The First Hour of Space Command is Out

[DarKush]

I watched the pilot, and while I don't think it works as a potential network or streaming series (I thought Star Trek: Renegades, or now just Renegades was stronger-though it had it own problems), I think it could work as a fan-film-level webseries. It was nice seeing some genre veterans in the film and I did like the throwback style hero starship (though I thought it could've been bigger). The characters were alright for the most part. I didn't mind the protagonist or the other characters; I think the potential is there. I don't think the story had enough of a hook to convince executives to buy it.

I wish that the visual effects people who did Axanar, Star Trek Continues, or maybe even Hidden Frontier worked with Zicree to polish the aesthetics. I also thought some of the costuming was too busy. I think it would've been better to take the headgear off Doug Jones and streamline the androids' (i.e. replicants) wardrobe-simple jumpsuits/coveralls would work, and also the Space Command uniforms (I liked the ones at the beginning more than the ones later on, perhaps they were the same, but the ones in the opening looked less busy and also looked purple and I liked the coloring). Sometimes less is more and hopefully it might be cheaper.

I do agree with those who feel that the name "Space Command" is a bit bland. I guess it evokes 1950s sci-fi kind of shows, but I don't know how fitting it is for what was shown. I think naming the series after the hero ship would've worked just as well.

 

[Maurice]

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.

My mileage clearly does vary. JMS has the excuse that we wrote 4 seasons of B5 all by himself and never had time to make the scripts read better than a 2nd draft. Zicree had years to write this and this is the result. Ugh.

 

[Daddy Todd]

All this talk of B5 makes me feel like it’s time for a rewatch!

 

[Noname Given]

My mileage clearly does vary. JMS has the excuse that we wrote 4 seasons of B5 all by himself and never had time to make the scripts read better than a 2nd draft. Zicree had years to write this and this is the result. Ugh.

To be fair, JMS also claimed he honestly rarely felt the need for rewrites/second drafts and often wrote at 4:00 AM in the morning.
(And no not defending that at all - just showing WHAT kind of writer he was - which his finished work (IMO) shows.)

 

[Maurice]

Well, if that's the case, someone slap him.

 

[SITZKRIEG!]

I really wanted to like it but ultimately didn't. The campy/cringey moments from the trailer years ago (i.e. "so you wrecked your ship and they gave you a shiny new one?" or "put that in your report!") made it unchanged into that first episode. Perhaps it was unrealistic for me to think that it would change dramatically after they were done filming with some editing and reshoots.

 

[Maurice]

It almost always comes down to the script, and this script is weak sauce.

 

[dmac]

I was so looking forward to a space adventure.
Marc really needs to make an honest assessment of what he's done here from a viewers prospective. There is a lot backstory over the android. our hero saves a couple of girls and becomes captain. the crew hops in the ship and they they go somewhere. the Android goes rouge, steals a ship and oh yeah, they were on Mars.
I see a lot of this in audio drama where tipping off the audience is most important. One example.The writer and producers understand the story shifted from a ship on the ocean to an office in New York but the audience doesn't know that if you don't tell them.
So far the story played like flipping pages on a comic book. I think it is very fixable if steady out the story flow and get a writer on it.

 

[Maurice]

I think it is very fixable if steady out the story flow and get a writer on it.

I really have a hard time following what you're saying there.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I ejected from this after about two minutes. Awful.

 

[dmac]

I really have a hard time following what you're saying there.

exactly.
Detailed story telling concerning morals, god and androids then jump to rescuing a ship and two girls from burning up in the atmosphere. Who were these girls? You only get a vague clue about one of them latter on.
It's been a while since I watched it but instead of explaining how the girls fit into the story we jump to the pilot and his dad in a car.
The Pilot disobeyed flight protocol and was promoted to captain without a hearing or debriefing to explain why he would get the Females post as captain.
After 50 minutes Robert Picardo's trusted man servant android goes rouge and steals a ship. Why did I need a very detailed scene of Picardo's wife's death in a flood?
I think it's probably a great story, just poor story telling.

 

[Maurice]

I merely meant the sentence I quoted was a little hard to parse.

FYI, you keep typing rouge as in red instead of rogue as in aberrant.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

The only things that could've saved Space Command—a better writer and a different lead character. That or not being made at all.

 

[dmac]

I merely meant the sentence I quoted was a little hard to parse.

FYI, you keep typing rouge as in red instead of rogue as in aberrant.

It gives Terrell (editor) something to do..

 

[Maurice]

It's sad to have to beat up projects like this. I was rooting for this at first because it was trying to do something nominally original—albeit derivative—instead of just another Trek fanfilm, but the moment I saw the early script I knew it was likely to be a disappointment because you could see that Zicree's storytelling and dialog were just not good. Fans cough up money for a project like this so you hope—for their sakes—that what results is great or at least good. So when the result is something so...pedestrian and outright antiquated in its approach I feel bad for the people who supported it.

 

[dmac]

It's sad to have to beat up projects like this. I was rooting for this at first because it was trying to do something nominally original—albeit derivative—instead of just another Trek fanfilm, but the moment I saw the early script I knew it was likely to be a disappointment because you could see that Zicree's storytelling and dialog were just not good. Fans cough up money for a project like this so you hope—for their sakes—that what results is great or at least good. So when the result is something so...pedestrian and outright antiquated in its approach I feel bad for the people who supported it.

Do you feel he attempted to put too many elements into a first 50 minute production?

 

[Maurice]

Do you feel he attempted to put too many elements into a first 50 minute production?

I feel he's never demonstrated anything that would indicated he's a good screenwriter, and his choices here were obvious and his treatment of women was regressive. The first half of this thing is pastiche-y as Hell and not in a good way.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Do you feel he attempted to put too many elements into a first 50 minute production?

It’s not about the number of elements, it’s about stringing them together in a compelling and interesting way.