Bony

A passable Australian cop actioner brought to you by the Ford Motor Company, let down by limited funds and, in some episodes, direction. The stories were formulaic and enjoyable, while the location filming helped set it apart from American and British fare. The synthesized score is quite good for its time, especially considering the budget—but the sets were turn-of-the-decade horrid. The Aboriginal connection is given a passing nod but is included in each story in a "how odd" manner. Finally, Swiss actor Christian Kohlund aside, most of the cast—including the usually smooth Terence Cooper—gave relatively wooden performances, but it helped establish Cameron Daddo as an Aussie heart-throb. In summary, the earlier Special Squad had far higher production values; Bony pales by comparison in the genre of one-hour, self-contained cop shows.

This series of the 90's is far inferior to the original 1970's television series, Boney, which was based on the 'Bony' novels by Arthur Upfield.

This 1990's version is a pale imitation of a bright part in Australian television's history, and brings nothing new to the character, the novels, the memory of the of the original, or even to the 'cop show' genre in general. Aside from filling a time-slot, it makes me wonder why they even bothered, and,in a more enlightened era, they should have at least employed an actor of Aboriginal blood to fill the title role, as was written and intended by Upfield.

The 1970's version, produced by Fauna Productions John McCallum, and starring New Zealand actor James Laurenson in the lead role, is well worth the look.