"Chuck Versus Jake 2.0 Versus The Infiltrator" by Troy H. Cheek on Oct 06, 2008
Do me a favor. Listen to this description and tell me which television show I'm talking about: A regular Joe is exposed to some fantastic technology which bonds to him, turning him into the ultimate secret agent. He is recruited by a government agency to fight for truth, justice, and the American way. Although there will be attempts to remove the technology or intentionally create other, more qualified agents, these will all fail. Our regular Joe will be forced to continue, give up the woman he loves, and grow as a person, just to stay alive.
Many years back -- a quick search tells me it was 1987 -- the CBS networks had some gimmick where they would show failed tv series pilots as "specials." These were shows that didn't impress the network executives enough to green light the series but cost enough that said executives wanted to get a little return on their investment. There was even a little contest attached to it. If enough people called this special number (for 50 cents a call), they would make a series based on the pilot anyway. I remember scrounging in the couch for change so my parents would let me call that number.
The pilot which impressed me was The Infiltrator. Scott Bakula played Doctor Sanderson, an underappreciated research scientist working on a teleportation project which none of his collegues ever took seriously. To impress a particularly cute and curvy collegue, Sanderson teleports himself into her lab. Unfortunately, he teleports himself into the exact location of her pet project, an automated computerized robotic space probe designed to react to and destroy any danger to itself. Sanderson and the probe, called the Infiltrator, bond at the molecular level. Now, whenever Sanderson feels himself in danger, the Infiltrator comes forth. Well, the Infiltrator sometimes comes forth all by itself, confusing rush hour traffic jams as an attack and whatnot. This increases his strength, gives him special abilities, the whole nine yards. The transformation sequences were pretty cool and just a tad scary. I loved them.
Naturally, Sanderson ended up having to call upon his inner Infiltrator to save the day. This impresses the particularly cute and curvy collegue, though of course the secret agent stuff nixes any possibility of a relationship. I believe he gets recruited as a secret agent at the end of the episode, thus insuring many future adventures. Had the series been picked up, which it wasn't. Rumor has it that while The Infiltrator received the most votes of any of the pilots shown, CBS chose to produce some sitcom instead. It was cheaper.
Fast forward to 2003, when Jake 2.0 hits the air. Christopher Gorham is Jake Foley, a computer technician for the NSA who secretly longs for a chance to work on the field. While doing tech support in the laboratory, he's caught in a shootout and exposed to nanotechnology which bonds to his body at a molecular level. This increases his strength, gives him special abilities, the whole nine yards. Jake realizes his dream of becoming a field agent. He also develops a crush on a particularly cute and curvy collegue, though of course the secret agent stuff nixes any possibility of a relationship.
Jake didn't get any cool transformation sequences. The changes were all inside, mostly in his mind, which could link with all sorts of technology, see patterns where nobody else could, things like that. He did get a major boost in strength and agility, thanks to the nanofibers in his muscles and a hyperstimulated adrenal gland. He could also do a lot of extra postprocessing on his sensory inputs, meaning he could see in the dark and pick one voice out of a crowd. He was a Superman, but a fallable and likeable one.
Jake 2.0 actually lasted most of a season before it was cancelled. I think I've managed to catch most of the episodes when they were re-run recently on the Sci-Fi Channel. I thought it was quite good. During the course of these episodes, Jake went from wide-eyed fish out of water to slightly less wide-eyed fish half in the water. He slowly got a grasp on things. I liked that part. What I didn't like so much was the metastory that started developing. Some secret shadow organization started becoming interested in Jake, and the show seemed to be more about the shadow organization than about Jake and his weekly missions.
I heard rumor that Jake 2.0 would return to television with new episodes, made for TV movies, or something like that. The time that this was supposed to happen came and went with no new Jake adventures. However...
Zachary Levi is Charles Irving "Chuck" Bartowski in Chuck. Chuck's a geek at the local big box computer store. An old buddy sends him an email. Disregarding his own advice about opening email attachments, Chuck clicks on the file and is bombarded with a series of images. This embeds an ultra-secret government database directly into his brain. Not quite technology bonded to his body at the molecular level, but close enough for me. Chuck can't access this information directly, but his subconscious does notice patterns and "flashes" bits and pieces to his conscious mind. This doesn't exactly translate to increased strength and special abilities, but it does make him wanted by various government agencies. Since the original database was destroyed, he's the only source of this information. The government assigns a couple of agents to him. One is very manly and gruff. He can't wait to finish this babysitting and get back on a real assignment. The other, well, isn't. Chuck also develops a crush on a particularly cute and curvy collegue, though of course the secret agent stuff nixes any possibility of a relationship.
Chuck is a fish out of water, without even a scientific mind or secret agent training to fall back on, but his geekiness comes in handy. He might not know ancient military tactics, but he does know first person shooters, which gets him out of at least one jam.
I've only caught a couple of episodes, but Chuck reminds me of both The Infiltrator and Jake 2.0. In my mind, at least, Jake 2.0 is a sequel to The Infiltrator, and Chuck is a sequel to both. I remember The Infiltrator as mostly action-adventure and Jack 2.0 as mostly action-comedy. Chuck seems to be mostly comedy with some action mixed in. But all poured from the same mold. In any case, they're all some pretty good viewing.
