It all starts (as it should) with the beginning. After an introductory scene (which sometimes relates to the main story - and sometimes doesn’t) it cuts to the opening title sequence. The opening is filled with fast action clips as the "MacGyver" title zooms from nowhere into the center of the screen. After a few more action clips, the camera zooms in on our hero who turns to the camera and smiles (the only thing missing is the fake gleam you sometimes see in one of those commercials for gum that cleans your teeth and freshens your breath.)
It reminds me of a sequence in the movie Galaxy Quest. Without getting too far off track (ha!), there is a scene in that movie which has the opening of the new, revamped TV show - and it has much of the same flavor as this. Except, in the movie, they’re kidding.
It reminds me of a sequence in the movie Galaxy Quest. Without getting too far off track (ha!), there is a scene in that movie which has the opening of the new, revamped TV show - and it has much of the same flavor as this. Except, in the movie, they’re kidding.
After the opening, the cliches keep on coming. In the first show, for instance, there's a top secret underground bunker that gets blown up, trapping some people down below. Naturally, MacGyver is called in to rescue these people. Through some chain of events that I can’t remember, MacGyver ends up being accompanied on this dangerous mission by some pretty woman (in heels, as I recall.) As they dig deeper and deeper into the wreckage of this top secret facility, the “tension” builds. Will they make it? Will they???
Finally, when it looks like all might be lost, the woman turns to MacGyver and says (and I’m paraphrasing here, but not by much), “MacGyver, in case we don’t make it…” *Kiss*. My reaction was, "Who couldn’t see that a mile away?” But, Sam’s reaction was, “Awww...” So, this is a big reason why I’m sticking with it. I’ve seen all of this stuff a million times before, but Sam hasn’t. Much of this is new to him.
While there are a lot of these "plot elements" that aren't particularly surprising, that's not to say there aren't surprises to be found elsewhere. I think maybe foremost in the surprise department might be the amount of stereotypes in this show. I never really thought about whether I’m “politically correct” or not, but, geez, I guess I am.
So far, there’s been an opening sequence where MacGyver rescues a horse from some devious looking middle eastern guys (living in tents on a beach, for some reason). As he's sneaking away with the horse, he's discovered by the nogoodniks and a chase ensues. MacGyver hops on the horse, the evildoers hop on their horses and everyone races down the shoreline (did I mention this takes place on a beach?) Things get pretty tense - before both MacGyver and the horse are rescued by a helicopter.
This rescue is accomplished when the helicopter flies overhead and then drops down a tether, which hooks onto the horse's harness and both the horse and MacGyver (still on the horse) are lifted up high over the water, to safety. (You would think that a horse swinging on a rope from a helicopter, a hundred feet up in the air, with a guy still on it's back, might raise animal rights issues, but hey, one politically correct issue at a time.)
Anyway, these obvious middle eastern villains looked like they could have been plucked straight out of whatever the Arab equivalent is of a 1940’s Charlie Chan movie.
Another episode dealt with MacGyver meeting up with a spy in Budapest. The spy is carrying top secret information in his watch, which for some reason isn't handed over to MacGyver immeadiately. Things get complicated early on when his buddy, the spy, ends up getting killed, and before MacGyver is able to recover the watch with the top secret information inside, the watch gets stolen - by gypsies (I’m not kidding). At least these are the friendly kind of gypsies who laugh and dance and play music while they're robbing you. (Don't worry, it all works out in the end.)
There’s another episode where MacGyver somehow ends up getting captured in Southeast Asia, where an entire village (I think) is being imprisoned by a warlord of some sort, and they're made to do… something, which I don’t remember. What I do remember, though, is that many of these Asian villagers/prisoners/Evil Overlords talked with such pronounced “accents” that at one point, Sam commented, “That guy talks just like the Chinese mailman on Seinfeld.” And he was exactly right.
Needless to say, since I am apparently “politically correct,” there is a certain amount of pressing of the ‘pause” button happening - so that I can make a hopefully brief comment to Sam by way of explanation and maybe a little context about some of these "caricatures" (and hopefully something slightly more informative than, “Back in the 80’s, people were idiots.”)
Finally, when it looks like all might be lost, the woman turns to MacGyver and says (and I’m paraphrasing here, but not by much), “MacGyver, in case we don’t make it…” *Kiss*. My reaction was, "Who couldn’t see that a mile away?” But, Sam’s reaction was, “Awww...” So, this is a big reason why I’m sticking with it. I’ve seen all of this stuff a million times before, but Sam hasn’t. Much of this is new to him.
While there are a lot of these "plot elements" that aren't particularly surprising, that's not to say there aren't surprises to be found elsewhere. I think maybe foremost in the surprise department might be the amount of stereotypes in this show. I never really thought about whether I’m “politically correct” or not, but, geez, I guess I am.
So far, there’s been an opening sequence where MacGyver rescues a horse from some devious looking middle eastern guys (living in tents on a beach, for some reason). As he's sneaking away with the horse, he's discovered by the nogoodniks and a chase ensues. MacGyver hops on the horse, the evildoers hop on their horses and everyone races down the shoreline (did I mention this takes place on a beach?) Things get pretty tense - before both MacGyver and the horse are rescued by a helicopter.
This rescue is accomplished when the helicopter flies overhead and then drops down a tether, which hooks onto the horse's harness and both the horse and MacGyver (still on the horse) are lifted up high over the water, to safety. (You would think that a horse swinging on a rope from a helicopter, a hundred feet up in the air, with a guy still on it's back, might raise animal rights issues, but hey, one politically correct issue at a time.)
Anyway, these obvious middle eastern villains looked like they could have been plucked straight out of whatever the Arab equivalent is of a 1940’s Charlie Chan movie.
Another episode dealt with MacGyver meeting up with a spy in Budapest. The spy is carrying top secret information in his watch, which for some reason isn't handed over to MacGyver immeadiately. Things get complicated early on when his buddy, the spy, ends up getting killed, and before MacGyver is able to recover the watch with the top secret information inside, the watch gets stolen - by gypsies (I’m not kidding). At least these are the friendly kind of gypsies who laugh and dance and play music while they're robbing you. (Don't worry, it all works out in the end.)
There’s another episode where MacGyver somehow ends up getting captured in Southeast Asia, where an entire village (I think) is being imprisoned by a warlord of some sort, and they're made to do… something, which I don’t remember. What I do remember, though, is that many of these Asian villagers/prisoners/Evil Overlords talked with such pronounced “accents” that at one point, Sam commented, “That guy talks just like the Chinese mailman on Seinfeld.” And he was exactly right.
Needless to say, since I am apparently “politically correct,” there is a certain amount of pressing of the ‘pause” button happening - so that I can make a hopefully brief comment to Sam by way of explanation and maybe a little context about some of these "caricatures" (and hopefully something slightly more informative than, “Back in the 80’s, people were idiots.”)
And I don't mean to give the impression that the show is terrible. It's not. I actually enjoy it, once I get past the cringe-worthy moments (some of these moments are lasting a lot longer than others.) The problem is that I find myself caught off guard by these moments and I end up sitting there slack-jawed, trying to digest what I'm actually seeing, and I end up missing some of the more subtle nuances of the show, along with little things like the plot, for example.
I think though, that there's some value in all of this. I don’t know how likely it would be that Sam would be exposed to this stuff otherwise (for better or worse), but like so many other things, it’s better that he’s exposed to this, no matter how innocently it’s intended, with someone who can supply some commentary and context. In a way, it's almost like educational programming.
I have hopes that the show will get better as we move forward. This wouldn’t be the first series that we've watched that started off a little, shall we say, "rough around the edges" - before it gradually got better. At least, I’m hoping this will be the case. After tonight, we have something like thirty more disks to go.
I think though, that there's some value in all of this. I don’t know how likely it would be that Sam would be exposed to this stuff otherwise (for better or worse), but like so many other things, it’s better that he’s exposed to this, no matter how innocently it’s intended, with someone who can supply some commentary and context. In a way, it's almost like educational programming.
I have hopes that the show will get better as we move forward. This wouldn’t be the first series that we've watched that started off a little, shall we say, "rough around the edges" - before it gradually got better. At least, I’m hoping this will be the case. After tonight, we have something like thirty more disks to go.
2 comments:
MacGyver sounds hilarious. All it needs to be re-released as a comedy is dubbed comments from The Muppet Show's Statler and Waldorf.
Or, better still (after his "Chinese mailman from Seinfeld" remark), dubbed comments from Sam.
I think the "Statler and Waldorf" remark is a little bit like what is taking place in my brain while we're watching - except none of the remarks are phrased as comments, only as questions.
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