There's something ironic about the fact that Syfy's upcoming comedy project Outer Space Adventures was filmed and put together entirely in one guy's basement. Or maybe there isn't. Especially if his mother lives upstairs and creator Russell Barrett has Star Wars posters and action figures covering his walls.
Syfy is promising a viewing experience unlike anything we've seen before. What Barrett has done is hire a bunch of old friends and strange people he found wandering his neighborhood to flesh out the cast, with himself in the lead role. He's surrounded them with the latest in 3-D animation and computer graphics -- wait a minute, this is starting to sound a lot like Sanctuary's groundbreaking blue-screen background effects.
Here's how Syfy describes the series:
Outer Space Astronauts is a futuristic comedy series about eight vaguely courageous, highly distractable military personnel who journey to the far reaches of the galaxy, seeking knowledge, adventure and whatever else they can come up with. On board the O.S.S. Oklahoma, this legion of misfits are led by a lackluster captain who would rather be planning the next “margarita Monday” than leading a mission against evil, much to exasperation of his by-the-book second-in-command. Regardless of being a comedy of errors, this team will surprise even themselves as they navigate their way around the solar system.
Executive Producer David O. Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees) said, "What more needs to be said about outer space astronauts who are in outer space working as astronauts, in outer space?" It's all going to come down to Barrett's unique vision of humor and how to put together a TV series. I think it's about time we got a good space comedy in the US, like the UK's Red Dwarf, so I'm putting all my faith in Russell Barrett, a man I've never met.
Outer Space Adventures is scheduled to premiere Tuesday, December 8th at 9:30pm ET (directly after the season finale of Scare Tactics). The following week it will slip into its regular timeslot of 9:00pm ET/8:00pm CT.
