A Two Shades of Blue production.
By Two Shades of Blue.
Performed 21st to 27th August 2012 at Venue Number 152. Paradise in Augustine’s, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh.
and
10th August 2013 at the Nine Worlds Comic-Con, London.
Join the crew of the Starship Nebula for a light-speed adventure beyond the final frontiers of scientific integrity, plot plausibility and character continuity! Yep, we’re firing up the awesomeness drive and calibrating the absurdity compensators to whisk you away on an exhilarating trip through some of science fiction’s silliest bits. With more time paradoxes, alien encounters and plot holes than the latest JJ Abrams blockbuster, this is the biggest reboot since Windows 95.
Oh, and geeks get priority seating. Of course.
Broadway Baby review by James Beagon
Set Phasers to Stupid.
If the title has somehow not given it away already, a warning should be given to the unenlightened. Read the title and see how many shows you recognise in it, then consider how well you know them, as your enjoyment of this show will be directly proportional to your own personal level of geekiness. For the record, I enjoyed it quite a lot, but certain companions of mine wrote themselves out at about the halfway mark.
QBDSVTW: TMDSE (the title is never being mentioned again) follows the journeys of the Starship Nebula and its crew as they endeavour to the defeat the latest threat to the galaxy: Wibbles. As you may have guessed, the plot is not particularly complex; rather the ensuing hour is a menagerie of puns and references tailored for a very specific audience. Star Trek and Doctor Who crop up the most, though there are a fair few more subtle references within that you may well giggle at and then feel ashamed at yourself for knowing.
Although this show may not be great theatre, it is a hilariously silly hour of farce. It is incredibly self-referential, almost to the point of irritation, and it occasionally feels as if the audience might be more appreciative if the fourth wall was not constantly bludgeoned. Moreover, a seemingly genuine piece of audience participation is ruined at the end when we discover that the ‘audience member’ was a plant; ignorance was far more entertaining.
Yet despite this and its incredibly selective target audience, this show is a fantastic way to start a night for the right people of a nerdish persuasion. I personally laughed so hard at points that my tin-foil hat (included in the ticket price) fell off multiple times. Comedy Russians, giant space boobs from the planet Venus, and more sci-fi references than you can shake a Wookie at it, this show is an entertaining distraction, but the uninitiated should stay well clear of the starboard bow.
