The Weekly Five: Saturn in the Media

Before Saturn Month is considered to be completely over, I thought I’d squeeze in one more Saturn related Weekly Five. This week, we combine our regular SEGA in the Media feature with the SEGA Saturn. That’s right, five times the SEGA in the Media in one day! So let’s kick things off with…

The Drew Carey Show

The Drew Carey Show famously featured a SEGA Saturn atop Drew’s VCR for a majority of the series. Eagle eyed fans note that it is a model 2 Saturn, and that it is often incorrectly hooked up to the TV. Power cable, but no video. Later on in the series, the Saturn was replaced with a Dreamcast. Good to know Drew Carey was with SEGA until the bitter end.

Black Mask

From an old Saturn Junkyard article comes an awesome Saturn cameo in Jet Li’s Black Mask.

elend of The Saturn Junkyard breaks down the scene:

In the midst of the movie the name giving Black Mask (Jet Li) is forced to kidnap one of his co-workers (Karen Mok) in order to get her out of trouble. Of course his real identity is a secret to her, so she’s anything but thankful that he recently saved her. Thus, she’s screaming, biting and scratching with her fingernails. How can you calm an innocent woman, who’s behaving like that? Only with a Sega Saturn of course. So Black Mask decides to put her gently (aka throwing her) onto a chair infront of the TV and let her play some Sega Saturn. What’s funny about the scene is, that she’s even enjoying it. You can see her for some seconds, how she’s playing like crazy (with her hands cuffed on the back).

Also very interesting is the fact, that the scene only lasts for a mere minute, but within that time she is playing 3 different games. Virtua Fighter, Darius Gaiden and what looks to be some Capcom brawler (X-Men Children Of The Atom, I think). Either she has some kind of Hotel Saturn, or the filmmakers (Tsui Hark) didn’t really know, how a console works. The facts, that she uses some sort of foot pedal (wtf?) to play Darius Gaiden and that the audible sound effects sound like the very first pong consoles, are only supporting that assumption. But then, it’s a great scene nonetheless.

You’re Under Arrest

This itty bitty image comes from another Saturn Junkyard article, which features a (deconstructed) Saturn cameo in the anime You’re Under Arrest. The scene features a character fixing/modding a Saturn console. Not much more to say than that, though it is important to note that this is probably the only time the innards of a Saturn was seen in an anime.

Mallrats

While the Saturn itself doesn’t get much (if any) screen time in Kevin Smith’s Mallrats, the Saturn controller and NHL All Star Hockey can be easily seen. The scene features Jason Lee as Brodie Bruce playing NHL as his girlfriend dumps him. Lucky guy!

The scene is hard to find online, however the guys over at Segashiro stuck the scene at the end of their NHL All Star Hockey video review. Check it out!

Malcolm in the Middle

A second season episode of FOX’s Malcolm in the Middle, entitled Dinner Out, features a SEGA Saturn playing Sonic R. Malcolm, being the snotty boy genius that he is, tells his friend that the video game they are playing is too kiddy. Well of course it is! You’re playing as Amy Rose, dummy! Real men play as Metal Knuckles.

Oddly enough, in the shot showing the TV you can see the Saturn pad quite clearly, yet in the reverse shot of the characters talking there is tape over the Saturn logo and buttons. As if we aren’t smart enough to know that this isn’t a Saturn!

Bonus points to Malcolm in the Middle, as they also feature the box for Sonic R! Oh how I hate those long boxes. I have yet to own one that has not cracked, and they’re so tall and wide! A dozen Saturn games can monopolize an entire shelf.

Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Weekly Five. Know of any more Saturn in the media moments? Share them in the comments section!

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