Thanks to Netflix we previewed the first 3 episodes of Space Force, the new comedy from Steve Carell and Greg Daniels of The Office fame, ahead of its May 29th launch.
I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve never watched a single episode of the US version of The Office. Watching the English version with Ricky Gervais made me cringe so hard, I collapsed down into a ball so dense that even light couldn’t escape my surface. It was only thanks to the quick thinking of a flatmate and a DVD copy of Spaced that I was saved from oblivion. So it was with some trepidation that I approached Space Force, the latest comedy co-created by the same team, Steve Carell and Greg Daniels.
Despite my enjoyment of the recent Upload, as well as Parks and Recreation, both created by Daniels, I was additionally wary of the series’ “ripped from the headlines” concept, but I needn’t have worried. Based upon these 3 episodes, there’s plenty of mileage in the concept.
Boots on the Moon!
With his promotion to 4-star general, Mark Naird (Carell) will finally have one over on rival, General Kick Grabaston (Noah Emmerich) as he takes over as Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Or so he thinks. With the announcement of the formation of Space Force by “POTUS” (Trump is never mentioned by name), however, it falls to Naird to set up the nascent 6th branch of the U.S. armed forces. Skip to a year later and Naird loosely commands a group of scientists, incredibly obvious Russian liaisons (i.e. a spy), and various military and civilian personnel in an isolated base in Colorado, as he tries to juggle ambitious space projects, keeping his bosses in Washington happy, and life with his wife (Lisa Kudrow) and daughter Erin (Diana Silvers).
It would have been far too easy for Space Force to lean on the “dumb military” vs. “peaceful scientists” angle, but the show aims far higher than that. John Malkovich might have summed it up best in our interview when he stated:
“these are people who they may have certain capabilities, but to some extent, they’ve all arrived at “The Peter Principle” where you’re promoted to your level of inadequacy, and that’s sort of in play here, too.”
No, there’s no real Michael Scott here. No one is completely incompetent (well except maybe Yuri, that Russian “liaison”) but everyone is hopelessly out of their depth. And that is funny. Not so much watching them flail around, as Naird does for much of the first episode, but instead watching them bounce off each other as the team snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the later episodes.
I hadn’t quite realised just how funny the show was until discussing it with the team on the podcast. We kept laughing as we reminded each other of our favourite moments, and that’s one of the signs of a good comedy. You laugh at its best moments all over again, just by recounting them with friends.
Acts of Foreign Aggression Really Sober Me Up
Carell and Daniels have assembled a strong comedic cast here including Ben Schwartz’s social media advisor, “F**k Tony”; Jimmy O. Yang as one of Dr. Adrian Mallory’s (John Malkovich) scientists, and veteran Don Lake as Naird’s put upon secretary Brad (who’s also a general!?). Each is defined well enough in these opening episodes, that the comic potential for the rest of the series is obvious.
An appearance by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thankfully isn’t a one off occurrence. It would be a court martial worthy offence to assemble a team featuring such comedy talent as Jane Lynch (Glee, Final Space), Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and The Tick himself, Patrick Warburton, for just one scene.
The funniest moments in these three episodes however fall to the late, great Fred Willard, playing Naird’s father Fred. In the space of a few confused moments on the phone with Carell, he nails some of the biggest laughs of the show.
A Violent Plan Today is Better Than a Perfect Plan Next Week
While the team have taken the concept of a US Space Force and run with it, eschewing any relationship to the real thing, one element that didn’t quite work for me was the thinly veiled impressions of real politicians. Ginger Gonzaga’s “AYC” and Concetta Tomei’s Ms. “Pitosi” dragged the show out of its own quirky world (like Parks and Rrecreation’s Pawnee, Indiana) and closer to the real world. Sure, the show mainly seems to be mocking these politicians as a shield under which to smuggle Naird’s more liberal leanings but it felt unnecessary to me. A feeling, it should be noted, my colleagues didn’t share.
Space Force could have very easily been a quick cash grab, single camera production, with a bickering cast trapped in some out of the way office building sets, but like the US military, Netflix seems to have spared no expense. The sets are large, the Space Force campus expansive, and Daniels and Carell have assembled a great cast to bounce off each other. Stuff actually happens in space in this show!
Some more story based developments in episode three, involving Naird’s daughter Erin and his helicopter pilot/chauffeur Angela (Tawny Newsome) indicate the series has more ambitions than just a joke delivery vehicle, which bodes well for the remainder of the season.
These three episodes show enough promise that Space Force is definitely a show that we’ll be checking in with, when it launches Friday, May 29th. If only to see what Owen Daniels (Greg’s son – who was also in Upload) gets up to on the show!
Space Force
Netflix, Season 1, 10 Episodes
Creators: Greg Daniels and Steve Carell,
Cast: Steve Carell, John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow, Ben Schwartz, Fred Willard, Jimmy O. Yang, Don Lake and Diana Silvers
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