Redwarmin
This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Unlimitedia
Sick Product of a Sick System
Janae Milner
Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Keeley Coleman
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
entilzha34
I enjoyed Star Cops when it was show in the late 1980's on PBS. What I liked about it was that it was science fiction and set in the future, but not real distant future. Even my parents and siblings who aren't sci fi fans enjoyed it because it focused more on humans branching into space with the technology we had. However with a lot of sci fi Star Cops had no strange space aliens. S.C. was enjoyable because you had mix of different characters from different nations. You saw all their strengths and weaknesses. Also some of the cops and non cops where either good, bad or indifferent. The latter 2 got chances to redeem themselves. The political intrigue that also came in the series was relevant to the stories and the time the television series was produced. To paraphrase I believe Harlan Ellison, "Producers think that sci fi is coming up with all this great technology and creatures. What is really all about is showing that humans invented this stuff and how we grow, learn and go forward." Now that time has passed and the world has changed a bit I'd love to see this series brought back to see how it would play out now. I think this time it would get a better reception.
Chung Mo
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.
Bob_Arctor
I remembered this series after seeing The Moody Blues on breakfast TV the other morning. It reminded me of Justin Hayward's haunting theme song for the show ("Like a ripple on the water...")Great series. Hard Sci Fi, uncompromising and willing to take a risk. Like a previous reviewer said. The stories weren't huge "save the world" epics but they were so well written they didn't need to be. Even the effects were just a little above the Dr Who budget level, but it didn't matterI hope it'll turn up on TV again some day.
john-994
Star Cops rose above the average in a way that rarely happens: by being more average. How was this? Well, from the start, it's so average, it's. different! It had average theme music - well average for something other than SF. Kind of laid back. Style wise, in the SF arena, it has only recently been matched by the rather less pleasantly warbling intro for the appalling 'Enterprise'. Very laid back.Acting wise, everyone does a competent job. David Calder is a high point but none of the rest are Patrick Stewart. But they don't need to be. They seem to be either actors playing hard at being `regular Joe's' or - failing that - they're just fairly average actors. Either way, it doesn't seem to matter. The actors play 'space' like it's no big deal. Like they don't want to be there but do want to do their jobs. Even when they are only just on the ball, it's still terribly convincing because it all looks so 'run of the mill'.The plots aren't overly clever or dramatic. They don't involve saving the earth every week. No vast alien flotillas hove into view to crush all resistance before them. No labyrinthine plots of shape shifters or invisible aliens. Just regular greedy, lazy people and average nut cases doing what they do in the real world: being avaricious, slack and mad - just, it's in orbit! (well, or on the moon as well).The effects show nice attention to detail but are pretty run of the mill BBC fare. So they're 'effects' but not 'special effects', if you see what I mean, but it's enough. The modelling's quite nice and pretty believable. The script never gets caught up in easy to film stuff like artificial gravity (except the spin on the space station Ronald Regan!), or plot accelerators like faster than light drives.I know this may sound stupid but, the mix of accents, the run of the mill mundanity. I love it! Why doesn't someone bring it out on DVD or - at least - show the thing on the TV again!