Tuesday, November 28, 2023

In the mid 80s, there was a TV pilot for a never-realized series Condor. Set in the near future of 1999, it was based around a human agent (typical '8os cop meme, a maverick who plays by his own obnoxious rules) and his good-looking android partner. The old school agent predictably resents being paired with the new soul-less technology. But over the course of 80 delicious minutes, he learns to respect it..

Condor had a pretty good cast, including Fresh Prince's Uncle Phil, and Wendy Kilbourne as the beautiful robot..

An interesting element is 1985 conjecture on how the world would look in the near future.. oversized drones and urban three-wheelers were part of that speculation.. They did a pretty good job balancing potential progress with factors of daily life that don't change much. And this to me, is the most disappointing aspect of Condor not making it.. missing out on more of the futuristic aesthetic, because they seemed to put effort in to this part of the pilot. There are couple places now to stream Condor, and it is a cool cultural artifact of how some foresaw the start of the 21st century..

Part Maxwell Smart, part Dean Ween.. Christopher Proctor (a TV icon that could've been).

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