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| Space Dandy and his brave space crew (Left to right: Meow, Dandy, and QT) |
Space Dandy
Season 1 Episode 4: "Sometimes You Can't Live With Dying, Baby."
Original Broadcast: 1/26/2014 at 10:30pm on Adult Swim
Science-Fiction, Comedy, Parody
Show Summary
Space Dandy is still fairly new, it started January 4, 2014 and I've been watching it since the beginning. At first I just thought it was an alright show, but with each episode I get more and more excited for the next episode. As I'm writing this, there are 5 episodes with new episodes premiering every Saturday. This post is mostly going to be talking about the fourth episode which was the most recent when I started writing this and is currently my favorite episode so far. So far, critics have been fairly mixed about their opinion of Space Dandy, they seem to either love it or hate it. Some don't like the more "episodic" storytelling and would prefer a more linear story-line rather than each episode containing its own unique story. Others love the characters and consider the setting to be amazing. The show is made by Shinichiro Watanabe who's famous for his other series Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop (often thought to be one of the best written and most famous animes of all time). For Space Dandy, Watanabe has said he wanted to get away from the serious storytelling he's known for and focus on having more fun with his stories.
Space Dandy is an animated show that parodies classic science-fiction. The show was licensed in America but created in Japan. Unlike most shows in Japan, which air in Japan weeks, months, and sometimes even years before they're released internationally, Space Dandy actually premiered in America first. It's about an alien hunter named Dandy (real name). Dandy loves money, adventure, women, and most importantly, himself. The show takes a lot from classic science-fiction from Buck Rogers to Star Trek. There are also some hints of 80's sci-fi and action movies. The soundtrack is a mixture between upbeat jazz music, relaxed ukulele music, and 80's synthesizer.
Space Dandy is an animated show that parodies classic science-fiction. The show was licensed in America but created in Japan. Unlike most shows in Japan, which air in Japan weeks, months, and sometimes even years before they're released internationally, Space Dandy actually premiered in America first. It's about an alien hunter named Dandy (real name). Dandy loves money, adventure, women, and most importantly, himself. The show takes a lot from classic science-fiction from Buck Rogers to Star Trek. There are also some hints of 80's sci-fi and action movies. The soundtrack is a mixture between upbeat jazz music, relaxed ukulele music, and 80's synthesizer.
One of the show's strongest points is its visual effects. Each scene looks amazing and just bursting with color. Outer space looks amazing as you can see the detail the artists put into each star, planet, and galaxy in the distance. The aliens are probably the best example of how great the animation is, Almost no two aliens are alike. Each alien in the show was actually created by a different artist, ensuring the feeling that every alien is different.
The main character's weapons, equipment, and space suit look like something from a 50's sci-fi movie (as seen in the picture above). He also takes on the appearance of a Greaser from the 50's; Dandy is also obviously interested in Hawaiian culture as his ship is decorated with a Hawaiian theme with palm trees, neon signs, tropical flowers, and even the ship itself is named the Aloha Oe. He even has a giant fighting robot he can operate and it's wearing a Hawaiian shirt. You could say Dandy is an Otaku for Hawaiian Culture
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| Dandy's room in The Aloha Oe. |
Plot wise, I'll let the show's intro explain
Commercials
- Cheetos
- Google Play
- H&R Block
- Outback Steackhouse
- Southern New Hampshire University
- Dunkin' Donuts
- Auto Trader.com
- M&M's
- Xenadrine
- Taco Bell
- 5-hour Energy
- Twix
Space Dandy slightly differs with advertising than other shows. In most shows the format is: Intro/opening credits-> Commercial-> First Act-> Commercial-> Second Act-> Commercial-> Ending/resolution. However, in Space Dandy the format is: Intro/opening credits-> First Act-> Commercial-> Second Act-> Ending/resolution. This means that instead of about two or three commercial breaks like most shows, Space Dandy only has one. The commercials seem to be mostly aimed towards college students and men under 30 Which does cater towards Space Dandy's demographic. There was an add for Xenadrine, a weight-loss supplement that felt out of place. None of these ads were anything new, I had seen them before. None of them seemed to include any major stereotypes outside of "Man under 30."
The main strength I think these ads have are that they do accurately portray the demographic. People who watch Space Dandy are most likely looking for a car (Auto Trader.com) or a university to attend (Southern New Hampshire University). The main weakness I think is the time these air. A lot of people might not want to go buy insurance or a car at 11:30 at night. Taco Bell might be the exception since I know a lot of people who go there at really weird hours of the night. I don't usually think of commercials as being memorable and these were no exception. As I'm writing this I've already forgotten what happens in most of these commercials outside of what they're trying to sell.
The main strength I think these ads have are that they do accurately portray the demographic. People who watch Space Dandy are most likely looking for a car (Auto Trader.com) or a university to attend (Southern New Hampshire University). The main weakness I think is the time these air. A lot of people might not want to go buy insurance or a car at 11:30 at night. Taco Bell might be the exception since I know a lot of people who go there at really weird hours of the night. I don't usually think of commercials as being memorable and these were no exception. As I'm writing this I've already forgotten what happens in most of these commercials outside of what they're trying to sell.
Characters
Space Dandy (Voiced by Ian Sinclair)- A dandy guy, in space; Dandy is a laid-back alien hunter. As an alien hunter, his job is to go planet to planet in his spaceship, the Aloha Oe, and find rare and unknown creatures and register them for money. When he's not hunting aliens he can usually be found at Boobies (a restaurant chain that's an obvious parody of Hooters).While he can be kind and generous to others and his crew, he is better known for being perverted, vain, and selfish; he is not above sacrificing his crew members for his own life. Put simply, Space Dandy is what you would get if you combined Buck Rogers and Johnny Bravo.
Meow (Voiced by Joel McDonald)- Dandy's newest crew member. His real name is practically unpronounceable, so due to his cat-like appearance, Dandy just refers to him as Meow. Meow's job is the ship's navigator, he also helps Dandy find new aliens to register (these adventures don't usually end well)
QT (Voiced by Alison Viktorin)- Dandy's robot that helps him identify aliens. QT shows more intelligence and common sense than the other two crew members but is usually given menial chores by Dandy (usually cleaning the ship). QT is actually obsolete and uses outdated software, which usually means it suffers from memory-shortage and battery outages.
Episode Summary
The episode starts with Dandy and crew examining a captured alien to see if they can turn it in for a reward. The alien looks like an already well-known species, the Stilltonian but it has characteristics the Stilltonians don't have, such as slow reactions, a sickly appearance, and at one point it even bites Meow while Stilltonians are known for being very docile. This causes the crew to believe that they've captured an unknown alien. On their way to the registration center, Meow starts to act strange: he acts really slow and starts to look very sick, similar to the alien they captured. Dandy and QT decide to take Meow to a hospital. The doctor makes an interesting discovery: Meow has no pulse. In fact, none of his vital signs are showing any reaction. Technically, Meow is dead. Wanting to study what might be wrong with him, the doctor has Meow stay at the hospital. Dandy and QT decide to come back and check up on him the next day (QT because she wants to see how Meow is doing, Dandy because he wants to ogle the nurses.)
The next day, they find the hospital has been overrun by zombies overnight. Dandy and QT try to get Meow and escape the planet. They quickly deduce that the alien they captured was in fact a Stilltonian that also happened to be a zombie. When it bit Meow, he became a zombie too and became the source of the outbreak in the hospital. Humorously, despite being a robot, QT actually becomes a zombie too from exposure from Dandy using her to bludgeon zombies. The scene actually ends with Dandy being bitten and becoming a zombie himself.
The rest of the episode is actually about Dandy, Meow, and QT living their normal lives as zombies, with their dialogue (only consisting of groans) being translated by the show's narrator.
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The insurance companies, suffering from all the zombies' life insurance policies, soon hire zombie hunters to find and kill any zombie living off of their own life insurance by shooting them in the head (according to the narrator, this is referred to as "Putting a cap in the benefits") it's heartless, but it's technically not illegal to kill something that's already dead. However, the zombie hunters and the Insurance CEO's soon become zombies themselves. With the threat of the insurance companies gone, zombies are able to live peacefully side-by-side with the other aliens of the universe. The episode ends with every single living being and robot in the universe (and even the narrator himself) becoming zombies. There is no sickness and no war, just zombies. The final scene is Dandy and crew watching a drive-in movie in the Aloha Oe; the movie is directed by George A. Romero.
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