Huffington Post
Wednesday, December 8, 2010 at 07:54PM DVD Lead Story on Huffington Post. Not bad at all...
"BLADE RUNNER'S" SECRET INSPIRATION?
By Michael Giltz
SPACE PRECINCT: THE COMPLETE SERIES ($49.98; Image) -- Just in case you were wondering, critics don't have an encyclopedic history of all pop culture lodged into their brains. I know Gerry Anderson as the creator behind puppet-driven iconic TV series like Thunderbirds (from the 1960s) and the live action Space: 1999 from the 1970s, which was his last hurrah, in my mind. I wasn't even sure if he was still alive. So when Space Precinct arrives, I pop it in thinking this cops in space show was from the same era; certainly the hair and the performances confirmed that. And my God, it looks like the missing link between the squeaky clean space operas of Buck Rogers and the gritty dystopian future of Blade Runner. Was Space Precinct a heretofore uncelebrated influence on that Ridley Scott film? Clearly the vision of the future seems similar, from the cityscapes to the flying cop cars covered in dirt and grime. Maybe Scott had mentioned the show in one of his commentary tracks and I just missed it? Uh no. Turns out Space Precinct aired its 22 episodes in 1994-1995, so in fact it joins the long list of movies, tv shows and books influenced BY Blade Runner, rather than the other way around. The mix of humans and aliens and Anderson's typical model work is fine, but this is too serious for little kids and too simple-minded for anyone other than hardcore fans. The transfers are clean and nice, however so if you are a fan you should be happy.