In 1975 Pittsburgh a mild-mannered civil servant named Edward Borman finds himself drawn into an unseen war between a shadowy government agency called “The League” and alien invaders called “The Mercury Men” who, at best, want to take over Earth. At worst, they may want to destroy it.
Filmed in razor-sharp black and white “The Mercury Men” is a throwback in other ways to earlier days of television where strong stories and excellent acting could overcome the lack of hi-tech special effects and elaborate sets. The brainchild of Pittsburgh-based producer Chris Preksta, “The Mercury Men” shows the influence of pioneering TV shows such as the “Outer Limits”, “Doctor Who?” and more recently, “The X-Files”.
The serial format is also a throwback to a time when “Captain Marvel” and “The Hardy Boys” would find themselves in seemingly inescapable traps drawing young viewers back to movie theaters week after week to be sure their heroes did in fact escape.
The Mercury Men takes a common sci-fi premise: the only thing protecting us from unimaginable evil is a heroic group of agents from an unknown agency who will do whatever takes and recruit (or draft) anyone they need to serve the cause. Mixing the eeriness of “The X-Files” with the deadpan seriousness of “The Outer Limits” along with a retro dash of Cold War paranoia, Preksta deftly leaves each of his 7 minute episodes in cliff-hangers designed in true serial story fashion to leave viewers eager for the next episode.
While today's sci-fi movie makers are seemingly determined to pack every moment of their films with flashy computer-generated mayhem, “The Mercury Men” goes the other way: fearless hero Jack Yaeger goes on his missions wearing a leather motorcycle jacket, leather flying helmet and aviator goggles. His enemies are either glowing outlines of stand-ins (including Preksta himself) or actors dressed in costumes vaguely reminiscent of the Cybermen of “Doctor Who?”.
While there is violence in “The Mercury Men” it's nowhere near the level of many of today's video games. Rather, Preksta uses suspense building tricks reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock to build tension and give viewers a real sense of relief when our heroes (of course) escape their latest deadly trap.
Preksta's skill and talent are not going unnoticed. Last January the International Academy of Web Television honored Chris Preksta as Best Director and honored the show for having the Best Visual Effects and Best Supplemental Content at it's inaugural awards show in Las Vegas.
You can see “The Mercury Men” series by clicking here. “The Mercury Men” is also available on the SyFy and Hulu websites.
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