Other Space – Broadening The Future Of Internet Television

Other Space – Broadening The Future Of Internet Television

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the changing game of television. In the last few years television has moved from digital to the internet. Viewers can now consume original content online that has never aired on television. The start of this revolution really began with HOUSE OF CARDS. Yes, there were other internet made shows prior to that, but HOUSE OF CARDS came with an A-list budget and talent and with the huge marketing campaign no other internet show has had before. When HOUSE OF CARDS premiered the world took notice. Soon following the success of that launch other shows with A-listers behind them came out as well such as ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK and TRANSPARENT (which was the first internet show to win an Emmy). Now every streaming site has some form of original content from Netflix to Hulu and now Yahoo. Yahoo just recently got into this game in a big way when it picked up COMMUNITY from exile and ordered a season 6 of a show.  Yahoo made this move in hopes that visitors to their site would notice they are now in the content game and would check out the other shows they had to offer. This is very much like when UPN picked up a cancelled BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER from the WB.  I have to say that Yahoos idea worked on me; I visited their site for COMMUNITY and while I was there found my way to another show, OTHER SPACE. This show does not have a huge budget or anything that could even be considered a C-List cast, yet it’s a hidden gem demanding to be found. That is not to say there is not huge talent behind the camera, the show is produced by Paul Feig of BRIDESMAIDS fame.  To me OTHER SPACE maybe one of the more important internet series to date. It is important not because it offers something vastly unique in terms of ideas but for the fact that it seems we have now reached the next phase in this type or content. Straight-To-Internet series are starting to reach a point where even the little guys can start to be noticed.  Programs like OTHER SPACE are being made today and put out there and viewers watch them expecting quality and not some cheap imitation of television anymore. 

OTHER SPACE is first and foremost a funny show. The type of humor it presents is very off-beat and yet oddly familiar. OTHER SPACE in essence follows not a group of finely tuned Astronauts into space  but instead imagines what STAR TREK would have been like if the Starship was manned by off-beat weirdo’s you would more likely find working at a big box store.  The crew of the ship consists of Captain Stewart Lipinski (Karan Soni), his sister Karen Lipinski (Bess Rous), his childhood babysitter/friend Michael Newman (Eugene Cordero), unrequited love interest Tina Shukshin (Milana Vayntrub), oddball Kent Woolworth (Neil Casey), and not quite all there engineer Zalian Fletcher (Joel Hodgson). Along for the ride with the humans is resident wise cracking robot ART (Trace Beaulieu) and the girly mainframe interface Natasha (Connor Leslie).  The premise of the show is that on the first day aboard the ship, the crew accidently goes through a wormhole and ends up in unknown part space (Other Space) without anyone or anything else but each other.  The pilot does a good job setting up the different dynamics that will be used throughout the run of the first season. Karen is jealous her brother Stewart was made captain, Michael is mad he was not made first officer by his friend, Stewart loves Tina but she has a current boyfriend on earth, Tina misses said boyfriend and is obsessed with him, Kent is the son of their boss, Natasha used to be the mainframe for casinos, Zalian has lost a few marbles through all his trips in space and spends all his time with his wise cracking best friend robot ART. That is a lot to digest and set up in the initial pilot which is what makes it the weakest episode in the batch. However, even with all the world building the show asks of its actors, they pull it off.  Throughout the run of the show, the characters become more defined and the situations get out of hand, and yet the feel of the show remains grounded due to the fact that all these characters feel relatable.  The beauty of the show is it makes you wonder what would happen if just you and your buddies ended up in space and were not the best under pressure.

I decided to keep this blog entry short to keep must of the surprises the how has to offer secret.  I will state the show has a fun time using science fiction tropes to mine humor for a comedy very much in the vein of FUTURAMA.  If you find the idea of a rouge coffee maker taking over a ship in a robot uprising spewing painful coffee puns amusing then this is the show for you. Along the way the show will tackle time disparities, ship malfunctions, aliens, etc. to mine stories from. In addition, the character that jumps out quickly above the rest is the wise cracking robot ART who is by Trace Beaulieu of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER fame.  However, over time every character gets their time to shine and by episode 3 this show and cast are really jelling and giving the viewer a fun time.

Overall I think this show represents the future of internet streaming original shows. It proves even without the biggest budget a company can produce content that is still vastly superior to most comedies on television.  It won’t be too long before people start checking out new shows for these sites on a regular basis much like television. To conclude I went to Yahoo for COMMUNITY but ended up enjoying OTHER SPACE way more.