Hope you haven’t already fulfilled your nerdy news quota for the day, because this is definitely going to top it off. Former Mystery Science Theater 3000 stars Joel Hodgson and Trace Beaulieu are heading back up into the cosmos together for the sci-fi comedy Other Space, the new Yahoo web series coming from The Heat director Paul Feig. This project was already orbiting my list of anticipated series, but it has now moseyed its way to the top.
Other Space will take place in the 22nd century, centering on a set of explorers that aren’t exactly the most harmonious bunch. While advancements have been made to the world and humanity’s travel capabilities, there still hasn’t been any contact with extraterrestrial life. A spaceship full of mismatched characters is on a routine collection mission when they accidentally stumble upon the existence of an alternate universe that is far more perilous and warped than our own. In eight episodes, the group of fighting siblings, burned-out veterans, wet-nosed rookies and outdated robots must traverse this new universe to find a way back home.
Unfortunately, Hodgson’s role isn’t discussed, but Beaulieu himself talks briefly about his robotic character with Yahoo! TV in the video below.
The riff-and-ready Mystery Science Theater 3000 was created by Hodgson in 1988, and he and Beaulieu were part of the original crew. Hodgson played the movie-watching human Joel Robinson, while Beaulieu pulled double duties by voicing Crow T. Robot and starring as the mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester. That series basically saw Joel and the bots (Tom Servo included) forced to watch terrible movies, which they’d make fun off in the most insanely hysterical ways. The show has become a cult phenomenon, though Hodgson left after four years, with Beaulieu gone after seven.
Some of the other members of the cast, including Mike Nelson and Bill Corbett, have gone on to create the similarly conceived RiffTrax series of film commentaries and events, so it’s nice to see Hodgson and Beaulieu coming back into the spotlight for this. They actually reprised their MST3K roles last year for Season 4 of Arrested Development on Netflix. Funny enough, Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig also directed episodes of Arrested Development. That these three comic brains are on one project together is almost too good to be true.
Other Space boasts a cast that also includes Karan Soni (Safety Not Guaranteed), Eugene Cordero (House of Lies), Milana Vayntrub (Silicon Valley), Neil Casey (Inside Amy Schumer), and Bess Rous (Murder in the First). Yahoo is planning on bringing the comedy to audiences in 2015, not too distant a future.
