I'm starting to wonder if I should be insulted by Netflix's recommendations.

[icepixie]

This weekend, Netflix sent me the first disc of a comedy action/adventure show from 2000 called Jack of All Trades, from the same people behind Xena. It is ridiculous, cliched, ridiculous, full of acting that's not quite tongue-in-cheek enough for the material, ridiculous, gleefully anachronistic, and did I mention ridiculous?, but...strangely compelling. It features a swashbuckling-but-incompetent American and a "somewhat annoyed" scientist from Britain, and...okay, basically, it takes Maddie and David from Moonlighting, adds a dash of Myka and Pete from Warehouse 13, makes them steampunky spies on the made-up French-governed island of Pulau-Pulau just after Napoleon takes power, and then places the whole thing in a universe that runs on about three times the crack and camp that Xena did.

Did I mention it was ridiculous? But if you're looking for something to make you simultaneously facepalm and giggle, this might be the show you need. (And the episodes are only half an hour long, so the absurdity is...kind of contained?)

Fair warning: SAJV fans, if you read the above and were thinking this is at all like SAJV, it really isn't, although Emilia does do a lot of steampunky inventing, pretty much one gadget per episode; so far, there's been a submarine, SCUBA gear, sleeping gas, and proto-mace spray, among other things.

Um. I may need to find fic. If there is any. Because Emilia is hitting my "infinite competence in a sea of stupid" kink pretty hard.

Comments

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I adored that show! It was half of an experiment by the Renaissance folks, to fill an hour slot with two half-hour shows. The other was was Cleopatra 2525, which was equally ridiculous and equally WAY too much fun.

And I was mostly in love with it for Emilia too. I can't remember the actress' name now, but she had previously played Cora the tavern owner, the one and only reason to watch Young Hercules.

[icepixie]

A show as silly as this has no right to be as entertaining as it is. I think I've heard of Cleopatra 2525, though I didn't know it was related to this show or from the same people.

And I was mostly in love with it for Emilia too.

She's by far the best part, though I like the parrot too. Jack actively annoyed me for the first couple of episodes, although he got better later on.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Jack gets a pass from me because he's Bruce Campbell. Pretty much anyone else, and he would have had to die. :-)