Conference noted::sf

    I've watched Star Cops a couple of times and I think I'd rate it
    as OK but not a lot more. Was it made by the same people as Blakes's
    Seven? It certainly has the same feeling about it.
    
    Dave
    
    PS
    
    I don't think I'd have bothered watching it at all if I'd known
    the name when I switched over to it the first time.

    
    I don't think Star Cops is bad at all. That doesn't mean to say
    I wait for it to come on TV, but I do watch it if I happen to come
    across it.
    
    The last one about the mineshaft being used by the clone (ransoming
    some important arab) was good.
    
    Why don't they bring back Blake's Seven? That was a good series,
    even if the 'special' effects consisted of washing-up liquid tubes?
    
    Adam
    

>    Why don't they bring back Blake's Seven? That was a good series,
>    even if the 'special' effects consisted of washing-up liquid tubes?

If my memory serves me, all of 'the seven' were killed off by the end of
the second year...?

greg
    

    
    I like Star Cops -- IT's better now they are not floating about..
    
    I like BOX (I want one .. I want one ..) can anyone out there make
    one?
    
    I like it because it's different and they use real people.....
    
    chris

    Do you think that "Star Cops" will ever be shown in the USA.
    It sound like a very good series.
    [I happen to like the British approach to entertainment.]
    
                           Ray [from New England] Hanley
    

    
    I do not know, you may find the effects a bit primitive the same
    type as Dr WHO....
    
    Chris

Path: muscat!decwrl!labrea!rutgers!seismo!mcvax!ukc!its63b!bob
From: [email protected] (ERCF08 Bob Gray)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers
Subject: STAR COPS: The List.
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 1 Sep 87 17:54:47 GMT
Reply-To: [email protected] (ERCF08 Bob Gray)
Organization: I.T. School, Univ. of Edinburgh, U.K.
Lines: 200
  
		ST|AR
		-----
		CO|PS
 
    The TV series ended last night so, as promised, here is the
program list for STAR COPS: 
 
    I have divided it into three sections:
 
A. A list of episode titles and authors.
B. More details about each episode, but no more than you
   would find in a program guide.  I have added my own
   rating for each episode, using a 5-star system.
C. Other notes on the series.  Contains some minor spoilers.
 
 
A. The Episode Titles.
 
  1. "An Instinct For Murder", by Cris Boucher.
  2. "Conversations With the Dead", by Cris Boucher.
  3. "Intelligent Listening for Beginners", by Cris Boucher.
  4. "Trivial Games and Paranoid Persuits", by Cris Boucher.
  5. "This Case to be Opened in a Million Years", by Philip Martin.
  6. "In Warm Blood", by John Collee.
  7. "A Double Life", by John Collee.
  8. "Other People's Secrets", by John Collee.
  9. "Little Green Men and Other Martians", by Cris Boucher.
  

B. More on Each Episode.
  
STAR COPS
---------
1. "An Instinct For Murder" ****
  Appointment of new Commander of Space Cops.  Set on Earth and European
  space station.  Introduces Spring, Theroux, and Box. 
 
2. "Conversations With the Dead" ****
  Deals with malfunctioning of cargo vessel en route to Martian colony.
  Set on Earth and in new Space Cops HQ in Moonbase.  Devis joins team. 
 
3. "Intelligent Listening for Beginners" ***+
  Deals with computer malfunctions.  Set on Moonbase, lunar research
  post, and Earth/Moon shuttle.  Kenzy joins team. 
 
4. "Trivial Games and Paranoid Persuits" *****
  Disappearance from US space station.  Set on Moonbase and US space
  station. 
 
5. "This Case to be Opened in a Million Years" ****
  Shuttle carrying nuclear waste crashes on takeoff.  Set on Moonbase. 
 
6. "In Warm Blood." 0
  Deep space exploration vessel PLUTO 5, which returns with all crew dead.
  Set on Moonbase and PLUTO 5.  Anna joins team. 
  (This episode is by far the worst of the series.)
 
7. "A Double Life" **
  Embryos disappear from medical research lab on Moonbase.  The mother
  is not pleased and organizes her own searchers.  Set on Moonbase. 
 
8. "Other People's Secrets" ***
  There are a lot of malfunctions with equipment on Moonbase, and a
  psychiatrist arrives to do research on living on the Moon.  Set on
  Moonbase. 
 
9. "Little Green Men and Other Martians" ****
  Something has been found on Mars and is on the way to Moonbase. 
  Set on Mars and Moonbase. 
  
 
C. More Information.
 
Regular cast:
----
David Calder as Commander Nathan Spring.
	British.  Head of Star Cops.  Professional policeman.
Erick Ray Evans as Chief Supt. David Theroux
	American.  Second in command.  Ex-NASA astronaut who "defected" to 
        ESA.
Trevor Cooper as Colin Devis
	British.  Ordinary detective.  Slow but reliable.
Linda Newton as Pal Kenzy
	Australian.  Ordinary detective.  Hot tempered and given to impulses.
Johnathan Adams as Alexander Krivenko.
	Soviet.  Moonbase commander.  Often has problems with his superiors.
Sayo Inaba as Anna Shoun
	Japanese.  Ordinary detective.  Ex-biologist.
 
------------------
 
Main space stations (5)
 
European: CHARLES DEGAULLE
Soviet: (?)
Allied Pacific Consortium: CORAL SEA
American: RONALD REAGAN (!)
Japanese: (?)
 
Lunar base: Moonbase
Mars colony
 
-----
 
    The creator of the series said that he started out to create a
realistic SF television series.  In this he has been mostly
successful.  With the exception of one episode, this is by far the
most realistic series anyone has created. 
 
    The ONLY criticism I have heard of the series is that it isn't the
way science-fiction is supposed to be.  There are no big space
battles, no faster than light drives, no alien cultures.  Too much
talk and no action. 
 
    This is *exactly* the reason why I liked this series so much.  Good
science fiction is rare.  A good science fiction TV series is almost
unheard of.  It is much easier to hide bad scriptwriting and
scientific ignorance with special effects and pyrotechnic displays,
than to get things correct to start with.  This series, with the
exception of one real turkey of an episode, manages to get it right. 
 
    The really bad episode depends on humans beings being some kind of
thermally superconducting reptiles. 
 
    The best episodes are very convincing in the detail that they show
life in near-Earth space and on the Moon in 2027.  Even the Earth/Moon
shuttle, which seems to make the trip in about eight hours, is just
about convincing.  I did find the instantaneous Earth/Moon video
telephone a little irritating. 
 
    The strangest part of watching the series is the European/British
point of view the stories are told from.  Most if not all previous
films featuring astronauts and life in space in this time period, have
been told from the American point of view.  It is this unusual
perspective which makes this series unlikely to be shown in the USA
except as a special event at SF conferences, which would be a shame. 
 
    The US national space presence is shown as a very military
jingoistic one.  It is a point of national pride to have the largest
space station, with artificial gravity, and a pool table.  Just don't
beat the station commander at his own game. 
 
    Any American who doesn't agree with this point of view is regarded
as a traitor.  This is a problem for Theroux. 
 
    The rest of the assembled cast are exactly the sort of people you
would expect to find.  Mostly fairly ordinary people doing their jobs,
trying not to make a mistake and get killed, and trying to lead as
normal a life as possible under the circumstances.  Crimes are bound
to be committed, and it is the job of the Star Cops to attempt to bring
some law and order. 
 
    As I said before, this is the best science fiction series ever
made by the BBC, and yes, I *am* including DOCTOR WHO and BLAKE'S
SEVEN.  For this reason I think it unlikely to ever be shown again.
Remember what happened to the first series of BLAKE'S SEVEN. 
 
    Scheduling it opposite SPACE on ITV was a mistake.  BBC2 is more a
minority interests channel, a lot of people must have been watching
ITV expecting to see science fiction instead of soap opera. 
 
    SPACE attracted 7.5 million viewers per episode on average.  It
stayed in the ratings at about number 80.  STAR COPS got 1.7 million. 
 
    I should be more optimistic.  With the exception mentioned above
everyone has liked the program.  Perhaps this type of reaction will
persuade the BBC to make another series. 
 
    If I hear any further news I will post details.

	Bob.

     P.S. - 
     
     Does anyone have the first four episodes on tape?  By the time I
realized the series would probably never be reshown, I was too late to
tape them. 

    
    Can anyone tell me if this show is to be re-shown or a new
    set to be shot?
    
    
    Chris

I saw an advertisment in out local TV guide for Star Cops from the makers of
Dr. Who.  This advertisment gave no start date only a picture of the actors and
there names.  Has anyone any more information on this program?  This program
was to be on PBS.

Steve
P.S.  I live in Colorado Springs

The first episode was shown Sunday night July 29th at 10pm on channel 6 
(Denver PBS station).  I assume that the rest of the episodes will follow
on subsequent Sunday nights same time same station.

mr. bill

The public TV station in New Hampshire (Channel 11) has been showing "Star Cops"
for several weeks.  I saw the first one and liked it, but have managed to miss
the rest of the episodes so far (sigh).

Saturdays at 6:00 PM.

							-- Nina

I finally got to see this when I got cable TV.  I'm able to pickup some of
the smaller UHF PBS stations which carry it.  Here in New York its carried by
channel 21 out of Long Island.

Anyway, so far I'm impressed with this show.  It doesn't carry a lot of the
fancier special effects of shows like Star Trek or Buck Rogers but the stories
come closer to home and are more plausible.  It sort of reminds me of the movie
_Outland_ which shows how policemen in the near future might operate when
people start to colonize in space.  Granted that _Outland_ was not a great 
movie and the protagonist was more like "Dirt Harry" than "Hill Street Blues".

ktlam....

It looks like they took this off the air.  Does anyone know if its off 
temporarily or permanently?  It seems like just when the episodes were
getting good they pulled it. 

ktlam...

            <<< UCOUNT::DISK$USER02:[NOTES$LIBRARY]DR_WHO.NOTE;1 >>>
                             -< The Doctor is In >-
================================================================================
Note 326.15                         Star Cops                           15 of 15
NYTP07::LAM "Q ��Ktl��"                               4 lines   7-MAY-1991 11:53
                           -< Star Cops reappears. >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good news for you Star Cops fans.  This series is being shown again here in
New York City on channel 50.  A PBS station out of MOntclair, New Jersey.
Apparently its close enough so TV sets in New York can pick it up.  Its
show every Saturday night at 9 PM.

    	Is there a list of channels that are carrying this show?
    
    	-Hoop-

The last episode I saw "In Warm Blood" was OK except for one thing.  I felt
a bit annoyed when the presented the head of the Japanese company as a man
named Richard Ho.  Richard Ho is not a Japanese name, it's more Chinese or
Korean but I would tend to doubt that someone Chinese or Korean would be the
head of a corporate conglomerate in Japan.  Those Chinese or Koreans who live
in Japan, even the ones who emigrate there or are born there aren't even 
given Japanese citizenship.  Their status is almost 2nd class.  It's probably
an oversight on the part of the producers and writers of the show but to me
it was kind of a glaring one.  Come to think of it, the name Anna Shoun, the
Japanese detective doesnt even sound Japanese. 

    This show is being aired again on Sat on channel 21, a PBS station here
    in New York.   It comes right after Dr. Who, the Tom Baker ones.  Dr
    Who comes on at midnight and Star Cops at 2 am  in the morning.  I have
    my VCR set for both.  Though Star Cops has its nits, I still think its
    pretty good sci-fi.  One thing I don't understand is why everyone is so
    angry at each other in this show.  Especially the Australian Pal Kenzy. 
    She seems to fight with everyone except with Anna(probably because
    she's another woman).