Review STAR COPS: AN INSTINCT FOR MURDER - Episode 01

[Gavin]

I have to say I really enjoyed the first episode and I'm surprised I'd never heard of it before. Not sure if it ever screened in Australia (although the ABC had a tendency to pick up every BBC show at that time). But if it did screen, perhaps I was getting too mature and cool (at 17) to watch a low budget space show. I'd even cooled (slightly) on Doctor Who at that age.

But anyway what to say about the show. Firstly, I have to say that the theme song was a terrible idea. Who honestly thought that the theme music for a futuristic space show should be a song that is so definitively 80's? So that set a bad tone at first.

The two parallel murders was very intriguing, although I was a little confused at first about what was happening with the switching between the two scenes. The fact that the murders followed the same pattern made it obvious that there must be some connection between the two, so I was a little disappointed when they turned out to be unrelated.

I like the fact that they tried to be as realistic about the future as possible (especially given the obvious low budget). Most shows would have avoided the zero gravity scenes inside the station and just shown people seated or entering and leaving the station. It also seemed to be pretty predictive with flat screen monitors and The Box (Google Home?). Although they missed the boat with the restaurant scene and where he needed to watch TV and they rolled over a mini screen on a huge table. Surely some form of portable screen was predictable at that time?

It was also great that when Nathan was pressed into taking the case, they didn't just jump to him flying to the space station. He had to undergo training first, which really added to the realism of the show.

The show also highlighted another thing I often like about British shows. An American show of this type would have cast a "hero" looking man as the lead, whereas Nathan Spring doesn't come across as anything like a hero. He's just an ordinary cop, doing his job. It was also interesting seeing that he wasn't keen on the job. Again, the opposite of the hero character, ready to jump into action.

What else to say? I guess the pacing was a little slow at times, but not painfully so. I never felt like I was wasting my time watching a scene. The actual mystery turned out to be a little mundane in the end, but given that the focus of the episode was setting up the characters and providing information about the setting, the mystery wasn't supposed to be the main focus. As I said, I was a little disappointed that the two murders turned out to be unrelated, given their obvious similarities, but overall it was a great start and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

8 out of 10 from me.

 

[michaellevenson]

Read recently about that billionaire launching his own rocket or something, corporate money, big business getting involved in the space program, just as the show inferred.
The I.S.P.N. (star cops) being part timers was very telling, there's no military involved in this first episode, big business seems to have paid for it all, which makes sense, governments have only so much of public funds to use, and the Star Cops seem like an afterthought to appease the authorities, part timers with little power. Stephenson was irritated doing his controlling duties whilst Theroux was doing extra " star cop routine". Presumably Theroux was out there originally as a fellow controller but decided to get extra bucks as a part time cop.

 

[Gavin]

2027 is currently looking a little ambitious in reality for what we've seen so far on the show but it's probably not out of the question by 2050.

 

[ant-mac]

2027 is currently looking a little ambitious in reality for what we've seen so far on the show but it's probably not out of the question by 2050.

2027 won't be too soon if Elon Musk has any say in the matter.

He's already prepared to get behind the wheel of his sports car and go cruising for chicks. You know the ones I mean - they're either green or have three breasts.

 

[Cloister56]

Ok the theme tune
At first I hated it.

OK, let's talk about the theme song. The moment I started hearing the song I simply couldn't get past the controversy involving the opening of the show "Enterprise" and instead of paying attention to the Star Cops song, I started mouthing the lyrics for "Faith of the Heart," the "Star Trek: Enterprise" theme, which gave me a few giggles.

It reminded me so much of that theme tune. Both feel completely out of place.
But then on watching it again I started to quite like the song. I don't think it suits the show and a better one probably could have been found but now at least I like it.
I think it actually worked quite well for the events going on, going to the instrumental portion for the 2 murders.
It also sounds suitably bleak for a show set in space.
I wonder if that's going to be the format for all the shows with the theme tune over events.

The murders are visually interesting in that they are both in weightless (almost environments) both get taken by surprise by 2 assailants, die of asphyxiation and end up floating arms stretched out.
My only complaint is that the first shot of the astronaut dead, he limply allows his arms to fall to his side which shouldn't happen in zero gravity. The next shot fixes it having him with his arm floating out at his side.
Also I don't think that spacesuits carry nitrogen. Currently astronauts breath 100% oxygen prior to a spacewalk to purge the nitrogen other wise they get the bends. Now of course this is the future and they may have got round this problem. They would have to undo the safety features to allow it to give a hypoxic mix which exist even now, but for visual clarity I'm not going to get too hung up on it.

Now we meet Nathan Spring (Played by David Calder, a name so similar to the character in Moonbase 3 I got confused, I initially assume that was the characters name). He is an interesting mix of sarcasm, wit and generally curmudgeonliness.
I think Nathan sometimes sounds like the hero of our other show Blake, especially when he shouts.

He is intrigued by the drowning and despite the computer insisting all is well he wants it investigated.
I found this computer concept interesting and I don't think it was fully explained in the episode. Does the computer just decide which case need investigating or does it investigate as well? Are the cops reduced to just footwork and all the putting together of the evidence and reaching a verdict on whether to arrest falls to the computer? The cop who went to the widow's house says police don't make house calls any more so I wonder what they do.

The flaw in the drowning murder, as I understand, it is that they killed the guy but needed the body to be found (or it would be investigated as a disappearance). So they pushed his body to the shallows but that couldn't happen naturally so showed it wasn't an accident.
I would have thought that was something a computer would be good at working out. It knows the body location and the currents in that water I assume, so why did it not pick up the discrepancy?

On the space station we meet Theroux one of the Star Cops, who is suspicious about his space death. The show very quickly establishes it's international feel.
He is an American working alongside a Brit, he contacts an Australian to discuss the suits and quite soon after Stephenson is talking to a Russian crew. It's these nice little touches that I always appreciate in these programs with a future setting. Doctor Who used to do it regularly, it doesn't always show we play well together but maintains the reality that to achieve these great advances we will be working together regardless of nationality.
I don't know wether Nathan's favourite restaurant being the Lotus Garden is another attempt to create this feeling of a global village.

Theroux is an interesting character. He is inquisitive about the events but is also a little too settled in his role, most of which seems to involve inactivity. It seems Nathan's arrival might be the kick he needs to do something about the events he has suspicions about.

The design of the space station feels realistic. Lots of modules bolted together, cramped environments, hand bars to aid movement.
Generally the zero G stuff is ok, occasionally they slow down the footage which stands out a little now but probably worked on a smaller less high def screen. The camera at weird angles works far better and in the scene where Nathan was in the control room I was genuinely baffled about where the true floor really was. They also do nice little touches like floating objects towards each other rather than just passing it over.
They could have gone for artificial gravity and saved themselves a lot of bother but I appreciate they went for the more likely near future option.
The astronaut training reminds me of a similar scene in Moonraker, I did try and spot the "chicken switch". It is amusing that Nathan continues discussing the case virtually throughout.

Generally the near future setting is realistic and works well. Box reminds me so much of the new voice controlled devices like Alexa. I did ask my Alexa if she was Skynet which it replied with "No I having nothing to do with Skynet, don't worry".

Although they missed the boat with the restaurant scene and where he needed to watch TV and they rolled over a mini screen on a huge table. Surely some form of portable screen was predictable at that time?

Yes this was the one bit of tech that didn't come off at all well. The screen had a static image on it so I don't know why they didn't go for just an audio report relayed by Box, it would have worked much better.

And have more action! I mean, some action at least. So, the crucial final scene in which Nathan overpowers his space assailants and kills them with a medical laser in what should've been the show's more badass scene happens off-screen and we're told not shown what happened. That was bad.

I guess they had a choice between showing us the action of the lasers on the spacesuits or having the surprise of Nathan surviving the attack and overpowering Stephenson from the suit. It just happens the option they went for is also the cheaper one. It's not the most spectacular ending but I think it still works.

I think the plot about the spacesuits is interesting. I am a little confused though. Nathan implies that the real failure rate is less than 2% but they are making up the difference by murdering people which then won't show up (which made me think how many people they must have to kill to keep it at 2%). But then the rest of the episode seems to conclude that someone was killing people to make the russians who service the suits look bad. But that wouldn't seem to work unless the failure rate started to rise.
Have I missed something?

On a side note a 2% failure rate seems a bit scary. According to Wikipedia there have been 396 spacewalks. That would equate to nearly 8 suit failures in that time. According to Wikipedia there has only been 1 that seems to be a suit failure and that didn't result in death, Only 3 people have actually died in space. The way they respond to the 2 deaths we see seems to suggest that these failures being fatal is not uncommon. They must be dropping like flies up there, well dying and then floating around in zero G like flies in spacesuits, that have died.

Overall an interesting start, it establishes a good lead character and a supporting one in a believable world full of new threats and crimes.

7 suits that don't fail, out of 10.

 

[Cloister56]

Yeah they could have had him getting out a box and then cso on the news report. I'm thinking like they did in Revenge of the Cybermen

0.47 in this video.
Or even get the box out then zoom in on the screen to cover it isn't even transmitting.

 

[michaellevenson]

Good example. What year is that from?

Revenge Of The Cybermen, a season 12 story from 1975, the first season with Tom Baker in the role. First Cybermen appearance since season 6.
Cybermen- organic humanoid life form gradually replaced body parts with cybernetics to counter race sterility, ending up as emotionless killers.

 

[Cloister56]

Good example. What year is that from?

It is a particulary good example of CSO. A lot of it was horrible with "Fringing" where the division between the real image and the projected was very rough.

I looked for this as an example, but it doesn't look as bad as I remember.

Revenge Of The Cybermen, a season 12 story from 1975, the first season with Tom Baker in the role. First Cybermen appearance since season 6.
Cybermen- organic humanoid life form gradually replaced body parts with cybernetics to counter race sterility, ending up as emotionless killers.

A very comprehensive reply

 

[Gavin]

I did ask my Alexa if she was Skynet which it replied with "No I having nothing to do with Skynet, don't worry".

So is Alexa confirming the existence of Skynet? The answer seems to imply "yes there is a Skynet, but that's a separate system!"

 

[Gavin]

I found this computer concept interesting and I don't think it was fully explained in the episode. Does the computer just decide which case need investigating or does it investigate as well? Are the cops reduced to just footwork and all the putting together of the evidence and reaching a verdict on whether to arrest falls to the computer?

That was the impression I got. The cops go out and collect the body and any evidence, which is then entered into the computer which determines whether further investigation is needed. In this case it seems that no one entered any information about the normal swimming routine of the victim and the currents, otherwise the computer would have noticed an anomaly. Its likely that whoever did the initial investigation only entered that the body was found and autopsy showed death by drowning with no suspicious marks on the body.

 

[Gavin]

OK, that begins to explain why Star Cops looks so bad. The British were used to crappy visual effects,so production companies could get away with lots of cost-lowering shortcuts without hurting audience number too much.

The other thing to remember is that this was a BBC show. They're not allowed to advertise, so they can't make money from shows other than by selling them overseas and on video. So, unlike most American shows, unless there was an expectation of overseas sales, budgets were significantly more limited than similar US shows. In fact there was a long running joke that the budget for an episode of Doctor who was less than the catering budget for an episode of Star Trek.

 

[Gavin]

I am a little confused though. Nathan implies that the real failure rate is less than 2% but they are making up the difference by murdering people which then won't show up (which made me think how many people they must have to kill to keep it at 2%). But then the rest of the episode seems to conclude that someone was killing people to make the russians who service the suits look bad. But that wouldn't seem to work unless the failure rate started to rise.

As I understand it, the failure rate of 2% was low enough to keep it from being significant enough to warrant investigation. The actual rate should be much lower, but is being artificially inflated. It makes the Russians look bad because they don't appear to be putting anything in place to improve their quality control, which they obviously should be. So by keeping a consistent failure rate of 2% its high enough to make the Russians look bad, but not so high that the computer considers the possibility of anything other than accident.

 

[Simian Jack]

(apologies right up front, I get really damn longwinded with reviews instead of just being conversational. I can do the conversational if it's easier, I do reviews for a blog.)

S1E1, An Instinct for Murder


Let me say right up front that I like Star Cops. I want that right up front because I'm having a serious problem reviewing it. I've seen the first episode twice and have no idea what to say about it. It kinda puts my brain on hold, and I haven't been able to pin down why.



The name had me expecting something quite different. Didn't Gerry Anderson do something about a space precinct? Rather Star Warsy (think cantina scene), I saw a few minutes of it. Sounds like an action show. Could be drama, could be humorous.



What I got instead: Chief Superintendent Nathan Spring is comfortable in his job and would like to remain so. Where he's at is conducive to the family he's planning to start. His superiors, on the other hand, have zero interest in his plans or what he finds comfortable. He's being forced to take over another department, a move that means personal upheaval. Nathan is a man old enough and secure enough in his position that he likes to wear sweats to work while the younger officers under his command dress chic. He's not yet retirement age, but he's not young anymore. Nathan is soft-spoken, a man of consideration, and given to a dry ironic humor. His manner is amiable but slightly put-upon. He's not world weary...just weary. No go-getter, in his estimation he's already gone and got. Keeping in mind that this is a production for British television, this plays very much like any number of police mysteries (I'm especially fond of Inspector Morse). It's all played with understatement, not histrionics. So far so good.



So, "Star Cops"? Yes. The year is 2027 and the setting is the burgeoning world of space exploration in the hands of the international corporations funding it. We can expect stories of politics, corporate espionage, and the like. "Star Cops"' innovation is the invention of a special police force detailed to cover this effort: badges in space. Spring has been hand-picked to head this agency, the International Space Police Force. Some wag in the media dubbed them 'Space Cops', and it stuck. There's nothing flashy here or overtly futuristic, opting for verisimilitude. Again, I'm on board. It's a great idea from the show's creator, Chris Boucher of Doctor Who and Blake's 7 fame. Boucher wrote and directed this introductory episode.



Two murders have taken place. We ave two floaters, one in a lake and one in orbit. We all float up here. Or would that be 'out here'? We the audience know they were murders, we saw them happen. Nathan Spring thinks they might have been and would like to know more. Various police authorities have decided that no crimes have taken place not on the strength of the evidence but because a computer analysis has concluded that it's unlikely. Spring wants the lake death investigated. On the space station Charles de Gaulle space cop David Theroux finds the number of supposed EVA suit malfunctions (resulting in deaths) suspicious. Spring is ordered off the Earthbound case and into orbit. No one really cares, I think, it's just a gambit to secure Spring as the new Space Police Commander.



On Earth or in space, Spring disdains computer analysis at the expense of human intellect. He asks of his people that they utilize their own instincts, their capacity for reasoning, curiosity, and observation. In fact, when the solution to the death in space is revealed it turns out to be one Theroux might have caught were he more fully in the habit of using his own faculties. He's halfway there, having pressed for the deaths to be questioned instead of taking the computers assessment as everyone wanted him to. He will be appointed Spring's second in command.



Star Cops aired in 1987. I remember there was a streak of distrust of analysis in police fiction, if not in real life. Screen heroes with badges universally rolled their eyes at words like"profile" and treated experts with open hostility and ridicule. Often the analysts were portrayed as incompetent and full of airs . Today those analysts are glamorized by pop entertainment, from Clarice Starling to NCIS and many other shows. Spring may be a badge in 2027, but he's pure '80s old school. This is one of the major conflicts of the episode and I expect it to be a thread throughout the series. Spring has a technological personal assistant, a boxy device called Box (foreseeing real-life devices like Alexa). He constantly has to argue with it, cajole it, and rebuke it as if it were alive. Spring has a measure of reliance on Box he finds annoying.



The kind of story the pilot promises is one of clever manipulation of the rules this fictional realm works on by highly placed instigators we never meet and who may never really be brought to justice. Spring is a low-level servant, arresting the low-level servants who carry out the crimes. Very non-Hollywood.



So I do like this show. Why am In not more enthusiastic yet? I'm not sure the hybrid works smoothly yet - it's hard to imagine Inspector Morse defending himself with a medical laser. Space Cops gives us astronaut training instead of an exciting space flight - this is good, sure it saves on the budget but it also stresses a character moment over action. OTOH we're expected to accept that more sci-fi flavored action does take place even though we're not allowed to see it. Some of the predicted technology hasn't aged well and I'm doubtful they would have played well even in 1987, if for no other reason than that they clash with the usual contemporary detective fiction. I've seen Outland, I thought that dd it better. On the up side, the tech of the spacecraft, stations, etc. are based on current real-world designs, That's crucial to the show's credibility.



It might be the dialog, which is entertaining but hard to follow for the accents and rapid pace of banter. I like clever dialog, I like it even more when it's not so clever as to obscure its import. This is not Joss Whedon. I eventually had to resort to headphones to catch more of the words, that helped. Dialog often overlaps in Robert Altman style, which suits the verisimilitude but hinders clear presentation of information.



It's definitely the production. I'm used to seeing unconvincing sets on Doctor Who, but I don't see why a police station set only a few years in the future should look so little like what you would see in real life when realism is a goal. They're worse given that the space station locales are more convincing by comparison. The FX of weightlessness are better than expected, lending weight and credibility to the space-borne scenes. I like the costume design, aside from one Miami Vie escape who rolls up the sleeves of his business jacket. It's recognizably of our world instead of campy spandex, glitter, and outrageous collars and hats.



I do have a problem with the theme song and incidental music. I think the score was meant to be hiply ironic but the choices jar as inappropriate. I can take that if the choices are good, these aren't. Maybe I'll get used to the theme song (it's by Justin Hayward!) but I doubt it will ever feel like it belongs.



I think what blunted the episode most for me was an emotional disconnect - which I hasten to add may well be a deliberate choice reflecting the theme of humanity surrendered to technology. People die in this story at an alarming rate yet no one ever seems to care except Spring and Theroux, and I'm not sure it was more than an academic exercise from Spring. Theroux tries to recruit the help of someone who's more concerned with her recreation. So what if people are dying, the computer says it's statistically acceptable! Another innocent is put to death by her government when she was not at fault. That life lost is no more than a cynical aide, we never meet her nor does anyone express remorse. There are no grieving friends or relatives. What drove Morse (sorry, I keep bringing him up but its true for all the others, the best of them) expressed moral outrage and an appreciation of loss.



Torn between a 6.5 and a 7. It's a refreshing premise with a protagonist well-played by David Calder, episode's crime has a neat scheme but is hampered by some poor production choices. Okay, let's give it room to go up...6.5 restaurant TV trolleys.

 

[Simian Jack]

Computer! Give me a hot chai with creamer!

I think you did a fine job

Thanks! What I mean by conversational is that a lot of you have always just had this back and forth about the episodes, simply discussing them in a friendly way which I like and is part of what drew me to the Sages as far back as UFO. I found out that writing it up as a review helps me process what I saw, and I can post them to the blog for general readership...but I'm also painfully aware that some people I know (none of you guys!) have told me I come off as aloof...and I can see why, though I don't mean to be. So I do worry about putting people off.

I think you wrote this on a word processor and typed an extra space between paragraphs.

Well spotted! Yeah, I've been adding extra spaces because of the blog, which gets rid of the single or even double space between paragraphs. Currently I'm using Wordpad.

 

[Doctor Omega]

 

[michaellevenson]