Created By:  Lloyd Eldred and Patrick Foley

Starring:  TELF, Michael O'Brien, Kim Swartz, Chris Impink, David Goshorn, Deirdre Root, Amy Sheets, Chris Lauricella, Patrick Foley, and Lloyd Eldred.

Production:  Galtham Films, a Lloyd B. Eldred Production

Web Site:  http://www.universe.digex.net/~galtham/srtse.html  (information on the film and on how to order it for FREE! (you need to send a tape and return postage for the "free" tape, or you can just send 5 bucks for a tape and special box, a bargain!))

Copyright: Space Rogues T.S.E.  as well as all images and sounds used in this review are copyright 1997 Lloyd B. Eldred.

Here's how the Space Rogues T.S.E. box describes the series:

"Following the collapse of the Earth's Biosphere, in the mid 22nd Century, mankind scattered throughout the galaxy in slow moving colony ships.  One such expedition was organized by the Tomorrow Space Enterprises corporation.  Upon arrival in the Paradisio system, the expedition acted with single minded devotion to its sole goal:  developing the technologies to reunite humanity's scattered tribes.  It is now 2508 and the time of those breakthroughs is now at hand.

The T.S.E. Mirage is chosen as the first manned test vehicle for the revolutionary Inversion Star Drive.  But, when the drive malfunctions, Captain Janet Vanderdecken and her crew mysteriously disappear.

System Director Murrow is forced to put his plans on hold while he dispatches Captain Wyst and the new gunship prototype Superion to locate and recover the Mirage, one way or the other."
 

Whew.  That's the set-up for Lloyd Eldred's series Space Rogues T.S.E.  (He's the maker of the Whoman series for anyone who's heard of it.  If you haven't, don't worry, we'll be reviewing it later.)  Since he good-naturedly sent us 3 episodes of it, we've decided to review them separately, spreading the joy across time.  Or something.  So anyway, now that you know the basic premise of the series, you know a hell of a lot more than we do from watching it. It's not that it's confusing, it's more that it's really, really confusing.  Still, you can tell that Lloyd and company were really trying to make something watchable.  That may not sound like much praise, but believe me, when you're producing something on video mainly for cable access, that's saying a lot.  You can tell they took the time to do some necessary things like write a script and make costumes.  You can tell it's a labor of love and fun.  You can tell that Lloyd spent many an hour creating some nifty Video Toaster effects on his Amiga (which, sadly, Alan recognized as such).  Unfortunately, you can also tell that you don't want to watch too much more of the series.

We're getting ahead of ourselves here, though.  Let's stick with the first episode for now.  The first episode's actually probably the worst one.  It's supposed to set up the series, but all it really set up was a headache.  There's all kind of plotting by the evil Director Murrow (played by Lloyd himself) which doesn't make much sense.  There's also some Entertainment Tonight type footage setting up the plot, which also doesn't make much sense.  Then, there's the introduction to the crew of the Mirage, which, once again, doesn't make much sense.  Oh, they're a lovable bunch of rogues!  There's the constantly smirking captain who breaks the fourth wall occasionally to make a joke that is even more occasionally funny.  There's the tech guy who carries around what looks like a large HP calculator.  There's the long haired macho-type.  There's the short haired navigator.  There's a cat.  There's a computer core which lives in another dimension (?).  There's venetian blinds on the bridge.  There's a space station debriefing room which looks suspiciously like a college lecture hall (or is that a college lecture hall that looks suspiciously like a space station debriefing room?).  There's a lot of shuttle parts in boot boxes.  All in all, there's a lot of stuff that screams late night cable access.

This is not to put the whole series in too bad of a light.  It's enough to say that the first episode is watchable, which is impressive in its own way.  It's watchable, and will give any viewer a chuckle or to.  After all, the people who made it know that the dialogue is hokey and the sets are adapted apartments.  They're just having some fun and not taking anything too seriously.  Therefore, we're more than willing to give them a mulligan and a thumbs-up for their efforts.  You may not always laugh at what you think they want you to, but maybe that was their plan all along.

Oh, yeah, and one more thing:  The music.  In the credits (which are pretty nice looking) and whenever there's a break in the show (for commercials, I guess) and the Space Rogues title is shown, there's this repetitive, hypnotic music that breaks into your ears, crashes through towards your skull, and bounces around somewhere behind your frontal lobe.  If all goes well, you should have heard it already along with Lloyd's exciting voiceover.  If you didn''t hear it, well, at least you won't be humming it for the next 3 years.

Next Week:  Episode 2!  This time, with an actual discussion of what happens in the episode!  Fun!