and effects.
Are there any Voyagers! fans out there that will recommend it? Remember though I might carve it up in front of you so be sure 
Yesterday I talked about Manimal and my fear that if I were to go watch it that I would be disappointed and the childhood obsession with it would be crushed.
I admit I could be wrong, Manimal could be still pretty good if you can get past the 80s fashion and the dated special effects but I kinda doubt it. There is however another show from my youth that I’m pretty confident wouldn’t hold up and I think the credits below drive my fears home:
Automan (the “Automatic Man”) followed the adventures of a police officer and computer programmer named Walter Nebicher (Desi Arnaz, Jr.), who had created an artificially intelligent crime fighting program that generated a hologram (Chuck Wagner) able to leave the computer world and enter reality to help fight crime. source
It’s got a neat intro theme and like Manimal it’s from the master of 80s genre television Glen A. Larson. Unlike Manimal it made it to 13 episodes though one didn’t air. I know I watched pretty much everything that aired in Australia for this show because I loved it!
But no one else had ever heard of Automan years later and would look at me like I’m crazy as I recounted the hilarious running gag where the human passenger in the Automan car would be smacked up against the window whenever they made an impossibly tight turn.
But thanks to the internet I have proof the show existed!!
Of course that’s where I’m going to leave it.
From the brief glimpses in that opening and the photos I am reasonably certain that the show has absolutely no chance of matching my eight year old self’s expectations. Frankly it looks bloody awful and painfully acted.
And clearly there are similarities to Tron which interestingly enough was a commercial failure so I’m not sure what chance it had in the first place. But like I said I’m leaving this one well enough alone but it’s nice to remember it occasionally.
A while ago I managed to catch an episode of The A-Team on television, I hadn’t seen the show in years but have very fond memories of the show. It was the first grown up show that I was allowed to stay up and watch and the simple premise of the show is pretty damn cool.
And here lies the problem.
The show concept is just brilliant, but the execution is pretty dated. I glossed over in my mind the pettiness of the scenarios, the episode I watched involved a local gang terrorising a farm. It’s straight out of a western but the problem is that even in the 80s the world was very different to the wild west era. Driving the baddies off with some sort of improvised hot water system flame thrower and some bullets shot into the ground at their feet may work today but come tomorrow they’ll be back. I’m sure there are much better episodes but I can see how they could all be flawed and harder to watch today.
Another show from my youth and one that only some people of a certain generation and inclination seem to remember is Manimal.
Dr Jonathan Chase… wealthy, young, handsome. A man with the brightest of futures. A man with the darkest of pasts. From Africa’s deepest recesses, to the rarefied peaks of Tibet, heir to his father’s legacy and the world’s darkest mysteries. Jonathan Chase, master of the secrets that divide man from animal, animal from man… Manimal!
The basic premise of the show is that this dude can transform into any animal he wants and he uses this ability to fight crime. That alone makes this worth thinking about as a concept! Add to the mix that the series was created by Glen A. Larson who brought us such brilliance as Knight Rider, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers which are all staples of the 30 something childhood.
The transformation sequences were also developed by special effects legend/master/genius Stan Winston and they clearly resonate in my memory. But it’s suprising that the series was even seen at all considering in the United States it was up against Dallas (remember this was the 80s too) and was cancelled after 8 episodes.
The concept is über cool and I have not seen it since I was very young and I don’t think that I will seek it out. I doubt the effects of the time would hold up but that doesn’t really bother me. The fact that 99% of the time he turns into a black panther or a hawk would bug me (these are the animals they would have filmed the special effects for) and I dread to think what crime he would be fighting!
I think Manimal is one of those shows best left in the vault of my childhood.
