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Supertrain

 Supertrain
type
TVTItem
 Supertrain
label
Supertrain
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page
Supertrain
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comment
Hour-long comedy-drama series which debuted as a Midseason Replacement in 1979 on NBC. An attempt at emulating ABC's success with The Love Boat, Supertrain was essentially the same show with the Pacific Princess swapped out for the titular "Supertrain", a super-broad gauge, nuclear-powered bullet train that could cross the United States from coast to coast in 36 hours.The show was an abject disaster for NBC, who had produced the series by itself (initially with Dan Curtis in charge) and spared no expense in building both the elaborate sets and the complex, fragile model trains (one of which crashed during production and had to be replaced at great cost). Worse yet, once the series premiered, viewers simply weren't interested; attempts to retool the series by adding more suspense elements failed, and the series left the air in July 1979 after just five months and nine episodes.It's often been named the biggest flop in US television history, not just because of the derivative content but because it (combined with the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics) came so close to taking NBC down with it. It's never been released to syndication or home video, and this is unlikely to change anytime soon.However as of 29 January 2024 the full series can be found on YouTube in a very poor quality upload.
 Supertrain
fetched
2024-03-18T10:16:48Z
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parsed
2024-03-18T10:16:49Z
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processingComment
Dropped link to TheOtherWiki: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
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processingUnknown
TheOtherWiki
 Supertrain
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Supertrain / int_1fb947b6
type
Just Train Wrong
 Supertrain / int_1fb947b6
comment
Just Train Wrong: For starters, it was a broad-gauge rail that went for three thousand miles, it was Bigger on the Inside by a long shot, and despite being billed as a bullet train, a quick calculation puts its speed as less than 80 MPH. That's just the tip of the iceberg... As noted by The Other Wiki, the so-called "Supertrain" was much slower than the affordably-priced Amtrak Acela Express, French TGV and Japanese Shinkansen bullet trains. Furthermore, an onboard nuclear reactor is alarmingly dangerous (as Charles Stross once put it, "nothing makes a locomotive boiler explosion worse like adding reactor-grade uranium to the problem") and also ultimately rather pointless when you could just power the thing with a stationary power plant using overhead electrification.
 Supertrain / int_1fb947b6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Supertrain / int_1fb947b6
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1.0
 Supertrain
hasFeature
Supertrain / int_1fb947b6
 Supertrain / int_405f6f52
type
Recycled Soundtrack
 Supertrain / int_405f6f52
comment
Recycled Soundtrack: NBC would reuse a music cue for the Game Show Chain Reaction.
 Supertrain / int_405f6f52
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1.0
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 Supertrain
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Supertrain / int_405f6f52
 Supertrain / int_5c49af66
type
Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty
 Supertrain / int_5c49af66
comment
Men Are Strong, Women Are Pretty: Noticeable in the opening intro in the gym. The (musclebound) man is working out with a dumbbell; the woman is polishing her nails.
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1.0
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1.0
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Supertrain / int_5c49af66
 Supertrain / int_63b34edb
type
Thriller on the Express
 Supertrain / int_63b34edb
comment
Thriller on the Express: Many of the series' episodes had an example of this trope as either primary or secondary plots (especially after the retool).
 Supertrain / int_63b34edb
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1.0
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1.0
 Supertrain
hasFeature
Supertrain / int_63b34edb
 Supertrain / int_722b3319
type
Camp Gay
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comment
Camp Gay: The train's hairstylist, right down to the hairdryer belt holsters.
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1.0
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Supertrain / int_722b3319
 Supertrain / int_7c0dfe6a
type
Traintop Battle
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comment
Traintop Battle: The Pilot Movie climaxed with one of these. Obviously the fact it's on top of a nuclear-powered bullet train tried to exaggerate its seriousness.
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1.0
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Supertrain / int_7c0dfe6a
 Supertrain / int_8950ea66
type
"Strangers on a Train"-Plot Murder
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comment
"Strangers on a Train"-Plot Murder: One episode featured a literal "Strangers on a Train" plot with Dick Van Dyke as the psycho who suggests a murder swap with another passenger.
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1.0
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Supertrain / int_8950ea66
 Supertrain / int_905438eb
type
Recycled IN SPACE!
 Supertrain / int_905438eb
comment
Recycled In Space: It's The Love Boat on train tracks!
 Supertrain / int_905438eb
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
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hasFeature
Supertrain / int_905438eb
 Supertrain / int_a632f7fa
type
Cool Train
 Supertrain / int_a632f7fa
comment
Cool Train: As mentioned above, the Supertrain is a humongous nuclear-powered cruise-ship-on-land. The miniature model work became the main reason for the show's huge budget.
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1.0
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1.0
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Supertrain / int_a632f7fa
 Supertrain / int_a9f392fd
type
Pilot Movie
 Supertrain / int_a9f392fd
comment
Pilot Movie: The very first episode was 2 hours long.
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1.0
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Supertrain / int_a9f392fd
 Supertrain / int_af6e4054
type
Precap
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comment
Pre Cap: As appropriate for its era. Had the benefit of showcasing the numerous celebrity guest stars for each episode.
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1.0
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 Supertrain / int_b47d95be
type
No OSHA Compliance
 Supertrain / int_b47d95be
comment
Furthermore, an onboard nuclear reactor is alarmingly dangerous (as Charles Stross once put it, "nothing makes a locomotive boiler explosion worse like adding reactor-grade uranium to the problem") and also ultimately rather pointless when you could just power the thing with a stationary power plant using overhead electrification.
 Supertrain / int_b47d95be
featureApplicability
1.0
 Supertrain / int_b47d95be
featureConfidence
1.0
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hasFeature
Supertrain / int_b47d95be
 Supertrain / int_b53077b3
type
Take That!
 Supertrain / int_b53077b3
comment
Take That!: Countering the page quote:
 Supertrain / int_b53077b3
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1.0
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1.0
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hasFeature
Supertrain / int_b53077b3
 Supertrain / int_da1c8191
type
Writers Cannot Do Math
 Supertrain / int_da1c8191
comment
Writers Cannot Do Math: Supertrain had a top speed of 250 mph and cruised at 190 mph, but took 36 hours to cross the United States. As mentioned under Just Train Wrong, that meant Supertrain would have to move at less than 80 mph. Of course, a train that large would take so long to accelerate and decelerate that its average speed would probably be a lot lower if it stopped at any intermediate cities between New York and Los Angeles... which doesn't make any more sense, because that completely negates the whole point of building a High Speed Rail line from coast to coast in the first place.
 Supertrain / int_da1c8191
featureApplicability
1.0
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Supertrain / int_da1c8191
 Supertrain / int_eac7bacb
type
Gratuitous Disco Sequence
 Supertrain / int_eac7bacb
comment
Gratuitous Disco Sequence: The original intro showed a dance floor that clearly took its cues from Saturday Night Fever.
 Supertrain / int_eac7bacb
featureApplicability
1.0
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featureConfidence
1.0
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Supertrain / int_eac7bacb
 Supertrain / int_f0f03464
type
TheSeventies
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comment
The '70s: The WHAT-ies? We can't hear you over the Disco Funk!
 Supertrain / int_f0f03464
featureApplicability
1.0
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 Supertrain
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Supertrain / int_f0f03464
 Supertrain / int_fe1b2e75
type
Bigger on the Inside
 Supertrain / int_fe1b2e75
comment
For starters, it was a broad-gauge rail that went for three thousand miles, it was Bigger on the Inside by a long shot, and despite being billed as a bullet train, a quick calculation puts its speed as less than 80 MPH. That's just the tip of the iceberg...
 Supertrain / int_fe1b2e75
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
 Supertrain
hasFeature
Supertrain / int_fe1b2e75
 Supertrain / int_name
type
ItemName
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1.0
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Supertrain / int_name
 Supertrain / int_name
itemName
Supertrain

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Supertrain
hasFeature
Cool Train / int_bfa193d4
 Supertrain
hasFeature
Creator Killer / int_bfa193d4
 Supertrain
hasFeature
"Strangers on a Train"-Plot Murder / int_bfa193d4
 Supertrain
seeAlso
Supertrain
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hasFeature
They Copied It, So It Sucks! / int_bfa193d4
 Supertrain
hasFeature
Vehicle Title / int_bfa193d4