Space Force Review: A Comedy That’s Not Funny, Not Addictive & Not At All Worth Watching

By
George Yang
-

Space Force hasn’t been getting good reviews.

The Netflix Original couldn’t have come at a better timing: everyone’s staying on binging on Netflix, SpaceX just launched its first humans into space (which’ll open up the commercial space travel market) and Donald Trump has been in the news a lot more recently.

The stars are aligned for Space Force, which is set to be the next big thing—one that can even eclipse the real Space Force, a new branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.

But still, despite all the external factors that’d have helped in its publicity, it failed miserably; it gets a 40% approval in Rotten Tomatoes and no one’s loving it.

But why, you ask.

Space Force: What It Is

The web television series was given the green light by Netflix in January 2019, and expectations were high: it’s created and fronted by Steve Carell, the actor who starred and directed the highly popular comedy series The Office.

It also comprise a star-studded cast of John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz, Diana Silvers, Tawny Newsome and Jimmy O. Yang.

The storyline is as simple as its name: a 4-Star General, who certainly doesn’t sound like one, is being tasked to lead Space Force, a new branch in the US Armed Forces. He faces a new challenge every episode, and solves them in a way that’ll make you wonder if Corporals could also serve as Generals.

And lest you’ve not caught it, it’s a comedy.

The show would supposedly ignite our desire for space exploration again, given that no one cares about what’s beyond our Earth surface since the Cold War ended.

And if you’ve been to Netflix, you’d know that the streaming platform is pushing the show aggressively.

Would his be another House of Cards?

Unfortunately, no.

Space Force Review: A Comedy That’s Not Funny, Not Addictive & Not At All Worth Watching

It’s tough turning a military/space drama into a comedy, so Space Force uses everything at its disposal.

Using real-life event, like the POTUS using tweets to communicate his ideas, and joke about it? Check.

Putting lookalikes like to represent real politicians, like an AOC-lookalike? Check.

Allowing the military to look stupid, like letting Space Force soldiers wearing uniform with a cape? Check.

Follow us on Telegram for more informative & easy-to-read articles, or download the Goody Feed app for articles you can’t find on Facebook!

Defying logic, like letting an ape repair a space station? Check.

So here’s the thing: they tried so hard to be funny, it’s become unfunny.

It’s almost akin to many Goody Feed articles.

The show lacks a plot that keeps me hooked, and it’s so overly peppered with unfunny jokes that the only reason why I finish it is because I’ve to write this review. I’d have dropped off after the first episode.

Another issue the show has is its effort to make important scenes funny: for example, during an inspirational speech, which I thought would have provided some respite from the cold jokes, I was apparently motivated by the General’s speech when it was suddenly cut off by a group of protestors that had come in to protest on the wrong day.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

Fart and slapstick jokes were used so unsparingly that you wonder if people in Space Force have onion for all three meals.

And as someone who’s been through the military (NS, bruh), I won’t even know that Space Force is a military branch until I see some uniform.

Simply put, despite my best effort to appreciate the jokes, I’ve to go through them like a man forced to listen to his boss’ lame jokes for hours.

So if you’ve been seeing Space Force appearing in your Netflix feed, I’d suggest you to skip to something else instead. Ah Boys to Men is now on Netflix, and that’s 1,000 times funnier.

Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:

Read Also:

Advertisements
 
George Yang
Email: [email protected]