Black Scorpion was an action-crime TV series that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2001. It ran for 22 episodes. The series is based on two Roger Corman Showtime TV-movies: Black Scorpion (1995) and its sequel Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (1997). The show focuses on a female police officer who, by night, takes to the streets and fights crime as the superhero the Black Scorpion.
The Black Scorpion’s real name is Darcy Walker, played by Michelle Lintel. She lives in Angel City where she works as a police detective. Darcy’s father was shot by the city’s crooked district attorney. The D.A. was arrested, but the charges were suspiciously dropped. That was when Darcy decided to take to the streets as the vigilante, Black Scorpion.
Charles Fleischer makes a guest appearance in Episode 1.15 “Bad Sport” as Dr. Cairo Praktus, a mad scientist who uses his genius to create artificially enhanced super villains. Lou Ferrigno makes a cameo appearance in Episode 1.14 “Virtual Vice;” and Ben McCain appeared in 16 episodes as anchor/reporter Don MacDonald. Also, a guest appearance was made by Dave Mustaine, who portrayed the pyromaniac Torchy Thompson. During his fight scenes, sound clips of Hangar 18 were played:
In the original Corman films, the role of Darcy was played by Joan Severance. In the series, she is a red-headed enforcer with a badge who enforces the law more efficiently without the badge as her crime-fighting alter-ego, Black Scorpion. She appears to be a big fan of the colour black, a fact she made clear during an interview after being asked with such a trivial question which would explain the colour of her costume. However, as shown in the first episode, her choice of the scorpion relates to an old fable about a scorpion trying to cross a river, which her father told her.
In 2002, Episode 1.1, 1.3 and 1.8 were combined into a 2002 straight to video movie called Sting of the Black Scorpion.
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