arcy Walker (Lintel) has a secret. By day she’s a cop who follows the rules. However, by night, or when the bad guys come out to play, she dons a mask and some black leather to become Black Scorpion, avenger of the weak and innocent. Darcy discovered her superhero alter ego after her father was murdered by the evil Breathtaker. Now she uses high-tech weapons and the Scorpion Mobile to achieve the justice she could never find after the death of her father.
As the pilot episode opens, Darcy meets her new partner, Steve Rafferty (Valentine), only to discover his main goal is to take down the Black Scorpion. At first they’re not sure what to make of each other. Darcy knows a partner could be dangerous for her, and Steven isn’t sure about this lady cop who doesn’t like to wear her bulletproof vest. But before they have time to argue about it, they are thrown into a battle with the psychotic FireArm (Martin Kove).
FireArm lost one of his arms after his helicopter was shot down, and he has turned himself into a human arsenal. He has vowed to destroy Mayor Worth (Robert Pine) and the City of Angels. But the corrupt mayor and the city may have bigger problems. The mayor has brought in a private task force to protect the city led by Gen. Stryker. Unfortunately for the mayor and the city, the good general proves to be even more deranged than FireArm.
Now it’s up to Black Scorpion to save the city, while keeping her new partner from discovering the truth about who she really is.
Corman's comic characterization
The SCI FI Channel’s newest original series has all the makings of a terrific comic-book-style adventure series. Roger Corman created it, there is a kick-ass babe at the center of the action, there are lots of explosions, and it has the wonderful promise of terrifically imagined villains in the show's future episodes (played by Adam West, Frank Gorshin and Soupy Sales). What a shame the series is so poorly realized.
Only the pilot episode was available for review, so there’s certainly hope this series could get much better. However, based on the merits of the first episode, “Armed and Dangerous,” Black Scorpion has a long way to go.
Black Scorpion wants to be a dark version of Batman, more like the film than the old television series. Instead, the opening episode of Black Scorpion has no humor. This poorly written, choppy wannabe never creates a sense of who the characters are or what drives them. The information that Darcy’s father was killed by Breathtaker came out of the press release and was never addressed in the opening episode. There’s no real setup at all. Black Scorpion just exists, but we don’t know anything about her.
As for the actors, they don’t have a chance. Pine (as the mayor) and Kove (as FireArm) are fine character actors, but they come off badly here along with most of the supporting cast. Lintel (as Darcy) and Valentine (as Steve) do better because they’re given more screen time and not made to look like fools. But there’s never a chance for sparks to fly between them as partners who are attracted to each other.
