Pimp: The Invisible Man (2000)
(Made for smallfandomfest.)
"George Orwell said that 'Myths which are believed in, tend to become true'. Now, I've never been big on belief, but I believe in something now. That a big chunk of myth is locked inside my head. Yeah, I figure that makes me about two percent myth, myself. Two percent of everything people disregard, disbelieve and secretly hope is real." - Darien Fawkes
A crime fighting ex-thief with a penchant for quoting dead people and a secret agent taking one too many anti-depressants take on nefarious organizations. The catch? They're buckets of crazy. Oh, and one of them can turn invisible.
Now, don't confuse this with the show from the '50s. This is what 2000-2002 had to offer: The Invisible Man, or better known to its fans as I-Man.
Say What, Fawkes?
"There once was a story about a man that could turn invisible. I thought it was only a story until it happened to me. You see, there's this stuff called quicksilver that bends light. My brother and some scientists made into a synthetic gland and that's where I come in. You see, I was facing life in prison, so we made a deal, they put the gland in my brain, I walk free. The operation was a complete success, but that's where everything started to go wrong."
Or, at least, that's how Darien Fawkes, the Invisible Man, puts the show's premise in the series' intro sequence. And, he's not wrong: things start to go wrong, and fast. Darien, gland in brain, gets recruited by The Agency, a totally underfunded branch of the government. Easy, right? Do some spy work for the government and get a legit paycheck. Only, there's more to invisibility than meets the eye (<-pun). The gland in his head? Well, it causes this little problem called Quicksilver Madness. Basically, it poisons him slowly, and if he doesn't get his hands on a counteragent after using his invisibility a few times, he turns into a homicidal nutso (to put it in scientific terms). The Agency has the counteragent, and his Keeper (aka Claire) will give him his shots if he's a good lil' agent.
"Being blackmailed by the government really gets a guy in touch with his emotions."
The show revolves around Darien working with his new Agency partner, Bobby Hobbes, as they fight bad guys and search for a way to get the gland out of Darien.
If you tune into the show's Pilot, you should immediately get a good sense of the type of comedy, action, and drama the show has to offer. You'll probably know by the end whether you want to stick around for more.
What's to Love, Bobby?
You know, it struck me while I was watching my Invisible Man dvds that this would have made a great anime. (This is only partly due to the fact that Darien has anime, how-much-gel-is-in-that, hair.) And, maybe that's why I like it so much. Is the science in the science fiction cheesy? Yup. Is this an example of how real federal agencies are run? I hope not. Does Darien scream the words "HELL NO!" too often? Sure. Does any of that take away from the show? Not for me.
If I had to pin-point the best thing about I-Man, I'd have to say it's the relationship between Darien Fawkes and Bobby Hobbes. At its heart, this is a buddy-partner show. These two are just damned hilarious when they're bouncing lines off of one another.
(The Agency does not cover long distance phone calls.)
Another thing I love? Crazy guys. Yeah, I'll just put that out there. The threat of Quicksilver Madness is a fun plot device, and it keeps Darien's "invisibility" from becoming an easy cop-out.
Darien: "There was a mime. I beat the Hell out of a mime. What happened to him? Is he okay?"
Bobby: "Relax, he did not recover."
Darien: "Thank God."
(Red eyes, silver eyes - I'm easy to please.)
Who's in It, Keeper?
Sure, there are plenty of minor characters to keep one entertained, but I like to stick to the basics. Here are the players.
Darien Fawkes: The one with sticky fingers, gravity defying hair, and an invisibility gland in his head.
(Plus, he has a cool name, right?)
Occupation: Ex Career Criminal (with a heart of gold) turned Invisible Man for Uncle Sam.
Quirk: He quotes. A lot.
Extra Something Special: He's extremely afraid of spiders.
Quote: "Aww, crap!"
~*~
Bobby Hobbes: The one with a bad attitude, a gun, and a small paycheck.
Occupation: Former Marine turned Agency agent.
Quirk: Talks about himself in third person. Often.
Extra Something Special: He might be paranoid, medicated, and cranky, but he's a top-notch agent trained by the CIA and FBI.
Quote: (By Darien, on Bobby Hobbes) "I've learned a lotta things since I started working with Bobby Hobbes. The names of all the most popular anti-depressants for starters."
~*~
The Keeper: The one with the accent and the needles.
Occupation: The Agency's medical doctor. Also, Darien's babysitter.
Quirk: Doesn't like people to know her name. But *spoiler* we all know it's Claire. Yeah.
Extra Something Special: She makes sure you get awesome tattoos that help you keep up with your meds.
Quote: "When you're invisible, the only person who can truly watch you is yourself."
~*~
Honorable Mentions:
The Official and Eberts: The ones who rule the roost and do the paperwork.
Darien: "You're in the spy business, and you don't have a safe house?!"
The Official: "It was either a safe house or the electric bill."
"I love the smell of toner in the morning."
Who Shows It Some Love, Eberts?
I-Man may be considered a small fandom, but it still has hardcore fans. At the moment, it has over 850 fanfics written at fanfiction.net (including crossovers). I'll let you take a wild guess as to what couple most people "ship" in this fandom. Go head, guess.
Can't have a buddy con/cop show without creating some slash fans. As you've surely figured out by now, Darien/Bobby have a devoted following on both the bromance and romance level. Another popular couple includes Claire (The Keeper)/Darien. Me? I was kind of drawn to the Claire/Bobby chemistry.
If you want to get in on the fandom, a great place to visit would be InvisibleManOnline, where you can find info on the show and fanart, or the show's Fanlore Wiki.
Hold the Phone, DeFöhn.
Oh, so now you're wondering where you can watch, The Invisible Man?
Right now the DVDs of season 1 are available at Amazon and other retailers for a sickeningly low price (even Bobby Hobbs could afford them), but for those of us who like our awesome millennium shows even cheaper, we have the what The Agency would refer to as "the interzweb." All two seasons worth of episodes are currently available free here:
HULU
IMDb
"By the way, I want my tombstone to say, 'Too late, he's already dead.' You know, just in case more people show up wanting to screw my life over." - Darien Fawkes
"George Orwell said that 'Myths which are believed in, tend to become true'. Now, I've never been big on belief, but I believe in something now. That a big chunk of myth is locked inside my head. Yeah, I figure that makes me about two percent myth, myself. Two percent of everything people disregard, disbelieve and secretly hope is real." - Darien Fawkes
A crime fighting ex-thief with a penchant for quoting dead people and a secret agent taking one too many anti-depressants take on nefarious organizations. The catch? They're buckets of crazy. Oh, and one of them can turn invisible.
Now, don't confuse this with the show from the '50s. This is what 2000-2002 had to offer: The Invisible Man, or better known to its fans as I-Man.
Say What, Fawkes?
"There once was a story about a man that could turn invisible. I thought it was only a story until it happened to me. You see, there's this stuff called quicksilver that bends light. My brother and some scientists made into a synthetic gland and that's where I come in. You see, I was facing life in prison, so we made a deal, they put the gland in my brain, I walk free. The operation was a complete success, but that's where everything started to go wrong."
Or, at least, that's how Darien Fawkes, the Invisible Man, puts the show's premise in the series' intro sequence. And, he's not wrong: things start to go wrong, and fast. Darien, gland in brain, gets recruited by The Agency, a totally underfunded branch of the government. Easy, right? Do some spy work for the government and get a legit paycheck. Only, there's more to invisibility than meets the eye (<-pun). The gland in his head? Well, it causes this little problem called Quicksilver Madness. Basically, it poisons him slowly, and if he doesn't get his hands on a counteragent after using his invisibility a few times, he turns into a homicidal nutso (to put it in scientific terms). The Agency has the counteragent, and his Keeper (aka Claire) will give him his shots if he's a good lil' agent.
"Being blackmailed by the government really gets a guy in touch with his emotions."
The show revolves around Darien working with his new Agency partner, Bobby Hobbes, as they fight bad guys and search for a way to get the gland out of Darien.
If you tune into the show's Pilot, you should immediately get a good sense of the type of comedy, action, and drama the show has to offer. You'll probably know by the end whether you want to stick around for more.
What's to Love, Bobby?
You know, it struck me while I was watching my Invisible Man dvds that this would have made a great anime. (This is only partly due to the fact that Darien has anime, how-much-gel-is-in-that, hair.) And, maybe that's why I like it so much. Is the science in the science fiction cheesy? Yup. Is this an example of how real federal agencies are run? I hope not. Does Darien scream the words "HELL NO!" too often? Sure. Does any of that take away from the show? Not for me.
If I had to pin-point the best thing about I-Man, I'd have to say it's the relationship between Darien Fawkes and Bobby Hobbes. At its heart, this is a buddy-partner show. These two are just damned hilarious when they're bouncing lines off of one another.
(The Agency does not cover long distance phone calls.)
Another thing I love? Crazy guys. Yeah, I'll just put that out there. The threat of Quicksilver Madness is a fun plot device, and it keeps Darien's "invisibility" from becoming an easy cop-out.
Darien: "There was a mime. I beat the Hell out of a mime. What happened to him? Is he okay?"
Bobby: "Relax, he did not recover."
Darien: "Thank God."
(Red eyes, silver eyes - I'm easy to please.)
Who's in It, Keeper?
Sure, there are plenty of minor characters to keep one entertained, but I like to stick to the basics. Here are the players.
Darien Fawkes: The one with sticky fingers, gravity defying hair, and an invisibility gland in his head.
(Plus, he has a cool name, right?)
Occupation: Ex Career Criminal (with a heart of gold) turned Invisible Man for Uncle Sam.
Quirk: He quotes. A lot.
Extra Something Special: He's extremely afraid of spiders.
Quote: "Aww, crap!"
~*~
Bobby Hobbes: The one with a bad attitude, a gun, and a small paycheck.
Occupation: Former Marine turned Agency agent.
Quirk: Talks about himself in third person. Often.
Extra Something Special: He might be paranoid, medicated, and cranky, but he's a top-notch agent trained by the CIA and FBI.
Quote: (By Darien, on Bobby Hobbes) "I've learned a lotta things since I started working with Bobby Hobbes. The names of all the most popular anti-depressants for starters."
~*~
The Keeper: The one with the accent and the needles.
Occupation: The Agency's medical doctor. Also, Darien's babysitter.
Quirk: Doesn't like people to know her name. But *spoiler* we all know it's Claire. Yeah.
Extra Something Special: She makes sure you get awesome tattoos that help you keep up with your meds.
Quote: "When you're invisible, the only person who can truly watch you is yourself."
~*~
Honorable Mentions:
The Official and Eberts: The ones who rule the roost and do the paperwork.
Darien: "You're in the spy business, and you don't have a safe house?!"
The Official: "It was either a safe house or the electric bill."
"I love the smell of toner in the morning."
Who Shows It Some Love, Eberts?
I-Man may be considered a small fandom, but it still has hardcore fans. At the moment, it has over 850 fanfics written at fanfiction.net (including crossovers). I'll let you take a wild guess as to what couple most people "ship" in this fandom. Go head, guess.
Can't have a buddy con/cop show without creating some slash fans. As you've surely figured out by now, Darien/Bobby have a devoted following on both the bromance and romance level. Another popular couple includes Claire (The Keeper)/Darien. Me? I was kind of drawn to the Claire/Bobby chemistry.
If you want to get in on the fandom, a great place to visit would be InvisibleManOnline, where you can find info on the show and fanart, or the show's Fanlore Wiki.
Hold the Phone, DeFöhn.
Oh, so now you're wondering where you can watch, The Invisible Man?
Right now the DVDs of season 1 are available at Amazon and other retailers for a sickeningly low price (even Bobby Hobbs could afford them), but for those of us who like our awesome millennium shows even cheaper, we have the what The Agency would refer to as "the interzweb." All two seasons worth of episodes are currently available free here:
HULU
IMDb
"By the way, I want my tombstone to say, 'Too late, he's already dead.' You know, just in case more people show up wanting to screw my life over." - Darien Fawkes