Moonbase 8 - Season 1

A season of warm-up is a lot to ask of viewers, many of whom will find their attention drifting into space long before the Moonbase 8 men ever will.

A tight, quirky comedy that has more laughs in its blessedly brief three-hour total running time for this six-episode season than most comedy films released this year.

This is a take-it-or-leave-it kind of show, and in a streaming/premium cable world where so much material is available, there's no pressing need to spend your time on Moonbase 8.

As small steps for TV go, Moonbase 8 isn't the worst of that undistinguished bunch. But despite its Earth-bound moorings, it possesses the least sense of gravity.

The series suggests a more conventional comedy, with jokes that are intended to be taken at face value.

One of the reasons Moonbase 8 works as well as it does is that it's deliberately not telling stories on a grand scale. Its episodes and its scope are streamlined and focused.

The humour is gently satirical and almost soothing. It's a lovely, distracting slice of whimsy.

There are comedies that go for bigger laughs and those that dig deeper for smarter humor. But, Moonbase 8 finds a low comedy orbit that earns points for being such a metaphor for the times in which we live.

Moonbase 8 works best if approached as a wholesome balm-the kind of low-stakes show you can watch to lift your spirits.

By the finale, when Rook laments, "When are we going to go to the next level?" I couldn't help but wonder the same about this show.

Moonbase 8 is high silliness handled as subtly as possible, built around a familiar concept that's having new life breathed into it.

It has one joke -- that these guys are not qualified to go to the moon -- that it kind of limply circles around during the course of each half-hour episode.