Cleopatra 2525 – Nostalgia Central

2 0 0 0 – 2 0 0 1 (USA)
22 x 30 minute episodes
6 x 60 minute episodes

A boob job goes terribly wrong for a stripper named Cleopatra (Jennifer Sky) in 2001. She plunges into a coma and is cryogenically frozen by doctors.

She wakes over 500 years later, after an apocalyptic war. Humans have been forced underground into a massive network of shafts and caverns, and heavily-armed flying sentinel robots called Baileys soar above the surface, shooting laser beams at any humans who venture above.

Cleopatra is a sweet, innocent girl, filled with 20th-century pop-culture references that mean nothing to her warrior friends.

“Hel” (Gina Torres) is a tough-looking woman whose family was killed years ago. “Sarge” (Victoria Pratt), a sexy blonde, was forced to leave her family after they were brainwashed by the Baileys.

Human guards monitor the underground against subversive cyborgs (the “Betrayers”), who are working with the Baileys to destroy mankind.

A maternal female voice – simply referred to as ‘The Voice’ (Elizabeth Hawthorne) – helps direct Hel against the approaching Baileys, while the friendly Mauser (Patrick Kake, who was Kevin Sorbo’s body double on Hercules), a captured and reprogrammed Betrayer, provides information.

The villainous Creegan (Joel Tobeck) – who looks like The Joker from Batman with his red hair and lips and white skin – was responsible for the death of Hel’s family when she was a child.

Originally from the 20th century (where his name was Dr George Bailey), he created The Baileys as environmental control units to protect the Earth – but the machines gained consciousness and decided that mankind was the primary source of pollution and must be destroyed to save the planet.

Bailey/Creegan sided with the machines and has led their battle against humanity ever since.

The low-budget series was filmed in Auckland, New Zealand. CGI effects depicted the giant Baileys blasting away at humans every week. There was some interesting subterranean set design, including sleek corridors, holograms and computers.

Cleopatra 2525 originally aired in 30-minute episodes, though the producers had trouble selling the show as a half-hour series.

When the show faltered early in its second year, it was decided to turn it into a 60-minute adventure. The last six episodes were an hour long, with more time for character development.

The series was abruptly cancelled in 2001 (the same year that Cleo had gone into her own suspended animation), ending on a permanent, unresolved cliffhanger in the middle of a massive, explosive battle between humanity and the Baileys on the surface of the Earth.

Cleopatra
Jennifer Sky
Helen “Hel” Carter
Gina Torres
Rose ‘Sarge’
Victoria Pratt
Mauser
Patrick Kake
The Voice
Elizabeth Hawthorne
Creegan
Joel Tobeck