Anna Daniels
The Space Force is very much a real thing that the current presidential administration somehow thinks is important and necessary. It’s also a solid concept for comedy, or at least that’s what Netflix thought when they picked up the aptly titled Space Force series from The Office co-creator Greg Daniels and the show’s former star and producer Steve Carell. Unfortunately, the first Space Force trailer makes the show look like as much of a shitshow as the idea of creating a real Space Force.
Space Force Trailer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdpYpulGCKc?feature=oembed&w=740&h=416]
This is a far cry from the comedic style of The Office. The mockumentary series on NBC was rather grounded, even though it did have some heightened antics thanks to some of the oddball characters, including Steve Carell as Dunder-Mifflin boss Michael Scott. But here, the comedy strikes a weird tone that feels like it might be trying to be like Dr. Strangelove, but it’s coming off more like The Men Who Stare at Goats, a movie that felt muddled and ultimately directionless.
Steve Carell is putting on a little more masculine, firm voice as four-star general Mark R. Naird, but it doesn’t feel authentic and makes the entire concept feel like a bad sketch that goes on for too long. There’s only one point in this trailer that made me chuckle, and it was only because I wasn’t expecting Carell to say “fuck.” Honestly, I was hoping for more from this series, but if this trailer is any indication of the kind of comedy we’re going to get, we might be in for a disappointment.
The lack of big laughs in this trailer is especially disappointing when you consider the cast includes John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz, Lisa Kudrow, Jimmy O. Yang, Noah Emmerich, Alex Sparrow, Don Lake, Diana Silvers, and Tawny Newsome. There are some great comedy performers in there, but the trailer doesn’t really highlight them.
Space Force is executive produced by Howard Klein and 3Arts along with Greg Daniels, who is also the series showrunner, and it looks like they couldn’t capture comedic lightning twice with Steve Carell. But we’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope that maybe this is just a bad trailer.
A decorated pilot with dreams of running the Air Force, four-star general Mark R. Naird (Steve Carell) is thrown for a loop when he finds himself tapped to lead the newly formed sixth branch of the US Armed Forces: Space Force. Skeptical but dedicated, Mark uproots his family and moves to a remote base in Colorado where he and a colorful team of scientists and “Spacemen” are tasked by the White House with getting American boots on the moon (again) in a hurry and achieving total space dominance.
Space Force arrives on Netflix on May 29, 2020.
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