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Space Precinct - Protect and Survive
episode 1
UK 1994
produced by Gerry Anderson, Tom Gutteridge (executive) for Gerry Anderson Productions, Grove Television Enterprises, Mentorn Films/Sky
directed by John Glen
starring Ted Shackelford, Rob Youngblood, Simone Bendix, Nancy Paul, Burt Kwouk, Oliver Cotton, David Shaw Parker, Nick Klein, Megan Olive, Richard James, Kieron Jecchinis (voice), David Quilter, Jerome Willis, Mary Woodvine, Colette Hiller (voice), Leigh Tinkler, Rob Thirtle, David Healy (voice), Andy Dawson, Gary Martin (voice), Kenneth Coombs, Tom Watt, Ken Whitfield, Toby Sedgwick
written by Paul Mayhew-Archer, created by Gerry Anderson, music by Crispin Merrell, creature effects by Gary Bunn, visual effects by Steven Begg
TV-series Space Precinct
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Demeter City, 2040, where humans and other extraterrestrials live
together, sometimes even peacefully. Lieutnant Brogan (Ted Shackelford)
and his partner Haldane (Rob Youngblood) have just lost their top informer
Slik (Burt Kwouk), who has been murdered by a local crime kingpin, Gershom
(Oliver Cotton) - but there's a witness to this, Loyster (Rob Thirtle,
voiced by David Healy). Now Gershom is easily arrested, but it's
more or less a given that he will have the witness to his deed
assassinated, so Brogan and Haldane are assigned to be his bodyguards
leading up to Gershom's trial. Now this would only be half bad if it
wasn't for Loyster being of an alien race with some particularly gross
habits, including catching flies with his long tongue. Of course,
Gershom's assassin shows up before long, and Brogan is warned of him only
by his family (Nancy Paul, Nick Klein, Megan Olive) he's on videophone
with. And now it's a race to the courthouse, but the assassin puts a
device on Brogan's flying car that puts it under remote control - and it's
only thanks to Loyster's long tongue the remote control can be removed
just in time, and ultimately Loyster can make his statement for Gershom to
be convicted. Now on paper, the blend of space opera and police
procedural à la Hillstreet Blues sounds rather inspired,
but unfortunately at least in this episode the premise falls short of its
promise as the narrative just lacks stringency and loses itself too much
in its various often over-clichéed subplots, many of which one fails to
get into due to unfamiliarity with the characters, while the main plot is
a bit too straightforward to come across as particularly gripping. Sure,
the practical miniature effects are very decent (though no real
improvement over Gerry Anderson's output from the 1960s and 70s) and the
aliens all look pretty awesome, one just wishes this was accompanied by
better storytelling.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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