As the semester winds to a close, the Science Ficion and Fantasy Society at Texas State has finished its business for the year, and had its last meeting until the fall semester arrives. The last meeting I went to (as I'm the staff advisor for the group, not that I do much more than sign paperwork for them), a number of the students there began talking about the various SFnal DVDs that were coming out, or that they'd already bought and watched. With no small amount of pride, I pointed out that I'd just picked up the complete season one box set of The Greatest American Hero and waited for them to congratulate me on my enviable acquisition.
The stared at me blankly. One eventually asked, "What's that?"
What kind of world is it that we live in where college aged students, supposedly intelligent and presumably versed in the history of the genre (comics fans at that) have never heard of Ralph Hinkley and the Red Jammies from space? Or have experienced Robert Culp's scenery-chewing turn as the crass FBI agent Bill Maxwell? Or Connie Sellecca's humorous turn as attorney Pam Davidson? I mean, come on! He lost the instruction book! That plot twist alone is legendary. The theme song was parodied brilliantly on Seinfeld (no, I didn't bring up Seinfeld, out of fear they'd also say "What's that?") and believe it or not (ahem) the episodes stand up surprisingly well 20 years (!) later. What really stands out is the chemistry among the three main actors, and how well they inhabit their characters.
Geeze. This kind of "What's that?" stuff is supposed to happen to old farts like Bill Crider, not me.
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