Good morning, gentle readers, and welcome to On This Day In Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror History for today's date ... March 14, 2024.
Whew! Typing that is a mouthful! (Well ... you know what I mean.)
Not a whole heckuva lot to report for this morning. I'm up and puttering about the house doing a few chores, and I decided to take a few moments out to do the Daily Grindhouse post for those of you paying attention. It's a moderate morning here in the Other Land Down Under (aka Arizona), though I do see a few clouds on the horizon. Rain? Not very likely. Not here in Dryland. And we could use it.
Whew! Typing that is a mouthful! (Well ... you know what I mean.)
Not a whole heckuva lot to report for this morning. I'm up and puttering about the house doing a few chores, and I decided to take a few moments out to do the Daily Grindhouse post for those of you paying attention. It's a moderate morning here in the Other Land Down Under (aka Arizona), though I do see a few clouds on the horizon. Rain? Not very likely. Not here in Dryland. And we could use it.
Oh, good grief, I can hear the haters already ...
... for it was on this day all the way back in the year 1994 -- thirty years ago today -- that the television incarnation of RoboCop first reported for duty. Lasting only a single season -- with 23 individual episodes -- the series has been largely maligned by fandom, probably in part because it had to understandably tone down a lot of the gratuitous violence associated with the film series. For what it's worth, what I've seen of it has been mostly passable -- I don't hate it, but it's a long way from being a favorite, as well -- and I give it kudos for trying to incorporate some of the cynicism that made the Intellectual Property popular with audiences while also metastasizing into a more mainstream commodity (curse you, television censors!). A noble attempt ... but, yeah, wouldn't it be great to get a serialized do-over ... maybe on a pay cable channel or streaming platform ... that could be a welcome return-to-form for Robo?
I do know that -- as of fairly recently -- the property has had no one but two significant releases on DVD. (In fact, I received a complimentary copy of one, and I've penned a few episodes reviews here on the site.) Fandom criticized one of the efforts mostly because it was kinda/sorta (horrifically) reformatted to fit modern screen sizes; and I'd agree that such a transformation didn't always bode well in some sequences. Still, I think it's great that older shows can find new life, even if they might not have met with genre's highest standards back in the day.
... for it was on this day all the way back in the year 1994 -- thirty years ago today -- that the television incarnation of RoboCop first reported for duty. Lasting only a single season -- with 23 individual episodes -- the series has been largely maligned by fandom, probably in part because it had to understandably tone down a lot of the gratuitous violence associated with the film series. For what it's worth, what I've seen of it has been mostly passable -- I don't hate it, but it's a long way from being a favorite, as well -- and I give it kudos for trying to incorporate some of the cynicism that made the Intellectual Property popular with audiences while also metastasizing into a more mainstream commodity (curse you, television censors!). A noble attempt ... but, yeah, wouldn't it be great to get a serialized do-over ... maybe on a pay cable channel or streaming platform ... that could be a welcome return-to-form for Robo?
I do know that -- as of fairly recently -- the property has had no one but two significant releases on DVD. (In fact, I received a complimentary copy of one, and I've penned a few episodes reviews here on the site.) Fandom criticized one of the efforts mostly because it was kinda/sorta (horrifically) reformatted to fit modern screen sizes; and I'd agree that such a transformation didn't always bode well in some sequences. Still, I think it's great that older shows can find new life, even if they might not have met with genre's highest standards back in the day.
Speaking of turning one more year wiser, let's all clap our hands together to celebrate the birthday of actress Penny Johnson Jerald.
Her face isn't, say, well known to all of America, but she's definitely earned her stripes in the realm of Science Fiction and Fantasy, appearing as a frequent guest aboard Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and as a series' regular aboard the Trek-inspired entity that is/was The Orville. (No word yet on a renewal, sad to say.) Thankfully, she's played strong confident women in both shows; and -- for that matter -- I even loved her work aboard Fox TV's celebrated 24 when it was in existence. She's a top class talent, and I love being able to feature her goodness in this space.
Happy birthday, milady, wherever in the galaxy you might be!
Her face isn't, say, well known to all of America, but she's definitely earned her stripes in the realm of Science Fiction and Fantasy, appearing as a frequent guest aboard Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and as a series' regular aboard the Trek-inspired entity that is/was The Orville. (No word yet on a renewal, sad to say.) Thankfully, she's played strong confident women in both shows; and -- for that matter -- I even loved her work aboard Fox TV's celebrated 24 when it was in existence. She's a top class talent, and I love being able to feature her goodness in this space.
Happy birthday, milady, wherever in the galaxy you might be!
But you don't think that this is seriously all there is to the day worth celebrating, do you? Of course not, and there's a good deal more awaiting your personal deep dive, so don't delay. Head on over to the Daily Citation Page for March 14th and boldly go where no one has gone before.
As always, thank you for reading ... thank you for sharing ... thank you for being a fan ... and live long and prosper!
-- EZ
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