tatsunokofan
Gatch Guru
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Registration Date: 03-12-2006
Posts: 1513
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Hi all!
| quote: | | No excuse for THE Zark in my opinion! |
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While I certainly understand why people find Zark annoying and don't care for the other changes done to BotP, I think that it is often overlooked or forgotten that, without most of those changes, the series would never have made it on the air.
The television climate was far different in 1978 than it is today. The child advocacy groups like ACT were at their height and were doing their best to make sure that all children's programming were the most inoffensive pablum possible. When producing BotP, Jameson Brewer and Co. had to get everything cleared by their Standards and Practices supervisor and by their Program Consultants before they could proceed with anything.
On top of walking that tightrope, they also had to alter the series into an outer space adventure, because that was what Sandy Frank had sold the series as (And thanks to the popularity of Star Wars, that's what stations wanted).
It that weren't enough, they had to do this with almost no prep time and as cost effectively as possible.
Were the changes they made all for the best? Probably not. Did they go too far to with some of them? Probably. But when you consider all of the pressures they were under to satisfy the demands being placed on them, it's a miracle the show was as good as it is.
So, dislike Zark and the other modifications BotP did to Gatchaman all you want, but be open minded enough to realize that there is indeed a reason that they are there.
James
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23-02-2010 21:20
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UnpublishedWriter
Gatchamaniac
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Registration Date: 31-08-2009
Posts: 3156
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It explains a lot. I would like to think that they would have done a better job if they'd had more time to prepare.
As an idea, Zark isn't bad, but the execution left much to be desired. The various UHF stations at the time would also have run 'Lost in Space' about a million times by then, along with 'Creature Feature' movies (including the MST3K-worthy). Children would be used to a robot helper through those. The producers could have done without the dirty monitors scaring Zark, and some of his sillier attributes (the hypochondria and fussiness). In the 'Decoys of Doom' episode, Zark could have simply introduced the robot doubles. If they weren't allowed to upset children, that would have been better than Zark yelping about G-Force being under attack and so forth.
If they'd had time, they could have done a proper job reinterpreting Red Impulse, and we wouldn't be trying to figure out if Cronus was from Earth or from Riga, or both.
But don't expect me to be nicer to the scriptwriters in my reviews. Even with the time crunch, they could have done better on the individual scripts. (Especially since the moral guardians did want educational content in children's shows. Easy enough to keep straight such basics as solar system and galaxy.)
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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by UnpublishedWriter on 24-02-2010 at 01:52.
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24-02-2010 01:50
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UnpublishedWriter
Gatchamaniac
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Registration Date: 31-08-2009
Posts: 3156
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I agree. The target audience would have been familiar with robots from reruns of Lost in Space and from their appearance in other films besides Star Wars. They would not have been put off if Zark were less of a fusspot and worrywart.
I doubt the scriptwriters even remember why they gave Zark the characteristics they did. Still, there was no need to make Zark the inventor of everything, or to make him such a self-centered hypochondriac in those early episodes. Or to keep the narcissism. The only possible excuse for such heavy-handedness is because they thought the children watching would not understand anything less obvious. And I doubt that they would have missed much. Make a character interesting, and you don't have to lay anything on with a trowel.
(I now have the Hofius book. We can thank Mr. Frank's secretary for Susan. She apparently made an impression on the scriptwriters. There's also a very silly French conception of Susan's appearance.)
That they could do better is shown at various points in the series. In Mad New Ruler of Spectra, Zoltar makes some wonderfully veiled threats to Doriarity, and Space Rock Concert has some excellent understated villainy. And let's not forget Tiny's reminiscing about the gal who did the hula just for him....
They could easily have developed Zark's function as a coordinator of galactic defenses, and even had him show concern and affection for the team without the features that we find objectionable.
When they wrote the scripts, they could have paid attention to the very real distinction between solar system and galaxy, and recognized that the Milky Way is quite large enough to contain all the action. Instead, they borrowed the 'Bad SF Writer's Handbook' and used it diligently.
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Benefits, not features; benefits, not features
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24-02-2010 23:21
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