Angus MacGyver is back for three webisodes! In MacGyver and the New Citan, Mac is up to his nose in another adventure, courtesy of Mercedes-Benz, who with the help of our beloved hero, helps promote the company’s new Citan, which they bill as “the perfect tool for every job.”
Who knew Mac has left the Phoenix Foundation and gotten into fixing air-conditioning units with his daughter Caitlin? He is retired from the game, but like a lot of the people that had his lifestyle, the trouble finds MacGyver.
Like most people his age, MacGyver is a kind of bird-out-of-water with internet technology, and struggles with its incarnations, like email. Well, when he and his daughter go to service a private insurance company’s air-conditioning unit, they unknowingly stumble onto a Die Hard-like terrorist plot aimed at stealing secret hardware. And just like the old Mac, he is able to quickly make the best of his situation and save the day.
Like many American actors (most recently the hilarious Kevin Bacon adverts for England’s EE cellular network, found here, here, here, here, and… here), Europe and the Far East tend to be great places where they can become paid spokespeople for a product that many in the States don’t even know exist, and will then in turn become work that we will never even see over here (for the most extreme example of this, see Arnold’s 1990s series of Japanese commercials for… heck, I can’t even tell what; maybe some sort of energy drink? An example can be found here).
Richard Dean Anderson went to Germany for this new MacGyver installment to promote Mercedes-Benz’ new Citan car. The commercial was filmed in South Africa (the foreign license plates are a huge giveaway), and it premiered in September of last year overseas.
Like most MacGyver fans, we are highly skeptical and guarded about how Mac is used nowadays, and rightfully so (see MacGruber), but luckily the new project did have to be cleared with the show’s creator, Lee David Zlotoff, to make sure it was within the proper taste for the character.
But what can I say? It is pretty cool to see the Phoenix Foundation’s best agent back, and in fact, doing some pretty cool MacGyverisms. Though I don’t know how the idea that Mac is now just bumming around in his retirement as a bona fide handyman with his daughter sits with me, but at least the original framework is present, complete with MacGyver voiceover. Remember, the last time we saw MacGyver in action, was the 2006 MasterCard “Priceless” Super Bowl commercial—found here—which, let’s face it, was pretty cool.
Since it took 13 years after the original series ended to see some new MacGyver material with Anderson in it, and then another seven to get more, we fans have to be happy (hell, it took over ten years for the series to even make it to home video, specifically a special-feature-less DVD).
A feature film is reportedly in the works and it is rumored that Australian director James Wan, known for the first four Saw films, is set to direct, and thankfully he became interested in the project because he was a huge film of the original ’80s series. So, fingers crossed.
Check out the Mercedes-Benz MacGyver flick below, and for the latest MacGyver news check out the official site, MacGyver Online.