Import/Export TV- Sapphire and Steel- 'Escape Through A Crack in Time'

 It's Doctor Who...are they again?  

This is Sapphire and Steel, a British Sci-Fi Show that never quite reached Whovian levels of fandom.  It definitely is going for that niche though.  It has strange creatures, a mysterious Lead (or two), time-travel shenanigans and that dry British wit.

Who knows if I'll cover more of this, but I committed myself to watching all 6 Parts of their first Adventure, so I might as well make the most of this...

A young man experiences a weird phenomenon at home as his Parents read the *neutered* version of Ring Around the Rosie to his little Sister.

They vanish and the clocks are all messed up...

Two strangers show up at his House after this.

They call themselves Sapphire and Steel.
They were apparently sent by...um, nature itself (or something) to solve cases like this.

Their names are what base element they represent.
Pretentious enough for you?

They prove that they aren't crazy when they demonstrate real power.

They are there to help the Parents, who apparently got sucked through the titular 'Crack in Time.'

The logic here is very odd- reading old poetry in an old House can make cracks for creatures trapped outside of time.

If you look like her after I just explained that to you, you're not alone.

They call in another element- Lead- when things get worse.

The time-loose creatures- represented by balls of light- keep tricking the kids into doing stuff and our Heroes can't quite keep an eye on them.

Is three Elements enough to untangle this mystery?

Obviously, yes.  This is only the first adventure.

*

A strange, dense and kind of silly tale.  The whole idea- at least in theory- is really interesting.  The pair as inter-dimensional beings that help people in times of strange, cosmic issues- good.  The chemistry between the 2 Leads is nice too.  They make a good Cop-bad Cop duo here.  Steel is stern at first, but it soon becomes clear that he really cares.  Sapphire makes an immediate connection with the girl, which helps smooth things over.  

Speaking of the girl, this was her last credit- aw.  

Obviously, our Leads would go on to very long Careers, most notably 'Steel' would be 'Donald Mallard' on NCIS- not a bad gig.  

The biggest issue here is probably the Budget and presentation.  Aside from a few really good moments, you get people just in the same House the whole time and very little in the way of good effects.  The 'light ball' effect is just them shining flashlights on the ground. 

 I do think that this 6-Part Story could have probably been less parts if they really wanted to condense it.  

Even long before Netflix was a thing, Shows decided that they needed to be 'x' number of Episodes long and made Stories work to fit them...as opposed to letting them flow naturally.  

The Show is all on Tubi, so I may check out more in the future.  There's always more to see...

A decent Show that doesn't quite find its rhythm on the first go.  I may see if future installments do it better.