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Space Cadets
Dec. 17th, 2005 07:13 pmI have a confession to make, and it doesn't involve liking Microsoft software or listening to J-pop. In fact, it's that for the last couple of weeks I've been enjoying "Space Cadets", and I'd like to make the excuse that I liked it because it wasn't reality TV, but instead a fake sort of reality TV. So that's all right.
I found it a fascinating programme - for anyone not in Britain or who just watches the adverts, the idea was to select three people from an initial group of ten to be the first British space tourists by taking them to a base in Russia and fly them around above the Earth for a few days. In fact, the Russian base was a disguised hangar in Ipswich and the spacecraft was an elaborate simulator. Actually, the company that Whitney works for was initially approached to build the simulator, but declined because they weren't offered enough money. It's true, you know.
There were doubts from the group all through the programme's two weeks, inducing much nail-biting from me as I thought that they would surely discover that it was fake before the revelation last Friday. It was revealed to them in a clever way, as well - I thought that Johnny Vaughn would just hop on board laughing hysterically, but instead they were shown a video of all the moments where they'd said something about it not seeming real, then finished with a shot of the simulator from the outside.
Johnny Vaughn, who does not have enough vowels in his name, was not killed as expected (although I'm sure Whitney would have preferred it that way) - instead, it was rather heartwarming to see it treated not as a cruel scam, but as a good joke. Admittedly the £25,000 each probably helped.
I'm rather surprised that it wasn't a bigger event - after all, the whole thing had been made pretty elaborate. When something as banal as a series of Big Brother runs, there's 24-hour coverage of people sitting around not doing much, but this seemed to be rushed out in two weeks. Nevertheless, it was one of the few TV series that I've enjoyed for a while, and the only thing to moan about is the evident distressing stupidity of many of the watchers.
I found it a fascinating programme - for anyone not in Britain or who just watches the adverts, the idea was to select three people from an initial group of ten to be the first British space tourists by taking them to a base in Russia and fly them around above the Earth for a few days. In fact, the Russian base was a disguised hangar in Ipswich and the spacecraft was an elaborate simulator. Actually, the company that Whitney works for was initially approached to build the simulator, but declined because they weren't offered enough money. It's true, you know.
There were doubts from the group all through the programme's two weeks, inducing much nail-biting from me as I thought that they would surely discover that it was fake before the revelation last Friday. It was revealed to them in a clever way, as well - I thought that Johnny Vaughn would just hop on board laughing hysterically, but instead they were shown a video of all the moments where they'd said something about it not seeming real, then finished with a shot of the simulator from the outside.
Johnny Vaughn, who does not have enough vowels in his name, was not killed as expected (although I'm sure Whitney would have preferred it that way) - instead, it was rather heartwarming to see it treated not as a cruel scam, but as a good joke. Admittedly the £25,000 each probably helped.
I'm rather surprised that it wasn't a bigger event - after all, the whole thing had been made pretty elaborate. When something as banal as a series of Big Brother runs, there's 24-hour coverage of people sitting around not doing much, but this seemed to be rushed out in two weeks. Nevertheless, it was one of the few TV series that I've enjoyed for a while, and the only thing to moan about is the evident distressing stupidity of many of the watchers.
