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Prisoners of Gravity - Season One
Jan. 3rd, 2007 09:08 pmWhere do we begin? At the beginning, I guess.
This is only a small sample of what I have from season one and more is getting uploaded to Signal Loss later this week. The discoveries here are enough to change a fair bit of what I originally wrote about the show and there's a few cool things on the discs that aren't really PoG related that I'm just posting here.
Let's go on a retro Canadian field trip!
Now, season one of Prisoners of Gravity is a bit of a fluke season, as one can guess. It's hard to even figure out what the point to the series is in some episodes. The show is much more a general sf and f news magazine series - think of what the Anti-Gravity Room was and you aren't far off. The complex discussion of literature and media came later in the run, but you can start to see the first steps in that direction as the season progresses.
It IS supposed to be a kids show of some sort in this season, to the point where how Rick carries himself differently in terms of who's watching. This is hard to explain without saying "He reminds me a lot of the AU", but that will make sense to four people, tops. Early on, the character just different, a bit of a cross between Rick Green's Allan Smith (from the "Funny World") and Bill from Bala/Bill Smith characters and then later grows into his own thing.
I don't believe that it's aimed at the 9-12 bracket but at teens instead. I mean, in one episode they're talking about Gunbuster, in another they mention Little Annie Fannie, Playboy and Heavy Metal are often discussed, etc. If the show was made today, it would be pushed back after the watershed... where Prisoners eventually ended up...
You get the sense that they didn't know what audience was supposed to be and were grabbing at straws. I'll say this, though: There's no way in heck that season one would fly today. It's just too completely dated and bizarre.
I've rambled too much - on with the screenshots and interesting info!
( The Opening )
The original opening is extremely long, running at about over a minute and a half with comic art and random NASA clips. It's cut to a rougher version of the season 2-5 opening later one. It also reveals the origin of the show's name; it's from Rick's distress signal after he crashed into the satellite and is a term for the people back on Earth.
( The Original Set )
Very empty. Reminds me of the early MST3K sets. This lasts until October 9th, 1989.
( The Newer Set )
Big improvement. Don't get used to it - it's like this for one week.
( The Plaid Suit )
The suit lasts from the October 16 episode to the January 22nd episode. Given the timing and references to Don Cherry, it's to tie into the start of the hockey season. Don't know about the hair. Note the green; that's a dye, not a light. It also leaves on Jan 22nd.
( Close to the Final Series )
Then it's replaced with the jacket again. Also, the wrist control device appears at this time, but isn't explained in the context of the series. It's just there. Not QUITE the final set up - there's no monitor for Nan-Cy yet and the satellite looks empty.
( Proto-Nance? )
Throughout the episodes, random text making corrections and snarky comments appears onscreen. The text isn't explained. In the season two opener, it's implied that Nance could have always been there, but didn't have control over much before Rick helped with some adjustments. Yet, even if that is Nance, her and Rick haven't talked to each other because Rick often references being alone.
The odd looking video is part of the show and makes watching season one hard on my eyes. It's dumped in season two, thank GOODNESS.
While I don't have pictures, a Control-like group known as "Ground Control" is mentioned in passing by Rick. Ground Control is neutral, both sending information to Rick and helping TVOntario jam his signal. Not sure it's the same as the final Control or not.
( Instead of a Wrap Around... )
Without the Second Nature bits of the series, there's a general "Prisoners of Gravity" set of credits shown over the Reality One model and some form of odd background (it varies). Very different from what fans are used to.
( Just for fun - OLD SCHOOL TVONTARIO! )
And that's only a small preview of the boatload of new information coming to Signal Loss. :D Thanks to Doug in Thunder Bay, the guy who managed to locate episodes of this missing season.
This is only a small sample of what I have from season one and more is getting uploaded to Signal Loss later this week. The discoveries here are enough to change a fair bit of what I originally wrote about the show and there's a few cool things on the discs that aren't really PoG related that I'm just posting here.
Let's go on a retro Canadian field trip!
Now, season one of Prisoners of Gravity is a bit of a fluke season, as one can guess. It's hard to even figure out what the point to the series is in some episodes. The show is much more a general sf and f news magazine series - think of what the Anti-Gravity Room was and you aren't far off. The complex discussion of literature and media came later in the run, but you can start to see the first steps in that direction as the season progresses.
It IS supposed to be a kids show of some sort in this season, to the point where how Rick carries himself differently in terms of who's watching. This is hard to explain without saying "He reminds me a lot of the AU", but that will make sense to four people, tops. Early on, the character just different, a bit of a cross between Rick Green's Allan Smith (from the "Funny World") and Bill from Bala/Bill Smith characters and then later grows into his own thing.
I don't believe that it's aimed at the 9-12 bracket but at teens instead. I mean, in one episode they're talking about Gunbuster, in another they mention Little Annie Fannie, Playboy and Heavy Metal are often discussed, etc. If the show was made today, it would be pushed back after the watershed... where Prisoners eventually ended up...
You get the sense that they didn't know what audience was supposed to be and were grabbing at straws. I'll say this, though: There's no way in heck that season one would fly today. It's just too completely dated and bizarre.
I've rambled too much - on with the screenshots and interesting info!
( The Opening )
The original opening is extremely long, running at about over a minute and a half with comic art and random NASA clips. It's cut to a rougher version of the season 2-5 opening later one. It also reveals the origin of the show's name; it's from Rick's distress signal after he crashed into the satellite and is a term for the people back on Earth.
( The Original Set )
Very empty. Reminds me of the early MST3K sets. This lasts until October 9th, 1989.
( The Newer Set )
Big improvement. Don't get used to it - it's like this for one week.
( The Plaid Suit )
The suit lasts from the October 16 episode to the January 22nd episode. Given the timing and references to Don Cherry, it's to tie into the start of the hockey season. Don't know about the hair. Note the green; that's a dye, not a light. It also leaves on Jan 22nd.
( Close to the Final Series )
Then it's replaced with the jacket again. Also, the wrist control device appears at this time, but isn't explained in the context of the series. It's just there. Not QUITE the final set up - there's no monitor for Nan-Cy yet and the satellite looks empty.
( Proto-Nance? )
Throughout the episodes, random text making corrections and snarky comments appears onscreen. The text isn't explained. In the season two opener, it's implied that Nance could have always been there, but didn't have control over much before Rick helped with some adjustments. Yet, even if that is Nance, her and Rick haven't talked to each other because Rick often references being alone.
The odd looking video is part of the show and makes watching season one hard on my eyes. It's dumped in season two, thank GOODNESS.
While I don't have pictures, a Control-like group known as "Ground Control" is mentioned in passing by Rick. Ground Control is neutral, both sending information to Rick and helping TVOntario jam his signal. Not sure it's the same as the final Control or not.
( Instead of a Wrap Around... )
Without the Second Nature bits of the series, there's a general "Prisoners of Gravity" set of credits shown over the Reality One model and some form of odd background (it varies). Very different from what fans are used to.
( Just for fun - OLD SCHOOL TVONTARIO! )
And that's only a small preview of the boatload of new information coming to Signal Loss. :D Thanks to Doug in Thunder Bay, the guy who managed to locate episodes of this missing season.
