Tuesday, November 22, 2005

When Rodak came to Frogtown


Another mountain dispatch from Malcontent correspondent Candice Dyer:

Evidently some people do not even make the "coolness" cut for Dragon.con and Trekkie conventions. A militant contingent of "Space Giants" fans is agitating to get the show back on the air. For those who are not familiar with the "Space Giants" -- a majority of you, no doubt -- it is a crude, peculiar, Japanese sci-fi adventure program about Manichean battles fought among characters in tin-foil costumes. It aired on Ted Turner's fledgling network during after-school hours in the late-'70s.

Consequently, it gained a cultlike following among moppets whose parents evidently were not that strict about enforcing a diet of PBS. My folks were such a family. I gave up my baton-twirling classes in order to rush home, watch the show, and moon over the exotic, sloe-eyed hero named "Miko."

My excuse is that I was seven years old.

When I see images from the show, I feel a rush of campy nostalgia, but that is all. I am not moved to activism. However, thanks to the mischief of your “Malcontent” host (who also was an early fan of the show, possibly because of the unmistakable homoerotic undercurrents of the Miko-Gam friendship), I am now on the mailing list for a rabid, wild-eyed advocacy group for “The Space Giants.”

With their intra-mural squabbles, these fans are very contentious in their methods, but they are united in their goal: to resurrect and reinstate re-runs of the show.

I can’t help wondering if signing me up for this group was a retaliatory move on the part of the Malcontent, whom I enrolled in the Jessica Simpson fan club. I think we’re even, now, Malcontent. Don’t make me blow my whistle and sic “Silvar” on you.

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