Line #90 WebVideo/TheMercuryMen


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/EdwardHallwayMercuryMen_3906.jpg]]
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3	''The Mercury Men'' is an indie sci-fi web serial, syndicated on Creator/{{Syfy}}'s website in 2011. Filmed in black and white, it combines elements of {{Dieselpunk}}, RaygunGothic and atomic punk, with a feel reminiscent of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963''.
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5	Edward Borman, a lowly government office drone, finds himself trapped when the deadly Mercury Men seize his office building as a staging ground for their nefarious plot. Aided by a daring aerospace engineer from a mysterious organization known as The League, Edward must stop the invaders and their doomsday device, the Gravity Engine.
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7	----
8	!!''The Mercury Men'' provides examples of:
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10	* ActorAllusion: Aaron Kleiber once again plays a [[WebVideo/CaptainBlasto janitor named Daryl]].
11	* AdventurerOutfit: Jack Yaeger wears the standard RaygunGothic version.
12	* AliensAreBastards: The Mercury Men are never depicted as anything other than antagonistic towards humans.
13	* AlienInvasion: A small-scale one, as men from Mercury take over an office building as part of a plan to pull the Moon into the Earth.
14	* AliensNeverInventedTheWheel: Apparently, the Mercury Men have sophisticated technology; they can transport between worlds and manipulate gravity. But going from planet to planet via chemical-propelled rockets is something new and threatening to them.
15	* AllThereInTheManual: The [[http://www.mercuryseries.com/about/ official website]] provides tons of supplementary material, including blueprints, digital props, and faux-1960’s trading cards.
16	* AlliterativeTitle: The '''M'''ercury '''M'''en.
17	--> Several episodes titles do this as well, including "'''S'''kyscraper '''S'''aboteurs" and "'''E'''nemies of '''E'''arth.
18	* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: At a critical moment, Edward takes time from helping Jack to make sure Grace gets to safety.
19	* AppliedPhlebotinum: The Gravity Engine.
20	* ATeamFiring: Jack misses practically every shot he takes during the opening gunfight, only managing to hit his opponent after dropping a door on top of them and shooting them point-blank.
21	** When Edward is tasked with holding off several Mercurians while Jack reverses the polarity of the Gravity Engine, he fires multiple rounds before managing to hit one of them, despite the Mercurians remaining stationary the whole time. Cue this exchange:
22	--> '''Edward''': I got one!
23	---> '''Jack''': ''Only one?!''
24	* BadassBoast: Jack gets one when the [[BrainInAJar Battery]] threatens to kill his love interest before the Moon falls.
25	--> '''Jack''': I know you can read my thoughts, so know that I'm not lying when I say this: before this night is over, I'm going to crack open that jar and I'm going to crush you with my own hand.
26	** Doctor Tomorrow gets one when Edward asks what he is:
27	--> '''Dr. Tomorrow:''' "I am the herald of the Great Worlds, captain of the Ocean of Storms, and commander of the League. I am Doctor Tomorrow."
28	* BehindAStick: Edward tries this, hiding behind a narrow metal pole. [[spoiler: It's actually a ruse, to get them to fire their electrical blasts at the pole to jump-start the gravity engine.]]
29	* BigBad: The Chief Designer. From notes on the website, he may be Soviet top scientist Sergei Korolev, who officially died in 1966 but may have faked his death.
30	* BigDamnHeroes: The other League members [[spoiler: show up just when all hope seems lost]].
31	* BlindWithoutThem: Edward can't see a thing without his glasses.
32	* BottomlessMagazines: Averted/subverted. Although The League’s zap-gun-of-choice - the ''Lumiére'' - resembles a modified six-shot revolver, so at first glance this trope appears to be played straight, the blueprints on ''The Mercury Men'' website reveal that each of the six glowing ''mercury pin'' bullets is good for 24 shots, for a total of ''144 energy blasts per full reload!'' Finite yeah, but still -- Music/GeneAutry, eat your heart out! It does, however, seem to run out at the most inconvenient times.
33	* BrainInAJar: The "Batteries", thirteen scientists who sold their allegiance to The Chief Designer in exchange for "life indefinite".
34	* BrickJoke: Grace’s [[spoiler: form still needs stamping]] eight episodes later. The final fate of the brain-in-a-jar probably counts too.
35	* ComicStrip/BuckRogers: Edward calls Jack this in one episode. In Episode 10 there is a callback, as Edward receives a package from "Buck Rogers" containing ''Lumiére'' bullets.
36	* TheCavalry: The other League members.
37	* ChekhovsGun: It looks like the ''Lumiére'' might actually be this in the 10th episode {{cliffhanger}}.
38	* ColonyDrop: The Mercury Men plan to destroy the Earth by pulling the Moon into it.
39	* ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: Done silently but forcefully by Jack to Edward.
40	* CowardlySidekick: Edward is almost literally afraid of his own shadow.
41	* CreatorCameo: Director Chris Preksta appears in the penultimate episode as one of the League members that shows up to save Edward and Jack from the Mercury men.
42	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Filmed in color, but with {{chiaroscuro}} lighting and then converted to black and white. The director and cameramen actually had black and white monitors to make sure they got the look just right.
43	** Inverted with the montage from Episode 6, which was deliberately shown in color to capture the excitement of the Space Race.
44	* DepletedPhlebotinumShells: The ''Lumiére'''s bullets.
45	* {{Dieselpunk}}: Mixing Sixties Sci-fi themes with Thirties-style RaygunGothic.
46	* DistantFinale: While the first nine episodes take place over the course of a single night, the tenth and final episode is set some time the following year.
47	* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Dr. Tomorrow takes control of a television set to give Edward a message.
48	* DoomsdayDevice: The Gravity Engine
49	* DoubleTake: Edward nearly gets shot by a {{near miss\|es}} from Jack's gun. He glances behind him briefly to see that the bullet has hit an image of Abraham Lincoln square in the head, then does a doubletake.
50	* DragonInChief: The Chief Designer is the mastermind behind the men from Mercury's evil plan, but never appears in person. Instead, the Battery is in charge of the invasion.
51	* DressingAsTheEnemy: Edward's idea for getting Jack near the Gravity Engine.
52	* DutchAngle: Most of the film, to show how disorienting this all is to Edward.
53	* EasilyThwartedAlienInvasion: Given that their goal is to crash the Moon into the Earth rather than outright conquest, only a dozen or so Mercurians are sent to Earth to deploy the Gravity Engine. Their entire operation is thwarted by a single member of the League and an (unwilling) office drone, armed with a single pistol between the two of them.
54	* EnergyBeings: The Mercury Men.
55	* ExtraEyes: The Mercury engineers' suits have three eyeholes. Apparently the Mercury Men have an extra eye.
56	* ExtremeDoormat: Edward gets pushed and pulled around by Jack throughout the series.
57	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The first nine episodes take place in the span of about 12 hours.
58	* {{Foreshadowing}}: When the men of Mercury first attack Edward's office, an unarmed janitor is hit by lightning at least four times before dying, foreshadowing Jack surviving being struck down during the climax.
59	* GondorCallsForAid: Jack calls the League for help, but is told they won't get there in time.
60	* GoodWithNumbers: When Jack breaks his pencil, he does the complex gravity equations in his head.
61	* GravityMaster: The Chief Designer.
62	* GunTwirling: Jack holsters his weapon with a flourish.
63	* Music/GustavHolst: His ''The Planets'' suite is featured throughout the series' soundtrack (possibly another shout-out to ''Film/TheRightStuff'').
64	* HammerSpace: Most of the things Jack pulls from his utility belt wouldn't actually fit in it.
65	* HardLight: The ''Lumiére'''s bullets. And the Mercury Men themselves.
66	* HeHadAName: Before killing the sniper that killed Glenn, Jack tells him, "You shot the wrong man. ''His'' name was Patrick Glenn. Apologize when you see him."
67	* {{Hologram}}: Jack uses a hologram of a Mercury man to distract a sniper.
68	* HumanoidAliens: The Mercury Men, also called "the first men" in the series, are humanoid in appearance, but are taller, thinner and stoop (supposedly because of Earth's greater gravity). They are also composed of HardLight and apparently have a ThirdEye.
69	* HumansAreSpecial: At least according to Dr. Tomorrow.
70	--> '''Dr. Tomorrow:''' "I was witness to the greatest and most dangerous adventure on which man had ever embarked- the impossible. It is because of their ingenuity, their immeasurable capacity for bravery, that I have chosen the men of Earth to serve in my League as the Men of Tomorrow. Ambassadors to the new worlds, and custodians of this great and dangerous new way of travel which they have introduced to the greater galaxy."
71	* ICantDoThisByMyself: Said by Edward, often.
72	* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: Jack gives Edward his gun at the end of Episode 9, [[ChekhovsGun implying he'll need it later]].
73	* JumpScare: [[spoiler:When the Mercury engineer appeared out of the darkness at the end of Episode 10.]]
74	* LeftHanging: Episode 10 ends with a CliffHanger, but [[CutShort a second season is never filmed]].
75	* LeanAndMean: The antagonistic Mercury men are much taller and slimmer than humans due to lower gravity of Mercury.
76	* LightIsNotGood: The men of Mercury are composed of pure light, and are anything but good.
77	* LightWorlder: It never becomes relevant to the plot, but Mercury's gravity is about 38% that of Earth's. [[AllThereInTheManual Jack's journal]] notes this is the reason for the Mercury Men's hunched postures.
78	* ManipulativeBastard: According to Jack, the Chief Designer, who gave the Mercurians the technology to invade the Earth and crash the Moon into it, was able to manipulate them into doing so by exploiting their fear of humanity.
79	* MeaningfulName: The hero, Jack Yaeger.[[note]]WordOfGod says that Jack Yaeger was named after Chuck Yeager, even though the last name is spelled differently.[[/note]]
80	** Another League member is named [[Film/TheRightStuff Glenn]].
81	** And the nebbish accountant who's bored with his job... Edward ''Bor''man.
82	*** Who was actually named after Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman.
83	** The leader of the futuristic League is named Dr. Tomorrow.
84	* MyGirlBackHome: Jack confides in Edward that he has a girl back home in Fairborn, Ohio. The Battery threatens her life later on.
85	* NoEndorHolocaust: Apparently this universe never heard of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche%27s_limit the Roche Limit.]] Possibly justified, as we don't really know how [[AWizardDidit the Gravity Engine]] works.
86	* NoOntologicalInertia: Averted. It's specifically stated that turning off the engine won't fix the problem. It has to be reversed.
87	* ObliviousJanitorCut: At least until the Mercury Men zap him.
88	* OffscreenTeleportation: Edward's EstablishingCharacterMoment has him tell a lady that his office closed at 7, despite the clock on the wall reading 6:55. When she looks back to confront him, Edward is nowhere to be seen and there is a "Sorry, We're Closed" sign sitting on his desk.
89	** After he witnesses Edward being ambushed by a Mercury engineer when he steps into an elevator, Jack is somehow waiting for them when the doors open several floors down.
90	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: A construction worker electrocuted by the Mercury Men is reanimated to carry around one of the Batteries.
91	* PhlebotinumHandlingEquipment: Inverted - The Mercury Engineers wear special suits not because the Gravity Engine is dangerous to handle, but because they are made of light and can't handle ''it'' without wearing the suit.
92	* PlayingPossum: Edward and Grace pretend to be dead as a Mercury Man walks by.
93	* PreMortemOneLiner: Jack gets one just before shooting a Mercurian point-blank as it rounds a corner:
94	--> '''Jack''': Lights out.
95	* QuizzicalTilt: One of the Mercurian Engineers does this while strangling Edward in the elevator. [[WordOfGod The Director's Notes]] edition of the series indicates that the Mercurians are not accustomed to humans and often show curiosity towards them.
96	* RayGun: Jack's pistol, the ''Lumiére'', fires "mercury pin" bullets, made of HardLight. Apparently it is the only thing that can kill the Mercury Men.
97	* RaygunGothic: Much of the serial evokes this genre. The hero himself, Jack Yaeger, is dressed as a typical Raygun Gothic pilot (Bomber jacket, flight cap and goggles, jodhpurs and jackboots), and carrues a raygun.
98	* RefusalOfTheCall: After nearly being choked to death in an elevator by an alien, Edward loses his cool and stands up to Jack, refusing to go on.
99	* {{Retraux}}: The series is DeliberatelyMonochrome, evoking the look of a 1950's science fiction BMovie.
100	* ReversePolarity: Jack has to do this to the Gravity Engine - with Edward's help - to put the moon back in its proper orbit.
101	* RevolversAreJustBetter: The ''Lumiére'' resembles a modified six-shot revolver.
102	* RuleOfSymbolism: After Jack is captured, Edward walks into the hall and his gaze lingers on an "EXIT" sign, symbolizing his temptation to abandon Jack. Moments later, while Edward tries to call for help using Jack's radio, his shadow on the wall looks like he's praying.
103	** After nearly being strangled by the Mercury engineer, Edward tries to leave while Jack convinces him to stay to help save the world. The way this shot is framed is with Edward in the foreground and Jack standing far behind him, so that Jack appears over Edward's shoulder, symbolizing his conscience.
104	* SchizoTech: The story is set in the mid-[[TheSeventies Seventies]]. But the lighting - and the monsters - looks like ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' (the titular Mercury Men, and the static sound they make, are very reminiscent of the "Galaxy Being" in the eponymous first Outer Limits episode), Edward's and Grace's outfits look [[TheFifties Fifties]]-ish, and Jack's outfit evokes TheThirties. And it mixes {{Dieselpunk}}, RaygunGothic, Atomic Punk, horror and other genres seamlessly.
105	* ScienceHero: Jack's skills in mathematics and engineering are what ultimately foil the invader's plans, even more so than his gunslinging.
106	* SequelHook: In the final episode, Jack discovers that Edward is being targeted by the Mercurians. The series ends with Edward receiving a package of ''Lumiére'' bullets from Jack right before a Mercurian emerges from the shadows behind him. Doubles as a BolivianArmyEnding as it seems unlikely the series will be continued.
107	* ShockAndAwe: The Mercury Men's main weapon.
108	* ShoutOut:
109	** A visual one in Episode six, where Dr. Tomorrow [[Series/TheOuterLimits1963 controls the transmission]].
110	** In Episode 10, Edward gets a package from "ComicStrip/BuckRogers" (Yaeger) full of ''Lumiére'' bullets.
111	** The two named league agents are [[Film/TheRightStuff Yaeger and Glenn]], and the main character is named Borman, all references to key figurs in the US Space Program.
112	** The elevator fight scene was inspired by the fight between James Bond and Red Grant in ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'', which takes place aboard a cramped train car.
113	** The scene where Jack cautiously approaches the brain-in-a-jar is a deliberate homage to Indiana Jones' approaching the gold idol in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''.
114	** Dr. Tomorrow's appearance is inspired by the Magic Mirror from ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''.
115	* SovietSuperScience: The Chief Designer who masterminds the plan to crash the Earth into the Moon may have been Sergei Korolev, the former head of the Soviet space program.
116	* SpaceBase: The abandoned Mercury Men's base on Mercury.
117	* StockFootage: Stock photos and video of the Apollo moon missions are used during Doctor Tomorrow's speech explaining why Earth is being targeted by Mercury.
118	* SupernaturalAid: Dr. Tomorrow, to Edward.
119	* TheWarHasJustBegun: Jack, to Edward, when he gives him his gun. "This is only the beginning. Godspeed."
120	* ThisCanNotBe: Edward's initial reaction to Jack telling him that the Men from Mercury are planning to crash the Moon into the Earth is to claim that it's not possible.
121	* TookALevelInBadass: Well, more like half a level. While Edward does not achieve true bad-assitude, his [[spoiler: ray-gun marksmanship skills]] improve somewhat during his twelve-hour ordeal [[spoiler: (once he learns to keep his eyes open, anyway)]], as do both his willingness to put himself into harms way and his ability to think on his feet.
122	* TwoFistedTales: Deliberately meant to be an homage to old-time serials. "Drawing from the same retro serials that inspired such films as ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones''..., The Mercury Men reintroduces audiences to the great mystery, danger, and suspense the stories were originally known for."
123	* WeirdMoon: The Mercury Men try to [[spoiler: pull the Moon down to crash into the Earth]], and almost succeed. Strangely, there are none of the resultant tidal quakes, flooding and other disasters that should have happened in such an event.
124	** Also, the moon is always shown as full, even when it should be eclipsed by the Earth.
125	* WilhelmScream: A faint one, thrown in as a gag, when a green army man falls off a shelf when the gravity engine is turned on.
126	* WhiteCollarWorker: Edward.
127	* YouAreBetterThanYouThink: Dr. Tomorrow gives this speech to Edward to encourage him to rescue Jack from the Mercury Men.
128	--> '''Dr. Tomorrow:''' "You share these same abilities. And though you search every crack to escape, now that you see there is none, you ''will'' face the situation."
129	* YouHaveGOTToBeKiddingMe: Words to this effect are said by Edward, several times.
130	* {{Zeerust}}: Jack uses a slide rule and notebook to do complex gravity calculations.
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Context WebVideo / TheMercuryMen