Taking it's cue from the popular fairy-tale of the same name and giving the show a contemporary setting (contemporary at the time of it's creation being the 1980s), "Beauty and the Beast" features the romance of hard but compassionate rich District Attorney Catherine Chandler and Vincent, a gentle, soft-spoken man-beast who lives in a secret tunnel world beneath the streets of New York.
I remembered images from this series when I was just a small boy. I remembered especially the opening credits with that wonderful theme score and the narration and obvious chemistry of Linda Hamilton as Catherine and Ron Perlman as Vincent. Stumbling across music videos on YouTube made from images of the series brought all the memories back, and I somehow secured a DVD copy of Season 1 of the show.
The pilot episode sees Vincent rescue Catherine after she's mauled by some vicious street criminals. He takes her to his world below the New York sewers and nurses her back to health. From there on Vincent and Catherine share a strong psychic and emotional bond and whenever Catherine is seriously imperilled, Vincent is alerted and comes to her aid.
Overall, I think the show actually works. It strikes a strange balance between romance, fantasy (Vincent and his world below) and crime drama. As a DA, Catherine is regularly investigating cases dealing with the usual corrupt and ugly types found on these shows. In Season 1, Vincent and Catherine deal with voodoo, Chinatown bad guys and gypsies among others and their stories are usually interesting and suspenseful, despite a notable lack of humour in the scripts.
Asides from the lack of humour, the tone of the show is occasionally confused, as the difference between the pseudo-realism of the offices and streets of Catherine's world Above in New York can jar with the mystical fantasy qualities of Vincent's world Below. And some of the characters and stories don't work as well as they might.
Nevertheless the show is fascinating to watch. Vincent is a very considerate and well-read creature. Though given to frightening violent rage when provoked, most of the time he prefers to talk a problem through. In the opening episode he refers to Charles Dickens and in another leaves Catherine a copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets. The poeticism and melodrama of his and Catherine's relationship might seem pretentious but both Perlman and Hamilton make it work through gentle and convincing underplaying of their roles. The relationship remains chaste, the pair never going beyond hugging or hand-holding and I think the restraint is very powerful.
There is a good gallery of supporting and regular guest players. Roy Dotrice is wonderful as Father, Vincent's adoptive parent and leader of the tunnel world community. I really like the gentle but firm gravitas he consistently brings to the role. Jay Avocone is on fine form as Catherine's wise guy boss. Although he does get an episode devoted to his character, his presence is never as sufficiently mined for humour as it could be. Armin Shimerman, of "Buffy" and "Star Trek", turns in fine work in his handful of appearances as eccentric tunnel-dweller Pascal.
Sadly, this show is unavailable on DVD in the UK. It can be ordered online from the US, but this is expensive and the discs are Region 1, which don't play on most regular computers and DVD players although efforts are being made to rectify this. This is a shame, as the show (based on my watching of this Season) deserves a broader audience.
In the meantime, here are the highlight episodes from Season 1. If you like the show and get the DVD's, these are the episodes to look for.
"Once Upon a Time" - This sets the show format and it's central ideas perfectly. If you don't buy the romance of Vincent and Catherine off the back of this, then forget it.
"Masques" - Provocative episode that surely couldn't have been screened in this country as it deals with the Irish troubles. Nevertheless it's well shot, with a good closing sequence for Vincent and Catherine.
"Song of Orpheus" - This episode centres on Father, as he goes to the world Above and is wrongly imprisoned for murder.
"The Alchemist" - Brilliantly dark episode that introduces a fantastic series' villain in Tony Jay's Paracelsus.
"Promises of Someday" - delightful dramatic episode as a long lost friend of Vincent returns to the tunnel world to sort out issues he has with Vincent and Father. The closing scene is a winner.
"To Reign In Hell" - A follow-up to "The Alchemist", set almost entirely Below, where Vincent must rescue Catherine from Paracelsus and a giant warrior.
"Ozymandias" - The arc of Catherine's would-be suitor Eliot Burch (Edward Albert) comes to a brilliantly ironic conclusion, in the tale of a man outdone by his own ambition.
"A Happy Life" - The ending might be a bit cheesy, but Vincent and Catherine get some great dialogue and their scenes together here are among the strongest in the season.
I remembered images from this series when I was just a small boy. I remembered especially the opening credits with that wonderful theme score and the narration and obvious chemistry of Linda Hamilton as Catherine and Ron Perlman as Vincent. Stumbling across music videos on YouTube made from images of the series brought all the memories back, and I somehow secured a DVD copy of Season 1 of the show.
The pilot episode sees Vincent rescue Catherine after she's mauled by some vicious street criminals. He takes her to his world below the New York sewers and nurses her back to health. From there on Vincent and Catherine share a strong psychic and emotional bond and whenever Catherine is seriously imperilled, Vincent is alerted and comes to her aid.
Overall, I think the show actually works. It strikes a strange balance between romance, fantasy (Vincent and his world below) and crime drama. As a DA, Catherine is regularly investigating cases dealing with the usual corrupt and ugly types found on these shows. In Season 1, Vincent and Catherine deal with voodoo, Chinatown bad guys and gypsies among others and their stories are usually interesting and suspenseful, despite a notable lack of humour in the scripts.
Asides from the lack of humour, the tone of the show is occasionally confused, as the difference between the pseudo-realism of the offices and streets of Catherine's world Above in New York can jar with the mystical fantasy qualities of Vincent's world Below. And some of the characters and stories don't work as well as they might.
Nevertheless the show is fascinating to watch. Vincent is a very considerate and well-read creature. Though given to frightening violent rage when provoked, most of the time he prefers to talk a problem through. In the opening episode he refers to Charles Dickens and in another leaves Catherine a copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets. The poeticism and melodrama of his and Catherine's relationship might seem pretentious but both Perlman and Hamilton make it work through gentle and convincing underplaying of their roles. The relationship remains chaste, the pair never going beyond hugging or hand-holding and I think the restraint is very powerful.
There is a good gallery of supporting and regular guest players. Roy Dotrice is wonderful as Father, Vincent's adoptive parent and leader of the tunnel world community. I really like the gentle but firm gravitas he consistently brings to the role. Jay Avocone is on fine form as Catherine's wise guy boss. Although he does get an episode devoted to his character, his presence is never as sufficiently mined for humour as it could be. Armin Shimerman, of "Buffy" and "Star Trek", turns in fine work in his handful of appearances as eccentric tunnel-dweller Pascal.
Sadly, this show is unavailable on DVD in the UK. It can be ordered online from the US, but this is expensive and the discs are Region 1, which don't play on most regular computers and DVD players although efforts are being made to rectify this. This is a shame, as the show (based on my watching of this Season) deserves a broader audience.
In the meantime, here are the highlight episodes from Season 1. If you like the show and get the DVD's, these are the episodes to look for.
"Once Upon a Time" - This sets the show format and it's central ideas perfectly. If you don't buy the romance of Vincent and Catherine off the back of this, then forget it.
"Masques" - Provocative episode that surely couldn't have been screened in this country as it deals with the Irish troubles. Nevertheless it's well shot, with a good closing sequence for Vincent and Catherine.
"Song of Orpheus" - This episode centres on Father, as he goes to the world Above and is wrongly imprisoned for murder.
"The Alchemist" - Brilliantly dark episode that introduces a fantastic series' villain in Tony Jay's Paracelsus.
"Promises of Someday" - delightful dramatic episode as a long lost friend of Vincent returns to the tunnel world to sort out issues he has with Vincent and Father. The closing scene is a winner.
"To Reign In Hell" - A follow-up to "The Alchemist", set almost entirely Below, where Vincent must rescue Catherine from Paracelsus and a giant warrior.
"Ozymandias" - The arc of Catherine's would-be suitor Eliot Burch (Edward Albert) comes to a brilliantly ironic conclusion, in the tale of a man outdone by his own ambition.
"A Happy Life" - The ending might be a bit cheesy, but Vincent and Catherine get some great dialogue and their scenes together here are among the strongest in the season.