Final Space: A Rough Gem in a Sea of Mediocrity

A day in November I had a small bout of depression wash over me; a not too uncommon state of mind I deal with periodically. I was listening to YouTube like I usually do; sometimes allowing videos to auto-play due to apathy, clicking on a title or image that somewhat caught my interest, or actually seeking out the specific content that I needed. I needed something to kind of soothe my soul and I stumbled across a video that had a title along the lines of "When Cartoon Character's Gave Us a Reality Check" and the thumbnail was that of Uncle Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Uncle Iroh being one of my favorite characters and mentors from any cartoon, I clicked on the video.

There were scenes from shows and movies that can be described as life-coach advice: Master Oogway from Kung Fu Panda speaking about past, future and present; Uncle Iroh - of course - speaking to Aang about life, tunnels and light; and a couple others. One of those scenes spliced into the eight minute dreary-tuned self-reflection mood-booster was that of a cartoon I never heard of. After a bit of search-engine magic I discovered it to be the show Final Space. Here's the kicker, though: what really pulled me in was the fact one of the characters was voiced by Ron Perlman. Well, also the part where the other character was having an all-too-familiar internal conflict with himself - self-doubt - but hey! Big daddy Perlman, papa Hellboy, Mr. War-Never-Changes. I couldn't resist, thus started my new small obsession.

There was a major problem, though: Final Space officially doesn't exist anymore. You can't find the show on any streaming services like Hulu - or even YouTube which is notorious for having nearly everything - or store shelves if physical media is something you partake in. After some research into its disappearance, because I needed to know what this show was and I needed it now, I discovered that Adult Swim cut it as a tax write-off due to the proposed merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. Three seasons of Final Space vanished with a simple signature leaving the creator, Olan Rogers, visibly upset in videos he uploaded to address the sudden end for fans; and fans of course dismayed with no way to enjoy them again.

That didn't stop me, though. There are ways if you know how to look. Or you can buy the series off eBay, which I only discovered while writing this.

What Is Final Space?

The whole premise is pretty straight forward and digestible and we get some really great voice acting from a talented cast like David Tennant (Dr. Who), Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead), Claudia Black (Stargate SG:1), and Keith David (Arbiter from Halo) to name a few. Where Family Guy, South Park and Bob's Burgers are episodic, Final Space is a story about the insignificant individual Gary Goodspeed being thrust from government-issued incarceration to hero of the universe. But it's not strictly him. Final Space is also about the crew Gary manages to assemble with luck, promises, and similar goals.

Since I had watched that snippet from the YouTube video I mentioned earlier, I knew that the show wasn't going to always be funny. Final Space immediately starts with a melancholic melody and the scenes flashing on the screen are letting you know the situation is severe. The whole show continuously reminds you that even though characters do dumb things - laugh, giggle, piss (literally, more on that later) - bad things happen. They care, they cry, they yell, they fight amongst themselves, they make difficult decisions. And they die.

The show does suffer in a lot of areas, though. It's not all sunshine and cookies. Season 1 hits really well minus a couple plot points, a couple character choices, and the fact that it couldn't establish characters very well being only ten episodes long. Season 2, on the other hand, gets really bad. It is still good, it just gets really bad. I know that doesn't make sense, so bear with me:

The Bad

1. The executives started interfereing with the show, suggesting that Season 2 be less serialized and focus more on humor and comic relief. You know, like American Dad.
2. Side plots are skimmed at best. Some of the side plots begin to build and the writing appears to make them important or relevant to a character's growth or contribute to the main story. Instead, they're finished off for a cheap joke.
3. Infantilism. Remember the "Piss" I mentioned earlier? Yeah. This is a spoiler, but I'm letting this one rip due to how much I genuinely hate the gag. Episode 2 starts off with the crew having some problems with one another and their personal spaces, so, like animals, decide to start pissing on everything to "claim" territory. But... that's not all. It turns into a Super Soaker piss fight... This whole segment didn't need to exist as it really brings down the mood that Season 1 built up so well.
4. Plot inconsistencies and character development take a hit. One of the characters has an absolutely horrible traumatizing experience that, after then end of the episode, never comes up again nor is it reflected.
5. Severe isn't severe. Something really bad happen? Deus ex machina... The writing diminishes very important plot points. I chalk this up to bullet point numero uno.

The Good

1. Gary's personality improves from season 1 starting with the first episode. Where in the first season he is very thespian and inappropriate, Redditors point out that the trauma from season 1 matures him or his obvious insanity subsides once he has proper face-to-face interactions. Personally, I don't mind the dramatics - I actually miss it - but I do mind a character relaying very serious information and then Gary slipping in "Oh, that's pretty dark. Like midnight dark. The darkest of the dark." That's a real quote... and it saps away the gravity of the situation.
2. That's it. I have nothing else other than it is still very much Final Space. If there wasn't any of the bad, then it'd be season 1 quality with a better Gary.

Season 3, thankfully, is a most welcome return to form. Gary keeps his season 2 maturity but the episodic nature is gone along with any sort of infantilism, though there are still plot inconsistencies and side plots could still use some work. From here we get much needed character development that lacked in season 2: relationships flourish and disintegrate, friendships are tested, characters are brought to their lowest points and we have to watch them swim in despair while trying not to lose themselves. This season gets very dark.

Unfortunately, season 3 ends up leaving us with a cliffhanger and this is where fans are most frustrated. Fortunately, for us, Olan Rogers pestered TBS enough and was given permission to finish Final Space as a graphic novel. Isn't that weird? He is given permission to finish his creation... One mans dream is another corporations tax write-off. Anyways, once I learned that bit of information I jumped on it. Can't wait to get the book so I can see it to the end. When a show continually evokes emotional responses from me, I believe we have something good here that needs to be shared. It's not a long watch. You can binge all three seasons in a day if you can get your hands on it.

Olan I think does a really good job with his writing as there are so many great quotes and bits of dialogue strewn throughout like, "Traps are just open casting calls for heroes". I title this "A Rough Gem" because I believe if Final Space were to ever re-release and have the edges ground and polished, we could have something pretty amazing, vastly outshining all the slop we currently mill about in. While we don't have Final Space anymore, Olan has worked on another project besides the graphic novel. Another show that he is getting funded for through Kickstarter. I'll go ahead and link it below. The art style is a drastic change to Final Space's and a welcome one. Be forewarned: there is a depiction of suicide. Also, I can't help but wonder if this is a sort of continuation of Final Space. You would have to watch the series to understand. Salvation comes in the blink of an eye.