Metal Hurlant Chronicles

This French series (shot in English) adapts stories from the "Metal Hurlant" magazine, which eventually became "Heavy Metal" in the U.S. Director Guillaume Lubrano helms six 25-minute episodes with the common thread being a metal/rock meteor (the Metal Hurlant) screaming past each of these alien worlds before each story.

"King's Crown" has peasants on a floating rock of a planet engaging in a combat tournament to determine the new king. Two of the better combatants are Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins. "Shelter Me" has a girl (Michelle Ryan) waking up in a bomb shelter and being told by a man (James Marsters) that he saved her before a nuclear war. Soon she starts doubting his story. "Three on a Match" has three men (Craig Fairbrass, Dominique Pinon, and Eriq Ebouaney) battling for space on an escape pod. "Red Light / Cold Hard Facts" is an episode split in two and was apparently the pilot that Lubrano shot to get the series greenlit. "Red Light" focuses on a prisoner (David Belle of the BANLIEUE 13 series) fighting a guard (French MMA fighter Cyril Diabate) while trying to escape a high-tech prison; "Cold Hard Facts" has folks in the 24th century discovering a 20th century cryogenic patient that they resurrect. "Pledge of Anya" has a young warrior sent by his master (Rutger Hauer) to the planet Earth to destroy a "dragon." Finally, "Master of Destiny" focuses on a intergalactic hunter named Hondo (Joe Flanigan) who sets out on a quest to find a planet where the alien race can tell you when you are going to die. This one might gain the most interest from fans as it adapts a story co-written by Alejandro Jodorowsky back in the day.

Being not all that familiar with the source material, I still found this to be a fun series and got through the two and a half hours quickly. Lubrano has definitely chosen some good stories to adapt. Sure, you'll see some twists coming a mile away, but others not so much. He also has a pretty great visual style and some of the space shots are great, esp. for a low budget series. Another thing I liked was his casting as he got some good familiar faces in there (although I doubt Hauer was ever on set with anything but a green screen) and I'll never complain about seeing White and Adkins face off. A second season has been greenlit so look for that.