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I've had this video sitting in my Firefox browser for quite some time, and I finally got around to watching it today - Heat Vision and Jack. It's a pilot for a show that was created back in 1999 featuring Jack Black and Owen Wilson as, respectively, an ex-NASA employee on the run and his talking motorcycle (who used to be his roomate). Produced by Ben Stiller, it's got a very funny introduction, and I got hooked into watching the show after watching the first five minutes. I mean, they have Ron Silver (yes, the genuine article) chasing after Jack and Heat Vision. It even had the late Vincent Schiavelli in this pilot (which is apparently episode 14).
I can't help but smirk every time Jack Black has to refer to the motorcycle. It's so unusual for a person to call say "Heat Vision" with a straight face. It's also deriative of all those cheesy 1990-style shows with lots of action and quirky acting (particularily Jack Black, but I mean, c'mon, that's Jack Black's main staple). Some great lines and puns, too
I can't help but draw at least a few comparisons to anime, if very small ones. Obviously, I can't help but make a Kino's Journey comparison since they both feature a talking bike (though with very different origin stories), and it even has a little "thoughful" catchphrase at the end of the episode, very similar to Kino's Journey. The logo at the midway point looks very similar to the Heat Guy J logo (though that anime definitely did not come out when Heat Vision and Jack was created).
But like I mentioned, I got hooked after watching the first five minutes. I had to see where they were going with this.
...Wow, there's a lot of "HVAJ" discussion out on the web. Rumours of a HVAJ movie are in the works! XD (That last link goes to Rob Schrab's site, he's one of the writers, and also one of the creators of Scud: The Disposable Assassin.)
I can't help but smirk every time Jack Black has to refer to the motorcycle. It's so unusual for a person to call say "Heat Vision" with a straight face. It's also deriative of all those cheesy 1990-style shows with lots of action and quirky acting (particularily Jack Black, but I mean, c'mon, that's Jack Black's main staple). Some great lines and puns, too
I can't help but draw at least a few comparisons to anime, if very small ones. Obviously, I can't help but make a Kino's Journey comparison since they both feature a talking bike (though with very different origin stories), and it even has a little "thoughful" catchphrase at the end of the episode, very similar to Kino's Journey. The logo at the midway point looks very similar to the Heat Guy J logo (though that anime definitely did not come out when Heat Vision and Jack was created).
But like I mentioned, I got hooked after watching the first five minutes. I had to see where they were going with this.
...Wow, there's a lot of "HVAJ" discussion out on the web. Rumours of a HVAJ movie are in the works! XD (That last link goes to Rob Schrab's site, he's one of the writers, and also one of the creators of Scud: The Disposable Assassin.)