Sapphire & Steel

This is a BBC science fiction series starring David McCallum and Joanna Lumley that dates back to the mid-seventies. The descriptions in Netflix made me curious as heck. It reminds me of Doctor Who during the same time period, and not in a good way. It's slow-paced and has bad special effects, relying largely on the actors to carry the day, which they do, for the most part.

One problem with it is that the main characters aren't human. They don't have human motivations, and don't solve their problems with human solutions. They have powers that are never really explained, so you have only a vague idea of what their capabilities are. What they're trying to accomplish is often abstract, and resolved in highly non-visual ways, which doesn't make for good television. There are good reasons why you've probably never heard of this series.

On the other hand, there are some really good ideas in the stories themselves. I really like the idea of ghost stories that turn out to have scientific solutions. Yes, Doctor Who has gone there, too, but Sapphire and Steel do a better job in some respects. The slow pace lends itself to the creation of great atmosphere, often a lost art these days.

I'd really like to see a modern remake that gives a shade more information about the main characters and ups the pace just slightly to a more modern sensibility. I still can't recommend the original unless you really like one of the main actors and can cope with David Lynch-style pacing.