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Sunday, January 21, 2018

'Spaceship' VOD: Alienated Teens Face Abduction


Breaking Glass Pictures boldly goes where few have gone before in releasing the British 2016 disaffected youth scifish drama "Spaceship" on VOD on December 12, 2017. This innovative flick tells the tale of cybergoth Lucidia, whose teen angst is enhanced by a history of her widowed distant archaeologist father Gabriel regularly uprooting her in her youth. The quantum of solace that Lucidia receives comes via her eclectic and mostly weird friends, who include a blue-haired quasi-vampire who leads her goth boyfriend around on an actual leash and delights in having him fetch dog toys.

The following YoutTube clip of a trailer for "Spaceship" highlights the psychedelic style surrealism of many scenes, the teen angst, and the scifi elements that writer-director Alex Taylor expertly blends.


The world of Lucidia is adequately weird before she dons a black cape and ascends to the roof of her school with an intent to defy gravity. She takes things further in mysteriously disappearing due to an apparent alien abduction.

These events require that Gabriel delve into the universe of his daughter; this includes learning more about this strange new world with elements of the aforementioned extra-terrestrial kidnapping, creatures of the night, and other mythical and/or magical beings.

Meanwhile, the audience knows the fate of Lucinda and the associated baggage. This fully explains her desire to disappear and ties into a mysterious spotting of a boy in an equally intriguing cave that is a final resting place for a relatively unknown population.

Although the scenes of the fringe culture with which Lucidia associates herself are the most intriguing and visually stunning in "Spaceship," the most likable moments are those in which we see her and her friends be typical teens. The most charming moment involves a cute boy-next-door type shooting baskets and telling Lucidia about his ambitious professional goal. A more amusing scene has an equally cute but edgier boy regaling fellow party goers with the tale of his history (including lacked items) with body piercings. These few minutes elicit several laughs and shows that even alternative teen boys are like other male adolescents at heart.

On a larger level, "Spaceship" is reminiscent of one of the best films in the impressive Breaking catalog and takes its theme one level deeper. The reviewed "Sins of Our Youth" starring Lucas Till of "MacGyver" and "The X Men" franchise centers around feral Las Vegas teen boys whose lack of parental supervision plays a huge role in the massive blunder that drives the film and the adolescent manner in which the lads handle the matter. The "Spaceship" cadets lead similar lives, but the difference is that bringing Gabriel into their world adds the element of a parent better understanding where their kids are at 10:00 and why they choose that path.

The even bigger picture is that there seems to be a direct correlation between the extent to which our lives are miserable and the degree to which fantasy plays a role in that existence. Societal examples of this are the trend a few years ago of real people donning superhero attire and fighting actual crime and the more recent fad of cons becoming more numerous and elaborate. This is not to mention cosplay of the human and domestic and woodland animal varieties playing an increasingly large role in the sexual activity of some people.

A simpler way of stating this is that a harsher reality typically leads to a deeper immersion into non-reality. This supports the argument that a current shortage of "unreal TV" on cable and broadcast networks plays a role in more people donning German Shepherd costumes to do it doggie style.

Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Spaceship" is encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.




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