MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[The Old Mixer]

Curse Christopher as well as Daredevil...I had to go ahead and start watching it.

Awkwardly, Netflix is missing the three-part pilot, so the first episode on streaming is Part 1 of "The Super Scouts".

Also, the opening credits say "Battlestar Galactica" (in that dated computer font that Christopher mentions in his blog), with no "1980" evident. Did it originally air that way, or is that a syndication/packaging thing?

Well, it's not unwatchable...it's cheesy in a way that alternates between being kind-of fun and tedious.

Adama really did become a complete tool of Dr. Zee in this series.

Nice to see that they haven't given up on the old BSG tradition of obligatory stock-footage dogfights.

If Boomer's now Adama's right-hand man on the bridge, why is he also flying a Viper in combat?

Some really bad voice-dubbing and other odd bits of directing/editing throughout where what we're being told is happening matches awkwardly with what we see. Like when the kids are all playing around with the government agent's car, and you hear a disembodied voice continually telling them to stop messing around with everything, while the only possible source of that voice is another uniformed government agent who's sitting in the back seat so motionless, shot in a way that his face isn't shown, that he was probably a dummy....

There's also the part after one of the kids gets sick, when one of the other kids runs up and says that everyone's getting sick. Cut to the wide shot where there's one more kid lying on the ground, and the rest are sitting around the fire motionless like there's nothing going on.

The motorcycle cops are all the more obviously CHiPs knockoffs because they're working together...I read that CHiPs contrived that Ponch was on probation for the entire series in order to explain why he was paired with John, when motorcycle cops usually ride solo.

The anti-pollution angle is well and good, but they needn't have bothered using it as an explanation for the kids getting sick. You're not supposed to drink unfiltered water from natural sources because of bacteria and disease...if, as the episode stated, the kids wouldn't have any immunity to Earth diseases, they should have easily gotten sick from drinking out of a lake that didn't happen to have a nearby chemical plant making it sudsy.

 

[Christopher]

Also, the opening credits say "Battlestar Galactica" (in that dated computer font that Christopher mentions in his blog), with no "1980" evident. Did it originally air that way, or is that a syndication/packaging thing?

They changed it for syndication, so they could package it with the original series. Really, that was a large part of the reason they made the show in the first place -- so they could offer a bigger syndication package.


Batman: "The Spell of Tut"/'Tut's Case is Shut": So Tut is fourth dynasty now?

Oh, look, it's the Green Hornet and Kato, whom Batman recognizes as crimefighters, even though in a few weeks he'll think they're criminals.

And it's perennial TV heavy Sid Haig as Tut's apothecary! And Michael Pataki (Korax from "The Trouble With Tribbles") as the guy who kept saying "...or my name isn't." It's a fun bunch of "Tutlings" this time, though I still wonder where Tut finds these cultists just sitting around in Gotham.

The scarab juice destroys the will? Holy cats, Tut's discovered the Anti-Life Equation!

"I slipped radioactive pellets into Robin's utility belt." Let's hope Dick Grayson wasn't planning on having children...

The villains' plans do seem to be getting grander this season. It was often a little vague just what they were after, sometimes these really convoluted schemes for disproportionately small payoffs, but these days they seem to be planning big -- blackmailing the financial system, mind-controlling the whole city, stuff like that. It's a nice trend.


Wonder Woman: "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis": This is an interesting dilemma, with Diana torn between her loyalties to the US and Paradise Island. But they didn't really do much with that aspect. Still, it was kind of a fun caper. Interesting how every episode so far this season has built off of elements from the series' past -- WWII aftereffects in the previous episodes, the Bermuda Triangle business here.

"Raymond Manta -- as dangerous as the manta ray." Great. Not enough you give him a contrived villain name, you actually call attention to it. (And what's Manta's secret weapon? A ray. Oy.) I suppose you could pretend this is sort of "Wonder Woman vs. Black Manta," but that's a stretch. I'm sure it wasn't intended anyway. Still, he's a pretty effective villain.

It was odd for Steve to talk about his father's crash in the region as a mystery that the villain Manta might've been responsible for. He was shot down by a Nazi pilot -- and it was 35 years before, so Manta would've been too young to have anything to do with it.

Oh, look, Manta's secret weapon is the Seaview! I guess he picked it up as military surplus.

So Diana thinks a woman would be more convincing as a panicking coward? Yup, so much for her feminist message.

And it's the debut of the Wonder Wetsuit! The first of the variant costumes she used in the series. And she changes back out of it by the power of reversing the film!

Man, the episode really fell apart in the ending, though. "We have 35 minutes to stop a massive battle and convince everyone to evacuate!" "You'll never make it!" Cut to: "Congratulations, guys, you did a great job!" Whaaaaaaa???

 

[The Old Mixer]

^Didn't she use a riding variant in the Roy Rogers episode?

 

[Christopher]

^Didn't she use a riding variant in the Roy Rogers episode?

IIRC, that was an outfit she put together from garments around the guy's house (the housekeeper's, I think) combined with some bits of her own costume. Her ability to spin-change into multiple specialty costumes is a new addition for this season and the next.

 

[The Old Mixer]

In my review of the G80 episode, I forgot to mention the scene when Troy, Dillon, and the lady reporter are at the hospital with the three kids who got sick and they bring attention to the fact that the other kids are back at the camp...and I'm thinking, "Who the hell is with those little kids?"

Meanwhile, on DECADES: "Enjoy episode after episode of this series about two young drifters and their adventures along the famed American highway." Except that the episodes, which were shot on location all over the USA, rarely actually took place in locations along Route 66. Hell, the very first episode was set in Mississippi! "It winds from Chicago to LA...."

Fun fact: While the song, covered by the likes of Chuck Berry and the Stones, had nothing to do with the TV show, it was written by the same Bobby Troup who went on to play Dr. Early on Emergency!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Ack! Galactica 1980. The show that makes Space:1999 look good.

I caught a couple of nice episodes of Love, American Style yesterday. One had Roddy McDowall, who is always a joy, as a guy who only stutters when he's in love-- his dilemma is that he stopped stuttering for his wife and started stuttering for his best friend's wife. Nice ending. Then there was a very unusual non-comedic episode with Robert Morse and Elaine Joyce that was just beautiful. It told the story of a sort of Platonic affair that spanned fifty years.

Caught "Love and the Happy Days" (retitled for syndication from "Love and the Television"). Kind of interesting, and "Ronny" Howard still looked pretty young. Couldn't get used to the original Mr. C, though, as he was a completely different physical type from Tom Bosley. I was reading that George Lucas watched this episode when deciding whether to cast Ron in American Graffiti.

One of those Hanna-Barbera cartoons that I mentioned had an All In The Family generation-gap type premise, and Tom Bosley voiced the dad.

Back to the black-and-white era tonight...Route 66 starts at 9 p.m. EST. I wonder if the first episode is anything like a pilot? The synopsis makes it sound like just another episode, but maybe they were airing out of production order like Trek...?

No, they just give the background of the show in dialogue, basically. Like a lot of old shows, they just hit the ground running. Or rolling.

ETA: I knew it was only a matter of time before Bob Denver showed up....

He was on LAS a few times.

Meanwhile, on DECADES: "Enjoy episode after episode of this series about two young drifters and their adventures along the famed American highway." Except that the episodes, which were shot on location all over the USA, rarely actually took place in locations along Route 66. Hell, the very first episode was set in Mississippi! "It winds from Chicago to LA...."

No, they don't actually travel Route 66, although they do mention getting lost while traveling Route 66. The title is more to evoke the spirit of Americana.

Fun fact: While the song, covered by the likes of Chuck Berry and the Stones, had nothing to do with the TV show, it was written by the same Bobby Troup who went on to play Dr. Early on Emergency!

I think it went like this: The show was inspired by the song, but the song was too expensive to license, so they commissioned an original theme-- which became a classic in its own right.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Ack! Galactica 1980. The show that makes Space:1999 look good.

[Checks Netflix] Nope, they don't have it on streaming. I've never watched 1999, but have read a lot about it here.

One of those Hanna-Barbera cartoons that I mentioned had an All In The Family generation-gap type premise, and Tom Bosley voiced the dad.

I had to look it up to be sure, but that was the pilot of
Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. I didn't catch that one, but the animation style of one of their animated segments made me think of that show, which I remember watching with the family a few years later in Saturday afternoon/evening syndication.

No, they just give the background of the show in dialogue, basically. Like a lot of old shows, they just hit the ground running. Or rolling.

Yeah, I caught that in the first episode.

No, they don't actually travel Route 66, although they do mention getting lost while traveling Route 66. The title is more to evoke the spirit of Americana.

Think I heard that in the first episode, too. They must have gotten pretty damn lost to find themselves in Mississippi.

And I had to look it up for myself, but I never knew that we held German POWs on American soil during WWII.

 

[Christopher]

Ack! Galactica 1980. The show that makes Space:1999 look good.

[Checks Netflix] Nope, they don't have it on streaming. I've never watched 1999, but have read a lot about it here.

Hulu has both Space: 1999 and U.F.O. from the same producers (as well as several of their Supermarionation shows like Thunderbirds). They're worth checking out. The first season of '99 (that's a hard title to abbreviate) is actually pretty cool if you accept that it's a surrealist fantasy, and that the fact that it makes little scientific or logical sense is pretty much the point. It's also got amazing production values, technology design, and special effects, all of which leave Star Trek pretty much in the dust. The second season, though, is basically just silly.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I ain't signing up for another service! I'm in Netflix for the MCU shows, and will check out what else they have to offer in the meantime.

 

[Christopher]

^Hulu has a free (commercial-supported) service as well as a paid service (still commercial-supported, but with fewer ads per show and more stuff available). As of last year, at least, they had Space: 1999 and U.F.O. available on the free service, so there'd be no need to sign up -- just go to Hulu.com and start watching. As long as you can stand sitting through the same few commercials over and over and over again.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^Maybe someday. Not dying to see it, but if it were right there on Netflix, I'd check it out.

*******

Say, RJD, were you the one who commented way upthread that you'd been meaning to check out Naked City? If so and you haven't yet...I'm no expert on either show, but from what I've seen of both, if you're into Route 66, NC would be right up your alley. Very similar style of semi-anthology drama, but shot on location in New York with police detectives as the recurring characters.

 

[RJDiogenes]

One of those Hanna-Barbera cartoons that I mentioned had an All In The Family generation-gap type premise, and Tom Bosley voiced the dad.

I had to look it up to be sure, but that was the pilot of
Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. I didn't catch that one, but the animation style of one of their animated segments made me think of that show, which I remember watching with the family a few years later in Saturday afternoon/evening syndication.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that-- I never actually watched it, but I remember it.

Think I heard that in the first episode, too. They must have gotten pretty damn lost to find themselves in Mississippi.

Yeah, they managed to get around. And I think they always shot on location, too.

^Maybe someday. Not dying to see it, but if it were right there on Netflix, I'd check it out.

I'm not too fond of Space: 1999, but I love UFO. I've got that one on DVD. If you remember the UFO craze of the 60s and 70s, it really captures that feeling.

Say, RJD, were you the one who commented way upthread that you'd been meaning to check out Naked City? If so and you haven't yet...I'm no expert on either show, but from what I've seen of both, if you're into Route 66, NC would be right up your alley. Very similar style of semi-anthology drama, but shot on location in New York with police detectives as the recurring characters.

Yeah, that was probably me; I have been meaning to catch that. I think Stirling Siliphant did a lot of writing for that show, too. I'm sure you've noticed his name on pretty much every episode of Route 66-- he was amazingly prolific, and very good.

 

[Christopher]

What surprised me about UFO was how dark and dramatic it was. I was expecting something more campy, but it played the whole thing really seriously and went to some startlingly grim places. It even went for controversy on occasion, like when it was revealed that the female lead (inasmuch as the show ever had one) was in an interracial relationship. I didn't really enjoy it that much; the main characters weren't all that appealing, the continuity wasn't great (even allowing for the fact that there's no consensus episode order, and the order on Hulu seems particularly random), the female characters were mostly there for fanservice, and it was the sixties-est 1980 I've ever seen. But it was definitely interesting.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Batman: "The Spell of Tut"/'Tut's Case is Shut": So Tut is fourth dynasty now?

Oh, look, it's the Green Hornet and Kato, whom Batman recognizes as crimefighters, even though in a few weeks he'll think they're criminals.

Poor scripting in favor of cross-promotion. By the time "The Spell of Tut" aired, The Green Hornet was already approaching its 4th aired episode. Despite pre debut Dozier promising TGH would be markedly different than Batman, he could not resist the chance to not only stick GH/K in the window cameo for promotion, but make the too-obvious reminder that they should be seen as heroes, too--no matter how clear that was on their own series.

The actual crossover (coming in toward the end of season 2) made more in-series (GH) sense, not only thanks to period fans wanting to see a fight between the teams, but someone must have reminded the writer that TGH should be considered criminals as much to Batman & Robin as they are by the rest of the world.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Tonight is the night Dark Shadows begins on Decades. 6pm. It doesn't say where they're starting, but they'll probably begin with the episode where Barnabas is introduced. That's usually how it works (nothing prior to that is available on Hulu, either).

 

[The Old Mixer]

Don't know much about Dark Shadows.

Yeah, that was probably me; I have been meaning to catch that.

Well, if MeTV keeps on its current weekly early Monday morning schedule, they should be getting back around to the Naked City episode with Amazing Fantasy #15 (and Burgess Meredith and real young Alan Alda) in about another 14 weeks....

I think Stirling Siliphant did a lot of writing for that show, too. I'm sure you've noticed his name on pretty much every episode of Route 66-- he was amazingly prolific, and very good.

Would he be the guy responsible for the tendency of characters to break into pretty but unnatural-sounding monologues? Yeah, a different era of TV, I know...very theatrical. The last episode of Route 66 I was able to catch most of today was the one that introduces Zefram Cochrane as Officer Malloy's new wingman. There was a scene early in the episode that made me think Susan Oliver was playing a head character because of the way she was monologing in the background while Zef was trying to talk to his mother on the phone. The connections for those long-distance calls to Alpha Centauri couldn't have been very good back in the day....

 

[JD]

Ack! Galactica 1980. The show that makes Space:1999 look good.

[Checks Netflix] Nope, they don't have it on streaming. I've never watched 1999, but have read a lot about it here.

Hulu has both Space: 1999 and U.F.O. from the same producers (as well as several of their Supermarionation shows like Thunderbirds). They're worth checking out. The first season of '99 (that's a hard title to abbreviate) is actually pretty cool if you accept that it's a surrealist fantasy, and that the fact that it makes little scientific or logical sense is pretty much the point. It's also got amazing production values, technology design, and special effects, all of which leave Star Trek pretty much in the dust. The second season, though, is basically just silly.

This reminds of something I've been meaning to ask. Last year I watched the first few episode of Space: 1999 and I noticed that there seem to be at least a couple different episode orders. Was this another one like the original Star Trek that was aired out of production order? I've been wanting to get back to it, and I was just wondering which order is better from a storytelling continuity perspective?

 

[Christopher]

This reminds of something I've been meaning to ask. Last year I watched the first few episode of Space: 1999 and I noticed that there seem to be at least a couple different episode orders. Was this another one like the original Star Trek that was aired out of production order? I've been wanting to get back to it, and I was just wondering which order is better from a storytelling continuity perspective?

Yeah, like most shows of the time, it was designed so that the episodes would be self-contained and anything after the pilot could be shown in any order. There's not much to worry about where story continuity is concerned, therefore. But as with ST:TOS, production order is probably best for following the overall evolution of the storytelling, characters, sets, etc. I think DVD order is pretty much production order.

For UFO, there are something like 5 or 6 different episode orders depending on the broadcaster, and there's no consensus for them. Hulu has them in no particular order, and after watching them in Hulu order, I think it'd be better to go by production order, except for one episode in particular which was produced fourth or something but really should go second, since it introduces one of the main characters who's in nearly every other episode.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Would he be the guy responsible for the tendency of characters to break into pretty but unnatural-sounding monologues? Yeah, a different era of TV, I know...very theatrical.

Yes, exactly. It's got that Kerouac-Era beat poetry eloquence. I love that. I like writing that sounds written. Not that I have anything against naturalistic dialogue, but it gets old fast. Writers should be emulating Shakespeare, not Woody Allen.

The last episode of Route 66 I was able to catch most of today was the one that introduces Zefram Cochrane as Officer Malloy's new wingman.

And I missed it, unfortunately. I've never seen an episode that didn't have George Maharis.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Really? I was under the impression that you'd seen them all. Seems like it wasn't that long ago that Me's weekly airing was in the Corbett episodes. Also, I've caught part or all of a few of the episodes that Milner did solo.