Metal Mickey

At the time this series came out I was watching the likes of "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", so it was little surprise that this show disappointed.

When I say disappointed, I mean I tolerated it. Ok, when I say tolerated, I mean I had to be dragged kicking and screaming in front of the TV, with all the enthusiasm I'd have mustered if I was told I was to be watching Pavarotti do naked calisthenics.

Quite simply, this show sucked the big one. Hard.

Basically, it was the story of a "typical" UK family whose son built a robot to help around the house. However, I don't know any families that I wanted to slap into the middle of next week quite as much as this one. They were intensely irritating, even more so than the Diff'rent Strokes clan.

The robot (Metal Mickey) was almost, but not quite, as annoying as Crichton from Buck Rogers. Somewhere along the way, the boy who created it imbued it with artificial intelligence, so I never understood why they didn't sell the obnoxious tin monstrosity and move into better accommodation.

Mickey was vaguely humanoid but had the look of something that had been made, then squashed slightly in an industrial pressing machine. Oh yeah, and the head reminded me somewhat of R2D2's dome, though squashed and without any of the charm of R2.

Mickey had a catch-phrase of sorts "Boogie, Boogie" which, when uttered, had the cast start to dance (a truly horrifying experience). And about the voice.....about half way between normal and a dalek. And yes, that was annoying, too.

And there's more. Mickey had "magical" powers over electrical appliances and could get them dancing and doing all manner of retarded things.

Apparently this series was the brainchild of Mickey Dolenz (of The Monkees). If this is an example of his creativity, I'd seriously vote for lobotomies to be made legal again. I actually watched him babbling about the show on some flashback TV show. He was clearly passionate about the show. In fact, I'd say too passionate about something twenty years in the past. It was scary to watch him ranting and nearly drooling over the show, in the same way that it's scary to see Gary Glitter's hairstyle is STILL the same after thirty years. But enough said about Gary, the better. Some people never change.

As for Metal Mickey, it's the sort of show that, if you had a choice between being set on fire and watching the show, you'd ask for extra petrol. It's that bad.

What do you do after being the drummer in the Monkees? Produce an 80's comedy with a robot as the central character. Microcomputers, digital watches, everything that's so dated now that was so exciting then. Metal Mickey was exciting to my young mind. A talking robot on TV. I didn't understand special effects or voice coders. But unlike my old BBC microcomputer Metal Mickey is not obsolete. It has the look of a 1980's show, a children's show where the budget has gone on the radio controlled robot but with Irene Handel and Michael Stainton this remains a classic. As well as a nostalgia trip to the beginning of the 80's.

The set up is a robot living in suburbia in Englands at th beginning of the 80's. He's the center of the show and too much the center at the cost of the script which is its main problem. But like My Family, a BBC sitcom, its balanced by using some really fine actors. Seeing it again it does lose a bit in now knowing that the glitzy robot is all voice coder and twiddling on a remote control. Would have been better if it was written for a slightly older audience.

I can't argue with Rob Taylor - Metal Mickey was, let's face it, a pile of rubbish. But, to be fair, it was so bad, it was laughably bad.

Metal Mickey didn't only have one of '80s Comedy's most bizarre title characters, but the criminally underrated Michael Stainton and the stupendously talented (and critically acclaimed) Irene Handl in its' ranks. The latter did not appear at all in series 3, and her appearances became increasingly sporadic in the closing stages of the final series' run, but the first two series (in which she was the show's main attraction besides Mickey himself), were enjoyable, harmless fun. Mickey summoning aliens, Mickey sending people back in time, Mickey bringing chaos to situations where this word had never existed before, Mickey spouting his catchphrases "Boogie Boogie" and "My Little Fruitbat"... wow, even as I think about it twenty years on, those memories of my younger life come flooding back.

Rubbish? Undoubtedly.

Suicidally catastropohic? No way!!

I stumbled on this one as I was looking up Me & My Girl, (currently being shown on weekday avo's here) and I was immediately taken back some 20 odd years. Memories of coming home from school and blobbing out in front of the telly, watching Ollie Ohlson's latest offerings. Any kiwis out there remember "Keep Cool 'Till 'After School'"? Anyway, how dare *anyone* diss Metal Mickey, he was *cool*!!!!! "Metal Mickey, dumm dum dum de dum Metal Mickey, dumm dum dum de dum." :-)

A sitcom type of show similar to Basil Brush or Rentaghost. Mickey's vocoder voice is sometimes difficult to listen to, and the cast ham it up for laughs. One to two risqué gags can be found, referencing breasts, gynaecology and other innuendo, but generally its good clean fun. Some jokes now - references to British Leyland, Margaret Thatcher etc, have dated the show, but these are few. Irene Handle is great but sadly seems confined to a handful of catch phrases.

Most of the episodes are very samey, but mickey has an undeniable charm for a robot actor. Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees produced the show, but did not name Metal Mickey.

First series is available on DVD in the UK (went on sale in Feb 2008)