Space Force review: Netflix sees the funny(ish) side of the moon

Welcome to Space forces. Netflix sees the funny side of the moon The office in uniform, straps on a rocket and imagines how a cosmic new branch of the military will bring the Americans back to the moon. Armed Americans. It is a small step for humans, a big leap for war.

The United States Space Force is natural a real thingand split from the Air Force in 2019 when President Donald Trump claimed the stars for the stars and stripes. Netflix’s new comedy, which starts on May 29, begins with a moody (unnamed) president who tweets that he wants boots on the moon as soon as possible. And the man charged with sacred responsibility is to bring war to the sea of ​​calm Steve Carell‘s dutiful general, a former fighter pilot who switched from Top Gun to Top Brass – but knows nothing about space, missiles, or the connection between the two. “Let’s make Apollo 13 the shit out of it!” he explains.

The general may not know his astronaut from his elbow, but he is supported by the technological genius of John Malkovich as a tortuous civilian advisor. He rolls his eyes so tightly that they practically have their own orbit, and is deeply cynical about the military program because he questions both the rigor of science and the chain of command. Malkovich was immaculate in his suit and tie at all times and adds gravity to the process that adds a touch of class even when the comedy gets silly.

And Space forcesThe comic family tree is of course flawless. It was created by Greg Daniels, the man behind the American adaptation of The Office and co-creator of King of the Hill and Parks and recreation. He and office star Carell designed Space Force, and you can draw a pretty straight line between The Office and the new show – it’s another comedy at work where colleagues of different skill levels get on each other’s nerves as they go working towards a probably senseless job.

The only difference is that Space Force is not an office, but an extensive secret base in Colorado. And it’s not the photocopier that flashes at this work station, but a rocket that costs taxpayers about as much as four middle schools.

Funnily enough, Space Force launches on Netflix just a few weeks later Greg Daniels’ other technology upload show started streaming on Amazon. These two shows have a similar feeling as they are part of a new generation of post office comedies in which the traditional sitcom has been replaced by the type of com. There are many of these shows in the streaming era: Bojack rider, Barry, Master of nobody, Bad girls, Louie, Dead for me and so on. The type of com is somehow a comedy during somehow looks like a drama.

But is it funny?

Type of …

Space Force is definitely funnier than upload, but it still seems that the comedy isn’t funny enough, the drama isn’t dramatic enough, and the satire isn’t sharp enough satirical enough. Each episode has its own sitcom-style set piece that acts as a launch pad: Carell loses his marbles in a replica lunar habitat; he and Malkovich choose a spy; and in a simulated space war game, the Space Force takes on the Air Force. In between, scientists collide with soldiers, a Russian observer works to get his hands on both the general’s and his daughter’s technology, and the Chinese are one step ahead of every big leap.

A subplot about the First Lady redesigning the Space Force uniform is cleverly funny, as is a visit from a Hotshot from Silicon Valley, but it doesn’t connect every subplot. Booksmart’s Diana Silver plays the general’s daughter, but her romantic story just kind of circles around without going anywhere. The subplot about the general’s wife, played by an underused Lisa Kudrow, doesn’t offer much either, apart from the mystery of how she ended up where she is.

Carell is so charming that you can’t help but get involved with him, even when he’s in the best of spirits. But his character, and indeed most characters, could be more sharply defined. There’s a reason why we remember Michael Scott, Dwight, Jim, Pam, and the rest of the office’s workmates: they’re so specific with identifiable traits, desires, and frustrations. But after watching the first episode of Space Force, even after the entire first season, it’s hard to know who Carell’s general actually is. Is he a boring bureaucrat or a gung ho fighter – or one who pretends to be the other? He has at all believe in space force?

Beside him supporting characters played by Jimmy O Yang and Ben Schwartz are just … there. You are a publicist and a scientist, and that’s it. Neither is able to sink their teeth into the inspired madness that made them Silicon Valley and parks and rec characters so unforgettable. We spend a lot of time with Tawny NewsomeBefore she reveals her ambition to become an astronaut so late in the season, it’s as if she’d thought about it at the end of the writing process and never went back to add it to her character.

Yes, Space Force is often fun. But for every impeccably timed Malkovich moment or gag about who pushes the button to launch the rockets, there’s a Cringey line like, “What’s after Brexit? Frexit? Swexit?” A AOC-esque congressman is only referred to as “Angry Young Congresswoman” and a congressional hearing is interrupted by protesters in handmaid’s tale outfits, which is less of a joke and more of a thing that actually happened. Like Daniels’ Amazon Art Com Upload, the satire feels like it’s just pointing at things instead of actually skewering them. If, for example, Schwartz ’empty publicist exclaims: “I should tweet this”, it is not a punch line, but literally his job description.

Space Force has the ability to be modern Dr. Strangeloveand nail the depressing Jingoistic fallacy of the urge to militarize space. Strangely enough, it’s a successful start, but the small steps could have been bigger leaps.