From: naran@fraser.sfu.ca (Travers Naran)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv
Subject: Mann & Machine -- YAR (Review)
Summary: My review of the show.
Keywords: mann and machine review comments
Date: 7 Apr 92 06:57:31 GMT
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada

Well, as I watched the show come to a close, my opinion of the show was: It has
some promise and is a tolerable show to watch and I will watch it again.

Details:
Now, the premise of the show is an interesting one. Instead of the usual stiff
android shtick of before, the neural net 'erratic' behavoir was chosen. I was
kind of impressed in that most sci-fi TV shows completely screw up the
technical details on aritificial intelligence yet this shows stays well with in
my %30 tolerance limit.
In fact, there was a half-dozen shows before with the stiff-android partner and
I loved the fact they quite clearly said at the beginning of the show this was
not one of those shows by killing off the stiff android. I thought that was a
poetic way of saying "Death to the stiff, annoying android."

The neural net premise in interesting (we won't get into debates please, save
that for comp.ai), but thankfully the writer's leave that point alone.They
instead concentrate on an almost human android and her adaptation to learning
the world she is in. Her reactions are well within believability. The cops
reacions are interesting as they tend to be less cliche than most sci-fi cop
shows. This is interesting concidering this is the modern NBC era where only
cliche's will be given a chance. Originiality, no, too risky. The people might
not actually like it. But enough about me whinging about NBC.

The characters are interesting in that they are not quite the stereotypes and
cliches normally seen in cop shows or TV sci-fi shows. They are all a little
off that character mold and are almost human. This might make the show work.
The android character is 'cute', and not just physically. Her personality has
some interesting possibilities, but concidering the next episode's description
from someone else, it looks like the series is going downhill.

The whole flow of the show is not bad and I like the fact that they realise
that not everything is radically going to change in the future (culturally
wise). The show has a nice continuous smoothness with a combination of banter
and actions that are interesting to watch and listen too. Not too many shows
can manage that anymore.

NEGATIVES:

Yes, I did describe some things glowingly above, but now reality sets in. Some
problems I had with the show are the 'standard cop-show' cliches that sometimes
appear. They are mercifully few and watered down a bit, but they still exist.
Thus, these hidden cliches slightly ruined the show for me

Another thing that I am normally willing to forgive if the show if otherwise
excellently done (like 'V' and some Dr. Who) is the scientific and technical
accuracies portrayed in the show. But here, the show just wasn't strong enough
for me to completley ignore them. For example, the android's interface with the
computer. Now, neural nets cannot just simply be interfaced with binary
computers and all of you know. An interchange interface is required. But her
workstation is an interesting way of doing it, it just seems a little too
constructed to show the audience what is going on.
The occasional technical banter was tolerable.

But the worst stuff was the references to the 'past' or a future that seems a
little too directly directly descended from our own time. It kind of dated the
show for me and slighlty ruined the show for me.

The plots. The problem is the pilot is excellently written, but I am now
beginning to wonder if maybe NBC will come in and make their infamous
modifications so the show can appeal to a 'broader audience'. I hope not,
because this show, at the moment, is tolerable and has a chance to improve, but
as we all know, good TV shows do not always get the ratings they need while bad
TV often gets more than they deserve (Three's Company vs. Max Headroom come to
mind anyone?).


The final conclusion is that the series has some promise and can become quite
tolerable like a cool (not cold) beer or a cold pizza. But the potential for it
to fall into the cop-drama cliche show is great.

-- 
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Travers Naran						| "I am NOT a merry
Mail address: naran@fraser.sfu.ca or naran@sfu.ca       |  man!"
Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada	|    Lt. Worf,
Cmpt. Science student wanna-be				|    ST:TNG, "Q-pid"
Trekker, Leaper, Red Dwarf'er, Prober, etc.		|
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