In the year 2105, the Universal Mapping Project cruiser – already considered something of an expensive failure – is assigned to a new commander, freshly promoted Captain Stewart Lipinski. Considered a promising candidate for his unusual solution to the UMP’s “no-win scenario” simulation, Stewart is joined by his older sister Karen, who is somewhat awkwardly assigned to be his second-in-command. Stewart’s former babysitter, Michael, is third-in-command, while veteran UMP engineer Zalian Fletcher keeps his existing post aboard the cruiser (along with his homemade robot, A.R.T.). Kent Woolworth, son of the President of the UMP, is the ship’s science officer, while Stewart has his academy crush, Tina Shukshin, assigned as navigator. The ship’s onboard AI, Natasha, oversees automatic systems for the cruiser’s small crew.
Almost immediately, Stewart’s first command goes awry; Zalian neglected to requisition replacements for the ship’s 35-year-old food packs, and while he offers to share his personal supply of fudge with the others, Stewart decides to turn the cruiser around. A chance collision with a tear in space and time deposits the UMP cruiser in another universe, with no clear way to return to the universe in which it started. Fortunately, things aren’t as they seem. And then Stewart realizes that even the things that aren’t as they seem…aren’t as they seem.
written by Paul Feig
directed by Luke Matheny
music by Orr Rebhun & Erica Weis
Cast: Trace Beaulieu (A.R.T.), Neil Casey (Kent Woolworth), Eugene Cordero (Michael Newman), Joel Hodgson (Zalian Fletcher), Conor Leslie (Natasha), Bess Rous (Karen Lipinski), Karan Soni (Stewart Lipinski), Milana Vayntrub (Tina Shukshin), Jessica Chaffin (General Hayson), Bjorn Gustaffson (Ted), Roni Akurati (young Stewart), Edgar Blackmon (Crew Member #3), Brian Carpenter (Dom), Mo Collins (Helen Woolworth), Kate Comer (Crew Member #1), Evan Gustao (Crew Member #2), Jerry O’Connor (A.R.T. Puppeteer #2), Ryan Petersen (young Michael)
Notes: Series creator Paul Feig is renowned in cult TV circles as the creator of the short-lived series Freaks & Geeks, and went on to direct a big-screen, gender-flipped reboot of Ghostbusters on the big screen. Joel Hodgson and Trace Beaulieu are veterans – and founding cast members – of legendary movie-riffing comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000. As with his MST3K character, Beaulieu provides both the voice and some puppetry expertise for A.R.T. All eight episodes of Other Space’s first season were released simultaneously by Yahoo Screen, a video-on-demand service later cancelled by Yahoo.com.
LogBook entry by Earl Green