mikeatdt

I'm shocked and appalled at the negative reviews of this great new show. Admittedly Episode 1 was the weakest episode, so maybe those reviews are from people who didn't continue watching. I made the same mistake with Game Of Thrones. Thankfully friends forced me to continue watching. I encourage people to do the same with this show and stick with it. It gets better fast.

Overall a clever sci fi parody with great comic performances from the entire cast. And the dialogue is hilarious, Community-esque.

This series is to science fiction what What We Do In The Shadows is to vampire movies. For those of you who are familiar with that movie.

I hated this when it came out, mostly because so much of the original cast was missing. Most notably, Barbara Feldon, who didn't want to be type cast as 99 and so refused to do it. But also Ed Platt (passed away) Bernie Kopell (busy doing Love Boat) Dave Ketchum (inexplicably recast) Dick Gautier (what no Hymie!?!?) And then, in the case of Robert Karvelas, who actually returns as Larrabbee, he's grossly underused.

But in this day and age of reboots, which were unheard of when this movie was originally released, it's not only not half bad, it's about 4/5 good.

Well directed, with a funny fast-moving script, great costumes and sets, clever action sequences (the desk-mobile car chase and the clone fight most notably) sexy female co-stars, and a catchy theme song-- it really worked for me as a James Bond/Pink Panther parody, which is what the series was pitched as in the first place. In fact I would argue from a directorial and production value standpoint it was better than the last few Pink Panther movies. (Sorry, but for all his 60's successes, Blake Edwards really devolved into a hack director in the 70's and 80's.)

It's too bad too many people, like myself at the time, were too in love with the original, or I think it would have been better received. Peter Sellers had just passed away and this would have been a good movie series to replace the void left my no more Pink Panthers.

OK, OK, the Universal Studios stuff was a little too much, but it's not even an 8 minute long sequence in the film.

I read somewhere that it was nominated for a Razzie as one of the worst movies of 1980. Below is a link to all the movies released that year. What an amazing year for movies!

http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1980

But I can find, IMHO, at least 20 movies worse than this that came out in '80. Heaven's Gate for sure, and Sellers' posthumous release The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu certainly. So I think this movie was unfairly dissed.

Sadly, Don Adams (star) Clive Donner (director) Leonard Stern (writer) and Arne Sultan (writer) have all passed away. But if they still read reviews up in heaven, or if Bill Dana (writer/co-star) who is still with us ever stops by IMDb I want them all to know that this was not the "bomb" everyone thinks it is.

Very funny, very well made picture, that hits more often than it misses.

I was lucky enough to see this film at the Chicago Film Festival in the early 90s, and also to participate in a discussion after the screening with the director. I had not seen it again until today, broken up in 9 parts on YouTube. I remembered it vividly, though some 25 years have passed. A very clever philosophical comedy, beautifully shot with wonderful acting. It's a tragedy that this movie is so hard to find (especially considering Colin Firth's current popularity) and shocking that the director hasn't directed more than just one other feature and a short. I remember him telling us that most of the shots were improvised, not the acting of them, but the set ups and lighting, which is amazing considering how beautiful the movie is. It's really one of those "every shot looks like a painting" type films. The YouTube print actually does it justice, but I would love to get a DVD somehow. Anyway, however you can, see this movie. And someone hire this director again.