I LOVE Spaced and have done ever since I happened across it on Channel Four’s 9pm Friday night comedy slot back in September 1999.
Of course now it is known and beloved by geeks the world over, but back then it felt like we were part of a special club that got what Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson now Hynes, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright were doing.
It was about Tim and Daisy, who pretended to be a couple to share a flat, and their friends and acquaintances Mike, Marsha, Twist and Brian. If you haven’t seen it, then buy a copy and join us, as I don’t think there are going to be any more.
Across just two series and three years, they nailed what it was to be a twenty-something slacker who lived their lives according to geeky pop culture references including – in Pegg’s character Tim’s case – loads of sci-fi moments from Star Wars, Terminator, the Matrix and so on and so on.
As few things have done before or since, this programme spoke to me and felt like it was made just for me. I still watch it regularly (and probably will after writing this) and still watch everything Pegg, Frost, Hynes and Wright are in (except According to Bex, obviously).
Although not strictly sci-fi (science fiction weapons maybe?) this is my favourite moment of the series, where Tim and Mike show Brian the unspoken telepathy between men. Magic.
And because I’m feeling generous, here are two more clips with a more obvious sci-fi bent – Tim on the Phantom Menace and introducing Brian to the original trilogy with a top Star Wars fact.
Spaced is a classic. I think I’ve watched the show enough times now that I can carry on the dialog along with the show! The sci-fi references are amazing and I think even now I’ll discover one that I’ve missed before.