Star Cops

No matter how many times I think about it, 'Star Cops' is still quite possibly the greatest science-fiction show ever on television.

The premise is simple--cops in space, something that sounds like a recipe for schmaltz, but it's the execution that makes it rise head and shoulders above the capsule description. The characters, through the space of nine episodes, show more depth and range than a decade of latter-day 'Star Treks'. They have moments of irritability, seething rage, intense fear, mild annoyance and sheer terror, played out over plots that challenge the viewer to keep up. This is a show that improves exponentially with repeated viewings, with complexities opening up and incidental moments gaining significance as you become able to correlate them. The characters are often unlikeable, quarrelsome, and rude--much like real people.

Dialogue is sometimes cryptic, requiring another viewing for you to understand the joke or the significance of the remark. Often, characters speak over each other's lines, much like real people.

The plots, while often standard mystery fare, offer spins new to the science-fiction format, requiring a little knowledge of human nature rather than of physics or chemistry. It's never the science, or a simple whodunit--it's always the motive. The human element is always what is at issue.

And NO SF SHOW has ever been so firmly within the possibilities of REAL SCIENCE, requiring no long explanations or technobabble justifications. It is, without a doubt, the most scientifically probable program that has ever been on the air.

There are only nine episodes, and that's a pity. Blame the BBC for their infinite lack of wisdom. But at least there are NINE, and that's wonderful.

This came on New York television via a local public television station. Not the main one but a smaller station on the UHF band. It was in the early nineties.

If my memory is correct the only sci-fi television at the time was Star Trek: The Next Generation. This was not a watchable show for me and I avoided it. By chance I saw a TV listing and there was this mystery show, "Star Cops". No description given. In fact I don't know if the station ever publicized the program. I tuned in and was very happily surprised. Here was a sci-fi show with a brain although with a slant towards hard-boiled 40's noir. Nine weeks, a few more of repeat enjoyment then it was gone.

Three elements hold the show together:

The unique art direction and design that is probably the only time anyone picked up on the "2001" style and elaborated. The way space is portrayed and the design of the hardware is unlike anything out of the U.S. entertainment machine. Believable and beautiful at once. The special effects, while clumsy at times, are bolstered by the art direction. Who cares if the space station and the background move out of sync for a second or so. The overall intent overwhelms the defects.

The smooth music by Moody Blues member Justin Heyward and David Bowie producer Tony Visconti gives the show a unique feel. A good comparison would how the country music instrumentals worked on "Firefly". It shows that Kubrick had figured something out.

The dense and complex story lines lift the program out of the pedestrian and grade school level space opera typified by "Star Trek:TNG" or the boring "Stargate" franchise. The writers really tried to imagine what the real world politics would be when private business and different countries move into space.

The drawbacks to the show mainly are due to the below average acting from some of the regular cast and the low budget. There are too many screwy American accents coming out of British actors' mouths then I like to hear. A number of the bad guys are just awful. Bad acting is unusual to see in a serious British drama but compared to the amatuerville from many of the Star Trek spinoffs, I shouldn't complain. David Calder is an exception on this show, he was always on. The regular cast seemed to be falling comfortably into their roles by the last episode. The exception was Erick Ray Evans who comes across more as a very likable tennis coach than a hard-boiled cop. He never seemed to be able to expand his range. But he's seems to be a nice guy.

It's too bad that fate cut this show off after nine episode, I really think that a second set of episodes would have solidified the program.

A very interesting experiment that should be repeated.

This was sci-fi at its best. No hard-nosed, crew-cut heroes, this was full of people with flaws (I.E. real people). This had everything, politics, corruption...oh and BOX!!!!!!!

I want box! I do not care about any other invention, I want the world's scientists to make one for me now :)

Aside from that, this is a series that made me like sci-fi again, after the rubbish mainstream offerings from Hollywood with their weak plots and special effects-driven scenarios. I am glad I got the videos when they escaped from the BBC archives a few years ago and still enjoy the shows as much as I did when they were first shown.

It's truly sad that Star Cops never got its second season. It was signed up for one, but with A TV technicians strike cutting the first season down to nine epidodes (the last one was also hugely amended after Erik Ray Evans took ill and David Calder replaced him (hence the strange romance bits between him and Pal) and with Calder moving on to another show, there was no realistic possibility of the crew getting back together to make another 13 episodes.

Truly a classic.

OK, it is a bit dated (the USSR still around). And the effects are not terrific - but for what I am sure was a minimal budget, not bad, in fact if what I've seen was basically the pilot, pretty decent. Especially for 1986-7 TV. Come to that, the movie *Outland* with Sean Connery in 1981 is the only one I've seen to outdo *2001*, made in 1968 (they at least knew that you cannot see into a shadow without a light - that is still being done wrong in 2005)! And it is a cop show, not a science fiction show.

So if you're expecting a space opera, forget it.

But if you like cop shows, this is pretty darn good - at least episode one, which is all I've seen so far. And as a computer programmer since 1965, I know whence the lead character's skepticism comes - Hello son!

'Star Cops' is one of the best sci-fi series we've watched in years. In the U.S. we are inundated with 'junk' situation comedies and copycat dramas, so the British shows we are offered are heartily welcomed.

We found this show innovative and very interesting. We really liked Nathan, and 'Box' was a clever touch. Even if it was just a 'crime in space' show as some people termed it, the characters became friends, and the tension and suspense were real to us. Nathan's reluctance at being posted in space was understated and believable, and made a recurring theme below each week's story. I definitely was able to immerse myself in the shows and 'become' one of the people stationed there and at risk in each episode's situation; unlike most American shows--and many movies--I wasn't looking at my watch every few minutes to see how much longer I was going to have to sit there. Thanks, U.K., for another series in the tradition of 'Doctor Who' (which is BRILLIANT). We're just sorry that it was on for only one season.