While I don’t watch a lot of the programming that comes on TBS, something about the Conan O’Brien produced Final Space made me want to check it out. I was so glad I did as it turned out to be one of the best animated shows I’ve seen in some time. Now Warner Bros has collected the first two seasons in the aptly titled Final Space: The Complete First and Second Seasons Blu-ray set. If you’re looking for a fun show that adults young and old can enjoy, then you’ll want to explore space with this crazy comedy.
Produced by Conan O’Brien’s Conaco productions and created by Olan Rogers, the show follows the life of Gary Goodspeed (voiced by Olan Rogers), a prisoner confined to a prison space ship sometime in the far future. I won’t spoil why he’s locked up, but needless to say Gary is one of the coolest people you could ever meet, well at least in his own mind. Longing to escape and have adventures in space, it isn’t long before his wishes come true when a cute, blob-like alien he later names Mooncake comes along and changes his life forever.
Especially when he learns Mooncake is the most powerful weapon in the universe and can destroy entire planets. This of course makes it the most wanted thing in existence as the evil Lord Commander (played awesomely by David Tennant) looks to capture Mooncake and use it to rule the galaxy. Thankfully Gary makes some friends along the way such as Avocato, a cat-like bounty hunter, and his son Little Cato (voiced nicely by Steven Yeun), a crazy robot named KVN aka Kevin (Fred Armisen) that likes Gary a little too much, and the lovely Captain Quinn that Gary is totally in love with, but she couldn’t care less about him, or does she?
And that’s just the first season without going into the more intense second one. It was awesome checking out this show and not knowing anything about it, as I was pleasantly surprised at how well written and fun it was. The thing that really pulled me into it and caught me off guard numerous times is how the series can quickly go from hilariously funny to super dark in an instant. Not to spoil anything, but let’s just say not everyone from the main cast makes it to the end of the first season, and the season finale leaves Gary in a situation where he too is looking to make peace with kicking the bucket.
The high-definition visuals and audio are crisp and clear, making the series all the more fun to watch. After you’ve gone on roller coaster ride of humor and emotions, there’s a nice amount of small special features to go through. All 23 episodes of the series have Olan Rogers and some of the various cast and crew going over the series in short featurettes. Some will discuss the production of the episode while others will have them sharing fun anecdotes and more that happened behind the scenes. I really enjoyed watching these as I loved how they were short and to the point, which is always a plus when it comes to these kind of extras.
If you enjoy sci-fi comedies such as Futurama where action, humor and heart go together exceptionally well, then you’ll want to hop on board with Gary and gang with the Final Space: The Complete First and Second Seasons Blu-ray set. These three discs are sure to have you laughing one moment, shedding a tear the next, and cheering when Gary and his friends overcome obstacles in one of the best, overlooked series you can watch right now. Bring on the third season!
