Remember When: The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.

 

The many versions of "weird western" out there all seem to have the same thing in common: small but dedicated fan bases, and an utter inability to catch on in the mainstream. Even Deadlands, the RPG heavyweight for the genre is a niche product in a niche industry. On the screens both large and small we have had a number of attempts, most of which never fully catch a wave. 

In 1993 we got the steampunk sci-fi "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." on Fox. On Friday nights. Yeah, this show was all but destined to be a one and done series and, while history shows that the show managed a full season order, in the end that was not an inaccurate prognostication at the time, and yet for myself and man others this show remains a fond memory in TV history. Bruce Campbell had (and still has) more than enough charisma to lead a series, the writing was snappy and smart, and the weird season 1 meta-plot with a time traveling golden orb from the future that could empower people with incredible abilities remains a fun way to stitch together the shows few episodes and tell some really different western style stories. 

Maybe its the old nostalgia glasses painting a rosy view of a B-grade show, or maybe it was just as ahead of its time as another sci-fi western that Fox would kill in the Friday slot just a few years later. All I can say is that I have fond memories and that it has colored aspects of my gaming for nearly 30 years.

The primary antagonist was outlaw John Bly, played by the always excellent Billy Drago. Bly was trying to obtain the mysterious golden orb and had killed Brisco County Sr. setting off the events of the series. The orb, we would learn later, was sent from the future, and had numerous ill-defined powers: basically it was the perfect MacGuffin, it was powerful, cool looking, and the good guys really didn't want the bad guys to get it.

I've recently started playing the DCC inspired/adjacent Weird Frontiers RPG, and I think I am going to need to design an adventure, or adventure arc, around a mysterious orb, a time traveling villain, and the heroes who stand to prevent darkness falling upon the land. I wish we had more of this show, and more weird western genre mash ups in our lives. This, Firefly, Cowboys and Aliens, Wild Wild West (and its 1960s TV origin The Wild Wild West), give us fans brief and fleeting views of what could be and what could have been. I can't help but wish that we had more of all of it.