'SPACED' ON DVD IN THE U.S. -FINALLY!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

I am very excited today because after waiting forever one of my favorite TV series, SPACED is finally being released to Region 1 DVD (At last, the circle is now complete). For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, SPACED is the creation Simon Pegg and Jessica (Stevenson) Hynes about two strangers pretending to be a couple to get a flat in North London. It originally aired on BBC Channel 4 sandwiched between Friends and Frasier (not a bad time slot).

[SPACED clip 1 (zombies)]


[SPACED clip 2 (Star Wars)]


[SPACED clip 3 (Gunfight)]


I became interested in the series following the release of Shaun of the Dead, which Simon also wrote and stars in (along with Hot Fuzz), and I just fell in love with it. I've probably seen the entire series at least four or five times, one time in one long block (in my defense, the show only ran 14 episodes split into two separate series). It also stars Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) as his gun-happy best mate, Mike. Rounding out the cast is Julia Deakin, Katy Carmichael, and Mark Heap (Simon's co-star on the sketch show Big Train, another very funny show that I can't get enough of).

[clips from Big Train]




All of the episodes of Spaced are directed by Egdar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz -starting to see a pattern here?). The show is just ripe with pop culture references and obscure jokes, ironically enough usually nodding to American films. Just as a fair warning, this is the kind of show where you're either the kind of person who gets or you're not. There's not really an in-between. Despite it's low episode count and unavailability in the U.S. market, SPACED has developed an amazingly large fan base including a modest celebrity following (long live the internet). Kevin Smith describes SPACED as, "...kinda like watching a Kevin Smith film if Kevin Smith had any real talent." I just found out, as a matter of fact, that Smith will be hosting a Q&A tomorrow night at the Arclight Cinema to compliment the U.S. release of the DVD. Simon, Jessica and Edgar will all be there. It should be pretty cool. I'm going to attempt to go, though it appears that people will be coming out in droves according to the message boards, but since I regrettably won't be attending the SDCC this year (where they will also appear) I'm hoping to make it to this, but I'm not holding my breath. For now, though, I have my Twiglets and some Jaffa cakes and I'm just going to kick back and enjoy a little SPACED.

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