Wednesday Rewind: Remo - Armed and Dangerous by @destroytheearth

Family action-based TV shows were ten-a-penny in the 80s. All were rubbish, but a few were also awesome.

For all the ones that are remembered fondly - The A-Team, Knight Rider, Airwolf, Streethawk, etc - there are many that are forgotten and even more that never made it beyond the pilot; and of all of those, Remo is the greatest tragedy.


Re-released as a film, the Remo pilot, also known as Remo Williams; The Adventure Begins, was so full of action that it seemed like a video nasty when I was eleven. Only now do I realise that it barely rates a 15 for swearing.

Based on a series of spy novels, the plot concerns a New York cop whose death is faked, when in reality he is kidnapped by a secret crime-fighting organisation. He is then holed up with a Kill Bill-style martial arts master who trains him to be a bullet-dodging super assassin.

Let's be frank, this is not Shakespeare. This is 80s, direct-to-video ultra cheese, but it's damn entertaining. It comes across like a Jackie Chan movie, with a mix of impressive action sequences, bat's-arse insane comedy and pulp science fiction. There's also a Saturday action serial feel to it, with danger around every turn, yet nonetheless, pedestrian danger; for example, a stolen truck used in a getaway is suddenly found to have no brakes...

You'll also find a mix of to-later-be-(kinda)-famous celebs: Fred Ward, Joel Grey and Captain Janeway herself, Kate Mulgrew. Grey is by far the most impressive, with his "Korean" martial arts master raising plenty of genuine lols.

If you have any love for 80s trash like Knight Rider and The A-Team, you could do worse than spend a few quid on this.