Charlie's Angels in space? The Matrix on steroids? Barbarella meets the
Terminator? There is goofy fun to be had in the new action half hour,
Cleopatra 2525, produced by Renaissance Pictures, the company that brought us
Hercules and Xena.
Jennifer Sky stars as Cleopatra, an actress/exotic dancer, who is
cryogenically frozen by her boyfriend in the year 2001 after not waking up
from a botched boob job. She plays the likable fish out of water who meets
two warrior women, Hel (Gina Torres) and Sarge (Victoria Pratt), from the
future who are intent on reclaiming the surface of the Earth. They are
fighting vicious robots (Baileys) who drove humankind underground after
identifying humans as an environmental threat to the planet. The two
warriors discover Cleopatra in a lab when Sarge is injured and needs a kidney
transplant.
The creators at Ren Pictures were smart to pick three talented and well liked
actresses who appeared recurring roles on Hercules and Xena. All three
actresses are perfect casting for their respective roles. Sky shines as a
21st century heroine who can pull out the bravado and classic movie one
liners during intense, life-threatening situations. Pratt's physical
strength (she's a top Canadian track star and a blue belt in karate) and
tough girl courage is a nice complement to Sky's happy go lucky demeanor.
And Gina Torres sparkles as their quietly tormented, but sensitive leader.
I found the hyper paced premiere episode to be a homage to sci-fi/pop culture
iconography. Hel surprises her enemy by doing a Matrix like walk around the
side walls. The enemy betrayer robots are lifted straight from the liquid
metal T1000 from Terminator 2. And the guy who runs the spare body parts
lab looks like Chewbacca's brother only with wittier dialogue, "Excuse me
while I go use the cat box." The many cultural references do not detract, and
the show comes off as amazingly fresh. Although the action is break neck,
R.J. Stewart, who wrote the pilot, succeeds in bringing us close to the
characters. This is not an easy feat for an action show in the half hour
format. I was very impressed with the pilot, "The Quest for Firepower," but
less impressed with their follow up the next week, "Creegan."
"Creegan," while action packed, lacked the character development of the pilot
episode. I found the three heroines running non-stop from Hel's
archnemesis, Creegan, a dead ringer for the Joker in the Batman series. Joel
Tobeck, who
played Creegan, was sufficiently maniacal and scary. (I held my breath along
with the three women warriors whenever he pulled out his smart grenade).
However, there was very little interaction among the three gals, although
there was a charming bit of business between Sarge and Masuer (their gorgeous
stud of a robot ally). I actually laughed out loud as Sarge received a
massage from Masuer. Pratt did a great job with her "cat who ate the canary"
look, and I loved her comments to Cleopatra in the premiere, "He's not
programmed for sex. YET!"
Basically, the show rates a thumbs up. It's fun, escapist entertainment.
With the show on for only a half hour, it's not long enough for any faults
to be seriously annoying.
|
"In
the Year 2525"
