How the Raunchiest Sci-Fi of the 80s Became the Raunchiest Cable Series of the 90s
Posted by Jonathan Klotz | Published
John Hughes redefined the teenage comedy from the sex romps of Pig for more support and facts She’s pretty in Pink, Sixteen candlesagain The Breakfast Club. In 1985, during this run, he wrote and directed Weird Sciencea film that was the fulfillment of pure desire.
There’s still high school, and two social outcasts, but there’s also a complete smoking show of a computer program with the power to change reality, designed from a tiny piece of code to become the perfect woman. Not only that, but a decade later, USA Network took the premise and ran with it Weird Scienceseries, which ran for an incredible 5 seasons and 88 episodes.
He blinded me with Science
Both the film and the series center on high school students Gary (Brat Packer Anthony Michael Hall in the original and John Mallory Asher in the series) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith in the film, Michael Manasseri in the series), trying to cut all corners for the sake of Lisa, an artificial woman, for all intents and purposes, who works as a Genie. The basic episode has one of these two making a wish, turning the school into a school full of pizza in the classroom, rock stars, time travel to deal with a bully, or turning Wyatt’s brother into a baby.
There is nothing serious about it Weird Science. It’s not easy, it’s fun, and if you’re wondering why this was able to stay on the air for five seasons, it’s because they found the right replacement for Kelly LeBrock: the movie’s Vanessa Angel. Nobody cares about Wyatt and Gary. Weird Science it’s about the stacked brunette front and center in every piece of advertising, every commercial, and every episode. Angel’s take on Lisa was better than LeBrock’s, but at the end of the day, he was usually the one who ended up solving the problem.
From Second to Reason for Everyone to Watch
Vanessa Angel has achieved great success in her career Weird Science bringing Lisa to life. Taking over from the iconic Kelly LeBrock should have been a recipe for disaster, but it worked. Angel’s career in Hollywood was full of missed opportunities for big roles, first as the first Xena in Lucy Lawless, lost due to a terrible illness, then the second choice of seven out of nine behind Jeri Ryan, and finally, as Anise/Freya. Stargate SG-1 while the producers are looking for an attractive new female cast member to catch the Seven of Nine wave. Turns out they already had Amanda Tapping, and her role was cut after only three appearances.
Weird Science it was clearly aimed at a younger audience with programming lines that would feel right at home ten years later on Disney’s original channel. You can only imagine the fun the writer’s room had trying to come up with the craziest plans possible. The combination of a hot woman and two (or more) goofy guys has been the basis of countless comedies over the decades. Turning a woman into a wish-granting computer program didn’t change the formula one bit. It worked for you I dream of Jeannie in the 60s, it worked Weird Science in the 90s, and if Hollywood ever makes another sitcom, it will work again.
Weird Science is streaming for free on The Roku Channel.
