I first found out about Spaced like I find out about many things, through word of mouth on the net. Faith Erin Hicks mentioned something about Spaced on her livejournal in the context of Simon Pegg and the rest of the Shaun of the Dead gang, which had me performing a google enhanced faux cavity search on the great Simon Pegg. Upon finding out that Spaced aired almost a decade ago, I promptly raided the pirate bay and was rewarded with such aesthetic wonders as Brian and his transsexual ex-boyfriend/girlfriend’s new play, as slow motion imaginary gun fights, and as all the popular geek references you can shove down your gullet. And let’s face it, you can shove a lot of geek culture down your gullet, can’t you? I know I can’t get enough. Despite the obvious appeal, most Americans had never seen or even heard about this series, as a Region 1 dvd was never released.
Until last Tuesday, anyway. Needless to say, I had my copy pre-ordered and it arrived on my doorstep last night.
There weren’t many changes between the UK version and this latest one, but the few additions they made are sure to make any fan ooze with pleasure. I particularly like the homage-o-meter (which was incidentally not included in the disc rips I got on bittorrent. Such is the flaky nature of file sharing) and the commentary. Unlike some bland commentaries, Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes nee Stevenson, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright are a riot to listen to. I would have loved to meet them, but the closest their Spaced tour came to me is LA, and it just wasn’t in the cards right now.
So, go buy this dvd, give the wonderful people involved with this some love, and most of all, watch it so I’ll have other people to share the inside jokes with. It gets old to quote the series to completely blank faces and have to resort to a star wars reference. Accept no substitutes.