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Hyperdrive

e-n

21:06 / 17.01.06

Continuing in the line of new TV shows for the beginning of 2006 (do they usually do that?) comes new brit sci-fi hope "Hyperdrive", starring (most prominently )Ed Frost and Kevin Eldon.
BBC's official site here

The first show last week was a bit weak but there may be hope yet for this.

Funiest gags were the Colonel Bogey theme tune and the fact that the starship "Camden Lock"'s mission was to entice aliens to invest in Peterborough.

Did anyone else catch this?
Tripe or is there hidden potential?

(For one thing the exterior of the ships looked spiffy)

DaveBCooper

10:15 / 19.01.06

Saw about ten minutes of this last night, and despite the presence of Frost and Eldon in the cast, thought it was stunningly weak.

Won’t be bothering again.

bjacques

10:40 / 19.01.06

I liked the second one better. I found it uneven. The part about the race would have worked better if it had ended sooner. On the other hand, having to be towed back by the shuttle was brilliant. I loved the Doom Ray, and I bet the Crapoovians' (?) costumes came from House of Harlot. I'll keep at it, give it a bit longer to find its space legs.

"Verbal Warning"

Saveloy

14:28 / 19.01.06

I think they're relying too much on one joke - the contrast between outer space and Peterborough. And performance; normally I'm big on performance and consider it an undervalued, erm, thing in comedy. It can make a comedy with few laugh-out-loud bits worth watching. But there aren't enough differences between the characters here. There are basically two: The Actor Kevin Eldon, and everyone else (they're all playing slight variations on Mike from Spaced, with the shrugs and the grins etc).

Mister Six, whom all the girls

15:15 / 19.01.06

... I've developed a kind of filter for reviews of British comedy on Barbelith. If the review is 'it's okay' it's brilliant. If it's 'what a waste of time, I should have put the knife in after the opening credits' it's watchable.

I keep think British viewers have no idea how good their TV is... or my standards are just different/lower.

Sniv

15:44 / 19.01.06

I thuink the problem with this is that it's always going to be compared (unfavourably) to Red Dwarf, the archetypal British space sitcom. trouble is, even the first series of RD was shit, it took a while to settle in to it's rhythm. I hope the beeb give this time to mature.

After all, it's still funnier than that Rob Brydon observatory comedy. That was *really* shit (seriously).

And Saveloy, you're the only other person I've heard call Eldon "The Actor Kevin Eldon". Yay for TMWRNJ!

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

16:46 / 19.01.06

It's Nick Frost, man. His character was called Ed in Shaun of the Dead, though.

Anyway, I've found this quite watchable albeit not quite world changing.

And remember: alien sex is danger sex.

The Strobe

12:37 / 20.01.06

John: then you have clearly never heard me refer to the Actor Kevin Eldon.

I quite enjoyed this. Second episode better than the first, and Jeffers' race was probably unnecessary, but I like what they're trying to do. Sadly, a lot of the gags seem old - the End User License Agreement on the firearms is very Hitchiker's Guide, for instance.

Still, I really liked the Video, the external shots are pretty, and The Actor Kevin Eldon is excellent.

Also, I have a weird thing for Officer Teal, but let's not go there.

Feverfew

20:52 / 15.02.06

Just a brief Bump;

Is anyone still watching this, or, more accurately, did anyone just catch the last episode tonight?

I agree that the overall writing has done little to endear the series to viewers, and that the ratio has mostly been Hit / Miss / Miss instead of Hit and Miss, but I think that tonight's episode may have been the best of a bad bunch.

This may be because of the proper usage of The Actor Kevin Eldon, or the Vine subplot being so so very silly, or the general mayhem of minute points, but am I the only one who found possibly the last episode ever actually the funniest?

Ganesh

21:05 / 15.02.06

It's just too weak. I can't even watch it for lovely lovely Nick Frost in a one-piece.

All Acting Regiment

23:11 / 15.02.06

I thought the bit with the odd couple sitting in the pleasure room was quite funny. They're on these chairs in a dark room with soothing music playing, and these floating words like "Intimacy" and "Explore" drift past. The camera cuts close to the couple for a second, there's some dialogue, and then it pulls back.

The word "bumhole" is seen drifting gracefully by.

I thought it was quite funny.

bjacques

07:14 / 16.02.06

I found it uneven but when it hit it really hit. I saw the final episode and I hope they renew it.

The Strobe

10:57 / 16.02.06

Yeah, the episode with the Sex Room was good, though I enjoyed the Vineworld segment of it most. It's still too finely distributed a series of jokes.

Compare it to The IT Crowd in terms of how many gags there are, the balance of plot/humour, etc; the former is far more conventional-sitcom, but it's also far denser. Sometimes the pay-off doesn't come fast enough in Hyperdrive - apart from when Kevin Eldon is involved.

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