The Last Stubborn Quote Revealed...

[seawasp]

Well, all of the quotes on my Movie List were finally identified. However, #2 on the TV list was not; no one even ventured a guess that came within miles of it.

I was actually pretty confident that it would not be identified, as only I and about three other people in the country ever watched this short-lived series.

"This man confuses me; kill him!": Spoken by the Supreme Gorgon to his minions about the dual-personalitied Gene/Jean, in the TV show "Quark", starring Richard Benjamin as Captain Quark, commander of a spacegoing garbage scow who kept getting involved in cosmic conflicts. A sort of attempt at "Galaxy Quest" well before its time, Quark was an SF comedy which had some really bright ideas but, in my opinion, overkill execution. The idea of a crew of misfits saving the world is not a new one, but you need a balance between the silliness of your crew and some seriousness to carry the plot along. Quark was far too overbalanced with silliness: Quark himself was the only straight man, an apparently quite intelligent and competent captain who somehow had been saddled with the worst crew ever assembled in one place: Ficus, the plant-man science officer who made Mr. Spock look like a raving hysteric; Gene/Jean, both male and female sets of genes and of personalities (Gene was a warmongering combat machine, Jean a pacifist); and a pair of beautiful identical twins (I think they were Betty and Betty, but I'm not sure after all these years) who were as I recall archetypes of Dumb Blonde.

Quark took jabs at Star Trek, Star Wars, and a host of other shows, books, and current ideas. It was a neat attempt, but doomed to obscurity. Galaxy Quest did it much better, many years later. I'm not sure such a thing COULD be done as a long-running series.

Comments

[james8bitstar.livejournal.com]

Galaxy Quest did it much better

Wow, so Quark is THAT bad?

Galaxy Quest...

[seawasp]

Is, IMCGO, one of the greatest movies I've seen in the past 20 years. It is one of the very, VERY rare attempts at parody comedy that doesn't come across as a sneering insult to whatever it's parodying. The people who did Galaxy Quest clearly understood both what made Star Trek, and Trek fandom, worth parodying, AND what made them so beloved that they did what no show ever managed before: coming back from the dead nearly 20 years after the end.

The convention they showed was brilliant -- neither an exaggerated freakshow, nor some attempt to whitewash the more odd or startling parts of a real SF/Trek convention. An accurate portrayal of a convention -- whod'a thunk it? And the absolutely brilliant way in which the actors took their parallels' basic characteristics so that we could SEE, for instance, "Tim Allen As Shatner Doing Kirk" and have it WORK? Amazing.

I was hesitant to see it; in fact, I refused to see it in the theaters because I tend to hate comedies, and parodies tend to be sneerfests. Once I *DID* see it, I went and got the DVD.

Suffice to Say......

[james8bitstar.livejournal.com]

Galaxy Quest is the definition of the reason I don't like comedies. The "humor" I found to be very weak and not at all funny (Wow, the alien leader has a bandage, WHAT FUN!). Yea, it pokes fun at fandom and all, but that's one of those jokes you have to have "been there" to get, which in my mind automatically equals "stupid." 'Sides, anyone can poke fun at a fandom--I saw some Sailor Moon pages that did that and actually made me laugh.

Then again, the only comedy I like and would watch on a regular basis is the MST3K series.

Re: Suffice to Say......

[seawasp]

MST3K is vaguely amusing on occasion, but it often epitomizes the Mean Spirited stuff. Or else they're dynamiting fish in a barrel; I mean, you say "anyone can poke fun at fandom", but jeez, what does that say about MST3K and shows like the turkey herds that they choose to beat on?

Re: Suffice to Say......

[james8bitstar.livejournal.com]

It is NOT easy to do a MST. I can say this for certain because I have tried and failed repeatedly, and have seen others try and fail. Joel, Mike, and the bots are comedy geniouses. They're doing what we all WISH we could do, but they're actually making it FUNNY whereas most of us can do little more than say "this movie is bad" in increasingly contrived ways.

Flying elves, indeed, are back.

Re: Suffice to Say......

[seawasp]

*shrug* I would find it trivial to do such a thing; I think I *did* do one online at some point. If someone was actually PAYING me to do it, it gets easier. I know of at least three or four people online who've done good MST3K's of various things.

And I *think* you mean that whoever WRITES for "Joel, Mike and the Bots", as I doubt a puppeteered gumball machine is what you want to offer as a candidate for comedy genius, yes?

Re: Suffice to Say......

[james8bitstar.livejournal.com]

What? Are you descriminist against puppeteered gumball machines? ^__^

Actually, Mike used to be the show's writer before he replaced Joel. I may be wrong but I think Joel used to do some writing too.

In the first season of the show, they used to come up with comments on the fly. Supposedly that season wasn't very good though.

Quark

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Ah, I loved that show. The fact that it came out about the same time as Traveller really influenced my style of gaming...

Here's a page about the show; you're right, it was Betty I and Betty II

http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-2218/

Re: Quark

[seawasp]

I thought as much. I liked the idea of the show and some of the accomplishments thereof, but felt it was Too Much At Once and that the overkill would kill it. And it did.

[xyzzysqrl]

...I vaguely remember seeing an episode of this show. Wow.

I had totally forgetten it. Until now.

Ow, the memories.

I can...

[seawasp]

... still whistle the opening theme tune!

This may make me the only person who still knows it.