We now live in an age in which the most interesting tales are to be found not on the movie theater –in which Hollywood’s multimillion blockbusters are based on regurgitated ‘tried-and-true’ material– but on the comfort of your own living room… provided you pay the streaming price, of course.
Exhibit (A): CBS is about to launch Strange Angel, based on George Pendle’s 2006 biography of Jack Parsons, arguably the most fascinating and controversial scientific figure of the XXth century; because how else to categorize a man who allegedly had sex with his own mother and the family dog, founded the JPL laboratory in Pasadena, California (nicknamed ‘Jack Parsons’s Lab by those in the know), dedicated all his rocket launch experiments to the god Pan, was a devoted follower of one Aleister Crowley (the most wicked man in the world, according to himself), and once tried to use magic to sink the ship in which his former mistress was escaping with the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard?
…Oh, and did I forget to mention that transdimensional portal he allegedly opened with Hubbard, which may or may not have caused the UFO flap of 1947? If CBS remains true to a tenth of all the legends surrounding the life of Jack Parsons, this series promises to attain an instant cult following!
Strange Angel stars Jack Reynor, Rupert Friend and Bella Heathcote, and will premiere on CBS All Access on June 14th.
