Friday, January 09, 2009

Hirsuit Men in Gold Spandex, and other strange things that informed my childhood


Been thinking about strange 70's artifacts that kind of resonated and informed my youth, most of it bad science fiction. iTunes just uploaded a whole slew of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and I totally recall spending early wintery evenings watching Gil Gerard battle other futuristic bad guys and gals in similar glittery clothing that is now being sold in American Apparel. His middle American manliness next to disco excess seemed to be the kind of palatable in-between from campy 60's Star Trek to the 80's professional corporate hive of The Next Generation. His was Carter-Era utopia where they emerged from a bad place (recessionary burned out New York) and danced with rope lights. He taught them the hustle, they looked to him as a hero. I know that this is probably why I am drawn to shows with low production values and improbable story lines, mostly because this made more sense than Patrick Duffy in "Man from Atlantis". There were only so many places you could go underwater - but planetary exploration in ships that resembled huge shopping malls with 70's supergraphics, you were set for at least a few seasons...