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Misfits of Science was a (less than) one season television show on NBC that aired from October 4th, 1985 until it was cancelled in February 1986. It ran for 17 episodes, only 16 of which were aired during the run. The show had a few problems, but the characters and plots tended to be excellent. Rather than relying on a slightly altered formula and stage sets for each episode as was common for television of the era, the plots tended to be good, slightly goofy science fiction ideas that ranged far and wide, often filming outside and at various locations around L.A. as they traveled around in their Fundae Sundae van. The Misfits themselves were a motley group of failed experiments, accidents and inherent abilities that were at the center of the episodes.
Since the cancellation, the series has maintained a small following and a surprisingly warm memory to a large number of people who watched the episodes, either during their initial run or the occasional reruns on SciFi Network. Like many television shows, it has a curse associated with it, but it also started the career of Courtney Cox and featured a major action star whose face was never seen in most of his movies.
Although the seventeenth episode wasn't aired in the original run, SciFi Network bought the rights to the series and has now broadcast all of them. Neither DVDs nor videotapes of the series are commercially available, although the pilot movie ("Deep Freeze") was released on VHS (pictured to the right). Universal Studios owns the rights to the series, and they are somewhat random about what shows they decide to release on DVD.
In other countries it has been broadcast at various times under different titles. In France it was "Superminds", and first aired July 30th, 1987.
Trivia
- Tim Kring, creator of the 2006 hit Heroes, was a writer on Misfits.
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Links
- Warp Section has a pair of good articles here and here about Misfits.
- Koch Media GmbH Germany released a 5 DVD box in January 2008 "Die Spezialisten unterwegs", see for details -> www.amazon.de
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Misfits of Science was a (less than) one season television show on NBC that aired from October 4th, 1985 until it was cancelled in February 1986. It ran for 17 episodes, only 16 of which were aired during the run. The show had a few problems, but the characters and plots tended to be excellent. Rather than relying on a slightly altered formula and stage sets for each episode as was common for television of the era, the plots tended to be good, slightly goofy science fiction ideas that ranged far and wide, often filming outside and at various locations around L.A. as they traveled around in their Fundae Sundae van. The Misfits themselves were a motley group of failed experiments, accidents and inherent abilities that were at the center of the episodes.