The First Hour of Space Command is Out
- Thread starter Ryan Thomas Riddle
- Start date
Isn't he the guy who keeps trying to get the Kzinti back into Star Trek?
I've put a few thoughts together in a Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/ryantriddle/status/1081996994837659648
Here's a highlight:
Here's a highlight:
Last edited:
I still haven't figured out why anyone would choose such a bland name for a show. Space Command? That's like calling a cop show: Police Station. I would get it if the show was an ensemble piece about people at... you know, a Space Command, but if this show is about Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers... why don't you call it after your main character?
Space Command. TERRIBLE name.
Space Command. TERRIBLE name.
Well, the original concept that Drexler understood was they were going to do a Tom Corbett or Space Patrol type show with a retro-50s vibe, and the name was cribbed from the 1953 CBC show Space Command, which featured Jimmy Doohan. In fact, the abandoned original script that I was slipped on the sly specified that there was supposed to be a hologram which was sourced from a PD kinescope of the original Space Command. My guess is Zicree may have thought he could get a freebie cameo of Doohan or Shatner (who guested on the show) in this way, but apparently only one episode of the show survives and I've yet to see it anywhere.
Here's Doohan in the one clip of the show I was able to find. He's seated to screen right in the rocketship.
Last edited:
Thanks for explaining that. Every time I see the words "Space Command" I think of the real life US Space Command, so every time I saw something associated with this my mind always went to "How the hell do you get this from that?" Now I know. It's silly of course, but that's just the way my mind works, and it's nice to have the proper perspective.
It doesn't make the show any better, but at least I know where they're getting it from.
And that makes sense, but, what we watched... or watched part of... didn't really seem like it even had the same flavor... The CBC Space Command seems to be about people working AT Space Command... This thing that Zicree has made is about one person, who commands a ship... There just seems to be a disconnect between title and show.
Homage is great, but, if it doesn't make sense, why do it?
Well, as I indicated upthread, the show was pitched as one thing, and right after they got the money Zicree dropped a script on Drexler and co. that was not at all what they understood the show would be, so Drexler, Probert and Steve Neil all moved on. I saw some of the concepts they were working on, and they were much more 50s influenced than anything we got. Bait and switch? You decide.
Last edited:
Sad. A 50s retro thing through today's lens--if handled well, could've been fun.
Currently watching it. Bland. Not gonna continue right at the moment.
It's so filled with machismo that it feels like it was made in the 50s.
It took me two hours to watch the one hour.
I'm through the car ride, about ten minutes in. This is indeed mediocre, but better than, say, "The Last Outpost," or the entire first season of Babylon 5 (which eventually got great but boy it didn't start there). I've certainly watched a few episodes of a series on weaker material than this. Heck, I watched a whole season of Discovery on weaker material than this.
And they didn't have Bruce Boxleitner!
I'll finish it out, but my preliminary conclusion is that I would be surprised but not stunned to see it picked up someplace. Maurice's criticisms of the writing and self-promotion aren't wrong, but the SyFy Channel bought Seasons 4 and 5 of Sliders, so we have to bear in mind that the bar here isn't "perfection" or even "greatness"; it's "adequacy."
And they didn't have Bruce Boxleitner!
I'll finish it out, but my preliminary conclusion is that I would be surprised but not stunned to see it picked up someplace. Maurice's criticisms of the writing and self-promotion aren't wrong, but the SyFy Channel bought Seasons 4 and 5 of Sliders, so we have to bear in mind that the bar here isn't "perfection" or even "greatness"; it's "adequacy."
For people who have watched it, is it on a "So bad it's hilarious" level, or "So bad it's barely watchable" level? From some of the clips I saw years ago it seemed somewhere between.
It’s unwatchable. There are much better uses of your time.
If you even liked/ are a fan of stuff like the old 1930ies/40ies era film serials (Buck Rodgers, Flash Gordon) or Gerry Anderson's 'Super Marionation' series (Thunderbirds/Fireball XL5) - the storry telling and types of character archetypes are in that vein.
I kind of suspected as much. Back to rewatching Lost in Space then.
It's so bad it's fine.
Judging by some of the responses in this thread, I get the feeling lots of folks here consider quite a bit of professional televised sci-fi unwatchable as well. Space Command is merely mediocre.
Sorry, but for me (on the writinmg level) it's just above JMS' B5/LoTR/Crusade (and as to Crusade, the original "Space Battleship Yamato" is FAR superior.
) YMMV of course.
I find the works that you cited to be much more enjoyable than this "Space Command" video.
Kor
