Mark
CreativeMountainGames.com
Space: 1999 ran a few years in the mid-seventies. 
Name those B-Movie-esque TV Shows!
- Thread starter Mark
- Start date
William Ronald
Explorer
Here are some shows with some comments on them. I am also going to include some Saturday morning shows which had an appropriate theme. I should warn you my memory is quite sharp.
V: The Series -- Many bad movie cliches, and one wishes that they had someone who was partially competent leading the human resistance. Some inadvertent humor and very bad names.
The Powers of Mathew Starr -- Just because Louis Gossett, Jr. was in an Officer and a Gentleman did not save him from this series. Matthew Starr was an alien prince from Tau Ceti (a real sun-like star about 11 light years away) with psychic abilities. Helping him in his exile on Earth after a hostile invasion by another alien race was an advisor played by Gossett. The government on learning about the aliens did not ask about advanced alien technologies or how psychic powers work but uses them like FBI agents on special cases. (Judson Scott, the actor who starred as Bennu on the Phoenix, played an assassin in the first episode. Initially, I thought he was playing his character from the Phoenix before he went bad.)
Galactica 1980: This show used as much stock footage from Battlestar Galactica as possible. Except for Lorne Greene, was there an actor on the show. There was also a teenager who was so brilliant, he glowed with a soft light. Naturally, they hardly had him do anything.
Jason of Star Command: (1970s) Even James Doohan in a minor role could not save this show, which used stock footage from an earlier Saturday morning show.
Land of the Lost: Very low production values, but not too bad for its time. (Mid 1970s) Of course, I might be remembering it through the foggy lens of nostalgia. One of the cheapest effects was an alien who was harmed by powerful emotions who looked like a man-shaped collection of round plastic or quartz.
Shazam! -- Not only bad live action, but horrible animation of Solomon, Hercules, Achilles, Zeus, Atlas and Mercury advising Billy Batson. (1970s)
Isis: Connected to Shazam, an archeologist gains powers from an Egyptian goddess. There was a raven on the show named Thoth.
I am uncertain of the title, but there was a 1970s or early 1980s kids show on CBS that I think was called "The Ark." Set in a post apocalyptic future, a team of people and a talking chimp explored a ruined world.
My Secret Identity (1980s? 1990s?) A teen is accidentally zapped by a ray from a device built by an inventor.
She-Wolf of London -- This was shown briefly on the Sci Fi channel as part of their rarities. An American woman cursed with lycanthropy travels to London and has adventures. This was a Glen Larson production. I am uncertain of the year, but I think probably sometime in the 1980s.
Timecop -- TV version of the movie. Briefly on ABC during the 1990s.
Robocop the Series -- Not high on production values. One of the characters was a hologram who was originally a woman whose mind was downloaded into a computer.
Birds of Prey (2002) -- Cheap production values and a story line that did not do the DC Comic justice.
Sliders -- 1990s to early 2000s -- The series seemed to have pretty cheap production values, and plots that did not work out. John Rhys Davies left the show because he thought it did not live up to its potential. Some good episodes.
Cleopatra 2525 -- Other than woman wearing skimpy clothing, was there any justification for the Tribune Company producing this series. (Circa late 1990s, early 2000s)?
Highlander: The Raven -- Spinoff of the Highlander TV shows about an Immortal who is an accomplished thief.
The Misfits of Science (1980s) -- A super hero show that had a young Courtney Cox as a member of a team of misfit superheroes. Dean Martin, Jr. starred in it.
V: The Series -- Many bad movie cliches, and one wishes that they had someone who was partially competent leading the human resistance. Some inadvertent humor and very bad names.
The Powers of Mathew Starr -- Just because Louis Gossett, Jr. was in an Officer and a Gentleman did not save him from this series. Matthew Starr was an alien prince from Tau Ceti (a real sun-like star about 11 light years away) with psychic abilities. Helping him in his exile on Earth after a hostile invasion by another alien race was an advisor played by Gossett. The government on learning about the aliens did not ask about advanced alien technologies or how psychic powers work but uses them like FBI agents on special cases. (Judson Scott, the actor who starred as Bennu on the Phoenix, played an assassin in the first episode. Initially, I thought he was playing his character from the Phoenix before he went bad.)
Galactica 1980: This show used as much stock footage from Battlestar Galactica as possible. Except for Lorne Greene, was there an actor on the show. There was also a teenager who was so brilliant, he glowed with a soft light. Naturally, they hardly had him do anything.
Jason of Star Command: (1970s) Even James Doohan in a minor role could not save this show, which used stock footage from an earlier Saturday morning show.
Land of the Lost: Very low production values, but not too bad for its time. (Mid 1970s) Of course, I might be remembering it through the foggy lens of nostalgia. One of the cheapest effects was an alien who was harmed by powerful emotions who looked like a man-shaped collection of round plastic or quartz.
Shazam! -- Not only bad live action, but horrible animation of Solomon, Hercules, Achilles, Zeus, Atlas and Mercury advising Billy Batson. (1970s)
Isis: Connected to Shazam, an archeologist gains powers from an Egyptian goddess. There was a raven on the show named Thoth.
I am uncertain of the title, but there was a 1970s or early 1980s kids show on CBS that I think was called "The Ark." Set in a post apocalyptic future, a team of people and a talking chimp explored a ruined world.
My Secret Identity (1980s? 1990s?) A teen is accidentally zapped by a ray from a device built by an inventor.
She-Wolf of London -- This was shown briefly on the Sci Fi channel as part of their rarities. An American woman cursed with lycanthropy travels to London and has adventures. This was a Glen Larson production. I am uncertain of the year, but I think probably sometime in the 1980s.
Timecop -- TV version of the movie. Briefly on ABC during the 1990s.
Robocop the Series -- Not high on production values. One of the characters was a hologram who was originally a woman whose mind was downloaded into a computer.
Birds of Prey (2002) -- Cheap production values and a story line that did not do the DC Comic justice.
Sliders -- 1990s to early 2000s -- The series seemed to have pretty cheap production values, and plots that did not work out. John Rhys Davies left the show because he thought it did not live up to its potential. Some good episodes.
Cleopatra 2525 -- Other than woman wearing skimpy clothing, was there any justification for the Tribune Company producing this series. (Circa late 1990s, early 2000s)?
Highlander: The Raven -- Spinoff of the Highlander TV shows about an Immortal who is an accomplished thief.
The Misfits of Science (1980s) -- A super hero show that had a young Courtney Cox as a member of a team of misfit superheroes. Dean Martin, Jr. starred in it.
Last edited:
Kesh
First Post
Villano
First Post
Kesh said:
Yeah, that's it. I'm actually surprised at how close I came to the name.
As a kid, I really liked it. Maybe Sci-Fi could pick it up like they did Something Is Out There. It'd be nice seeing it again.
I really wish they'd rerun The Flash and pick up Sable, too.
Silver Moon
Adventurer
One of the best stories behind that show had to do with the Eagles (the name of the space crafts, which BTW, they seemed to crash one of each week. Made you wonder how many they had on the station, given that they couldn't get replacements). Prior to the show being filmed they negotiated rights with a toy company to mass market plastic models of the ships. They gave the company drawings to use to create them, and required two dozen of the toy models to "check for authenticity". They then just built the toy models and used those to film the show's special effects!Mark said:Space 1999 ran a few years in the mid-seventies.
William Ronald
Explorer
Mark wrote:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by William Ronald
Highlander: The Raven -- Spinoff of the Highlander TV shows about an Immortal who is an accomplished thief.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I liked her!
While the actress portraying the lead character had an intriguing look, the show did not work well.
Even with the banjo-laden theme song, it was still better than the a new version that was done some years back on ABC. (199, 200?) In that one, an SUV fell into a crevice, drives through something that looked like it was stolen from the Time Tunnel, and enter a modified version of the Land of the Lost. Naturally, they found trees whose sap produced something which could be burned by an SUV's engine.
Of course, the question arises to the worst show of a given era. For the period from 1979 through the early 1980s, I would argue that Buck Rogers was worse than Battlestar Galactica. (Okay, it was better than Galactica: 1980, but what wasn't.
) The only semi-redeemable episode featured Mark Lenard (Sarek, Spock's father on Star Trek) in a guest role. This was an example of a decent actor making the best of a poorly written script. Even with this handicap, Lenard made Gil Gerard seem like a stiff.There were some Saturday morning programs that were part of a series. I forget the series, but here are some of the serials they ran in the 1970s. I consider it a great pity that the television signals that carried these shows have spread out to some of the nearer stars. (Heaven help us if anyone picks them up.) I like to say that children's programming in the 1970s and 1980s were the dumping ground of ideas that even the people behind Buck Rogers and Galactica: 1980 said were too bad for prime time.
"Electro-Woman and Dyna Girl"-- a younger Deirdre Hall and someone else were part of a superhero team using technology to shock people. Quite dreadful.
"Sasquatch and Wildboy" A young man raised by Bigfoot. For some strange reason, Bigfoot was afraid to cross flowing water.
"Monster Squad" -- I believe this was an NBC program in the 1970s. Essentially, an inventor revives Count Dracula, the Wolfman, and Frankenstein's monster and reforms them so they can fight crime.
Prime time series that I also recall:
Auto Man -- A computer specialist at a police department created a holographic virtual detective who was smart and quite smug. I believe Desi Arnaz, Jr. portrayed the scientist in this 1980s series.
Manimal -- A 1980s series about a magician who could transform into different animals. The same animals were used throughout the show.
Human Target -- A very short lived Rick Springfield drama based on a DC Comic character who was skilled in disguises. 1980s or very early 1990s, I believe.
Swamp Thing -- Very cheap production values.
Nightman -- Another production, possibly the last, from B-TV show king Glen Larson. I want to say this ran in the late 1990s or early 2000s. It centered on a musician who was the son of a retired cop. The musician gains limited psychic abilities from a lightning bolt and a powered battle suit from an inventor. I believe this was based on a Marvel comic.
Other modern day clunkers --
Mutant X -- Not very good in my opinion.
Andromeda -- Shows the wisdom of NOT letting Kevin Sorbo take creative control of a show. Good premise, but bad execution. (Some attractive actresses for Mark to ... enjoy their acting talent.
Lexa Doig plays D&D, but I think she is dating Michael Shanks of Stargate: SG-1. Sorry, Mark. )Similar Threads
