Devil’s Due’s newest series “The Odd Squad” is like The X-Files is headed by two of the three chicks from “Mean Girls,” and yet in spite of my inherent annoyance with the trite dialogue and cheesy pop culture references, I really enjoyed it.
As a guilty pleasure, “The Odd Squad” is a routine science fiction supernatural comedy series about a bubbly blond and her equally bubbly blonde sister who are asked to head a branch of the Office of Dimensional Defense to investigate the paranormal. Charlotte Springs is a simple college professor who isn’t as dumb as she looks, and she is forced to work with Frank Flood, a local stiff working for the government who has to team with both sisters to explore why the president’s son is turning in to a beast during the night. And by beast, I mean literal bipedal hairy beast.
It’s a common rule of nature. Games based on movies always suck, while movies based on games, also always suck. But hey, we know where studios are coming from. If a game is making millions and becoming a pop culture smash, then it’s only fitting a movie would have to be made. The problem is there’s yet to be a good movie that’s been adapted from a great video game. Deny it all you want, but let’s be honest, even “Mortal Kombat,” while cool, just wasn’t faithful to the game. It was PG-13, Shang Tsung was a younger man, and the movie is very cheesy these days.
“The Big Bang Theory” had every chance to fail. It was a forgettable premise, a formula concept and really didn’t look to offer up anything new. And yet it ended up being really good and addictive. I watched the pilot when it premiered and stuck with it because in spite of the broad comedy, cheesy gimmick, and pretty exhausting pop culture references, it’s an amusing and charming sitcom with some good laughs in store if you want to give it a chance.
