Moonbase 8 review: a dark and charming space comedy about nothing

The Last Frontier is a familiar frontier for television. From Steve Carell’s sitcom Space force to Hilary Swank in A way, Hugh Laurie in HBO’s Avenue 5, and the familiar Star Trek: Picard, stories covering space travel are proliferating lately. And that’s no surprise: space is more than an exotic place. Space travel throws the characters into a confined and highly stressful environment, from military bases to tin cans circling the planet, which creates compelling character dynamics.

Showtime comedy series by Jonathan Krisel Moon base 8 trade in that same compelling dynamic, as astronauts Skip (Fred Armisen), Rook (Tim Heidecker) and Cap (John C. Reilly) train in Winslow, Ariz., ahead of their mission to occupy the first moon base inhabited. But Krisel is less successful than these other space shows. Over the course of the six half-hour episodes of the first season, the mundane obstacles they encounter make the Portlandia co-creator’s latest series a light-hearted yet endearing working comedy.

The bizarre trio of Skip, Rook and Cap are the most unlikely astronauts in NASA history. The dorky Skip trains for space as a tribute to his awesome dad. Devout Christian Rook ventures to the moon as a spiritual mission, to spread the word of God. And Cap, the senior base member, flees to the moon to avoid financial ruin in Hawaii. These men, for the most part, are hardly the best and the brightest.

Photo: Johnny Buzzerio / Showtime

contrary to Portlandia, who ridiculed the city of Portland and the most ridiculous aspects of progressive politics, Moon base 8 is a show on nothing. Its success hinges on finding laughs in crazy storylines that would easily find a home on Saturday Night Live. For example, Travis Kelce, who is assigned to the base as a cross-promotion between NASA and the NFL, is the show’s main guest. While the episode sees the trio’s water tank, which is supposed to last a month, dry up in a week, it is apparently Kelce treating Cap like her personal pocket dog.

Kelce is more than convincing as an intimidating alpha male forcing the besieged Cape to wash down his lunar rover or give him his water rations. He’s a compelling and compelling presence, and the show could use more of him. But alas, this is a collection of episodes with quite autonomous arcs doubling as compact sketches.

This is only a problem as the limited scope of the episodes stops the momentum of the series, especially in character development. Take Cap: He’s a loser. He has no training, let alone a goal. He has failed in every endeavor he has ever pursued, such as his bankrupt helicopter travel company. Rarely are astronauts portrayed as impenetrable heroes, and although Moon base 8 subverts this dynamic, he misses an opportunity when Krisel doesn’t spend enough time exploring Cap’s personal issues. The same can be said of the trio’s unlikely dynamics: the scientist, the common man and the devotee. The setup leaves spaces available to explore any possible cracks between them, especially Rook’s religiosity, but the resulting humor isn’t particularly sharp.

Photo: Merie Wallace / Showtime

Although their base is relatively isolated – the quarantine of the protagonists in a bubble in the desert seems particularly relevant during our current pandemic – the outside world is intruding. Rook receives consistent video messages from his wife and 12 children, which ultimately makes him homesick, and a short-term recruit exposes his personal failures. Meanwhile, a scrap collector named Wally quickly becomes friends with Cap. Astronauts are also given daily exercises from NASA, requiring them to participate in product testing. And in the same episode, the trio are working to negotiate a funding deal with neighboring SpaceX astronauts. These subplots follow each other briefly, leaving the spectacle disjointed. Any given episode goes out within the first 15 minutes.

Even so, this inane trio is just charming enough to pull off the thin material. Heidecker is as gentle as a lamb, Armisen is hilariously neurotic, and Reilly is an enthusiastic loonie. They combine for inflatable entertainment by vaguely portraying three outcasts chasing an unlikely dream. It’s not your dad’s NASA: it’s a mom and pop show with outdated technology and garish space suits. On their own, these low-rent aspects lend themselves to Moon base 8 a few points to upset the sacred legacy of NASA for the laughs. Although it is not as refined as Portlandia, Armisen and Krisel’s Moon base 8 lands in a sea of ​​tranquility.

The six episodes of Moon base 8 Season 1 is now airing on Showtime. The first episode is available for free streaming without subscription on Youtube, SHO.com, Showtime.comand various services on demand.