Sometimes I get homesick for the goof old British sense of humour - there's really nothing to compare to it. However this one really takes the biscuit - Space Cadets.
Space Cadets is what you get if you take a bunch-o-Brits who respond to a thrill seekers newspaper ad, hand pick nine for gullibility and throw in three actors for good measure. Then tell them they have been selected to be the first British space tourists. Pop them on a plane for an overnight flight to "Russia", take their watches away, fly them around the North Sea for four hours and then land them in the dead of night in Kent (no American kids, Kent is not in Russia). Stick them on a genuine Russian helicopter and fly them to an old military base in Ipswich done up to look like a Russian military base. Bingo... you have a recipe for laughter, disbelief and a tribute to lack of scientific knowledge in "kids these days" that's almost too painful to watch at times.
I'm only two episodes in, and I have to say I would probably have fallen for the transportation to Russia part. It was well done, with meticulous attention to convincing props - tired, disorientated and devoid of other information its easy to see how someone could fall for it. But, when instructor turned out be a real RAF type with handlebar moustache (what there aren't any English speaking Russians?) and he then tells them they would be flying at 200km for 5 days but wouldn't be experiencing zero-G..... Doh, that's where I walk out of the class and ask for my train ticket to London. Or maybe I just go along with it for fun. Strangely all nine candidates swallowed that one hook, line and sinker. After all, as the instructor explained to them - zero-g training takes 12 months and they just don't have time for it. Yeah, who needs that pesky zero-g, turn it off and just get me to space man!
I'm looking forward to seeing how they fake the launch and the view out of the window. Unlike the plane and helicopter ride to Russia this is probably one part where they wont be able to insist the window shades remain down!
Of course Space Cadets wont be showing in the USA any time soon - not until they have done their own clone of it, which could be better or worse. They could probably drag Richard Branson into the hoax and fake a flight on his Virgin Galactic plane. The question is, will too many Americans find out about the great Space Cadets hoax before they can pull off a US clone? My guess is with the rise of faith based rocket science there will be plenty of Americans gullible enough to fall for it for years to come.
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