Captain Isotope & the Enemy of Space

Captain Isotope & the Enemy of Space is one of the weirdest things that I've seen lately. It's a combination spoof/homage of old 1950s TV shows like Space Cadet, done by a few fanboys in, of all places, Tonawanda, New York, who have more heart than funds. (They claim on this page that the budget is about $100. That seems a little high unless they all super-sized their lunches at Burger King.) But although they try, it doesn't really come off like a cute replication of the original product on 60-year-old kinescope, even though it's in black and white. While it does have some cool retro models, most of it is statically filmed in front of a green screen with master shots of cast members standing around reciting dialogue. Except for lead Erik J. Nielsen, acting is strictly sub-middle-school play. Cheryl Syzmczak, as the female love interest, seems to be not bad, but in one of the episodes I saw, her dialogue was almost inaudible due to terrible sound recording, like everyone was sharing a $10 lavalier microphone.

That said, the writing is quite droll and witty--Nielsen has nice timing and delivery--and I was surprised that I laughed out loud a couple of times. And the rinky-dink title song is a hoot. I'm glad that this show, originally a Buffalo regional curio, has found a home on Retro TV alongside that longrunning Buffalo standard, Off Beat Cinema. Captain Isotope, on the network that runs classic Doctor Who, may find an appreciative cult. And I, for one, hope that these folks get some funding to keep doing what they're doing and get better at it. Their spirit is infectious.