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Adam Reed is the most quotable comedy writer of our young generation. As Bill Simmons would say in that nasally kiddie toucher voice of his, no one denies this. His dialogue is so loving sharp and memorable that the thread for his latest show, Archer, will occasionally turn into a quote fest from his other shows: Frisky Dingo and (less frequently) Sealab 2021. Aatrek's foot came down on this issue, so in the interest of keeping the Archer thread on topic, here's a separate topic for Reed's other two shows.  (Wikipedia) This is a goof on Hanna-Barbera's terrible Sealab 2020 (which I believe was created by Alex Toth, who also created the Space Ghost character). The original show lasted 13 episodes on NBC and followed the crew of an undersea research facility as they battled the elements and the worst instincts of human nature. Typical Hanna-Barbera adventure stuff. 2021 picks up a year after the series, and posits that all that time spent cut off from normal society has left the crew batshit insane and unfit for duty. If there's one episode that defines what the show is all about, it's the legendary "I, Robot", wherein a malfunction in a critical life support system threatens to destroy the entire facility. Faced with this threat, the principal crew promptly ignores it and debates the merits and consequences of putting their brain into a robot body. This episode has been memorized, line for line, by more people than you want to believe are out there. And it was only the third episode to air; it gets even better (though it's universally agreed that Sealab never recovered after Harry Goz, who voiced Captain Murphy, left the show. And the planet.) For the uninitiated, there's not much I can tell you about what makes it great beyond "deadpan insanity". Everything is in the intangibles; the chemistry, the sharp delivery of the lines that this thread will doubtlessly be quoting and requoting. Even today, it feels fresh and unique. The same can be said for...  (Wikipedia) It starts out as a riff on the relationship between superhero and supervillain. It soon becomes an absurdist satire of a 24-hour news cycle-dominated culture. And then the characters go to Las Vegas ("I like to call it 'Lost Wages'.") and everything just goes to glorious Hell. The series ended on a cliffhanger, lamented more for promise unfulfilled rather than where it left the characters. (There were two episodes of a spinoff series produced that Reed had nothing to do with. Titled The X-Tacles after the squad backing up protagonist of the series, it's still memorable for making "Rapier Ape" a thing.) Great shows, both of them. Well worth watching if you've never seen them, and practically required viewing if you're a fan of Reed's current series, Archer. The floor is yours.
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Jul 28, 2011 06:38
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Rhyno posted:Didn't Sealab debut the weekend after 9/11? I remember being in such a funk, turning on CN and being loving bewildered. It actually debuted in 2000, though for all I know it was in a different capacity than AS. The first episode to run after 9/11 was "Predator", which I remember nothing about, actually. Also, FlamingLiberal. Read my bit about Goz again.
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Jul 28, 2011 07:11
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