Author Archives: Jack Knoll

On September 22nd 1994, a little show debuted on American television about a group of six friends going about their lives in New York City – its title, imaginatively, was Friends. The producers of this obscure and rarely discussed sitcom came up with the novel idea of quite literally naming every episode based on the happenings of that week’s installment. Sounds like any other television series, doesn’t it? Well, my naive little possum, let me explain further. The creators of Friends, with their quaint vision of absolutely dominating the airwaves and crushing everything in their path, decided that their episode titles should reflect the way a casual viewer might describe a particular plot at the office water cooler the next day. As a result, the likes of The One with All the Thanksgivings, or The One Where Everybody Finds Out, or The One with the Prom Video, have become rewatchable sensations because it’s really ruddy easy for viewers to figure out which episode they want to see again. It would seem that turning episode titles into marketing tools is the way to get ahead in show business. Who’d’ve thought it? Friends did quite a few other things right in 1994, but every time I see one of those episode titles I just can’t get over how neat they are.

Also in 1994… Space Precinct. Need I say more? Okay, I will. For the simple reason that Space Precinct premiered nearly two weeks after Friends, the Space Precinct writers couldn’t use the same ingenious method for titling their episodes. Alright, timing wasn’t the only factor involved. That kooky naming convention probably would not have fit whatever edgy-yet-kid-friendly-yet-adult-oriented-yet-sci-fi-masterpiece-yet-police-procedural-yet-bla-bla-bla tone the Space Precinct producers were aiming for. So, instead, they came up with titles like, Illegal. What happens in Illegal? Well, it’s not really there in the title, is it? Every episode of Space Precinct usually involves some kind of illegal goings-on because it’s a cop show for goodness sake. And it’s a shame that this episode has such a vague, unmarketable title because it has some really memorable moments. We could have had The One With The Snuff Fights, or The One With The First Kiss, or The One With The Scene We Had To Reshoot for BBC2.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the crazy schedule that the Space Precinct production team were up against. The series premiered on US television on October 3rd 1994 – the day that principal photography on today’s episode wrapped. Just over a month later, on November 21st, Seek and Destroy was broadcast in America. That strikes me as an insanely narrow lead time considering the complexity of a big budget science fiction series like Space Precinct, particularly when it comes to post-production. Such were the bizarre circumstances of Space Precinct’s distribution.

I didn’t have a ruddy clue what was going on for the first half of this episode. Characters kept popping up all over the place. I couldn’t work out who the bad guy was or what the police work was even about. I was ready to write Deadline off as a complete mess. But I enjoyed it a little bit too much for that. And by the end I was thoroughly entertained – not necessarily invested, but entertained. A hidden gem, it ain’t, but I wouldn’t call it a catastrophe either. Like a cheeky wink from Officer Haldane, it won me over but it turned my stomach a little in the process.

I have a feeling that fans hold Time To Kill in high regard. It’s got a memorable baddie, a standout plot twist, and takes the characters in a really unique direction. Surely it’s a perfect Space Precinct episode?