Supertrain

Supertrain looked like it had potential but NBC screwed it up big time. I remember seeing promos with train racing out of the Grand central tunnel all the time and watching Express to Terror then it disappeared. If NBC hadn't rushed it through production and let the writers make decent material it might have lasted longer. I wish someone would bring it back and get it right this time. Retooling a show is usually a death sentence for it. Why did they change things after three episodes? If your gonna spend that kind of money on a show you have better keep at it until it works. NBC put all their effect into getting the effects to look realistic but never tried to fix all scripts before any were filmed. I am guessing most of the screenplays were first or second draft versions.

I remember this series from back in the day and have refreshed m memory on Youtube recently. I thought the show sucied back in the day and my refresher did nothing to change that opinion. My question then and now is this: Why was the series set on a futuristic high speed Atomic ultra-luxury train (which was super expensive to builde as sets and models) and then hardly ever reference that fact in any meaningful ways? I mean, except for the pilot episode, the rest of the stories could have taken place in a hotel, resort or even a "Love Boat." There was never any justification for this to be on a train of any kind! Why didn't they play up the sci-fi part of it? Why didn't the fact that the cast is hurtling along at tremendous speed ever enter into the stories? Sure, they mention this stuff, but it never really matters. Just boring stories that could be taking place anywhere. SO much money SO stupidly wasted on SUCH a boring show. Incredible.

Just imagine Love Boat but instead of a ship it's on a train then add some drama and excitement to spice things. Now imagine how bad that would be. This is actually worse.

NBC seemed to have thought with this show....

Let's WOW them with FX, who cares about things like plot, story, characters, lines that the actors say, and so on.

It didn't work, sure the train looked cool and all, the rest was treated as window dressing or an afterthought, like we're spending all this cash on FX we better make sure it looks good, the rest will fall into place afterwords.

It's like let's dress it up and make it look pretty, that doesn't change the fact it's garbage, what they should of done from the get go is it should of been a COMEDY, there was no way to take the premise seriously, so why not ?

There was so much potential there to treat it as a big joke, kinda like Airplane ! Only on rails.

Of course the show could be redone today for a lot less, just CG all the Train shots, save millions right there, heck I made the Train for a video game called Trainz, I could just shoot in game footage and it'd look just like all the shots I remember from the show, and at 10 / 20,000,000th the cost, after all I bought my PC, Software & stuff, but it didn't cost anywhere near the cash they spent on the FX for the show alone.

Sure you'd still have to make the sets of the insides, but they shouldn't cost an arm & leg if you do it right, just build what you need for the first season, if you are ahead cash wise, build more for the second season, in other words just show very little of the train insides during that first season, if it's a hit & your making cash, instead of loosing it, then you add more sets.

That's how i'd do it anyway & I don't even work for NBC or anyone else in the biz.

Then again the average person is smarter then any TV network Execs ;)

C.T.C.

Or that's what I'm guessing the pitch for this show was.

Back in the 70's, one of the biggest shows was in fact "The Love Boat" which was a series based on a movie by the same name. Every week a colorful cast of characters on a big cruise ship, nicknamed "The Love Boat" would have some adventures, people would fall in love, there'd be banter with the crew and everything would be wrapped up in an hour's time.

Then in 1976 there was a spoof of disaster movies called "The Big Bus". The story of a giant nuclear powered bus with amenities like a bowling alley, bar / lounge, swimming pool, captain's dining room and a way to not only wash but change the tires without stopping.

Combine the two and you have one of the biggest flops on network TV called "Supertrain". It's the Love Boat on tracks. But the makers of this show seem to have forgotten something, namely the plot. While the Love Boat was a cheese fest , there was still the semblance of a plot there. The characters had motivations and reasons to be there. Whereas on Supertrain, it was the train that was the actual star. Sure you got 70's mainstays like Lyle Waggoner and Steve Lawrence to do guest starring roles but they honestly felt tacked on more than anything else.

It was the most expensive TV show made, during that time at least, and this is what led to NBC losing a ton of cash and almost going bankrupt.

It's a bad show that really should stay dead and buried.