Somewhere in the creative gap left over by the collective absences of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Xena : Warrior Princess and other fantasy-based TV shows that follow the ‘Proper Name Job Description’ format, there is The Middleman.
Based on an indie comic that launched in 2005, The Middle Man TV series ran for one brief season in 2008 on ABC Family. Interestingly, the comic book series was launched because the author found it impractical to raise the bucks to create a show that involved crazy monsters. And despite it being a show that runs perfectly along some of my favorite genres, this DVD set is the first time I’ve ever heard of it. Way to go, ABC Family promotional team! You’re probably the same folks who murdered Futurama.
The show ran for only twelve episodes before it fumbled its way into dark nerd obscurity. Much like Buffy, the TV series will continue (albeit briefly) after its cancellation with a 13th ‘episode’ in comic book format, to be launched at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. This DVD set will launch in conjunction with the comic, so collectors will get the whole package.
It’s immediately obvious that, although pretty damned clever, the rapid-fire, way TOO clever dialogue perhaps works much better as a comic. As a semi-professional comic artist, I believe that every message has an appropriate medium, and I found myself laying out imaginary panels and speech bubbles for the events that were happening onscreen, without realizing I was doing it. Sure, the chick is exceptionally cute and a rare instance of ‘cute enough to keep me paying attention‘, but the dialogue is so comic-bookish that it sometimes comes across as wildly unnatural.
But, seriously, can anyone say ‘Dagnabbit!’ and sound like anything other than a cartoon?
Perhaps it was crummy promotion, perhaps it was the slightly awkward mis-fit between comic book and live action, but the series probably wasn’t helped at all by the low-budget CGI effects that comprised a lot of the monster stuff. We’re now in an era where we can make the most surreal ideas appear to sync seamlessly with reality, and The Middleman uses special effects that are on par with early episodes of Deep Space Nine, or Hercules : The Legendary Journeys. Non-nerds, these were shows that are at least a decade behind where we are now. In fact, much of the show has these kinds of charmingly garish, very atmospheric sets that defined fantasy TV about a decade ago. It’s only the very timely references that the characters make that plant the setting firmly into the now. Without this info, I’d be safely oblivious.
Once you get past these little bits of questionable content, it’s easy to dig.
The set’s 4th DVD is completely full of great bonuses – just about everything you’d want from a series that was cut down before its prime. It comes with the standard deleted scenes and outtakes (in addition to the commentary tracks on a handful of the episodes), but it also features table reads, casting sessions, web featurettes, set photographs, fourteen podcasts from the series creator, and many other neat little bits about the show, allowing the viewer to get a whole picture of the energy and creativity that went into making it. It’s not shabby at all, and exceeds the usual DVD bonus standards by far. Shout! Factory puts together a slick DVD set.
Check it out. For good or bad, it’s like a living comic book, so faithful to the art of comics that it seems like it should just head back there at points, but absolutely enjoyable for all of the geekiness that it exudes. Plus, hot girl.
