Rocky Star

June 4, 2011 6:04 PM

Rocky Star was a 1990s Australian TV show that had actors lip-syncing along with a 1950s Flash Gordon-esque radio play. Mostly forgotten by absolutely everyone, two of the twenty episodes have recently turned up on youtube.
posted by dng (19 comments total)

This is awesome. At first glance at the description, I thought it was the opposite. There used to be a video series (sometimes shown on Night Flight) where they took old Radar Men From The Moon serials and redub the audio, a la "What's Up, Tigerlilly."

This is a new (to me) spin on the genre, and so far it looks like a lot of fun!
posted by ShutterBun at 6:18 PM on June 4, 2011

After some quick checking, the show I was remembering was J-Men Forever
posted by ShutterBun at 6:21 PM on June 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

ahh good stuff. I remember seeing a couple of these. Very well done.
posted by the noob at 6:25 PM on June 4, 2011

Soupy Norman. Episode 1. Episode 2.
posted by benito.strauss at 7:10 PM on June 4, 2011

Definitely gives me the feeling of watching some local cable channel late at night, and falling upon something fascinatingly weird that lingers with me.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 7:19 PM on June 4, 2011

This is brilliant.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:37 PM on June 4, 2011

which, of course, quickly reminds one of the gobsmacking genius that was Funky Squad
posted by philip-random at 7:46 PM on June 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

I just saw this on facebook and zipped over here to... hey!
posted by jessamyn at 7:48 PM on June 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

Bargearse came out a coupla years before Funky Squad. The sight of a morbidly obese police detective doing action-packed running and jumping scenes is funny enough without the dubbing. Throw in a lot of bad 1970s brown suits [a running gag on the show] and you have a winner.

The Australian Movie Hercules Returns came out with the same idea the same year as Rocky Star debuted.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 8:37 PM on June 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh man, I'd forgotten about Bargearse. Fantastic.
posted by benito.strauss at 8:43 PM on June 4, 2011 [2 favorites]

bargearse, a poem

bargearse
gas bearer - rear gas, be
rages bare, bears' rage
gar! sees bar!
bar? agrees
bar, grease
sag bearer
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:12 PM on June 4, 2011

There's a group who do this live in Sydney with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, cutting it down to an hour and making snarky jokes on top.
I couldn't stand it, especially since the movie was better than their jokes.
I guess I just lost my tolerance for this sort of thing after learning how awesome and influential Danger, Diabolik! is outside the MST3K snark.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:09 PM on June 4, 2011

Don't forget Bargearse's predecessor on the Late Show, The Olden Days.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 12:23 AM on June 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

I own and love Bargearse and The Olden Days (didn't enjoy Funky Squad enough to buy the ridiculously overpriced DVD - screw you ABC, try lowering prices every once and a while) - and even I don't remember this show. Looks like I have something to do this eve.
posted by cerulgalactus at 1:05 AM on June 5, 2011

And...two minutes later. No wonder I've not heard of it - that was kinda crap.
posted by cerulgalactus at 1:10 AM on June 5, 2011

I also dropped by to mention The Olden Days (bad hat! bad hat!), but since I've been beaten to that, I will simply point out that the first video in the FPP includes a scene with two men in bed together (reading), which given the age of the source film is interesting in itself
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 3:26 AM on June 5, 2011

I'm sure I saw these in the UK on the BBC in the mid to late 90s. I've wondered on and off what they were, and indeed if I'd just imagined them. Thanks!
posted by NoiselessPenguin at 3:44 AM on June 5, 2011

The UK also showed a similar series called 'The Flashing Blade'.
posted by Jofus at 8:12 AM on June 5, 2011

Genre/cult television on BBC 2 every night at 6 o'clock.

Seriously, kids these days don't know when they were born, or something.
posted by feelinglistless at 11:08 AM on June 5, 2011