I've got a huge soft spot for Weird Science (the movie), so when I saw that the first two seasons (minus an ep or two) of the '90s show are available for free and legal viewing on Hulu, I thought I'd give it a shot.
The boys' actors are strong in playing modified and simplified versions of the movie Gary and Wyatt, though they haven't the authenticity of actually being sixteen or so. And while she lacks a British accent and has none of LeBrock's naughty side, Angel does a fine job of Lisa.
It seems that, in order to accommodate the stand-alone nature of the eps, the show soon began not only to use but to center upon supernatural gimmickry. (To be fair, the movie has the same problem.) Amusing though stories of being sucked into video games or becoming pro wrestlers may be, I've got no interest in WS eps that don't focus on the boys' attempt to get (and "get") girls; I therefore ran through those I thought I'd be interested in pretty quickly. The five Keeper eps listed below add up to about the movie's runtime, and I think the movie should be twenty minutes shorter anyways, so I'm glad to have these nuggets as companion pieces to the movie.
With this approach in mind, here are my findings (plot outlines available on the Hulu site):
Keepers
1.2 Universal Remote: ending has a few plot holes, Lisa's scarce; still very funny.
1.3 Cyrano DeBrainiac: quite droll.
1.5 The Feminine Mistake: hilarious and moving. (Guest stars the slow guy from Carnivàle!)
1.13 Sex Ed: Pretty darn funny, with a great and novel third-act gag.
1.18 A Tale of Two Lisas: decently amusing. Gary as a troll is a fun twist.
No Thanks
1.1 She's Alive: unremarkable, awkward and ultimately unsuccessful retread of the film.
1.10. Mr. President: all cheap jokes, no good brains or laughs.
1.11 Fatal Lisa: some good bits throughout, and a fun ending, but not too involving.
1.21 Copper Top Girl: A bust.
2.3 Horseradish: a strong first half falters with the obnoxious boyfriend plot.
2.15 Teen Lisa: Making Lisa an ignoramus was not a good move.
On their own merits, I'd say there's a tie for best ep. "Feminine Mistake", in which the guys are turned into girls, takes these two seasons' most promising set-up (imo) and does a very strong job of it. "Sex Ed", however, is the only of the above eps to do justice to the risque nature of the whole WS setup, arguably even better than the movie itself, and is hilarious besides.
Hope all this has been of some interest!
Anyone else have thoughts on the show or eps?
The boys' actors are strong in playing modified and simplified versions of the movie Gary and Wyatt, though they haven't the authenticity of actually being sixteen or so. And while she lacks a British accent and has none of LeBrock's naughty side, Angel does a fine job of Lisa.
It seems that, in order to accommodate the stand-alone nature of the eps, the show soon began not only to use but to center upon supernatural gimmickry. (To be fair, the movie has the same problem.) Amusing though stories of being sucked into video games or becoming pro wrestlers may be, I've got no interest in WS eps that don't focus on the boys' attempt to get (and "get") girls; I therefore ran through those I thought I'd be interested in pretty quickly. The five Keeper eps listed below add up to about the movie's runtime, and I think the movie should be twenty minutes shorter anyways, so I'm glad to have these nuggets as companion pieces to the movie.
With this approach in mind, here are my findings (plot outlines available on the Hulu site):
Keepers
1.2 Universal Remote: ending has a few plot holes, Lisa's scarce; still very funny.
1.3 Cyrano DeBrainiac: quite droll.
1.5 The Feminine Mistake: hilarious and moving. (Guest stars the slow guy from Carnivàle!)
1.13 Sex Ed: Pretty darn funny, with a great and novel third-act gag.
1.18 A Tale of Two Lisas: decently amusing. Gary as a troll is a fun twist.
No Thanks
1.1 She's Alive: unremarkable, awkward and ultimately unsuccessful retread of the film.
1.10. Mr. President: all cheap jokes, no good brains or laughs.
1.11 Fatal Lisa: some good bits throughout, and a fun ending, but not too involving.
1.21 Copper Top Girl: A bust.
2.3 Horseradish: a strong first half falters with the obnoxious boyfriend plot.
2.15 Teen Lisa: Making Lisa an ignoramus was not a good move.
On their own merits, I'd say there's a tie for best ep. "Feminine Mistake", in which the guys are turned into girls, takes these two seasons' most promising set-up (imo) and does a very strong job of it. "Sex Ed", however, is the only of the above eps to do justice to the risque nature of the whole WS setup, arguably even better than the movie itself, and is hilarious besides.
Hope all this has been of some interest!
Anyone else have thoughts on the show or eps?