Random 80s Television

[icarus_chained]

Keeping up my slow rewatch of the first three seasons of Airwolf, I watched 3x02 'Airwolf II' last night. *grins faintly* You gotta love 80s action shows, you know? You just gotta.

For example, there's a bit of the episode where Michael and Stringfellow are trying to sneak up on the farmhouse the enemies are using as a base. To accomplish this, they're furtively darting around behind hay bales in full sunshine while one of them is wearing a bright red shirt and the other is wearing bright white. Because no guard is going to notice the flashes of bright, reflective white darting around in the sunshine, no, certainly not. *facepalms* Michael, darling, I know you dress to create a political image, but there are certain practical downsides to an all-white ensemble when you're trying to be sneaky, you know? (Of course, no guards do notice, because these are the heroes we're talking about, but still).

Honestly, the least he could have done was take off his shirt. I certainly wouldn't have complained.

Also? The Firm are now three for three on Airwolf thefts. Literally every pilot they have put in the cockpit of an Airwolf has almost immediately run off with the damn thing: Moffett at Red Star, String after Libya, both in Airwolf I, and then Harlan Jenkins in Airwolf II. (You could argue that Robert Winchester from 'Mind of the Machine' is the exception to this, since he was actually killed preventing Airwolf from being stolen, but he also never really flies her either). Seriously, you'd think a secretive intelligence agency in charge of a super-futuristic tactical weapon would vet its damn pilots better. I mean, it wouldn't be half so much fun, but it would be far less embarrassing as well -_-;

(Also, Michael has actually been threatened with Airwolf by pretty much all three pilots/thieves - in his defense, though, String wasn't really threatening him in Paraguay, and he had nothing to do with Airwolf II so that one wasn't his fault. You can kind of see why he's a bit paranoid about it by this stage, though).

And leaving Airwolf for the minute, and switching genres rather radically, I've also been rewatching clips of Yes Minister on youtube, because sometimes you really just need a little Sir Humphrey in your life. Heh. He is so fantastically amoral and pragmatic and scarily on-point sometimes. For example:

Sir Humphrey on Fixing Polls - They really ought to show this clip in any class on surveying, information-gathering techniques, information bias or statistics. It neatly illustrates the entire concept in just over two minutes.

Sir Humphrey on Consciences and Cooking Books - Bernard: "I want a clean conscience!" And Humphrey: "When did you acquire this taste for luxury?"

Sir Humphrey (and Bernard) cooking up a Cover Up on two minutes notice - If you need someone with prompt, on-the-ball suggestions and information, you ask Bernard. If you need someone to obfuscate the matter immediately and so that the best of experts would have trouble decoding it again, you ask Humphrey.

Sir Humphrey on Government Morality - Hacker finally out and out challenges Humphrey on a moral issue, and Humphrey reveals the sheer depth of his amorality and distressing determination to preserve government (civil service) at the cost of anything else. And then:

Sir Humphrey on Believing in Government Policy - Then Humphrey makes an almost convincing demonstration to Bernard on why that amorality, in his position, may in fact be a necessary thing. Which is possibly scarier, really.

For a show that's thirty years old and set during the Thatcher administration, Yes Minister and Humphrey in particular are still scarily relevant and pointed. And, admittedly, still funny as all hell. *grins crookedly*

The 80s had some pretty fabulous TV, you know that? Heh.