SF Obscure: May Hodgepodge

This week is a hodgepodge of supernatural shows. They may not have lasted long or gotten the best ratings, but, hey,  why not cover them.

The Crow Stairway To Heaven
The Crow: Stairway to Heaven
(1998-1999)

This was based on the film which was based on the comic. So, it’s the comic once removed. Which means they can take liberties and you can’t complain. It starred Mark Dacascos as Eric Draven, lead guitarist in a rock band who is murdered along with his girlfriend. He rises from the dead and exists between the land of the living and the land of the dead to get revenge. But he also uses his powers for good.

I rather enjoyed the Crow. It wasn’t perfect-it had a tendency to be too melodramatic -all the black, goth sort of image comes across kind of cheesy now. Maybe I was just at a stage in life when that appealed to me. 🙂 Still, there are things to enjoy. And its on Hulu.
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Relic Hunter  (1999-2002)

Remember this? It pops up all over the place in re-runs. Tia Carrere plays Sydney Fox, an Indiana Jones-style archaeologist who goes on exciting adventures collecting relics, solving ancient mysteries, and running across a paranormal object or two in the process. It’s a fun show, that never takes itself to seriously.  It’s neat to watch Sydney Fox fight off bad guys and be involved in all sorts of daring do. There is an attempt to connect most of the relics to actual history-though never terribly accurate. It ran for three seasons and was broadcast widely internationally. You can catch it on Netflix.
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Mutant X (2001-2004)
This show was about a group of people who discover they have extraordinary powers due to genetic engineering. If you’re thinking this title and premise sounds vaguely like a famous franchise, well, chase that thought right out of your mind. They already fought that legal battle and won. Kind of.

Basically, it follows the adventures of one group of these new mutants who search for and protect other mutants like them. (yeah, I’m struggling to understand the legal difference too). They have a leader, Adam Kane, a scientist who helped create them. And his team consists of Shalimar, Jesse, Brennan, and Emma. They all look like catalog models and mainly walk around in fashionable, tight fitting clothing trying to look all mutant-y and mysterious. The mutants have different types: Ferals, Elementals, etc. but the guest stars just have whatever power the plot requires for the episode. They have a nemesis that looks like Andy Warhol and another named Ashlocke. It’s all a bit silly for my taste, but hey, some people loved it. Lasted three seasons and had good ratings.

So, Smart Girls readers, have you seen any of these shows? Feel free to leave a comment.

11 thoughts on “SF Obscure: May Hodgepodge”

  1. i must have watched way too much tv when i was growing up and the few years of my marriage, i have seen all of those shows. sad to say i wasn’t that interested in those shows, because of the times on the stations they were put on, most of those shows were syndicated and many were late night shows in my area.

  2. I had a soft spot for the original Crow movie, but totally missed the series. I, too, had a heart-on for the goth-y aesthetic that I can no longer pull off (also, when *we* were goth, we didn’t have pre-made Hot Topic, dangit! We had to steal grandma’s lace tablecloths and dye ’em black ourselves!).

    I remember seeing all the ads for Relic Hunter back in the heyday of syndicated sf & fantasy (Cleopatra 2525, anyone?), but I was on a Xena/Hercules kick at the time, and Relic Hunter just didn’t grab me. It does seem like a Tomb Raider with the serial numbers filed off, but I don’t know if it predates the game or not.

    Mutant X, I remember being super-excited about, and then crushed when my personal hype led to a sadly realistic meh. I remember there being a lot of posing, and a lot less epic battles than the 90’s version of X-men cartoons, so we went back to watching the ‘toons.

  3. Wow! How unusual for me. I remember only one of the three here. Mutant X – and then it is only vague memories. This era was not a good one for me and someone else controlled the remote. *sigh* However, I do remember Cleopatra 2525. Wonder what that says about the person controlling the remote? 😀 Thank you for sharing. I might have to go looking for these.

  4. These are all new to me. As in, heard of but never saw. Do I loose my nerd cred for that? Thanks for another great blast from the past.

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