Tag: HBO

Captain Clark, an actor hired to portray a space captain, is incensed to learn that his bridge crew is made up of actors hired to portray a bridge crew. While meeting the real crew – a collection of brilliant social misfits kept below decks where no one can see them – Clark resolves to learn more of the real mechanics of space flight. One of the things he learns is that the radiation shielding protecting the entire crew and complement of Avenue 5 is filled with the most reliable insulation against radiation yet discovered: human excrement. While Clark tries to grow into his role as the ship’s captain, Judd holds parties in his private lounge for select groups of passengers, only to find that this still won’t silence their complaints about life on the ship. A pipe on the outside of the ship bursts, spewing human solid waste into space – an unlikely spectacle, and a harbinger of certain death if the leak isn’t repaired immediately…and everyone decides that the heroic Captain Clark is just the man to perform a spacewalk and repair the leak.

teleplay by Ian Martin & Peter Fellows
story by Armando Iannucci & Ian Martin & Peter Fellows
directed by Natalie Bailey
music by Adem Ilhan

Cast: Hugh Laurie (Captain Ryan Clark), Josh Gad (Herman Judd), Zach Woods (Matt Spencer), Rebecca Front (Karen Kelly), Suzy Nakamura (Iris Kimura), Lenora Crichlow (Billie McEvoy), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Rav Mulcair), Ethan Phillips (Spike Martin), Andy Buckley (Frank Kelly), Matthew Beard (Alan), Jessica St. Clair (Mia), Kyle Bornheimer (Doug), Neil Casey (Cyrus), Julie Dray (Nadia), Adam Pålsson (Bridge Crew), Simon Connolly (Max), Anne Witman (Lauren), Priyanga Burford (Lori Hernandez), Daisy May Cooper (Sarah – bridge crew), Milo Twomey (Engineer), Jennifer Armour (Newscaster), Joseph Balderrama (Tim), Theresa Godly (Zeke’s Mom), Seline Hizli (Engineer), Richard David-Caine (Waiter), Ben Ashenden (Rick), Sacharissa Claxton (Jaz), Kelly Bennett (Passenger), Rachel Handshaw (Teri), Alana Maria (Tina), Teowa Vuong (Newscaster), Nasa Ohalete (Newscaster), Haruka Abe (Newscaster), Erich Redman (Engineer), Raffaello Degruttola (Fernando Bianchi), Victor Perez (Engineer), Jairaj Varasni (Zeke), Benito Ward (Teen Crew), Eva Caballero (Teen Crew)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Billie suits up to help Captain Clark shut off the valve that’s leaking human waste into space, but no one seems to notice that she played a key part, or that she was even there at all. Avenue 5‘s Halfway Home party is imminent. It’s not that the ship is halfway home by any stretch of the imagination, but that everyone running the ship has been too concerned with not dying to reschedule the automated announcements. Iris, possibly the most humorless human being ever born, insists on having the authority to veto the jokes devised by the ship’s stand-up comedian for the occasion, watering his set down to a dull, unfunny roar. As the cloud of human excrement continues orbiting Avenue 5 due to the ship’s artificial gravity, the party becomes something ugly: the passengers want someone to blame for their latest woes, and they want that someone shoved out of the nearest airlock, unless Captain Clark intervenes.

teleplay by Peter Baynham
story by Armando Iannucci & Peter Baynham
directed by Annie Griffin
music by Adem Ilhan

Cast: Hugh Laurie (Captain Ryan Clark), Josh Gad (Herman Judd), Zach Woods (Matt Spencer), Rebecca Front (Karen Kelly), Suzy Nakamura (Iris Kimura), Lenora Crichlow (Billie McEvoy), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Rav Mulcair), Ethan Phillips (Spike Martin), Andy Buckley (Frank Kelly), Matthew Beard (Alan), Jessica St. Clair (Mia), Kyle Bornheimer (Doug), Himesh Patel (Jordan Hatwal), Neil Casey (Cyrus), Julie Dray (Nadia), Adam Pålsson (Bridge Crew), Andrea Pizza (Anthea), Andrew Boyer (Drew), Wanda Opalinska (Baily), Daisy May Cooper (Sarah – bridge crew), Joseph Balderrama (Tim), Cristian Solimeno (Dave), Divian Ladwa (Pete), Tunji Kasim (Passenger), Frog Stone (Sound Engineer), Pamela Nomvete (Passenger), Maarten Dannenberg (Sean), Brigid Leahy (Ella), Kelly Coughlin (Jaden), Gabriel Quigley (Passenger), Sanjeev Kohli (Stan Clark), Ginny Holder (Cris Clark), Amanda Blake (White House Staffer), Denis Khoroshko (Cam), Wade McElwain (Passenger), Teowa Vuong (Newscaster), Nasa Ohalete (Newscaster), Haruka Abe (Newscaster), Raffaello Degruttola (Newscaster)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Beep. The fallout from the Halfway Home party continues, as passenger liaison Karen Kelly demands an apology from Judd, who led the crowd into nearly throwing her husband out of an airlock. Judd seems less than contrite. Beep. In the meantime, everyone aboard does have a reason to celebrate, even if they’re not really halfway home: the first baby born in space has just been born aboard Avenue 5. Beep. Captain Clark and Billie – among others – have been noticing a periodic “beep” being broadcast throughout the ship. Ex-astronaut Spike Martin thinks that it might be an indication of a slow oxygen leak, but even a slow one will doom everyone aboard. Beep. Judd turns his attention to the ring of human excrement orbiting the ship, and hatches an audacious plan to coat all of it with glitter and sequins, and then using the ship’s external lighting to turn it into something more decorative. Beep. On Earth, Rav Mulcair secures emergency funding for a rescue effort…but is asked to consider the possibility that, really, not everyone needs to make it off of Avenue 5 alive. Beep. As news of the oxygen leak spreads by word of mouth, dread grows among the passengers that every breath – and every beep – could be the last. Beep.

teleplay by Jon Brown
story by Armando Iannucci & Jon Brown
directed by Peter Fellows
music by Adem Ilhan

Cast: Hugh Laurie (Captain Ryan Clark), Josh Gad (Herman Judd), Zach Woods (Matt Spencer), Rebecca Front (Karen Kelly), Suzy Nakamura (Iris Kimura), Lenora Crichlow (Billie McEvoy), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Rav Mulcair), Ethan Phillips (Spike Martin), Andy Buckley (Frank Kelly), Jessica St. Clair (Mia), Kyle Bornheimer (Doug), Himesh Patel (Jordan Hatwal), Yasmine Akram (Mother), Joseph Balderrama (Tim), Kelly Bennett (Passenger), Rachel Handshaw (Teri), Brigid Leahy (Ella), Amanda Blake (White House Staffer), Mark Heenehan (Passenger), Stuart Milligan (Passenger), Josephine Jobert (Passenger), Alana Maria (Tina), Anna Siow (Secretary of State), Alex Harvey Brown (Wade), James Carroll Jordan (Crossbow Guy), Talal Karkouti (Passenger)

Notes: Stuart Milligan is an old hand at the sci-fi genre, with a resume including (among many other things) a 2011 Doctor Who two–parter in which he guest starred as President Richard Nixon, roles in Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and numerous voice roles for animation and video games. Beep.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Marveling at the ever-present cloud of colorfully-ornamented human waste, Frank Kelly is certain he sees some of the waste configure itself briefly into the face of Pope John Paul II, and he even manages to convince others that they can see it too. Clark and Judd are a little bit uneasy with the notion that the passengers have declared that a miracle has taken place, but for the moment it seems to bring peace to the unruly crowd…with the exception of rich, litigious passenger Harrison Ames, whose threats to sue Judd over the trip’s nonstop problems have become the bane of Judd’s existence. Even a free round of VR golf does little to put Ames in a better mood. Judd’s solution: Clark should invite Ames to dine at the captain’s table, charming him into not suing. But just before dinner, Clark himself is server with divorce papers from Earth, robbing him of his usual charm. On Earth, Rav Mulcair finds herself on the receiving end of a very public backlash, and makes plans to sneak aboard a resupply shuttle leaving soon to rendezvous with Avenue 5, while at the same time, Billie talks Clark into an improvised plan to shed weight and push the ship forward, shaving significant time off the return journey.

teleplay by Charlie Cooper & Daisy Cooper
story by Armando Iannucci & Charlie Cooper & Daisy Cooper
directed by Becky Martin
music by Adem Ilhan

Cast: Hugh Laurie (Captain Ryan Clark), Josh Gad (Herman Judd), Zach Woods (Matt Spencer), Rebecca Front (Karen Kelly), Suzy Nakamura (Iris Kimura), Lenora Crichlow (Billie McEvoy), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Rav Mulcair), Ethan Phillips (Spike Martin), Andy Buckley (Frank Kelly), Jessica St. Clair (Mia), Kyle Bornheimer (Doug), Paterson Joseph (Harrison Ames), Himesh Patel (Jordan Hatwal), Vaughn Joseph (John), Priyanga Burford (Lori Hernandez), Cori Hundt (Hazel), Syrus Lowe (Passenger), Debbie Chazen (Passenger), Steve Brody (Mike), Alex Harvey Brown (Wade), John Finnemore (Shuttle Pilot), Joyce Springer (Annabette), Eric Sigmundsson (Rusty), Cory Peterson (Sandy)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

With Ames continuing to hound Judd, and with Judd’s knowledge that a supply shuttle is en route, the insanely rich owner of Avenue 5 starts making plans to be aboard that shuttle when it returns to Earth, even as passengers line up to ditch personal belongings to help lighten the ship for its accelerated return journey. Billie continues coaching Clark on how to manually dock the ship in a space-borne hanger for evacuation, but the fact that Clark isn’t a real spaceship captain now becomes glaringly obvious and important. Judd hears a rumor that Clark is on drugs and fires him in public, immediately regretting his mistake and backpedaling, but it’s too late – Clark quits. One of the passengers begins spreading the idea that the ship’s journey is a reality show with special effects, and that they’re all still on Earth. Astronaut Spike Martin, placed in command by Judd, announces his discovery that the bridge crew is staffed with actors, lending credence to the reality show theory. As the idea spreads among the rest of the passengers, some of them decide to take a chance and step out of an airlock, including Ames. Into this critical moment of crisis steps Matt, who, in every way imaginable, does not help at all…with fatal consequences.

teleplay by Georgia Pritchett & Will Smith
story by Armando Iannucci & Georgia Pritchett & Will Smith
directed by David Schneider
music by Adem Ilhan

Cast: Hugh Laurie (Captain Ryan Clark), Josh Gad (Herman Judd), Zach Woods (Matt Spencer), Rebecca Front (Karen Kelly), Suzy Nakamura (Iris Kimura), Lenora Crichlow (Billie McEvoy), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Rav Mulcair), Ethan Phillips (Spike Martin), Andy Buckley (Frank Kelly), Jessica St. Clair (Mia), Kyle Bornheimer (Doug), Neil Casey (Cyrus), Paterson Joseph (Harrison Ames), Julie Dray (Nadia), Adam Pålsson (Bridge Crew), Daisy May Cooper (Sarah – bridge crew), Ankur Bahl (Steward), Eugenia Caruso (Verity), John Finnemore (Shuttle Pilot), Rae Lim (Passenger), Joseph Balderrama (Tim), Sacharissa Claxton (Jaz), Rachel Handshaw (Teri), Maarten Dannenberg (Sean), Brigid Leahy (Ella), Kelly Coughlin (Jaden), Denis Khoroshko (Cam), Debbie Chazen (Passenger), Mark Heenehan (Passenger), Steve Brody (Mike), Elizabeth Moynihan (Passenger), Eben Young (Passenger)

LogBook entry by Earl Green