Space Force - No Force and No Farce
I was so excited to watch 'Space Force' when it was first announced, Greg Daniels one of the main writers on 'The Office' creating a satire of the Space Force with a cast that includes Steve Carrel, Lisa Kudrow, John Malkovich and Ben Shwartz it seemed to be a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, it was a colossal disappointment and really let me down, the whole first season feels like an incredibly safe pilot for the actual show. It is ultimately dull and lifeless, perhaps I expected too much but I prefer my comedy to be daring, unusual and constantly reinventing itself but this just feels tired and worn out. It really fascinated me as it at times feels like a show just after it's peak, something like 'The Office' Season 9 or Arrested Development' season 4 but it should be this exciting new show brimming with potential. It is a misuse of so much potential which made 'Space Force' feel much worse than it actually is, when this amount of talented people work on something like this the result should not be so lacklustre and uninspired.
No matter your politics, the comedic potential in a show based around the Space Force is undeniably great, there is so much you could wonderfully satirise in this concept but the show is about as satirical as Looney Tunes. The show seems politically scared like it never really wants to commit to being an actual satire which is a shame because otherwise there's no point making it a show about the Space Force. The most we ever tap into this concept is basically the running set up to the show: the idea that the Space Force is a joke of an institute and poorly managed by idiots. However this often feels like a way too naturalistic concept, none of the characters are over the top enough to make it satirically interesting so we instead are stuck in this weird area of nothing. The satire rarely goes beyond 'Space Force dumb', or a dig at the Coast Guard or an off-hand remark about military masculinity complexes that aren't even true to the characters in the show. It almost comes off as scared to commit to anything that daring, it pulls basically every punch that it can, the references to POTUS are too scared to be vocally mocking so they simply aren't funny. If you are going to do a comedy based around such a political concept I'd expect some sort of political comedy but instead we these small little references that dont do anything. It falls down to jokes such as 'The president Tweets a lot' or 'The Coast Guard is stupid' rather than anything that is insightful or inventive with its concept. I'm not saying the show should just consistently be political aggressive, but the jokes we get simply aren't funny which is baffling considering what we could be doing with this. There is also this weird plot points of the villains being China that is just weirdly unneeded and outdated, it seems weird to portray a country as the villain without developing them in any way. I dont know, I perhaps expected this to be much more than it actually is, it is not the next 'Veep' but it doesn't get anywhere close to what it should be. If I was to write a workplace comedy set in a political environment, I would probably criticise and analyse said political environment because that's what comedy is for.
The major problem with the show is that it simply is incredibly dull. It lacks life, energy and identity. We are in the 'Golden Age' of Television but as a result of that in order to impress you have to do something bold and interesting with your show or else, it will disappear into an ocean of mediocrity. I am a massive fan of the work of Armando Ianucci and he has a way of writing satire as exposing the messy idiots behind political disasters, often his work humanises politicians by making them seem like absolute idiots making stupid, brash and selfish decisions. 'Space Force' seems scared to write its characters like this and as a result, everything feels middle of the road and very safe. I understand Carrel didn't want to just be Michael Scott again but his character of General Naird is kind of lifeless and disappointing. Naird isn't an idiot overwhelmed in his situation, he has very few flaws and often just seems to be in a situation where he is against the odds, the stupid decisions he makes aren't veiled in this air of arrogance or stupidity. It once again just isn't really committed to, he feels undercooked as a character and I wish we got this over the top militia character who is arrogant and set in his ways, or this man way over his head in a position of power but instead Naird is a bit of both and kind of dull in his creation. Carrel does well with this role, he does this brilliant vocal trick in making Naird this gravelly character but I wish we got more of a consistency in who this character is. When Michael Scott does something stupid, you know it is because of his superiority complex and ridiculous need to be liked by everyone, when General Naird does something stupid I dont really know or understand why because it doesn't get developed at all. Granted, Carrel has some brilliant deliveries here and there that prove his comedic skill, there are lines that come out of nowhere that really made me chuckle thanks to his delivery
'Space Force' really lacks in any sort of character or personality, I think a set tone and voice is essential in creating strong scripted comedy. Some of my favourite comedies like 'Arrested Development' and 'Community' have such distinct and unique voices that improve the comedy on so many levels, they are nothing without them. 'Space Force' has the visual design of a boring Roland Emmerich movie, the score of a Chris Columbus film and the dialogue of a CW comedy. It just feels flat and never commits to a signature style or voice, the military concept is the focus in the actual style but there isn't anything that interesting in there to keep the weak writing afloat. When the show gets a bit weird in areas it plays it really inconsistently, take the Chimpanzee fixing a spacecraft episode which should be treated as absurd and hilarious but it is almost played completely straight but not in a deadpan style. A lot of the episodes think the concept is enough, like a Sitcom that never adapts to its situations, there is an episode that revolves around Naird losing it whilst in a mock space habitat that never gets weird enough to pull off that level of insanity. Imagine if something like 'Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs' was played completely straight and thought making the characters say 'they are going insane' is enough to broadcast the effect of going slowly mad. I kept waiting for the show to really find its identity, to work out exactly what it is and get to play with the identity and concept rather than just going through the motions.
The cast is basically the main thing that kept me watching, I was honestly just happy to see some of these actors interact. John Malkovich is an iconic actor and one that I will happily watch in anything he is in, he always commits to every single role even if it is the villain in a 'Johnny English' film. Here it feels a bit weird to put him in the role of straight edge doctor, but he makes Dr Mallory this impulsive, angry and consistently on the edge of a fierce outburst character. I love his performance even if the writers often dont really know what to do with him in relation to other characters, he looks like he is going to be Naird's counterpart but they are very rarely developed against each other. They have good chemistry but I could never really put my finger on anything that interesting in their relationship. Ben Schwartz is an absolute underused delight, he is one of my favourite comedic performers (watch Middleditch and Shwartz on Netflix) but here he is demoted to 'millennial reference machine' which is a shame because the man can do weird so brilliantly. There's this big cast that dont really feel like an ensemble, there is no recognisable or entertaining relationship between two of the character. By the first season of 'Community' you know exactly where each character is in relation to another character, but here often characters dont even interact at all which is so disappointing when you have a cast like this. Lisa Kudrow can do so much more than this, Patrick Warburton can do so much more than this and the whole cast deserved better.
There is an argument to be had that the show isn't attempting what I had in mind and that is why I am disappointed. In many ways it doesn't exactly feel like it wants to be a satire, a sitcom or a weird comedy, instead it often feels like it wants to be this soft drama with the comedy as set dressing. A lot of time is spent on the relationship between Naird and his daughter and I feel like the creators had this confident idea of their relationship being a confident throughline for the show. However I find it woefully underdeveloped and once again far too safe and uninteresting, their relationship is so by-the-books and Sitcom Writing 101. It works in every single trope and does absolutely nothing new or interesting with their relationship. Workaholic dad who doesn't give his daughter enough attention, daughter struggling with their parent's tricky situation, daughter acting out to gain parents attention. It comes off as creatively uninspired, maybe we could do a really interesting perspective on how Millitaristic Father treats his family and this embedded American Dream Ideology played out in reality but instead, we get a Disney Channel Original. Old fashioned man meets open marriage ideals is a fabulous idea that is underdeveloped and dull, his relationship with his wife doesn't really do anything nuanced except having that concept. Drama isn't in a series of circumstances, it is in the presentation and how much you care for the characters in the circumstances.
If you cant tell 'Space Force' rubbed me the wrong way, Netflix splashed out a big budget with a big cast that I love and with a creative team that has worked on some brilliant shows and all we got was the Television equivalent of a plain cheese sandwich. Most of my complaints fall down to frustrations with potentials, I understand I have a lot of problems with what this show should be rather than what it is. But the thing is that if you boil down 'Space Force' into what it 'is', there is no point even thinking about it, it would disappear into the sea of dull Netflix originals. I dont know what went wrong here but if Netflix are going to keep dedicating so many resources to this amount of talent, maybe let them do something interesting and worth watching. It is a repeated pattern of Netflix just consistently rolling the dice on literally anything, they throw everything at the wall and if people watch it, they keep making it, if they dont they cancel it. This results in 20 seasons of Riverdale funding generic comedies like this that are a waste of brilliant upcoming talent and after all that it has the audacity to end its first season on a cliffhanger.
Thanks for reading!