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tinx_r has drawn me in, hook, line, and sinker.
Riptide was a typical eighties detective show, with two bikini-obsessed guys and an ubergeek living on a boat (a thirties cabin cruiser) and solving cases in King Harbor, CA. (There was also a big pink helicopter with a mouth painted on it called the Screaming Mimi, a classic convertible 'Vette, a Jimmy, a Scarab powerboat, and an orange robot called Roboz, but I digress.)
I watched Riptide when it was originally broadcast. It was eventually slaughtered in the ratings by Moonlighting, and disappeared after its third season. It popped up again on USA, and I became obsessed with it at the time (it was shown with Airwolf (later Miami Vice), and I started watching it again), and I ended up watching every episode at least once, if not twice, or thrice.
Because of a story I recently found bytinx_r, I wandered into the fanfic, and found (as I've babbled already) that not much was available. Still, I've consumed quite a bit. So then I decided to go ahead and buy the entire three seasons on DVD.
I was going to wait to watch the shows until I moved, because I don't think I'll have cable there (not available in that area) and I need something to pass the time while crafting. However, I just can't wait. And I've just (re)watched the pilot, and I have to say that there is no hope for me.
I can see that watching these again is going to be like watching them for the first time, in some ways. Because so much time has passed that I can't remember anything, except tiny bits here and there.
I wasn't expecting it to be good, honestly. My teen years were spent watching Airwolf, Hunter, Hardcastle & McCormick, Knight Rider, Stingray, Miami Vice (COULD NOT MISS AN EPISODE), Macgyver, A*Team, Riptide, you name it. And as an adult I've noticed that a lot of it wasn't that good. In fact, MV is the only one that seems to have really held its own, at least in my eyes; KR is nearly unwatchable. A*Team has the wonderful Dwight Schultz, and he makes it rock, even now. I never really noticed him in the eighties, but he really makes the show watchable now. Yeah, I'm suspicious of my high school self's taste, with good reason.
So I went into the pilot with dread. Would I like this? Would it be mildly entertaining, aside from shirtless men with awesome thighs? Have I just spent $60 on nothing but shirtless men with awesome thighs?
The answer is...yes and no. The yes is a resounding yes that I wish I could stand on the roof and shout. I actually laughed out loud at multiple points during the hour and a half pilot. I really did. And I don't LOL often at that sort of thing. But there were some really funny lines, and the delivery was often awesome. I forgot that Cody's voice was hard-wired into my brain at some point, and I got all swoony when I first heard it again.
The action was not as unbelievable as I had expected. Even better, there's actually real death and stuff. I mean, A*Team is a bit unsatisfying because it's so cartoony; I watch it now and think, wow, they really had to invent ways to not harm their opponents! Riptide has six people killed in the first five minutes.
Mimi (the helicopter), as I had suspected, was one of my favorite things. I have a few buttons (okay, more than a few), and one of them is devoted wholly to old gear, old analog gear, that is still quite serviceable and does what it's supposed to and is sturdy and efficient. To give you an example...my first car had an analog radio, and I still miss it. I know it was a pain to set the saved stations, and you had to tweak a bit, but after I had the car for awhile I could very easily get through my stations by feel alone. The digital radios I have had since are great and I wouldn't trade them in at all, but there is still something...of substance about big punch buttons that just can't be satisfied by wee little buttons. heh. Anyway, this helicopter is all of that and more. I have always liked draft horses as opposed to Arabians, too, and when Nick pointed out that Mimi had a 2,000 mile radius I squeed in joy. I love it when old stuff has some weird advantage over new stuff. I'm a bit obsessive about this. So Mimi punched so many buttons. I love the handholds on the side so you can get in through the window. I love the door. I love Nick with his aviators and his radio headset on. I'm seriously silly. I do not like the clouds of smoke and the pounding noises, though, as it really does grate after the first time (when it's kind of funny).
Nick and Cody are as I remember them, but now, having readtinx_r's essay on their ship, I am quite intrigued by something she said, which is, Where some shows have sub-text, Riptide has text. In 12-foot high rainbow letters. Where does this subtext come from? They're two guys, almost always standing extremely close, who live on a boat, and share a bedroom. They're extremely protective of each other, and they rarely end up successful with the ladies, and they can just about read each other's minds, etc. Tinx says it a lot better than I do. The point is, I was wondering if I could watch it with slashy goggles. Because let me tell you--I missed all of that entirely when I was in high school. Even thinking along those lines would have been akin to visiting the moon on my bicycle, ie, nigh-impossible. I was pretty obtuse.
I have developed slashy reading goggles for HP, but I'm not always good at picking up on it in visual form. So it was interesting to see the pilot. Nick says, in a couple different places, that he would "drop" someone, ie, take them out. What's amusing to me is that he says that if the local cop starts getting after Cody, then Nick says he would drop him for Cody. There are a few other bits where it was a teensy bit slashy, but it does seem like (according to the other fandomers) some episodes are slashier than others, so I eagerly look forward to seeing more.
It does seem like the producers wanted to counteract the two-guys-sharing-a-bedroom thing with a whole boatload of eighties girls, and they do figure prominently in the first episode, though I hope they go by the wayside soon, because they bore me utterly.
I enjoyed the hell out of the pilot. I loved it. I can't wait to watch the other fifty or so shows, honestly. I feel like an archaeologist, in a way, going back in time to dig around. And it makes me remember a time before cell phones and eBay. I'm just so taken with this. I like the harbor and the sunshine. It also reminds me of the many many days I spent on a boat with my dad. Granted, a smaller boat, but when they're tying the boat off or when Cody's putting the engines in reverse it's almost like a tangible thrill in my veins, because I know exactly what they're doing.
I like the dialogue, and the actors' delivery, which I've mentioned. Cody kind of slurred some of his words together a couple times, which felt more realistic. The actors have chemistry, too. Cody and Nick really seem like two guys who have known each other forever. It's interesting to go back to the source material after reading a bunch of fanfic; I feel like I'm seeing something new, but something explored. I can't wait to plumb the depths of these guys, just like I did with the Mummy and HP. This has been envigorating. I love a challenge, such as trying to make consistent characters from a TV show, which is harder than it sounds--different writers means that different episodes emphasize or contradict things.
So what's the no? Well, the "no" would be for anyone who wasn't into this kind of show during the eighties. I think most modern viewers might be uninterested. Even though it is markedly less cheesy than most shows of the time that I remember, it's still cheesy by today's standards. And the music makes me cringe. Seriously cringe. Now, in the show's defence, there is the fact that the guys are hot, and they often wear ensembles designed to show off more hotness (like Cody wearing shorts and a hoodie, partially unzipped, to show off his chest). That much manly man--and both of them touching each other--is hard to find. Then again, I do think modern day viewers might be turned off by Cody's pr0n!stache (which I love because I have always liked facial hair on guys who can pull it off). Honestly, I'd love to hear the reaction of someone who hasn't seen it before. I asked a friend, and she assumed that Cody was gay just from what he looked like in the promo shot, lol.
All in all, I am incredibly glad that I bought these; this nostalgia trip is far better than I imagined it would be, and thank you to Tinx for luring me here.
(Also, I am not abandoning HP fandom. Not that anyone would notice at this point. I will still finish tLS. Yes. Damnit.)
ETA: Oh, and every time the screen goes to black for commercial, I am totally hard-wired, and I think, oh, I can get up now and get something to drink, I have a few minutes before it comes back on. lol! Thank goodness for DVDs...
tinx_r has drawn me in, hook, line, and sinker.Riptide was a typical eighties detective show, with two bikini-obsessed guys and an ubergeek living on a boat (a thirties cabin cruiser) and solving cases in King Harbor, CA. (There was also a big pink helicopter with a mouth painted on it called the Screaming Mimi, a classic convertible 'Vette, a Jimmy, a Scarab powerboat, and an orange robot called Roboz, but I digress.)
I watched Riptide when it was originally broadcast. It was eventually slaughtered in the ratings by Moonlighting, and disappeared after its third season. It popped up again on USA, and I became obsessed with it at the time (it was shown with Airwolf (later Miami Vice), and I started watching it again), and I ended up watching every episode at least once, if not twice, or thrice.
Because of a story I recently found by
tinx_r, I wandered into the fanfic, and found (as I've babbled already) that not much was available. Still, I've consumed quite a bit. So then I decided to go ahead and buy the entire three seasons on DVD.I was going to wait to watch the shows until I moved, because I don't think I'll have cable there (not available in that area) and I need something to pass the time while crafting. However, I just can't wait. And I've just (re)watched the pilot, and I have to say that there is no hope for me.
I can see that watching these again is going to be like watching them for the first time, in some ways. Because so much time has passed that I can't remember anything, except tiny bits here and there.
I wasn't expecting it to be good, honestly. My teen years were spent watching Airwolf, Hunter, Hardcastle & McCormick, Knight Rider, Stingray, Miami Vice (COULD NOT MISS AN EPISODE), Macgyver, A*Team, Riptide, you name it. And as an adult I've noticed that a lot of it wasn't that good. In fact, MV is the only one that seems to have really held its own, at least in my eyes; KR is nearly unwatchable. A*Team has the wonderful Dwight Schultz, and he makes it rock, even now. I never really noticed him in the eighties, but he really makes the show watchable now. Yeah, I'm suspicious of my high school self's taste, with good reason.
So I went into the pilot with dread. Would I like this? Would it be mildly entertaining, aside from shirtless men with awesome thighs? Have I just spent $60 on nothing but shirtless men with awesome thighs?
The answer is...yes and no. The yes is a resounding yes that I wish I could stand on the roof and shout. I actually laughed out loud at multiple points during the hour and a half pilot. I really did. And I don't LOL often at that sort of thing. But there were some really funny lines, and the delivery was often awesome. I forgot that Cody's voice was hard-wired into my brain at some point, and I got all swoony when I first heard it again.
The action was not as unbelievable as I had expected. Even better, there's actually real death and stuff. I mean, A*Team is a bit unsatisfying because it's so cartoony; I watch it now and think, wow, they really had to invent ways to not harm their opponents! Riptide has six people killed in the first five minutes.
Mimi (the helicopter), as I had suspected, was one of my favorite things. I have a few buttons (okay, more than a few), and one of them is devoted wholly to old gear, old analog gear, that is still quite serviceable and does what it's supposed to and is sturdy and efficient. To give you an example...my first car had an analog radio, and I still miss it. I know it was a pain to set the saved stations, and you had to tweak a bit, but after I had the car for awhile I could very easily get through my stations by feel alone. The digital radios I have had since are great and I wouldn't trade them in at all, but there is still something...of substance about big punch buttons that just can't be satisfied by wee little buttons. heh. Anyway, this helicopter is all of that and more. I have always liked draft horses as opposed to Arabians, too, and when Nick pointed out that Mimi had a 2,000 mile radius I squeed in joy. I love it when old stuff has some weird advantage over new stuff. I'm a bit obsessive about this. So Mimi punched so many buttons. I love the handholds on the side so you can get in through the window. I love the door. I love Nick with his aviators and his radio headset on. I'm seriously silly. I do not like the clouds of smoke and the pounding noises, though, as it really does grate after the first time (when it's kind of funny).
Nick and Cody are as I remember them, but now, having read
tinx_r's essay on their ship, I am quite intrigued by something she said, which is, Where some shows have sub-text, Riptide has text. In 12-foot high rainbow letters. Where does this subtext come from? They're two guys, almost always standing extremely close, who live on a boat, and share a bedroom. They're extremely protective of each other, and they rarely end up successful with the ladies, and they can just about read each other's minds, etc. Tinx says it a lot better than I do. The point is, I was wondering if I could watch it with slashy goggles. Because let me tell you--I missed all of that entirely when I was in high school. Even thinking along those lines would have been akin to visiting the moon on my bicycle, ie, nigh-impossible. I was pretty obtuse.I have developed slashy reading goggles for HP, but I'm not always good at picking up on it in visual form. So it was interesting to see the pilot. Nick says, in a couple different places, that he would "drop" someone, ie, take them out. What's amusing to me is that he says that if the local cop starts getting after Cody, then Nick says he would drop him for Cody. There are a few other bits where it was a teensy bit slashy, but it does seem like (according to the other fandomers) some episodes are slashier than others, so I eagerly look forward to seeing more.
It does seem like the producers wanted to counteract the two-guys-sharing-a-bedroom thing with a whole boatload of eighties girls, and they do figure prominently in the first episode, though I hope they go by the wayside soon, because they bore me utterly.
I enjoyed the hell out of the pilot. I loved it. I can't wait to watch the other fifty or so shows, honestly. I feel like an archaeologist, in a way, going back in time to dig around. And it makes me remember a time before cell phones and eBay. I'm just so taken with this. I like the harbor and the sunshine. It also reminds me of the many many days I spent on a boat with my dad. Granted, a smaller boat, but when they're tying the boat off or when Cody's putting the engines in reverse it's almost like a tangible thrill in my veins, because I know exactly what they're doing.
I like the dialogue, and the actors' delivery, which I've mentioned. Cody kind of slurred some of his words together a couple times, which felt more realistic. The actors have chemistry, too. Cody and Nick really seem like two guys who have known each other forever. It's interesting to go back to the source material after reading a bunch of fanfic; I feel like I'm seeing something new, but something explored. I can't wait to plumb the depths of these guys, just like I did with the Mummy and HP. This has been envigorating. I love a challenge, such as trying to make consistent characters from a TV show, which is harder than it sounds--different writers means that different episodes emphasize or contradict things.
So what's the no? Well, the "no" would be for anyone who wasn't into this kind of show during the eighties. I think most modern viewers might be uninterested. Even though it is markedly less cheesy than most shows of the time that I remember, it's still cheesy by today's standards. And the music makes me cringe. Seriously cringe. Now, in the show's defence, there is the fact that the guys are hot, and they often wear ensembles designed to show off more hotness (like Cody wearing shorts and a hoodie, partially unzipped, to show off his chest). That much manly man--and both of them touching each other--is hard to find. Then again, I do think modern day viewers might be turned off by Cody's pr0n!stache (which I love because I have always liked facial hair on guys who can pull it off). Honestly, I'd love to hear the reaction of someone who hasn't seen it before. I asked a friend, and she assumed that Cody was gay just from what he looked like in the promo shot, lol.
All in all, I am incredibly glad that I bought these; this nostalgia trip is far better than I imagined it would be, and thank you to Tinx for luring me here.
(Also, I am not abandoning HP fandom. Not that anyone would notice at this point. I will still finish tLS. Yes. Damnit.)
ETA: Oh, and every time the screen goes to black for commercial, I am totally hard-wired, and I think, oh, I can get up now and get something to drink, I have a few minutes before it comes back on. lol! Thank goodness for DVDs...