Cleopatra 2525
Cleopatra 2525 is a 2001 science fiction television series which ran for two seasons.
In 2525, an exotic dancer is awoken after being cryogenized after a boob job mishap in 2001. She is rescued from certain doom as a mutant test dummy by two female vigilantes, Helen and Sarge (actually named Rose). These two fight to return humanity to the surface, after they have been pushed down into the underground - a series of shafts and levels created by an unknown entity - by anti-human robots called Baileys after their creator.
These robots come in a variety of forms, one of which is nearly indistinguishable from humans. They are termed Betrayers, and numerous episodes revolve around killing one or escaping from one.
One of these Betrayers is Mauser, whose synaptic nets have been reprogrammed by Helen and Sarge. He mainly serves as the technical guru. The final member of the team is Voice, an unknown entity that is connected to Hel via a chip in her brain. Voice is known to work with other teams, and at some point in the past was responsible for causing one team leader to gain telepathic abilities and betrayal from another. Both individuals are considered villains aside from the threat of Baileys and Betrayers.
- Action Girl
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: the Baileys were originally designed as terraforming machines, whose goal was to restore the Earth that humanity has polluted. At some point, however, they decide that humans don't deserve to live on the world they destroyed and start hunting them. They do manage to finish their job, however.
- Audience Surrogate: Cleo
- Big Bad: A draw between the Baileys and mutant criminal/terrorist Kreegan. Then the finale reveals that Kreegan is the one who created the Baileys in the first place, making him THE Big Bad of the show.
- Chainmail Bikini: Lampshaded by Cleo in the very first episode
- Charm Person: Raina can do this, but mostly uses it just for Playing with Puppets
- Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune:Gina Torres (Hel) sang the theme song.
- Energy Weapon: Everybody uses various kinds of energy weapons by 2525. The protagonists have their wrist-mounted. The Betrayers have their arms turn into these. The only kinetic weapon seen in the entire show is an old 9mm (in full working condition!) kept by a guy from the 21st century.
- Fish Out of Temporal Water: Cleo
- Floral Theme Naming: Sarge's real name is Rose, her sister is Lily
- Grand Theft Me: In the episode "In Your Boots" Kreegan does this to Hel.
- Human Popsicle: Cleo and the Big Bad.
- Also one of the Voice's team leaders, who has kept a 9mm from his time (useful, as Deflector Shields in the 26th century aren't rated for kinetic weapons).
- Intangible Man: Kreegan and Hel's father have developed a device that allow a person to become phase-shifted. The person becomes invisible and can pass through solid objects. For some reason, the person doesn't fall through the floor. Hel brings this up at one point, only to be Hand Waved by Kreegan.
- While working on the device, Hel's father somehow ends up being able to do this without the device, as long as he's maintaining concentration. He becomes a spy for the Voice.
- It's Personal: Hel's relationship with Kreegan, as a result of You Killed My Father.
- Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: The villain of one episode ends up using an impenetrable Deflector Shield. That is, impenetrable to the Energy Weapons they all use in the year 2525. Not impenetrable to a bullet from a good old-fashioned 9mm (kept and maintained for nostalgic reasons by a guy from the 21st century).
- Monster Clown: Kreegan - although Clown Monster might be more accurate
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: The show was filmed in New Zealand. You could occasionally tell when the bit players were locals.
- Opening Narration
- Psychic Nosebleed: subverted - a telepath spends six months deliberately inducing a nosebleed as part of her escape plan.
- Real Song Theme Tune: Zager and Evans' hated "In The Year 2525", with different lyrics.
- Required Secondary Powers: there is a device that keeps showing up that allows one to be phase-shifted. The person becomes invisible and is able to walk through walls. Hel once brings up the problem of falling through the floor. Kreegan simply mentions that he has worked for months on the problem... and that's all we get as far as explanation.
- Sentry Gun
- She Fu: Sarge and Hel. Hey, what do you expect in a show made by the same people who made Xena: Warrior Princess?
- Shout-Out: At least once an episode. Cleopatra is fond of making 21st century pop culture references that no one else gets.
- Slept Through the Apocalypse: Cleo
- Spot the Imposter: One betrayer took the form of the hero, Cleopatra. The fact that both the hero and imposter believed themselves to be the original version made it more difficult to figure out.
- Stripperiffic
- The setting this troper first encountered this series: Late at night, on one of the less reputable stations. Suffice it to say, it took a while for me to realize that this show was in fact not an cheap soft-porn series.
- Heck, at this point, even the three actresses will admit that the biggest part of the show's charm is that it's campy, silly, cheesy, scantily clad fun.
- The Reveal: The final episode is mostly Voice debriefing a captured Kreegan, culminating in the reveal that he mostly like is Bailey, the creator of the Baileys, and that he has thus been alive since before humanity was driven underground. The last shot also shows the human resistance is finally launching a full scale counterattack to reclaim the surface.
- Of course, the Baileys are also preparing for something big.
- Wall Crawl: Raina the evil telepath