"So this is the gig, huh? I let you talk me into this crazy Hardy boys gig, we've been detectives for two weeks, we solve our first case, and our client starts swinging at us. I don't like this profession." - Nick Ryder (Joe Penny) to his partner Cody Allen when their first client dislikes the results of their investigation
Riptide: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Jude Clement
Take a dollop of Magnum, P.I., a smidge of Simon & Simon, a pinch of The Rockford Files, and the zest from Revenge of the Nerds. Blend well. What do you get? Super producer Stephen J. Cannell's frothy Riptide, a 1984-86 private eye series that combined California cool and the mid-80s fascination with the burgeoning home computer market to produce an absolutely oddball mix of the derivative and the unique.
Cody Allen (Melrose Place's Perry King) and Nick Ryder (Jake and the Fat Man's Joe Penny) have been friends for ten years. They met while they were M.P.s. After leaving the military, they earned a living taking tourists on scenic excursions around the California coastal town of King's Harbor in Nick's smoke-belching, bright pink helicopter The Screaming Mimi, his cabin cruiser Riptide, and Cody's speedboat Ebbtide. Until two weeks ago, that is. It was then that Cody convinced Nick that they could make more money by opening their own detective agency, thus putting their military police experience to good use. After a slow start, they decide that they could use the technical expertise of fellow veteran Murray "The Boz" Bozinsky (Breaking Away's Thom Bray), a nerdy, world famous computer genius. They occasionally get help from Mama Jo (Honey West's Anne Francis), the no-nonsense skipper of the Barefoot Contessa, a charter boat with an all-girl crew of bikini-clad beauties.
Riptide was one of my favorite shows when I was thirteen. Seeing these episodes again for the first time in over twenty years, it becomes instantly clear that the series will mostly appeal to viewers' inner thirteen-year-olds. The cases are as skimpy as the clothing worn by most of the male and female cast. The humor is extremely unsophisticated. Nick and Cody have an ongoing competition to see who has had the most broken noses (as the series starts, they're tied at six apiece). Boz decides to get in shape by taking up jogging but can't even make it to the end of the pier. Of course any series that features a pink helicopter with a gaping mouth painted on the front isn't really aiming to be taken all that seriously.
One of Riptide's most unintentionally funny aspects is its dated, hopelessly optimistic attitude toward computers and technology. In an era when most viewers had probably never seen a computer in real life, Riptide portrays them as almost magical devices. When Boz types in even the tiniest scrap of information, the computer spits out complex solutions to the gang's problems. Neato! And don't forget the Roboz, his computerized robotic assistant whose head looks like an orange Nerf football.
Geena Davis (Commander in Chief) gives a likeable performance as Boz's younger sister Melba in "Raiders of the Lost Sub." She has terrific rapport with the show's stars. Unfortunately, the plot of this episode is a sub-par mishmash involving stolen gold, duplicitous magazine editors, and Nazi sympathizers.
Other familiar faces appearing in the first season include Cindy Pickett (St. Elsewhere), Mary-Margaret Humes (Dawson's Creek), Kelly Preston, Stepfanie Kramer (Hunter), Danny Wells (The Jeffersons), Marshall Teague (Walker, Texas Ranger), Joseph Sirola (Hawaii Five-O), Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue), Lance Henriksen (Millennium), and Christopher McDonald (Thelma & Louise).
The thirteen episodes that make up Riptide: The Complete First Season are divided onto three discs. The discs are housed in two slim, clear plastic keepcases, one of which holds two discs. The fronts of the cases are decorated with photos of the series' stars - King on the first case and Perry on the second. The backs of the cases include titles and brief synopses for each episode. The interiors of the cases include stock photos of two different beach scenes. The keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve.
The DVD menus are simple and easy to navigate. Viewers can play all of the disc's episodes or choose an individual one. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
