Review STAR COPS: AN INSTINCT FOR MURDER - Episode 01

[Mad-Pac]

Aired Monday 8:00 PM Jul 06, 1987 on BBC Two

Tonight we'll meet the Star Cops for the first time. (If not, pretend that you do!) Do they make life safer for people among the stars? Do they investigate crimes involving celebrities instead? Watch and find out.

All I can say is that it's 2027, and manned space explorations are finally underway. The world's powers are developing space for industrial research, trade, mining military purposes and political prestige.


CAST

David Calder ... Nathan Spring / Box (voice)
Erick Ray Evans ... David Theroux
Moray Watson ... Commander
Keith Varnier ... Stephenson, Controller
Gennie Nevinson ... Lee Jones
Linda Newton ... Pal Kenzy
Andy Secombe ... Brian Lincoln
Frederik de Groot ... Hans Diter
Luke Hanson ... Lars Hendvorrsen
Katja Kersten ... Marie Mueller
Michael Kirk ... Scotty*


WRITTEN AND CREATED BY

Chris Boucher


DIRECTED BY

Christopher Baker


*I honestly admit that a Star Cops character whose actor's first name is Michael, whose last name is Kirk and whose name in the show is Scotty in a show about space with the word Star in it is quite intriguing. And, I hope, the sign of a good beginning!

 

[Mad-Pac]

OK... When I got here there were two threads for episode 1 already. I already knew about Michael's, but Dr. Omega's was new to me. That's a little confusing, so I'll follow with business as usual. I'll be posting one of these entries every Friday when the new episode is announced. Perhaps we can combine all episode 1 threads here at a later opportunity.

Please, make sure your comments contain no spoilers in these episode-specific threads. I've never seen the show (and didn't even know it existed until relatively recently, sort of), and I'm sure there are others who haven't heard of it and would like to be surprised as well. If you really want to talk about spoilers, make a specific thread for this and clearly mark it as spoiler.

Thank you very much and enjoy yourselves!

 

[michaellevenson]

Good first episode, if ever I live long enough to get to The Moon, if passenger flights become routine, I'd expect it to look a little like this. Very brave of the production team to tackle the weightless issue of early life on Earth orbit stations. The floating fx looked okay. The general conjecture here in this series gathered from watching episode 1 is that private enterprise had a big say in the construction of the orbit stations. The Choral Sea station where Officer Pal Kenzy was situated was part of The Allied Pacific Consortium.
Nathan Spring is politically manoeuvred into the job and it'll be interesting to see a ' leader' that doesn't really want to be there. The story had a nice twist, I had no idea that Theroux 's mate was involved, but thinking about it, he had to be really being the traffic controller. The fx overall I thought was fine, the only exception was the tacky portable tv at the restaurant table. But apparently that wasn't intended in the script. The original idea was that Nathan and Lee were going to be sitting in an alcove , and the walls turned into tv screens, but that idea was scrapped either due to cost or technical difficulties.
Nathan's device Box is clever , today we'd call it a personal browser that he carries around with him, one that does a lot more and is voice activated. Very useful device, I'd like one please.
All in all an interesting start.
9/10

 

[Brimfin]

I admit to being confused by the opening as we witness parallel murders happening in different places. Being brand new to this show, I wasn’t sure that the swimmer wasn’t the man in the space suit using some hologram program or something. (Although if he were, he wouldn’t be out in space but in some simulator.) It only took a few minutes to confirm that these were totally different murders despite seeming almost identical in execution. No harm done.

We meet our hero, Nathan Spring, age unknown – except that he’s not old enough to retire but he’s still young enough to think about starting a family. He’s pressured into taking the job as the new commander of the International Space Fleet – his boss put the paperwork in for him and woouln’t let him withdraw his name. He tries to flunk his interview but finds he could do no wrong. Well, he didn’t really try that hard – he just seemed to figure honesty would eliminate him. He ends up doing such a bang-up job out there that he can’t quit. Further, since he had his Earth assistant Brian follow up on his hunch on the Earthbound murder Brian got the credit and moved up into Nathan’s old job. Some jobs just kind of seek you out instead of vice versa.

I’ve only now looked up a little info on the show and found it was made in 1987 and set in 2027. I would have thought it was a little more modern than that. I’m impressed; so far it’s aged well. The production values are good – fancy sets and such. The only problematic scene was when Nathan and Thoreaux and supposedly floating through a corridor and it was obvious they were superimposed on it. That’s not really a problem. I watch ONCE UPON A TIME on Netflix and there are plenty of times I can tell the Evil Queen is not walking through her castle but through something computer generated. Besides, the scene was brief and mixed with side-angled shots which looked normal.

When you’re doing a show set in the future, it’s always fun to see how accurate they are and what kind of stories they do interpreting what the future will bring. There was a show called CENTURY CITY here some years back and I can only tell you it made the future look positively ghastly. So far, this is more positive. Nathan has a box that’s similar to a personal assistant type device of today, just much bigger, and more expensive from the sound of it. The name Star Cops we’re told was a derogatory slang term that just stuck – probably inspired when Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative got derisively labeled Star Wars because of some nitwit’s comment.

The method common to both murders in the story is trying to outwit the computer. Computers have a more active role in the future deciding what cases seem suspicious and which don’t. The murder on Earth is staged to look accidental to fool the computer and keep the police from checking further. Nathan has his suspicions and has his investigator Brian keep looking and he eventually finds out the truth after investigating. One small hitch is that he meets a witness after he falls asleep near the spot of the murder. But we are told the witness said the victim couldn’t have swum in from that spot as he was elsewhere giving him directions. Presumably the witness was there because he frequented the area, but in that case why would he need directions? Minor nitpick.

The Earth murder was the result of a wife paying to have her husband killed to collect his insurance and pay off gambling debts. The spacebound murder is even more cold-blooded. If I understood correctly, normal spacesuits had about a 2% failure rate. The Russians advertised an improved model, and got the spacesuit-making contract as a result. A company wanting to get the lucrative contract was deliberately killing people making it look like suit failure so that the failure rate would go above 2% and his company could get the contract. The usual TV corporate villainy, exaggerated to a ruthless degree, yet not totally unbelievable. The Russians had tried to cover up their supposed failure by blaming one of their own people for negligence. We are later told she was executed before the case was solved and the truth came out. Considering the small length of time that had passed, that seemed rather cold even for the Russians.

I give the writer & director credit for a solid ending. Nathan goes out on his own to draw out the criminals. Thoreaux tries to warn him only to get a gun shoved in his neck by the controller and told that the signal was being jammed anyway. We follow Thoreaux being led by gunpoint only to have Nathan appear posing as a disembodied spacesuit and yank the gun away. I thought at first that Nathan had sent out an empty suit into space, but he explained that he took out the baddies with a medical laser puncturing their suits and killing them.

My main problem with viewing the show was that it did not have closed-captioning or subtitles available. There was a lot of fast-paced banter going on, but I couldn’t pick up a lot of it. I know Thoreaux and the controller were playing a “name the movie from the quote and give me the next line” game, but I missed most of the game's dialogue. Later, Nathan chimed in with a movie line and said, “What, you think you two are only ones who’ve seen movies?” I did like a bit where after being spun around in his space training, a computer asks Nathan to describe his level of nausea. “Some of it is in my lap,” he replies. I’m sure there was a lot of detail and description I missed because I couldn’t hear or make out all the dialogue.

One other minor note was when Spring was trying to find out who would profit from the Russians losing the spacesuit contract, he arbitrarily tosses in, “and look for any right-wing extremists.” That line seemed to be stuck in there just for a political shot (especially since it had zero bearing on the solution); one reason I thought the show was more recent. Why couldn’t he just have said, “Look for members of any extreme fringe groups?” Just a minor annoyance; not enough to wreck the episode.

Overall, an interesting show and more serious than I was led to think by comments made by others in the past. And I do love the Moody Blues theme, but then I love their music too. I’ll give this episode 7.5 antique timepieces, which our Earth victim loved to collect.

 

[ant-mac]

An enjoyable first episode, that begins to effectively build the world in which the TV series is set. This is really a TV series that should be watched in conjunction with - preferably after - another short-lived TV series called MOONBASE 3. Chris Boucher did quality work on BLAKE'S 7 as both scripter editor and writer and he follows that up with further quality work as the creator and a writer of this.

In my personal opinion, Nathan Spring is not an easy character to like to begin with, but he still shows signs of promise in the first episode. I'm sure he'll be easier to warm to as the TV series progresses. However, the one thing I won't be able to warm to is that bloody theme song. It might be a nice enough tune as songs go, but for the theme of STAR COPS, I just find it jarring and out of place.

4/5.

 

[Mad-Pac]

That's an interesting show overall, and I'll have fun reviewing it. Let's jump into it.

THE GOOD

Realism:

If I'm sure of anything, one thing I can be certain is that Chris Boucher really wanted this show to feel realistic, and they succeeded in great part. It was the late 1980s, the future of space travel seemed more optimistic than it was in the 1970s (even though I'm surprised to see an optimistic series being produced just the following year after the Challenger disaster), space shuttles were impressive and seemed quite advanced at that time (comparing to the old Apollo missions, even though those accomplished much more actually going to the moon instead of just high earth orbit), and the show makes a pretty decent prediction of what the use of outer space should be like in the following 40 years or so.

For instance, the European Space Station was right on the spot: it looks like the ISS, just bigger. So, nothing of that nonsense of mega spinning space stations like that of 2001 A Space Odyssey portrayed 20 years earlier. Instead, we have a more modest, serviceable, and functional space station which focused on the basics. I liked that.

The space shuttle, well, it pretty much looks like those old ones like the Columbia, the Challenger, the Discovery or the Enterprise, except that it has two rudders in a V-shaped disposition, not enough to be a substantial design improvement; it just looks different. However, the way things are going as far as money goes for these things, well, we still have these models today, I mean, if they are still functional, because actually astronauts can only count on the antiquated Russian Soyuz rockets, believe it or not. "Help us, Elon Musk! You must save the Space Program with your private enterprise superpowers!"

Characters:

As far as characters go, we can see that they are not supposed to be likable or heroic, but again, instrumental to convey the idea. Nathan, age 41 (more like 51, if you ask me, and I think I look better than him at that point, but then I checked and the actor was 41 so I guess that's the Patrick Stewart syndrome all over again) is a solid character, not the typical hero, but what you'd expect from a realistic public servant, a man trying to do his job the best he can. Another character that called my attention early on as interesting was Stephenson, the Controller, and I hoped he would stick around the entire 9 episodes because he conveyed an air of irreverence like that of Lieutenant Stamets (Anthony Rapp) from "Star Trek: Discovery," but it turns out he was so good for a reason: he was so good because he was so bad, that is, the bad guy, so I guess the character was well written and well played by Keith Varnier.

The Plot:

The plot, also, was realistic and credible. Nothing too absurd or a spectacle in which the future of Earth is at stake, but an issue with faulty space suits and how shady government officials wanted to make money out of that. Which is something more likely to happen than finding an artifact of an ancient civilization that will destroy the world or something.

The Box:

Oh, and there's the Box Nathan and some other characters use. the whole AI factor. In some ways, that already exists, and Nathan might have called his Box saying,"Alexa, what are my appointments for today?" Of course the show went a little overboard with the entire sentience thing, because I think there's no way computers will get that smart in nine years (even drawing conclusions about crime scenes and emitting a judgment human officers tend to take as the final report), but you can chalk that up to dramatic sci-fi poetic license, just to make the show more interesting.

The Dialogue:

There were several good parts in the dialogue. For instance.

"I'm on top of the world."
"He's a movie buff!"

Here, obviously, Nathan was quoting Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic (1997), a film produced when Nathan was 11 years old... Except for the fact that's 10 years after the show was produced, but you could easily insert this futuristic factoid in the story and it would make sense. And, obviously, when he mentions Superman, he's talking about Henry Cavill, who's also English, and probably still has the Superman role in 2027.

However my favorite bit was the whole side situation with his boss's e-picture tuned to his brain waves.

"What do you think? It's new, it's only expensive (...) but it had to be tuned to my particular brain-wave pattern."
"Oh, I can't see that being very expensive" (which could be interpreted as meaning "with your simple brain-wave pattern," something that makes his boss give him a quizzical look.) Then he amends, "The... the technology should be simple enough.... What's it for?"
"It's supposed to reflect my mood." the Commander says, surprised he has to explain what he considers the obvious.
"You're feeling bucolic," is Nathan's deadpan reply.
"Relaxed. I'm feeling relaxed and happy," he replies, slightly annoyed.

This is very good dialogue.

(End of part 1. Catch the next post for the second and final part.)

 

[Mad-Pac]

THE BAD

Now that we got "the good" out of the way... I could speak even longer about "the bad," but I spoke so much about "the good" that I'm already thinking of wrapping up this review. Anyway...

The Budget

This feels like a drama shot with the budget of a multicam sitcom, even with the seemingly expensive, elaborate sceneries. I guess they had a little more money to splurge in the sets and models used for the station, and then the remainder was barely enough to purchase a spool of string, some peanuts and a couple paper clips.

Oh, boy, it's shot in videotape...

In the opening, we see a picture of the world. I thought I was watching a cheap news program made by a small local station in the 1970s. "Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you the world the city" (because that's all we can afford).

And before you say anything, here's a passage from the show's IMDB trivia list:

"Boucher also disliked the decision by the BBC to make the show entirely on videotape, as he had hoped it would also have a film budget."


It's been a long road...

OK, let's talk about the theme song. The moment I started hearing the song I simply couldn't get past the controversy involving the opening of the show "Enterprise" and instead of paying attention to the Star Cops song, I started mouthing the lyrics for "Faith of the Heart," the "Star Trek: Enterprise" theme, which gave me a few giggles.

It's been a long road,
Flying us from there to here.
It's been a long time,
And my time is finally near...

From the IMDB trivia list:

"The series suffered from a number of problems, including the very different approaches of the two directors assigned to the series, Christopher Baker and Graeme Harper, which led to a noticeable lack of continuity between episodes, and the strained relationship between writer Chris Boucher and producer Evgeny Gridneff. Boucher has said that he did not feel Gridneff consulted him with certain key decisions regarding the series and he never liked Gridneff's choice of the theme song and incidental music, which he considered completely inappropriate."

Likewise, the song ("Faith of the Heart") is so touching and beautiful and so inadequate for the show at the same time that all I could think of was the big controversy involving the show's opening credits, which certainly didn't help it in terms of ratings. At a given point of the song there was a guitar solo, and we see the image of two identical astronauts in EVA suits (not similar, but the same image twice), and I could swear I first saw them holding guitars... OK, that was my imagination playing tricks, but then it hit me: I'm watching a 1980s MTV music clip! By Aerosmith, Billy Idol, Simple Minds or some other of those 1980s bands that made those stylish clips I used to enjoy so much in my 20s. All in all the show's aesthetic style hasn't aged well.

And speaking of the 1980s, the fashion screams "1980s!!!!" Maybe that's not fair, but when we see what Sylvia Anderson accomplished in UFO, with those very, very cool men's suits, or the general style of "Space: 1999" (both made in the previous decade), you end expecting much more from a TV production produced in the same year as "Star Trek: TNG." No wonder it tanked! You make a cheap-looking product when the audience expects more, you're telling the audience to leave.


Space, the boring frontier...

Oh, my, oh my. The writing in this show is top notch, but the pace is soooo slooow. A Hollywood show would've established the situation much more quickly with the crimes and Nathan's reluctance to accept the job. Better yet, start with him arriving at the European Space Station and tell his key moments that led him to that point told in a few strategic flashbacks. And have more action! I mean, some action at least. So, the crucial final scene in which Nathan overpowers his space assailants and kills them with a medical laser in what should've been the show's more badass scene happens off-screen and we're told not shown what happened. That was bad.

Yes, yes, the show tries to be realistic and that's one of its main strengths, but it doesn't have to be realistic to the point of boredom. Yes, space travel is boring. The distances are insurmountable and the ships are slow. But this is television, a piece of entertainment. So, after a lot of talk, Nathan decides to go to the ESS, and I think, "FINALLY HE'S GOING!" And then what happens? They show scenes with Nathan TRAINING to go to space. Fortunately these scenes were short, but I found the writers' lack of notion on how far the viewers' patience was supposed to go a bit funny.


What's in a name?

OK, I was prepared to make quite a few jokes about the ridiculousness of the 'Star Cops" name. To me there were just too possible solutions:
- This is a kids' adventure show... Or...
- It is an internal joke.

It turns out it's the latter. Supposedly it was a derogatory term used by the Press. Which would be OK had they stopped there. At some point Nathan even states with emphasis, "I'm NOT a Star Cop." Because, of course, he's a real, serious police officer, not a cartoon character. But then, the characters start using the name Star Cops willy-nilly. It's OK to be a joke used in banter and quips, but Nathan uses the term to ask the computer for information. And a serious newscaster making a serious news presentation uses the mocking term like it's the official term, which clearly it can't be.

So, in my opinion, the writers came up with a clever way to justify a clunky show title they thought would make the show more appealing and edgy, but went too fast in normalizing it, so the situation no longer felt natural.

OK, now I really have to stop.


THE GRADE

I'd say "The Good" gets 8, perhaps even 8.5, but "The Bad"... not more than 3.5. In the average, we end with a nice, round number of 6 lie detectors hanging on the boss's wall.

 

[Mad-Pac]

One other minor note was when Spring was trying to find out who would profit from the Russians losing the spacesuit contract, he arbitrarily tosses in, “and look for any right-wing extremists.” That line seemed to be stuck in there just for a political shot (especially since it had zero bearing on the solution); one reason I thought the show was more recent. Why couldn’t he just have said, “Look for members of any extreme fringe groups?” Just a minor annoyance; not enough to wreck the episode.

That called my attention too. But this is one more thing that made the show feel so updated,as this would be exactly the kind of quip typical television writers would jab at their ideological opponents in the current political climate. This line feels as if it was written last week, which is truly amazing.

I’ll give this episode 7.5 antique timepieces, which our Earth victim loved to collect.

Good luck fitting your "7.5" in the poll above. (Don't forget to vote on the poll above, by the way.)

 

[Gavin]

I have to say I really enjoyed the first episode and I'm surprised I'd never heard of it before. Not sure if it ever screened in Australia (although the ABC had a tendency to pick up every BBC show at that time). But if it did screen, perhaps I was getting too mature and cool (at 17) to watch a low budget space show. I'd even cooled (slightly) on Doctor Who at that age.

But anyway what to say about the show. Firstly, I have to say that the theme song was a terrible idea. Who honestly thought that the theme music for a futuristic space show should be a song that is so definitively 80's? So that set a bad tone at first.

The two parallel murders was very intriguing, although I was a little confused at first about what was happening with the switching between the two scenes. The fact that the murders followed the same pattern made it obvious that there must be some connection between the two, so I was a little disappointed when they turned out to be unrelated.

I like the fact that they tried to be as realistic about the future as possible (especially given the obvious low budget). Most shows would have avoided the zero gravity scenes inside the station and just shown people seated or entering and leaving the station. It also seemed to be pretty predictive with flat screen monitors and The Box (Google Home?). Although they missed the boat with the restaurant scene and where he needed to watch TV and they rolled over a mini screen on a huge table. Surely some form of portable screen was predictable at that time?

It was also great that when Nathan was pressed into taking the case, they didn't just jump to him flying to the space station. He had to undergo training first, which really added to the realism of the show.

The show also highlighted another thing I often like about British shows. An American show of this type would have cast a "hero" looking man as the lead, whereas Nathan Spring doesn't come across as anything like a hero. He's just an ordinary cop, doing his job. It was also interesting seeing that he wasn't keen on the job. Again, the opposite of the hero character, ready to jump into action.

What else to say? I guess the pacing was a little slow at times, but not painfully so. I never felt like I was wasting my time watching a scene. The actual mystery turned out to be a little mundane in the end, but given that the focus of the episode was setting up the characters and providing information about the setting, the mystery wasn't supposed to be the main focus. As I said, I was a little disappointed that the two murders turned out to be unrelated, given their obvious similarities, but overall it was a great start and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

8 out of 10 from me.

 

[michaellevenson]

Read recently about that billionaire launching his own rocket or something, corporate money, big business getting involved in the space program, just as the show inferred.
The I.S.P.N. (star cops) being part timers was very telling, there's no military involved in this first episode, big business seems to have paid for it all, which makes sense, governments have only so much of public funds to use, and the Star Cops seem like an afterthought to appease the authorities, part timers with little power. Stephenson was irritated doing his controlling duties whilst Theroux was doing extra " star cop routine". Presumably Theroux was out there originally as a fellow controller but decided to get extra bucks as a part time cop.

 

[Gavin]

2027 is currently looking a little ambitious in reality for what we've seen so far on the show but it's probably not out of the question by 2050.

 

[ant-mac]

2027 is currently looking a little ambitious in reality for what we've seen so far on the show but it's probably not out of the question by 2050.

2027 won't be too soon if Elon Musk has any say in the matter.

He's already prepared to get behind the wheel of his sports car and go cruising for chicks. You know the ones I mean - they're either green or have three breasts.

 

[Cloister56]

Ok the theme tune
At first I hated it.

OK, let's talk about the theme song. The moment I started hearing the song I simply couldn't get past the controversy involving the opening of the show "Enterprise" and instead of paying attention to the Star Cops song, I started mouthing the lyrics for "Faith of the Heart," the "Star Trek: Enterprise" theme, which gave me a few giggles.

It reminded me so much of that theme tune. Both feel completely out of place.
But then on watching it again I started to quite like the song. I don't think it suits the show and a better one probably could have been found but now at least I like it.
I think it actually worked quite well for the events going on, going to the instrumental portion for the 2 murders.
It also sounds suitably bleak for a show set in space.
I wonder if that's going to be the format for all the shows with the theme tune over events.

The murders are visually interesting in that they are both in weightless (almost environments) both get taken by surprise by 2 assailants, die of asphyxiation and end up floating arms stretched out.
My only complaint is that the first shot of the astronaut dead, he limply allows his arms to fall to his side which shouldn't happen in zero gravity. The next shot fixes it having him with his arm floating out at his side.
Also I don't think that spacesuits carry nitrogen. Currently astronauts breath 100% oxygen prior to a spacewalk to purge the nitrogen other wise they get the bends. Now of course this is the future and they may have got round this problem. They would have to undo the safety features to allow it to give a hypoxic mix which exist even now, but for visual clarity I'm not going to get too hung up on it.

Now we meet Nathan Spring (Played by David Calder, a name so similar to the character in Moonbase 3 I got confused, I initially assume that was the characters name). He is an interesting mix of sarcasm, wit and generally curmudgeonliness.
I think Nathan sometimes sounds like the hero of our other show Blake, especially when he shouts.

He is intrigued by the drowning and despite the computer insisting all is well he wants it investigated.
I found this computer concept interesting and I don't think it was fully explained in the episode. Does the computer just decide which case need investigating or does it investigate as well? Are the cops reduced to just footwork and all the putting together of the evidence and reaching a verdict on whether to arrest falls to the computer? The cop who went to the widow's house says police don't make house calls any more so I wonder what they do.

The flaw in the drowning murder, as I understand, it is that they killed the guy but needed the body to be found (or it would be investigated as a disappearance). So they pushed his body to the shallows but that couldn't happen naturally so showed it wasn't an accident.
I would have thought that was something a computer would be good at working out. It knows the body location and the currents in that water I assume, so why did it not pick up the discrepancy?

On the space station we meet Theroux one of the Star Cops, who is suspicious about his space death. The show very quickly establishes it's international feel.
He is an American working alongside a Brit, he contacts an Australian to discuss the suits and quite soon after Stephenson is talking to a Russian crew. It's these nice little touches that I always appreciate in these programs with a future setting. Doctor Who used to do it regularly, it doesn't always show we play well together but maintains the reality that to achieve these great advances we will be working together regardless of nationality.
I don't know wether Nathan's favourite restaurant being the Lotus Garden is another attempt to create this feeling of a global village.

Theroux is an interesting character. He is inquisitive about the events but is also a little too settled in his role, most of which seems to involve inactivity. It seems Nathan's arrival might be the kick he needs to do something about the events he has suspicions about.

The design of the space station feels realistic. Lots of modules bolted together, cramped environments, hand bars to aid movement.
Generally the zero G stuff is ok, occasionally they slow down the footage which stands out a little now but probably worked on a smaller less high def screen. The camera at weird angles works far better and in the scene where Nathan was in the control room I was genuinely baffled about where the true floor really was. They also do nice little touches like floating objects towards each other rather than just passing it over.
They could have gone for artificial gravity and saved themselves a lot of bother but I appreciate they went for the more likely near future option.
The astronaut training reminds me of a similar scene in Moonraker, I did try and spot the "chicken switch". It is amusing that Nathan continues discussing the case virtually throughout.

Generally the near future setting is realistic and works well. Box reminds me so much of the new voice controlled devices like Alexa. I did ask my Alexa if she was Skynet which it replied with "No I having nothing to do with Skynet, don't worry".

Although they missed the boat with the restaurant scene and where he needed to watch TV and they rolled over a mini screen on a huge table. Surely some form of portable screen was predictable at that time?

Yes this was the one bit of tech that didn't come off at all well. The screen had a static image on it so I don't know why they didn't go for just an audio report relayed by Box, it would have worked much better.

And have more action! I mean, some action at least. So, the crucial final scene in which Nathan overpowers his space assailants and kills them with a medical laser in what should've been the show's more badass scene happens off-screen and we're told not shown what happened. That was bad.

I guess they had a choice between showing us the action of the lasers on the spacesuits or having the surprise of Nathan surviving the attack and overpowering Stephenson from the suit. It just happens the option they went for is also the cheaper one. It's not the most spectacular ending but I think it still works.

I think the plot about the spacesuits is interesting. I am a little confused though. Nathan implies that the real failure rate is less than 2% but they are making up the difference by murdering people which then won't show up (which made me think how many people they must have to kill to keep it at 2%). But then the rest of the episode seems to conclude that someone was killing people to make the russians who service the suits look bad. But that wouldn't seem to work unless the failure rate started to rise.
Have I missed something?

On a side note a 2% failure rate seems a bit scary. According to Wikipedia there have been 396 spacewalks. That would equate to nearly 8 suit failures in that time. According to Wikipedia there has only been 1 that seems to be a suit failure and that didn't result in death, Only 3 people have actually died in space. The way they respond to the 2 deaths we see seems to suggest that these failures being fatal is not uncommon. They must be dropping like flies up there, well dying and then floating around in zero G like flies in spacesuits, that have died.

Overall an interesting start, it establishes a good lead character and a supporting one in a believable world full of new threats and crimes.

7 suits that don't fail, out of 10.

 

[Mad-Pac]

Surely some form of portable screen was predictable at that time?

Indeed some was. This is 1987 Casio pocket color TV model TV-1500.

 

[michaellevenson]

Indeed some was. This is 1987 Casio pocket color TV model TV-1500.

The original idea was that Nathan and Lee were to be sitting in an alcove , and the walls turned into viewing screens, which would have been nice, but technically I think it was too difficult or expensive.

 

[Mad-Pac]

The original idea was that Nathan and Lee were to be sitting in an alcove , and the walls turned into viewing screens, which would have been nice, but technically I think it was too difficult or expensive.

Yeah, I read that somewhere, I thought you had said it... Anyway, it wouldn't be hard of far-fetched for Nathan to have a small screen on his Box or a pocket version of it and watch the news feed from there. As I've shown, the idea was perfectly current even in 1987.

 

[Cloister56]

Yeah they could have had him getting out a box and then cso on the news report. I'm thinking like they did in Revenge of the Cybermen

0.47 in this video.
Or even get the box out then zoom in on the screen to cover it isn't even transmitting.

 

[Mad-Pac]

0.47 in this video.
Or even get the box out then zoom in on the screen to cover it isn't even transmitting.

Good example. What year is that from?

 

[michaellevenson]

Good example. What year is that from?

Revenge Of The Cybermen, a season 12 story from 1975, the first season with Tom Baker in the role. First Cybermen appearance since season 6.
Cybermen- organic humanoid life form gradually replaced body parts with cybernetics to counter race sterility, ending up as emotionless killers.

 

[Mad-Pac]

Revenge Of The Cybermen, a season 12 story from 1975, the first season with Tom Baker in the role. First Cybermen appearance since season 6.

So, the idea would be even old by 1987. I remember "Space: 1999" had communicators with small TV screens as well, and they looked like real working TV screens, not just superimposed images like with this one.
See at 1:20

OK,that's just a prop made long after the show, but I couldn't find any footage of the characters actually using the comlock and talking to one another.

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