Here They Come ... The Return of Thaddeus, Larvelle, Sweetchuck, and Zed

I don't pretend to break stories on the blog, but it strikes me as quite likely that most of my readers out there might not yet know what I have recently discovered is being heavily rumored on the net ... the release of Police Academy 8 in 2011 (and here and here). [Ok, upon further research it seems that Jon Stewart broke the story in July 2004, but that has got to be a different iteration.]

How'd I break it? L.A. Confidential was on in Israel last week, and I noticed a bit part played by an actor I'd come to love - Matt McCoy, who played Nick Lassard in Police Academy 5 and 6. I IMDB Nick (in part to make sure he hasn't been in anything relevant in a long, long time) and what's listed there? Police Academy 8 (2011)!!!

The Police Academy series was part of the pop-culture blanket with which I was swaddled as an impressionable child. Aside from the fleeting and wholly unnecessary topless shots in the showers and all the homosexual overtures of the Blue Oyster Bar, Police Academy was pretty much straight fun and, at least at that period in my life, breathtakingly hilarious. We loved each one, from the original (rarely shown on KPLR in St. Louis due to the nudity and the only one rated "R," I believe) with a young Kim Cattrall (even pre-Mannequin and Star Trek VI!), to "First Assignment" with the teacher from Head of the Class and the preposterous Captain Mauser (a spot-on look-alike for Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, but then so is Jar Jar Binks's King in the Phantom Menace), to "Back in Training" with Sweetchuck and Zed joining the force, to "Citizens on Patrol" with Sharon Stone and Mahoney's fond farewell, to "Assignment Miami Beach" and the wonderful introduction of House and Nick Lassard (not to mention a great turn by future Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Boston Legal star Rene Auberjonois), to what, in my mind, was the pinnacle of the series - City Under Siege. For reasons I imagine to be obvious, I never saw the alleged "7th" movie in the series, "Mission to Moscow" (something about 7th movies just doesn't work - see: Star Trek: Generations; hope the folks at Harry Potter figured that out already).

Aside from the excitement for the 8th flick in this classic franchise, which I will do my best to see on opening night (the other movies I've only seen on VHS, and likely only on the 13.5-inch-ish RCA we had in the den in St. Louis), a bit of melancholy accompanies this announcement. Why? The sad premature death of two of my Police Academy heroes (and I am not referring to Steve Gutenberg's career after that cartoonist movie) which I discovered while google-stalking this breaking story.

David Graf, who arguably made the series by playing Tackleberry (who pretty much played the "Booger" role [great acting by Curtis Amstrong, btw, in Smokin' Aces], just להיפך, in this ensemble comedy), and had a small role in the first season of Sports Night, died of a sudden heart attack at a family member's wedding at the age of 51 in 2001. Both Graf's father and grandfather died of heart attacks at the age of 51, which does not bode well for the two sons he left behind. Great man, will be sorely missed in the octoquel (I don't think that's a word).

Tab Thacker, the round-mound-of-buffoonery (and Lt. Moses Hightower's partner-in-African-intimdation) died from complications of diabetes (after some drastic intermediary steps) in December of 2007 at the age of 45, leaving three children to grow up without a dad. Thacker, in the Bubba Smith tradition, was an unbelievable athlete, winning 4 ACC titles at NC State and the 1984 NCAA championship in his weight class (that would be heavyweight - he was one of the biggest heavyweights in the history of the sport). Will also be sorely missed.

When I think of Police Academy, I love the stock characters and their development over time, from Cmdt. Eric Lassard's growth as a loving, caring, absent-minded father figure (with that goldfish), to Hooks's growing confidence, Hightower's struggles with reading and driving, and Jones's unbelievable voices and emergence into Mahoney/Nick's number two. Love 'em.

And let us not leave without properly acknowledging the true star of the series: Captain Thaddeus Harris.

May all our stars be reunited in 2011 for a slapstick film harking back to the glory days of comedy in the '80s.

In case you were wondering, almost all of the information in this article (save for Thacker and Graf's deaths and information) I knew off the top of my head. Embarrassing.