Those who follow my rare reviews know I never rate titles this high, but I can't get enough of this show! I heard about it from the Nostalgia Critic's favourite TV show intros video and I can't thank him enough. It's schlocky, cliché ridden, goofy as all hell, has great dialogue, fun action scenes, and fantastically entertaining characters.
And the intro is the best thing ever :D Bruce Campbell is a legend, and you can disagree and that's OK, you're allowed to be wrong. He brings so much to the character that makes it work where other actors couldn't. There's comedic racism in the portrayal of French characters, outrageous accents worthy of Monty Python's Holy Grail and such, but there's a feeling of the whole thing being tongue in cheek rather than offensive. What I like as well though is that while the heroes of course show up the villains in ways that would make Colonel Robert Hogan proud, the baddies never seem completely inept, while they're outmatched in the action it feels like they stand a chance.
Fans of Adam West's Batman will love this show. There are steampunk elements (always a winner for me!) and references to things like hamburgers and other such modern things that rather than break immersion (though it does) of the period, just add to the awesomeness of the characters. But despite being ridiculous and cheesy, some of the writing is genuinely really well done and the plots, worthy of 20s silent heroics, are varied and feel fresh each time.
I can't gush enough about how much I love this show. The only downside is, there are strong female characters, which is awesome, but the leading lass comes across as intolerably smug sometimes, which irritates me. It's tragic that this only ran for two seasons, but the quality makes up for its short run, and you can find it on YouTube. Get over there and watch it, I don't think I've not enjoyed a single minute of the first season so far.
And the intro is the best thing ever :D Bruce Campbell is a legend, and you can disagree and that's OK, you're allowed to be wrong. He brings so much to the character that makes it work where other actors couldn't. There's comedic racism in the portrayal of French characters, outrageous accents worthy of Monty Python's Holy Grail and such, but there's a feeling of the whole thing being tongue in cheek rather than offensive. What I like as well though is that while the heroes of course show up the villains in ways that would make Colonel Robert Hogan proud, the baddies never seem completely inept, while they're outmatched in the action it feels like they stand a chance.
Fans of Adam West's Batman will love this show. There are steampunk elements (always a winner for me!) and references to things like hamburgers and other such modern things that rather than break immersion (though it does) of the period, just add to the awesomeness of the characters. But despite being ridiculous and cheesy, some of the writing is genuinely really well done and the plots, worthy of 20s silent heroics, are varied and feel fresh each time.
I can't gush enough about how much I love this show. The only downside is, there are strong female characters, which is awesome, but the leading lass comes across as intolerably smug sometimes, which irritates me. It's tragic that this only ran for two seasons, but the quality makes up for its short run, and you can find it on YouTube. Get over there and watch it, I don't think I've not enjoyed a single minute of the first season so far.