George Takei in "Space Cases"

[Danny99]

I just finished rewatching "Space Cases", one of my favorite shows growing up. It stars Walter Jones (the original Black Ranger), Jewel Staite (famous for Firefly and Atlantis) and Rebecca Herbst (long time on General Hospital). It also had George Takei in a recurring guest spot as Spung Warlord Shank.

It was fun watching George chew the scenery with lines like this from the series finale "A Friend In Need":

"Do you know what Warlord Shank has learned? Warlord Shank has learned that he doesn't care what you have learned!"
(He shoots something on a space station, the station's AI laughs maniacally)
"Oh dear."

And yes Warlord Shank refers to himself in the third person, constantly.

Has anyone else seen George on "Space Cases"?

 

[Hober Mallow]

Yeah, he clearly enjoyed himself. Everyone seemed to have a great time on that show. And who wouldn't, doing a show created by Peter David and Bill Mumy with Harlan Ellison doing an opening voice-over. It was a fun show with tons of references to other SF works. Two characters in particular, Bova and Harlan, need to explanation to SF readers. There's even a B5 crossover of sorts, and at least one mention (if I remember right) of the "Bajoran Wormhole."

 

[Christopher]

Oh yeah, the B5 crossover. In a B5 episode written by Peter David (IIRC), there was a subplot involving an attempt to produce tie-in merchandise to promote the station, including a teddy bear called "Ba-bear-lon 5." At the end of the episode, it was jettisoned out an airlock. I believe it showed up still drifting through space in a Space Cases episode.

This was a fun show. It ended too soon. It's on DVD? I should Netflix it.

 

[Danny99]

I don't think it's on DVD, but both seasons are presently up on YouTube.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Season two wasn't as good as season one, thanks to Nickelodeon meddling with the producers. Season one held promise. I had high hopes for the series.

One thing that bugged me is that season one ended with a character apparently killed, and Warlord Shank coming after our heros. Season two begins literally second after we left off in season one, though all the sets have been completely redesigned and bear virtually no resemblence to what they did some three seconds before. Huh?

Possibly the coolest thing about the show was the name of the ship, the Christa, named for Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first teacher in space were it not for the space shuttle Challenger disaster that took her life in 1986.