Season 1, Episode 8: 'King Con'
Genre: Adventure, Crime
The Protectors solve crimes all over the world through their freelance agency.
The Protectors was produced by Gerry Anderson and ran from 1972-1973 for 52 episodes over two seasons.
Analysis:
The Protectors follows many of the codes and conventions of crime dramas, but the episodes have the narrative structure of 'Howcatchem', so the audience know who committed the crime, but watch to discover how they will be brought to justice.
Technical conventions:
As in other crime shows, there are many chase scenes, but also when solving a crime the camera angle used is canted, confusing the viewer, and causing them to question what is true. There are also many establishing shots when seeing a location for the first time, which are probably filmed using a crane. The camera is often used to frame a character in a medium shot until a reveal, then it zooms in to frame them close-up so the audience can pay more attention to and think about the character's reaction.
Narrative conventions:
This show follows an episodic format each of which is 30 minutes long, and tells a closed narrative where a mystery is created which in the end solves the crime. However, there is also repetition, as the central cast return each episode but the location is always different.
Subtexts:
Binary opposition in also used in many episodes. For example, in King Con, good and evil are established as The Protectors are made to be seen as good, due to the fact that they put a lot of money on the line to get revenge on a con man. He is seen as evil because he has resold a painting given to him by one of The Protectors friends, just one of the women he has preyed on, in order to gain a profit.
Review:
What I found most interesting about The Protectors, especially during this episode, was the exotic locations which became backdrops for complicated crimes, which required the viewer to think whilst watching the show in order to draw their own conclusion about how The Protectors were going to catch the criminal. This show was produced by Gerry Anderson, whose show Space:1999 I have been researching for my historic TV show presentation. I found there were a lot of similarities between these shows, such as that they both feature a man and woman as their main characters, and are both set in somewhat exotic locations, space and abroad. However, because these locations are very different and meant these two shows were of different genres, I found that I liked different things about them both. The Protectors is set in the year it was created in, so the props and costumes act as a time stamp for that era, which I found interesting as they add a sense of realism to an otherwise quite escapist show. In contrast, Space:1999, made predictions about a future in 1999 with its props and costumes, so it is only dated by the methods of production that were used to create it. Overall, I enjoyed The Protectors and would probably continue watching it.
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