Heat Vision and Jack

This is the sort of show that, had I seen it as a 12-year-old boy in the ’80s, would have easily left a huge mark on my young psyche.

In 1999, Ben Stiller directed the first episode of what could have been the greatest show to ever grace the idiot box this side of Brisco County, Jr.: Heat Vision and Jack. The premise is simple: Jack Black is Jack Austin, an astronaut who has become the smartest man on the planet due to solar radiation, and Owen Wilson is the voice of Heat Vision, his talking motorcycle. The two of them are on the run from NASA and uber-evil Ron Silver (who plays himself, albeit with superpowers).

This is the sort of show that, had I seen it as a 12-year-old boy in the ’80s, would have easily left a huge mark on my young psyche. Even now, in my thirties, I get a huge chuckle watching it. Not just because it features Jack Black and Owen Wilson long before their current heydays, but because it’s a perfect sendup/parody/homage to so many other shows that I watched as a kid, shows that could only have been on the air way back when, e.g., Knight Rider, The Greatest American Hero, The Wizard, Outlaws, Starman.

Simply put, it has everything: overwrought dialog (complete with MacGuyver-isms), cheesy action scenes and special effects, talking vehicles… What more could you want?!? (Oh, and the Craig Armstrong music is a nice touch.)

But for some reason, the suits at Fox never picked up the show. They didn’t even air the pilot. The show seemed destined to fade into obscurity. But that’s changed, due to the beauty that is YouTube.

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