What do you do after being the drummer in the Monkees? Produce an 80's comedy with a robot as the central character. Microcomputers, digital watches, everything that's so dated now that was so exciting then. Metal Mickey was exciting to my young mind. A talking robot on TV. I didn't understand special effects or voice coders. But unlike my old BBC microcomputer Metal Mickey is not obsolete. It has the look of a 1980's show, a children's show where the budget has gone on the radio controlled robot but with Irene Handel and Michael Stainton this remains a classic. As well as a nostalgia trip to the beginning of the 80's.
The set up is a robot living in suburbia in Englands at th beginning of the 80's. He's the center of the show and too much the center at the cost of the script which is its main problem. But like My Family, a BBC sitcom, its balanced by using some really fine actors. Seeing it again it does lose a bit in now knowing that the glitzy robot is all voice coder and twiddling on a remote control. Would have been better if it was written for a slightly older audience.
The set up is a robot living in suburbia in Englands at th beginning of the 80's. He's the center of the show and too much the center at the cost of the script which is its main problem. But like My Family, a BBC sitcom, its balanced by using some really fine actors. Seeing it again it does lose a bit in now knowing that the glitzy robot is all voice coder and twiddling on a remote control. Would have been better if it was written for a slightly older audience.