@OtherSpace - How we make outer space so realistic? Paul Feig

How were we able to make outer space appear so realistic? Secrets revealed in this #BTS interview with @paulfeig http://t.co/g3NBLHYAcl

— Other Space (@OtherSpace) May 20, 2015

OTHER SPACE: SEASON 1 - Hollywoodreporter.com Review

The Bottom Line

This cosmic comedy boldly, and ribaldly, goes where no man has gone before

Airtime

April 14 on Yahoo! Screen

Cast

Karan Soni, Bess Rous, Joel Hodgson

Creator

Paul Feig

Paul Feig’s sci-fi sitcom unearths plenty of belly laughs on the other side of the universe.

Mystery Science Theater fans rejoice! Our beloved Joel Hodgson has been found. The man who, in the not-too-distant future, braved "Manos": The Hands of Fate among other cinematic stinkers is part of the excellent ensemble cast of Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig’s very funny outer space comedy. (Embarrassment of riches alert: He’s joined by his MST3K costar Trace Beaulieu as a Crow T. Robot-like mechanical wisecracker named Art.)

Read more: Yahoo's Paul Feig Comedy to Reunite 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' Stars

This time it’s the really distant future when, as an opening title card informs us, the end of the war between the United States and Switzerland (heh!) has resulted in the creation of the Universal Mapping Project (UMP), the goal of which is to explore and chart the known cosmos. Potential pilots for UMP vessels are trained in high-stress-inducing simulators, and the lackadaisically self-confident Stewart Lipinski (Safety Not Guaranteed’s Karan Soni) gets high marks after he destroys a synthetic asteroid by making the ship “fart-sneeze.” (It’s that kind of show.)

Soon enough, the powers-that-be give him his own craft with a crew that includes his steely, jealous sister, Karen (Bess Rous); his unrequited crush, Tina (Milana Vayntrub); his best friend from childhood, Michael (Eugene Cordero); a science officer, Kent (Neil Casey), with a mysterious past; Hodgson’s pothead hippie of an engineer, Zalian; and a bodacious-looking virtual navigator, Natasha (Conor Leslie). No sooner have they left port, however, than they’re sucked into a wormhole that deposits them in an uncharted area of the universe with no way home and only a yearlong supply of fudge to sustain them. (Damn broken food tank!)

The comedy is crude and sarcastic, but rarely gets tiresome because the actors play off of each other expertly, suggesting depths of feeling beneath every arched eyebrow. (To this end, Soni's and Rous’ sibling rivalry is especially potent, since neither brother nor sister is ever without fault in any given situation.) Other Space’s primary goal, however, isn’t to get overly dramatic but to bust the gut.

At this it more than succeeds. The wardrobes and production design are like Star Trek by way of Uniqlo. One of the cleverest gags concerns an alien who speaks only in Matthew McConaugheyquotes (everything from EDtv to True Detective gets referenced). And there are a number of terrific visual throwaways, like the moment when the crew momentarily regresses to a literally infantile state while traveling through the wormhole. (Leslie’s buxom AI hilariously turns into a game of Pong.)

Based on the three episodes sent out for review, an overarching story does appear to be developing. Imagine Battlestar Galactica’s journey-home narrative filtered through a Mike Judge workplace comedy, peppered liberally with the ribald humor and emphatic obscenity in which Feig films likeBridesmaids and The Heat revel. “Goddamn” is the curse word of choice (the way Rous spits it out is pure profane poetry), and there’s a mother-love incest backstory for one character that, when introduced, seems like it’s pandering to the cheap seats, until, in a later episode, it takes on a strangely poignant dimension.

That might be the ultimate achievement of Other Space — its power to surprise. Just when you think you’ve got the show’s sense of humor pegged, it startles you with an off-kilter jibe or some acutely raw emotion, as in a scene in which Karen breaks down after one of the crew seems to have been vaporized in the vacuum of space. Thus far, Feig and his collaborators have found the right balance of humor and gravity for this celestial comedy. Here’s hoping they can sustain it the deeper into the cosmos this motley crew goes.

OTHER SPACE: SEASON 1 - RottenTomatoes.com Review

OTHER SPACE: SEASON 1

TOMATOMETER 

91%

Average Rating: 6.3/10

Reviews Counted: 11

Fresh: 10

Rotten: 1

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

AUDIENCE SCORE 

83%

liked it

Average Rating: 4/5

User Ratings: 100

OTHER SPACE: SEASON 1 - Times.com Review

Paul Feig's oddball sci-fi comedy gives us a spaceship as dysfunctional dorm room.

TV has given us space as final frontier (Star Trek), space as epic war site (Battlestar Galactica), space as source of mystery (Extant) and menace (V). Paul Feig’s goofily funny Other Space, whose full eight-episode first season is now on Yahoo Screen, gives us space as a site to work out your personal business. In Other Space, no one can hear you scream, except the family members, unrequited loves and assorted misfits you’re trapped with.

It’s the year 2105, and the Universal Mapping Project has given command of one of its ships, the UMP Cruiser, to wet-behind-the-ears captain Stewart Lipinski (Karan Soni). It seems like a big assignment for the well-meaning but jittery newbie, but deep-space exploration has become a less glamorous job over the half century in which the UMP has found nothing but rocks and dust.

So Stewart inherits a ship and crew of castoffs and oddballs, including his hard-charging big sister Karen (Bess Rous), who resents being his second-in command; his childhood buddy Michael (Eugene Cordero); Tina (Milana Vayntraub), whom Stewart hired because of a badly-hidden crush; and onboard computer avatar Natasha (Conor Leslie), who was originally programmed as a blackjack dealer. In a nod to low-budget sci-fi-TV past, the gang is rounded out by Mystery Science Theater 3000‘s Joel Hodgson as a stoner tech officer and Trace Beaulieu as the voice of outmoded robot A.R.T. (who, we learn, is the downloaded consciousness of a billionaire who made a bad investment in Singularity technology).

All goes–not well, and then it goes worse. The Cruiser is sucked up by a temporary wormhole–or “space toilet”–that flushes it into another universe. Inexperienced, poorly provisioned and terrified (a UMP training video on resigning yourself to die alone in space doesn’t help) sets out to navigate its new envirnoment, as well as all the personal and interpersonal space-junk that the stress stirs up.

The subject matter may seem an odd choice for Feig if you know him from Freaks and Geeks, which he created, or Bridesmaids, which he directed. (He did branch out into comedy sci-fi in his young-adult Ignatius MacFarland: Frequenaut! books.) But the science inOther Space‘s fiction is definitely light, even by the standards of, say, Futurama, and the production design is decidedly old-school. (It’s reminiscent of one of the few live-action sci-fi sitcoms past, NBC’s Quark, starring Richard Benjamin, from 1977.)

Really, Other Space is a workplace self-discovery comedy about misfits finding their place, in a office that just happens to be floating in an alien dust cloud. Though Yahoo may not have planned it this way, actually, Other Space (which Feig originally conceived for NBC) turns out to be a closer companion to its adopted Communitythan anything NBC ever paired with the show. The vibe is a little like a college dorm set afloat in space (at one point Tina draws on “my RA training” to handle a challenge), as the Cruiser’s maladjusted crew gets a forced crash course in socialization. (There’s a great example in the second episode, in which nebbishy officer Kent, played by Neil Casey, reveals an origin story that’s both heartwarming and hilariously gross.)

As with the LED-lit, beep-boop control panels of the Cruiser, there’s little brand-new about Other Space, but it grows into a low-stakes, good-hearted good time. The production feels amateurish in a good way, loose, light and benefitting from a cast heavy on sketch comedy experience.

Early in the pilot, the crew of the Cruiser discovers that its food replicator is busted, leaving them with nothing to eat but a massive stash of fudge in the ship’s hold. It feels like a metaphor for streaming the show. It might be too much to binge this odd confection all at once (just as, Karen dourly informs the crew, an all-fudge diet will lead to a ghastly death within weeks). But who doesn’t like fudge? Other Space may not be TV’s, or streaming’s, next great comedy. But it’s a welcome and unexpected treat.

Other Space : Season 1 Critic From Metacritic.com

Critic Reviews

1. Positive:4out of 6
2. Mixed:2out of 6
3. Negative:0

1. The Hollywood Reporter

   Keith Uhlich

   Apr 13, 2015

   80

   Thus far, Feig and his collaborators have found the right balance of humor and gravity for this celestial comedy.

   • Read full review
2. Los Angeles Times

   Robert Lloyd

   Apr 14, 2015

   80

   Delightful new science-fiction comedy.... Like candy, it is sweet, and sometimes sticky or nutty or surprising.

   • Read full review
3. Entertainment Weekly

   Ray Rahman

   Apr 13, 2015

   75

   In short, picture MST3K fab club putting on a play written by Community's Abed in a no-parents-allowed tree house. [17/24 Apr 2015, p.104]

   
   
4. Time

   James Poniewozik

   Apr 15, 2015

   70

   Other Space may not be TV’s, or streaming’s, next great comedy. But it’s a welcome and unexpected treat.

   • Read full review
5. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

   Rob Owen

   Apr 21, 2015

   50

   The humor in Other Space is largely of the absurd, what-would-happen-if-we-put-idiots-in-a-serious-space-setting variety. Sometimes the jokes hit, other times it feels like the kind of space opera I filmed with friends while in high school in the late 1980s.

   • Read full review
6. The New York Times

   Neil Genzlinger

   Apr 13, 2015

   40

   The plotlines are moderately intriguing.... But the cast, a mixture of actors, comics and writers, isn’t really up to the challenge of getting the best out of this material.

   • Read full review

Cast List

Cast

Starring

• Karan Soni as Stewart Lipinski
• Bess Rous as Karen Lipinski
• Eugene Cordero as Michael Newman
• Milana Vayntrub as Tina Shukshin
• Neil Casey as Kent Woolworth
• Joel Hodgson as Zalien Fletcher
• Conor Leslie as Natasha
• Trace Beaulieu as the voice of A.R.T.

Recurring

• Sarah Baker as Alien (3 episodes)
• Dave Franco as Chad Sampson (2 episodes)
• Björn Gustafsson as Ted Zachariasen (2 episodes)

Guest stars

• Jessica Chaffin as General Hayson ("Into the Great Beyond...Beyond")
• Mo Collins as Helen Woolworth ("Into the Great Beyond...Beyond")
• John Milhiser as the voice of Coffee Bot ("Trouble's Brewing")

IMDB Other Space TV Series Main Page

Other Space (2015– ) TV Series  |  30 min  |  Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi 7.3 My rating:  9/10  Ratings: 7.3/10 from 711 users  Reviews: 22 user | 4 critic It is the year 2105... a young, inexperienced and highly flawed crew embarks on a routine exploratory space mission. Suddenly, their ship, the UMP Cruiser, is drawn through a portal into a different, mysterious universe. With no maps, no contact, and no way back home, Captain Stewart Lipinski, First Officer/Stewart's-Older-Sister Karen Lipinski and their crew have to learn to work together, all while dealing with mysterious space clouds, food and fuel shortages, robot rebellions, folds in time, and the occasional alien attack. Creator:  Paul Feig Stars:  Trace Beaulieu, Neil Casey, Eugene Cordero |See full cast and crew »