1992’s Steel Justice is one of those sci fi TV pilots that did not fly because it was bad; really, really bad.
What Is It?
In a near future post-war world, the environment has deteriorated and crime has become rampant across the country. Police detective David Nash is one of the people tasked with defending his city from the criminal element that threatens to overrun it. He was once one of the city’s best cops, but he has been wracked with guilt after the death of his son which he believes was his fault. David has since fallen on hard times but a traveler in time arrives to explain that he possesses “the Gift”. This is the ability of transformation that only a few people have which allows them to morph smaller objects into larger ones, such as an assortment of rocks into Stonehenge or a wooden toy into the Trojan Horse. The traveler, who goes by the name of Jeremiah, guides David in the use of his ability which leads to him transforming his son’s robot dinosaur toy, the only remnant from the child’s life, into a giant fire-breathing machine that brings harsh justice to the criminals of David’s town.
Aired: NBC, April 5, 1992
Starring: Robert Taylor, J.A. Preston, Season Hubley, Roy Brocksmith, Robosaurus
Why Didn’t it Fly?
If this premise above sounds absolutely ridiculous and too far-fetched to be believed, well, you got the first half of that right. It is a pretty bonkers idea, but it did make its way to the small screen.
Many television pilots are made each year, some of which go on to series, some of which show unrealized potential, and some of which never should have been made. As you can guess, Steel Justice (not to be confused with the 1987 action film Steele Justice) belongs in that latter category. Apparently, some exec at NBC thought it would be a great idea to base a TV series on the real-life Robosaurus, a fire-breathing “robot” dinosaur that was a popular attraction at Monster Truck rallies in the day. So they cobbled together a script with a threadbare justification for the existence of giant robo-beast. It piled on plenty of sci fi and cop show cliches–and added a Blade Runner-esque look and feel for good measure–while the story essentially acted as an excuse to pad out time between scenes with Robosaurus in action (which were not too frequent because of the cost of operating the contraption).
The pilot actually aired as a movie of the week in Spring of 1992, but not surprisingly it did not prove to be a hit nor did a series follow. The logistics alone would have made this a tough call to add to the schedule because the cost to have Robosaurus on screen on a regular basis would have been high. And perhaps the other execs at NBC realized just how bad this was and decided to let it fade into TV oblivion after its sole airing. Steel Justice has since developed some notoriety for its awfulness, and you can find all sorts of posts on the internet gleefully picking it apart (just Google it and you will see). Jabootu’s Bad Movie Dimension has quite an impressive piece that reviews the movie scene by scene with plenty of snarky commentaries. And that is much more entertaining than watching the actual pilot.
Should It Be Rebooted?
Oh please no! Sure, modern-day CGI would be able to handle Robosaurus more affordably, but go back and read the premise. This thing was hackneyed through and through with almost nothing original or salvageable and plenty of so-bad-its-really-bad moments. Much more fun would be to put together a script about creating a sci fi TV pilot like this that is a total train wreck. That could deliver a snarky spoof on the television industry and would be worth watching. But let the Frankenstein-monster-of-a-movie that is Steel Justice rest in piece.
Where Can You Watch It?
The telefilm never received a home video release (for obvious reasons), but it does show up from time to time on YouTube. Feel free to sample its awesome dreadfulness, but if you can’t make it past the first ten minutes, go to Jabootu‘s rundown of the film for a better use of your time. And perhaps the MST3K folks will gift us with a riff on this one at some point.
Read about more Sci Fi TV pilots that did not fly at this link.
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