Oh Sweet Nostalgia...

Yes! At long last, I've found my way back to blogspot. Now to lure Kiri back to the fold for some more chaos and mayhem... ::Rubs hands together in gleeful anticipation::

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying a nostalgic viewing of all five seasons of the A-Team. This is a series I well remember following on Sky Channel more than 20 years ago. A lot of years, but I discovered that it still appeals to me and brings me back to who I was back then. Yes, I still find myself carried away by this show, no matter how campy and cartooney it was, something appealed to me then and still does today.

I decided a trip down nostalgia lane was required after they decided to turn it into a movie, where new actors portray these characters I loved so much. Sure, Liam Neeson is a great actor, no denying that. But he’s not Hannibal Smith, George Peppard was! I’m even more skeptical that someone other than Dwight Schultz is going to portray Howlin’ Mad Murdoch, my all-time favorite of the bunch. Dwight Schultz left ginormous galoshes that I doubt anyone can fill, no matter how good they’ve been in other movies. I cannot see anyone but Dirk Benedict as Templeton ‘Faceman’ Peck., not to mention replacing Mr. T as B. A. Barrackus (sp?). To me, it’s all sorts of wrong to have someone else play these characters immortalized by these four actors. I’m equally sure it’s hard for other fans as well.

That some remakes of old shows and movies come out good aside. Some might remember the uproar when they made the new Battlestar Galactica series, even though the makers made sure it was known that this was set 40 years after the original. Personally, I never saw the original. It was before my time as a sci-fi fan, so I had no problem enjoying the show for what it was, a continuation of the old, or at least, that’s what the makers said it was. But mostly, remakes of tried and true classics spells disaster.

I worry that characters I loved, will be ruined by new actors lacking the necessary range to portray someone as complex as, for instance, Murdoch. Now, Dwight Schultz had that range, as well as the much needed enthusiasm for this character. It takes a lot of talent to portray someone with as many personalities and wackiness as his character on the show. He went all out, and I fear someone else in that role won’t be able to. Now, I’ll never profess that Mr. T was a huge actor, though he was B. A. to a (wait for it) T… Yes, I said it, no pun intended, but it’s hardly my fault that’s the name he’s chosen to go by, now is it? Equally, I have severe doubts someone other than Dirk Benedict will be able to portray Templeton Peck with as much charm and irony as he did. Where Dirk Benedict was charming, I worry that someone else will be sleazy, or worse, shallow. George Peppard was Hannibal Smith, no one else could do this character justice. No, not even Liam Neeson will be able to successfully pull that character off, in my opinion. It’s the original cast that gave their character their charm and charisma, I have my doubts anyone else could do them justice.

After wandering through all five episodes, I’m left with the same impressions as I had back then. Yes, I still adore H. M. Murdoch and his madness, I still get peeved when B. A. is less than nice to him. I wimper in sympathy when Faceman takes a hit to the face and I still enjoyed a game of ‘Spot Hannibal in his latest crazy disguise’. Mostly, those were dead give-aways, but sometimes they were quite elaborate.

It hardly ever happened that someone got killed on this show. Injured, sure, but not killed. At least not that the viewers ever saw it, but it was sometimes mentioned that someone had been killed. The worse we saw was B. A. taking one in the leg in season 1 and needing a blood-transfusion from Murdoch to replenish his blood loss, Murdoch taking a bullet for Hannibal in season two, which almost killed him and Face taking one in the chest in season five, which almost killed him. I hear, in the remake, people get killed left, right and center, which makes it all wrong to me as it’s completely opposite to the original concept.

I’ve also heard rumors about Airwolf. I hope it’s a rumor. This is another show I followed on Sky Channel. I can’t imagine anyone but Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine as Stringfellow ‘String’ Hawke and Dominic ‘Dom’ Santini. I’ll remain fearful until I get confirmation or a definite denial on that one.

Yep, the nostalgia is in full force this time. I’ll be enjoying my way through the different seasons of Airwolf as well, well, at least up to that point where they went in and ruined it completly.

The DVD box sets of the first two seasons of the A'-Team are on order and on their way to my mailbox, I intend to make place for all five seasons in my DVD library. The other three seasons aren’t available in the web shop I ordered from yet, so I’m considering heading over to amazon.co.uk to get the others from there. I’m not known for my patience when there is something I’d like to get my hands on… I want these boxes last week!