quote:

The series centered around the six survivors of a world nuclear holocaust. They live together in an abandoned farm house while trying to survive and re-establish civilization. In July 2002, TV Guide named [REDACTED] the 42nd-worst TV show of all time, and referred to as a "post-apocalyptic Gilligan's Island".

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Frederick Ross (Cleavant Derricks) was formerly a research biologist. His excellent knowledge of science is vital to the survival of the community. Although he considered it ironic that he was possibly the only Black man to have survived the nuclear war, and occasionally mused over the possible loss of a Black female companion, he genuinely enjoyed his White friends and living on the farm.

Suzanne Skillman (Marita Geraghty), a hair salon employee, ia a dumb blonde stereotype, although her hair color was clearly brunette.

quote:

some kids were fooling around with their remote-control toy car, which caused a nuclear warhead to launch and all the world's powers to open fire. At that time, Mark had just gotten off work and was making a deposit at the bank when, in a flash of light, the nuclear holocaust happened. Now driving through a barren wasteland, Mark stumbles upon a fertile valley containing a farm that houses five other survivors. However, the six constantly bicker and do not get along as a community, until a gigantic, mutated spider threatens the farm. The survivors have to work as a team to be able to fend off the spider.

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A crystal causes Alice's bustline to grow much larger. She seems to be enjoying her new status as the object of men's attention, as opposed to Suzanne, but Mark reminds her that by giving in to being considered a sex object, she may be ruining what she has worked for her whole life – for women to gain respect.

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Curtis becomes devastated after the loss of his necktie. When it is found again and he puts it on, he somehow believes he is in the year 1986, before the nuclear holocaust happened. Mark and Alice have to somehow restore Curtis' memory.

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The group finds out Suzanne is in love, and the men clamor amongst themselves to see who is the one for whom she has fallen. When they find out she is in love with Jack, he is glad, but she cannot stand the fact he loves to go exploring and push his shopping cart around to collect things he finds on his expeditions, when he ought to be paying attention to his girlfriend. The song "My Guy" is the theme played all throughout this episode. Meanwhile, mutated squash has grown, which comes in all colors and makes a sound akin to "mach" when squeezed.

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Christmas is approaching, but it is not the same, as the nuclear holocaust has ruined much of the world's evergreen tree population. While cleaning out the chimney, the group finds Santa Claus (Stuart Pankin) has visited the group, but appears depressed. Santa later reveals to the group that he is suffering survivor's guilt, as his workshop at the North Pole had a fallout shelter, but the door slammed shut and Mrs. Claus and all the elves were unable to get inside.

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When Alice makes the group hold a party to celebrate their first six months together, they all spend it daydreaming about ways to kill her.

Nebakenezzer posted:

The third show is...just stop me when you think I'm bullshitting you.

Madurai posted:

I can't play, as I vividly remember the show.

Random Stranger posted:

Same. Though I think I only watched one episode that I caughr before the excellent and canceled too soon Get a Life was on.

Random Stranger posted:

Same. Though I think I only watched one episode that I caughr before the excellent and canceled too soon Get a Life was on.

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

Double Post, but whatever...

Let's talk about one of my all-time favorite weird series.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/The_Champions_titlecard.jpg

This is a Lew Grade ITC production from 1968, the height of British Spy-Fi (I'll probably do a post on Adam Adamant sometime as well).

Synopsis:
Three agents from the United Nations agency 'Nemesis' are sent on a spy mission into China where they are searching for evidence of biowar research. They are escaping by plane when they are shot down by PLA forces, and then rescued by the residents of 'Shangri-La' who are psychically evolved humans who also evolve the three to do good works in the outside world.

They eventually get back to Europe and continue fighting 'evil' around the world (or wherever in England was subbing for around the world for a particular shoot. Their boss, Tremayne, has no clue about their pseudo-telepathy, augmented senses, or enhanced strength, endurance and speed and is just happy that these three get the job done.

Cast:
Stuart Damon as the American Pilot, Craig Stirling

William Gaunt as the former SOE Agent Richard Barrett

Alexandra Bastedo as Sharon Macready MD

Anthony Nicholls as Tremayne


So, who did they fight?

Nazis...lots and lots of Nazis. The Chinese were also a large part of their rogues gallery as well, but they went after organized crime on occasion, mad science, rogue nuclear states, counter assassination, subverting dictatorships...the usual stuff.

Why does Humbug like this show?

It was so much drat fun. The actors are having a blast, the new-agey superpowers were cool, and punching Nazis is always good.

Only 30 episodes were made, but most of them are here -- https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw6gg897HVfu237LwSzqBcWYWqOFRor9c

The first episode is here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwF-NdMbLpw

Small Strange Bird posted:

I always found it funny that William Gaunt can't keep still and is fidgeting away when he's posing for the opening credits, and that his closeup makes it look like he's mouthbreathing while his costars share a contemptuous look of "who the hell is this clown?"

quote:

Hayao Miyazaki was associated with Tokyo Movie before founding Studio Ghibli.[5] His most notable work at TMS was his role as the director of The Castle of Cagliostro, which is notable for being his first feature-length debut.[6]

Gaz-L posted:

Speaking of the Clark Kent thing, Jem & The Holograms was bad for that too, where I don't think the cartoon ever had a reason why she couldn't just be open about Jem being a stage persona. (The 2010s comic book version at least explained her having massive stage fright, and hiding behind the persona helped her cope with it)

Nebakenezzer posted:

Madurai posted:

Ah, the Blue Thunder TV series, how I haven't missed you.

quote:

So if I can talk Cold War Dadfiction, the early 80s movie/tv show, I watched Blue Thunder (1983)

I knew the best way to go into it was with no knowledge, so that's what I did. All I knew was there was some sort of futuristic police helicopter, having seen vintage model kits of it on sale. It stars Roy Scheider as a LAPD helicopter pilot, Warren Oates who I didn't recognize behind the glasses as his supervisor, a really young Daniel Stern as Scheider's.....systems operator? And Malcom McDowell as a evil former helicopter pilot. The tone starts quite serious, but has to get really, really silly, because Blue Thunder is a next generation police chopper with some magic powers.



Left: What I believe is a microfiche reader, center, computer graphics, right, Warren Oates

The helicopter itself is a modified Gazelle, with a big, almost dragon-fly like bulbous cockpit, and on the front a gatling gun that I guess is detuned for urban fire support. In an early scene we see it introduced in a live fire demo in the desert, and it is here we get to see probably the best reason to watch the movie: there is some absolutely sick helicopter flying in it. The 80s being the 80s, they had to do everything, and if you know a helicopter pilot, you need to sit them down and get their reactions, because it is awesome and nuts. You know the LA Canal system? Well, in the climactic set piece of the movie, they are doing a chase with helicopters there (because of course they loving are) and flying in under the pedestrian bridges.

Blue Thunder is given to Roy Scheider by an evil conspiracy of dudes who hope to...? Well, we don't quite get that far, as Blue Thunder [the helicopter] is basically a helicopter designed to fight evil conspiracies. It has two boom mics that can listen to people with perfect fidelity not only on the street but inside buildings, recording everything on a giant cassette system so unnessarily complex you know it is going to become a plot point. It also has a turbo button that makes it go faster, and my favorite button, a button that makes the helicopter whisper quiet. How quiet? This is McDowell, in a skyscraper with the other bads, discovering the good guys are onto him:



It strikes me as a little pointless, since early on the good guys are watching a hot lady do naked yoga, and they are flying, I dunno, 50 meters from her window?



So if you're in an aircraft and your eyeline is at a resential condo, you are, in fact, pretty low



The taping system



the Future - 1970s rear end electronics



Speaking of, the computer generated graphics are most def of their time

Anyway, the end of the movie is a solid payoff, because it is some GI Joe rear end helicopter fighting in the skies over LA, and if you know me you know I mean that as a genuine complement. Also, McDowell had an enormous fear of flying, so I'm not really sure how they got him into a Bell OH-6 for some mild maneuvers. His unease is palpable.



PS fashions are very restrained, except for the awful windbreaker on the right, which had my brain asking "is that made out of garbage bags?" every time I saw it.

Because Airwolf was a thing at the same time, Blue Thunder got its own TV series briefly. Same helicopter, lower budget. I forget the lead, though Dana Carvey steps into the Daniel Stern role - though I should say Bubba Smith and Dick Butkis are honestly pretty great as SWAT ground support guys. (I know nothing about football, but people tell me they are ex-NFL players.) The plot though is crazy: there is a guy in a Mohawk [Grumman OV-1] who is literally gunning LAPD helicopters out of the sky. He then strafes the police funeral for the pilots killed, all the while phoning up the LAPD so he and Blue Thunder can have a gunnery dual over the skies of LA. The SWAT guys get their hands on heat-seeking surface to air missiles, which the lead forbids use of, Dana Carvey at one point "hacks into" a radar-guided missile as it is flying at them, and it's confirmed, the turbo button makes a woosh sound and makes the helicopter go faster.

Small Strange Bird posted:

Blue Thunder, the movie: "heavily armed stealth police gunships with the power to violate the Fourth Amendment are the path to fascism and a Very Bad Thing that must be destroyed."

Blue Thunder, the TV show: "heavily armed stealth police gunships with the power to violate the Fourth Amendment are AWESOME!"

Nebakenezzer posted:

So of the several things I've encountered recently, this is one:

The Mighty Orbots was a brief series, only 14 episodes. It was an attempt by some western people to get in on the giant-fighting-robot Gestalt trend, with a Japanese company, TMS, doing the animation and music, while the character design was done in the west, as was the concept and writing. The show only lasted 14 episodes for a fairly absurd reason: Tonka was about to bring out its transforming robot toyline, and felt the title was too close to 'Gobots.'

Nebakenezzer posted:

PS>

Smik posted:

I'm going to share a personal favourite from my childhood. We would get some weird European cartoons in my neck of the woods (Canada) and one of the weirder-yet-wholesome ones was Dr. Snuggles.




It featured many living objects such as the shed Rickety Rick, a robot made of junk, talking watches, talking animals, flying into the clouds to meet up with a camel, a cosmic cat, and an incredibly chill atmosphere. One of those cartoons which made you ask if they were on drugs, but if they were the trips were incredibly wholesome.

See a season here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gdjXXjHX18

Chubby Henparty posted:

And while Airwolf was the best helicopter, this was always my favourite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1rPEFUs9Jg

Madurai posted:

I tried to describe The Highwayman to a young person, who probably still thinks I'm lying and/or crazy.

quote:

"Send in the Clones"
Highway befriends a strange but friendly man called Mac, who is promptly snatched away by the Army. Investigating just what is going on, Highway and Jetto discover that Mac is a clone, programmed with a deadly assignment...

This episode doubled as a pilot for a proposed spin-off series, "McClone", which was never produced.

quote:

The series is at first vague on the exact year that it takes place. Other than Highway and Jetto's trucks, Highway's occasionally seen sports car (a silver Lotus Esprit) and Ms. Badler's car (a red Mark II Toyota MR2), the other vehicles are generally that of the era in which the series was filmed. Many of these vehicles, such as the Ford Motor Co.'s Aerostar minivan, were marketed at the time as having sleek, futuristic designs.

Nebakenezzer posted:

The third show is...just stop me when you think I'm bullshitting you.

quote:

Although never aired in the United States, the pilot was broadcast internationally. It was shown in The Netherlands on September 23rd, 2001 on Channel V8.

bobthenameless posted:

came courtesy of the big red link, and skimmed through it with intentions to keep up with it as this is a thing I also enjoy, sometimes for nostalgia but also its wild to look back at what used to be possible to throw against the TV wall.

i think i came to it from this or a similar Darkstalkers best-of-stupidity clips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKdhcdDR9PQ a few years back, and ended up poking around the full show (also easily available on YT).

Smik posted:

Man, I loved the animation for the show but I have next to no recollection of the episodes.

alf_pogs posted:

this thread ROCKS. gonna make an effortpost tomorrow with some old horrifying children's telly from DOWN UNDA

Small Strange Bird posted:

Some ITV shows from the same era like Armchair Thriller and Tales of the Unexpected are still up, though, and worth a watch.

quote:

There's also a cowboy thing called Wildstyle
I probably misheard, they are robbing a chamber of commerce, not "a violent kickass chamber of commerce"
Notable for 2 reasons: one, a young Meg Ryan is "the woman" of the team, and one of the cowboys is named
deep breath
PROMETHEUS JONES