Space Hospital Season II
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Loading ...Posted on: December 5, 2009
Space Hospital, created by Second City Conservatory alumni Sigurd Ueland and Robert Poe and produced by SusanStoebner, officially launches its second season. In celebration we are relaunching the show here on VisiowebTV for all of those who missed the past season and the somewhat harsh (but still upbeat) review we did for it. It may have its fault, but in Season II it has grown up a lot and is becoming a noteworthy comedy show.
As the creators explain, Space Hospital is a retro-futuristic, sci-fi soap opera that chronicles the adventures of the doctors and nurses stuck aboard a mobile hospital in deep space. The show is a pastiche of styles ranging from film serials to classic TV, wrapped in a contemporary mash-up design to deliver analog comedy in a digital age. Storylines unfold through a unique combination of narrative episodes, PSAs and faux commercials.
An early concept for the series came from a sketch Ueland and Poe wrote in a class with Steve Carrell. “Astronaut Reg and Action Billy” explored two characters bearing witness to the end of an era that had glorified an imagined space age and had given them a reason to exist. That kernel of an idea evolved into Space Hospital, which combines digital collage and live action along with puppet-like robots, handmade props and studio models designed and built by Poe. Though the saturated color palette and hand-crafted sets may say “Sid and Marty Krofft,” the dark undertones and absurd situations tell a more satirical tale of the future.
Season I provided a period of experimentation in which the cast and creators explored the
tone, the characters and the narrative style of the show. Season II, however, has the crew of Space Hospital going rogue on a more urgent mission to save their jobs – and possibly their lives – leading them on a series of trans-galactic escapades en route to Re-Earth.
Space Hospital still remains within the confines of silliness, but as the season progresses the deeper storylines should become evident. We’ll keep on watching!
And that MST3K-esq robot is still my fav character!
Official site: Space Hospital
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December 7th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
It’s one of the curious things about web content. It’s getting us back to a more realistic time frame in creating an audience relationship. Seinfeld would not last today, as it took two seasons for the show to really find it’s footing. Now we have all manner of “gotcha” shows (spurred on by the success of Lost) that really only have one good hook, then out stay their welcome as the writing stales.
In the case of Space Hospital, I’m happy to say, that each episode has been better than the last, and seasons two has started off as a dark satire with something to say.
December 7th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Wow, I am absolutely loving this. Going to go back and watch the first season. Thanks for this great review!