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The thing with Sunday is, it's nearly as pointless as Saturday. It just doesn't feel like it so much, possibly because it's nearly Monday again. Possibly because until recently it was Torchwood Day, and I haven't quite got out of the habit of being excited yet.
So, anyways. Watched Manimal today - the pilot episode. I threatened ages ago that I was going to have a rewatch, and share the experience with you lot (or I did if you've been following this nonsense over at MySpace, anyway), so it was only ever going to be a matter of time. And I found that I was missing my pulsating, growly friend of the piercing eyes. Also, could be that I caught a bit of Casualty recently, and decided that I needed to scrub from my eyes the image of a cult hero like Simon Mac doing the rounds in a rubbish medical drama. Actually, did hear that he's left now. Hurrah! Now it's just Peter Wingfield needing liberating. But I digress... Episode one.
Bit weird, 'cause it's not the proper Ty in episode one. I don't know why, but instead of Michael D Roberts, who played the role in the rest of the series, in the pilot it's Glynn Turman. Other than that it's mostly business as usual though. Great photography. Lots of nice night shots, and the transformations are brilliant. Yes okay, so there's some obviously fake model shots as midway points, but the bits when Jonathon's skin pulsates, and his veins stand out, etc, are wonderful. I still maintain that the otherwise spectacularly brainless Brooke joins the dots far too quickly regarding Jonathon. "The only blood at the scene was human? Well then the panther must be Jonathon!" Yeah... great logic there. I mean okay, so she's right, but still...
The plot is pretty basic. Some people are selling arms illegally, and Jonathon Chase, a professor in animal psychology amongst other things, has realised this. He seems to solve cases on the side, helped by his best mate Ty. As usual for an American action show there's one hell of a gay vibe going on there, especially as they live together. Actually, they live together, wear smoking jackets, and have a jacuzzi. In their living room. No wonder the "romance" between Jonathon and Brooke never got anywhere. ;) Sorry, digressing again. Brooke McKenzie, a police officer, gets mixed up in the investigation when her partner is killed, in part due to Jonathon's slightly cack-handed (cack-pawed, technically, since he was a panther at the time) handling of things; and she's rather intrigued by the number of animals that she keeps encountering as she hunts down the bad guys. That and the constant reappearances of a British guy with inhuman hearing and a smart mouth. So she adds two and two together to make five hundred and seventy, guesses that he can turn into animals, and promptly gets herself kidnapped by the bad guys. Well, it's all good fun. And everybody gets kidnapped by bad guys occasionally. For a first episode it sets things up nicely. In the space of an hour we get that Jonathon has powers of transformation, heightened instincts and senses, and apparently some kind of super healing powers, as he's far less bothered by being shot than an ordinary human would be, and he survives being dosed up with lethal nerve gas. We also get a hint of where his powers come from, his history with Ty, and confirmation that Brooke is potentially very annoying. Though it does all prove than Melody Anderson can act better than she did in Flash Gordon. Well... maybe.
Barrels of fun, anyway. I've noticed a lot of cult TV fans "remembering" this show, and laughing about its rubbish effects, but if those effects are rubbish, then I don't know what good ones look like. For 1981, those are some damned fine transformations. And for what it's worth, in this episode he was a panther, a hawk, a Persian cat and a shark. So all those people "remembering" how he was only ever a panther and a hawk are wrong there, too. Ha.
Strange men lurking in alleyways at night are probably panthers.
(Lesson one from the Book Of Brooke).
Halfway human.
Grr. Just don't ask where his clothes go during transformations. ;)
So, anyways. Watched Manimal today - the pilot episode. I threatened ages ago that I was going to have a rewatch, and share the experience with you lot (or I did if you've been following this nonsense over at MySpace, anyway), so it was only ever going to be a matter of time. And I found that I was missing my pulsating, growly friend of the piercing eyes. Also, could be that I caught a bit of Casualty recently, and decided that I needed to scrub from my eyes the image of a cult hero like Simon Mac doing the rounds in a rubbish medical drama. Actually, did hear that he's left now. Hurrah! Now it's just Peter Wingfield needing liberating. But I digress... Episode one.
Bit weird, 'cause it's not the proper Ty in episode one. I don't know why, but instead of Michael D Roberts, who played the role in the rest of the series, in the pilot it's Glynn Turman. Other than that it's mostly business as usual though. Great photography. Lots of nice night shots, and the transformations are brilliant. Yes okay, so there's some obviously fake model shots as midway points, but the bits when Jonathon's skin pulsates, and his veins stand out, etc, are wonderful. I still maintain that the otherwise spectacularly brainless Brooke joins the dots far too quickly regarding Jonathon. "The only blood at the scene was human? Well then the panther must be Jonathon!" Yeah... great logic there. I mean okay, so she's right, but still...
The plot is pretty basic. Some people are selling arms illegally, and Jonathon Chase, a professor in animal psychology amongst other things, has realised this. He seems to solve cases on the side, helped by his best mate Ty. As usual for an American action show there's one hell of a gay vibe going on there, especially as they live together. Actually, they live together, wear smoking jackets, and have a jacuzzi. In their living room. No wonder the "romance" between Jonathon and Brooke never got anywhere. ;) Sorry, digressing again. Brooke McKenzie, a police officer, gets mixed up in the investigation when her partner is killed, in part due to Jonathon's slightly cack-handed (cack-pawed, technically, since he was a panther at the time) handling of things; and she's rather intrigued by the number of animals that she keeps encountering as she hunts down the bad guys. That and the constant reappearances of a British guy with inhuman hearing and a smart mouth. So she adds two and two together to make five hundred and seventy, guesses that he can turn into animals, and promptly gets herself kidnapped by the bad guys. Well, it's all good fun. And everybody gets kidnapped by bad guys occasionally. For a first episode it sets things up nicely. In the space of an hour we get that Jonathon has powers of transformation, heightened instincts and senses, and apparently some kind of super healing powers, as he's far less bothered by being shot than an ordinary human would be, and he survives being dosed up with lethal nerve gas. We also get a hint of where his powers come from, his history with Ty, and confirmation that Brooke is potentially very annoying. Though it does all prove than Melody Anderson can act better than she did in Flash Gordon. Well... maybe.
Barrels of fun, anyway. I've noticed a lot of cult TV fans "remembering" this show, and laughing about its rubbish effects, but if those effects are rubbish, then I don't know what good ones look like. For 1981, those are some damned fine transformations. And for what it's worth, in this episode he was a panther, a hawk, a Persian cat and a shark. So all those people "remembering" how he was only ever a panther and a hawk are wrong there, too. Ha.
Strange men lurking in alleyways at night are probably panthers.
(Lesson one from the Book Of Brooke).
Halfway human.
Grr. Just don't ask where his clothes go during transformations. ;)
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