The Spotlight 07.07.07: Sledge Hammer
Posted by Scotty Flamingo on 07.07.2007
“Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”
Hello and welcome once again to my little corner of 411. It has been pretty crazy here with the site nearly exploding during the Benoit tragedy. There are plenty of stories to read on that, so I'm not gonna add anything. Instead, I'll dig up another one of my hidden gems.
I saw Ratatouille last week. You have to be impressed with Pixar's track record. I think that Cars is the only weak film in the bunch, and it wasn't horrible or anything. Ratatouille gets Pixar back on track. I think it is definitely in the top half of their films. I've been trying to think how I'd rate them and I think I'd go from Best to worst:
The Incredibles
Toy Story
Ratatouille
Toy Story 2
Finding Nemo
Monsters Inc.
A Bug's Life
Cars
Out of those, I'd say that 2-5 are all great films and neck in neck in the running. The Incredibles is just awesome and is the only one of these that I'd love to see a sequel to. Monsters Inc and Bug's Life are good movies, but just didn't quite hit the same peak that the top five did. Cars is a good, but very generic family film and is easily the weakest.
Let's hope the trend continues with next year's Wall-E.
The Snapshot
This week's cool quickie is the Marvel/DC series over on YouTube. What started out as a parody of the Mac/PC commercials has evolved into a fun series that sends up the world of comic books and the often crappy movies they produce. Here's the first one for your enjoyment:
The Spotlight on Sledge Hammer!
Sledge Hammer was a show that ran on ABC from 1986 to 1988. The premise was a send-up of Dirty Harry and all of the other "cop who makes his own rules" shows that were out at the time. The show was one of the few parody shows that have aired on television along with the similarly short-lived Police Squad with Leslie Nielsen (and the basis for the Naked Gun movies).
Sledge, played by David Rasche, was probably closest to Dirty Harry in character and style. He carried a .44 Magnum that he slept with on a pillow next to him that had an ivory handle with a gavel on it. He wore loud ties and drove a piece of junk Dodge riddled with bullet holes. His favorite book is War and Peace, the first half.
An episode typically went along the lines of Hammer getting suspended or on the verge of being fired until he somehow solved the crime of the week with his partner, Dori Doreau. Hammers methods were usually violent although it was usually done in a cartoony fashion to cater to network television. In the pilot episode, he stops a sniper by blowing up the entire building he is standing on with a bazooka.
There's the stereotypical angry police captain, Captain Trunk, who is usually fighting off a migraine headache or yelling. In one episode, Hammer throws a paper airplane at him that sticks in the back of his hair. He spends the entirety of the episode with it stuck there.
The show features a sweet theme song composed by Danny Elfman that is actually better than most of the themes for series cop shows of the time. Here's a YT:
One of the best gags from the show was the first season cliffhanger finale. Sledge finds a nuclear warhead that a terrorist group has set up to detonate. In attempting to deactivate it (saying his catchphrase "Trust me, I know what I'm doing"), he inadvertently blows up the entire city. The second season began with a disclaimer stating:
"The following episode takes place five years before the explosion. Thank you."
The show was short-lived and never brought in huge ratings due to being constantly moved or put up against ratings juggernauts like Dallas or The Cosby Show. However, it developed a strong cult following. You can get both seasons of the show on DVD.
