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Reviews
Fire (1995)
Initially promising but ultimately disappointing
I only managed to catch a few episodes of this series when it was shown back in 1995, and recently have managed to obtain the entire collection on DVD. Fire is a short-lived series set in Brisbane and the first season focuses upon the efforts of a detective to establish the identity of a pyromaniac whom she believes is stationed at the platoon where the story is based. This leads to a series of tensions amongst the members of the brigade and a classic "whodunnit" plot. Series 2 was to my mind something of a let down as most of the original cast members were replaced, and it also lacked the intrigue and suspense that had distinguished the preceding season.
There is some emphasis on workplace politics including the arrival of a female firefighter who has to combat outdated attitudes, and assorted others some of whom appear to have their own agendas. I'm not sure if it could have gone any further as the whole thing seemed quite watered down (no pun intended) by the time the series ended, and only two of the original cast were in place by this time. Not quite Australia's answer to London's Burning which was a much more successful show and ran for a number of years, which is a pity because it seemed to have much potential.
The Master (1984)
Flat and uninspiring
For some odd reason, I had fond memories of watching this American TV series when shown on the ITV network in Britain during the spring of 1986. I have recently purchased the series on DVD but the only impressive thing was the fact that it had been restored in HD. It's odd how your perception can change over time as the revisit of this after 35 years turned out to be disappointing.
The show's main weakness seemed to be a lack of originality in the scripts. Most episodes were tiringly predictable: McAllister and his protege Keller would turn up in the nick of time to rescue a damsel in distress, and martial arts sequences were abundant throughout as the good guys did battle with the baddies and always won. I think this series could have done with a rewrite as it appeared to be no different than many of the other action series that made their appearance in the 1980s. I also thought that Van Patten didn't come across convincingly and that perhaps the show would have benefited from someone a few years older. The fact that it only ran to 13 episodes is also no big surprise. Halfway through watching the DVD box set I had the distinct impression that even if this had been allowed to go further it would have struggled for new and innovative storylines.