So I have given up numbering these but if you don’t know by now this is part of a series of blogs where I take a look at the TV/Books/Films that shaped me into the geek I am today.
Back in the 80’s when I was a kid the best TV programs were show at 5pm on a Saturday and for me one of the best shows to grace that timeslot was The A-Team. As a small boy the adventures of these soldiers of fortune was one of the most awesome things I had ever seen. The good guys had guns, stuff got blown up and tanks were made out of a broken down jeep and cabbages. The A-Team was (and still is) one of the best TV shows ever invented.
Face was alway my favorite character, for me he was way cooler than BA or Hannibal* and you would have to be nuts (if you will pardon the pun) to like Murdock. Templeton Peck not only had the coolest name, but had a cool car, got all the chicks and came up with all the best schemes, in short he was the man I wanted to be**.
That is not to say the other team members were not awesome, far from it..When fools needed to be pitied or throw very far BA was your man. If a plan so insane needed to be concocted and pulled of, screw Danny Ocean I would turn to Hannibal Smith and if I wanted the best damn pilot ever to fly I’d call Maverick, but only if Murdock was sick. The A-Team my friends were the best of the best and we saw them prove this every week.
Beyond the characters the shows charm lays in the fact that it is basically a live action cartoon. People very rarely got hurt and only one person ever died, which was quite an achievement for a TV show which had more gunfire than your average late night cop show. The A-Team themselves were hero’s, fighting the good fight for the downtrodden and oppressed, sure they claimed to charge payment for their help but if you go back and look at the show they very rarely bothered to collect the fee.
Having re-watched it I have come to the conclusion that the show is timeless, it has aged very well. What made it great 20 years ago still works today and I think when I have kids of my own I will have no problem showing them this program. In fact I look forward to watching as their tiny minds are filled the awesomeness that leaks from it.
It’s a real shame the film did so badly, it has all the ingredients that made the TV show so great and yet for some reason failed to capture the imagination as much. Perhaps we have moved beyond such simple pleasures as a cabbage gun tank or perhaps we live in a world now where everything has to be dark and gritty, perhaps, but I sure hope not.
In conclusion Saturday afternoons are not the same without The A-Team and I hope that those of you that remember it, still have a special place in your heart for Hannibal, Face Murdock and BA.
Here is to you A-Team, may all your plans come together.
*Even as a child I knew there was something a little creepy about the way he always wore black gloves.
** Along with Mouth from the Goonies and Peter Venkman, I was a strange child.