Space Cases
Encyclopedia
Space Cases is a science fiction
television series that aired on Nickelodeon
for two seasons. Created by Peter David
and Bill Mumy
, it premiered on March 2, 1996, and was cancelled a year later. It aired for a time on Nickelodeon's Saturday night block of shows known as SNICK
, and on Nickelodeon UK
, with reruns on Family and TVOntario
in Canada
. Its premise revolves around a group of misfit students and two adults who are stranded far from home aboard an alien
ship. Their attempts at journeying back see many dangerous adventures and controversies, with some occasionally more mature themes.
Because of budget constraints, props from Are You Afraid of the Dark?
and other Nickelodeon shows were used in the show. In other episodes, more mundane props were used, as in the episode "Homeward Bound," the character Suzee is sitting in a chair with compact discs pasted to either side. During the first season, electronic games such as Lights Out
, were used as 'control panels' on walls.
Season One's original theme song was orchestra-based, with an announcer voiceover giving a preamble. A vocal song telling the story of the Space Cases was used as the closing. For Season Two, this song was moved to the front and re-recorded to accommodate the removal of Catalina, the addition of Suzee, and some re-arranging to how the characters were presented. At some point after the series ended, Nickelodeon had the song re-recorded once more, using the same character arrangement as Season Two, but removing Suzee and adding Catalina back in, and created a new opening for the Season One episodes with this song.
The series also features a multitude of celebrity guest stars throughout its run, including George Takei
, Mark Hamill
, Bill Mumy
, Katey Sagal
, Michelle Trachtenberg
, Danny Tamberelli
and Robin Leach
.
The series opens in a Space Academy orbiting Pluto
, in which a small group of misfits are kept behind from a field trip
. Nearby, an odd bird
-like alien ship appears, and Harlan Band decides to sneak onto it; the other students, all of which are younger and much less troublesome, follow Harlan onto the ship. During their exploration of the ship's interior, the seemingly organic space shuttle appears to bond to each student when each touches a bulkhead.
TJ Davenport, their teacher and principal, and Commander Seth Goddard go after them and, in a series of unfortunate events, become separated throughout the vessel. A disoriented Bova falls out of the Jump Tube system, a network of tubes used by the crew to transport throughout the ship, and accidentally fires an electrical blast that charges the engines, hurtling the ship off into a spatial rift. By the time everyone figures out that only the children who bonded to the ship can actually control it, the ship is stopped and it is discovered that they have traveled light years away from the Academy, and it would take a direct journey of seven years, four months, and twenty two days at maximum speeds to make it back home the soonest.
THELMA, a cybernetic female, is discovered on the ship, but Harlan accidentally damages her, leaving her somewhat unreliable for the rest of the journey. Also, as a result of the damage caused to the crystal in her forehead, THELMA cannot offer much of any expertise as to how to operate the ship, but does explain that it is named the Christa, in memoriam of Christa McAuliffe
, a science teacher from Earth
who died in the infamous explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger
in 1986. Resigned to their fate, the group of lost "Space Cases" must establish a chain of command and a schedule in order to find their way home. Along the way, the Space Cases meet new allies and deadly enemies, most notable of which are the malicious Spung, a lizard-like race ruled by Warlord Shank (who has a particular hatred for "Earthers"), who is also the father of a young oracle, Elmira, who seeks to escape the evils of her race, and takes brief refuge aboard the Christa. Some of the crewmembers are wary of the girl because of her notoriously villainous ancestry. Radu especially does not trust her at first, much in the same way Harlan dislikes Radu for being from Andromeda because an Andromedan killed Harlan's father in the war. Radu, in turn, feels ambivalent toward Elmira for being a Spung because it was the Spung who enslaved the Andromedans to fight for them in the war. However, Radu and Elmira soon bond and start a subtle flirtation (which is featured in other episodes later in the series). Eventually, Elmira leaves the Christa in order to distract an attacking Spung vessel that was overwhelming the apparently harmless Christa.
Throughout the season, Catalina and Harlan would compete more and more for their dominance over the rest of the kids, with Catalina arguing that Harlan is rude and Harlan insisting that Catalina is crazy for having an imaginary friend named "Suzee," but Harlan and Radu's rivalry would prove to be the most controversial. Harlan would continue to be unwilling to trust Radu for being of the same race that killed his father, despite Radu's rationalization that the Andromedans were enslaved by the Spung, thus making them victims as well, and hostiles only as a result of that. On several occasions, Harlan and Radu would be forced to set their biases aside and risk themselves to save the other's life.
The Christa would remain a mystery to the crew for the entire season, with many controls, decks and rooms that they know nothing about. At the end of the first season, the Christa comes across a debris field filled with the remains of an exact duplicate (save for its color) of itself. Also, among the debris are the remains of several Spung Killcruisers, revealing to the Space Cases that if the sister ship was an exact duplicate, then their own ship must contain the same powerful weaponry that allowed the destroyed ship to defeat that many Spung ships. Seeing it as essential to their survival to research the secrets of their own vessel, Commander Goddard leads an exploration of the sister ship's remains, sans Bova and Miss Davenport who remain on the Christa. A damaged ship's log is discovered that reveals that the owners of the ship, a race called the Lumanians (also the creators of the Christa), had managed to escape the destroyed sister ship after destroying several Spung ships. On top of that, they reveal that they left the ships remains to self-destruct in order to destroy the surviving Spung, prompting Bova and Davenport to get to the sister ship and warn the others. Much to their surprise, the ship traps the exploring crew inside with the surviving Spung, which includes Warlord Shank and Elmira.
With the Spung still seeking to put Elmira's fortune-telling gifts to military use, Elmira has continued to distance herself from her race, but before the crew can return to the Christa, each member is systematically incapacitated and captured by Shank. Seeking information about the Christa's weapons, and believing the Space Cases and their ship to be responsible for his defeat, Shank uses Catalina as a hostage but just before he can kill her, Harlan saves her life by offering Shank fake information that confuses him.
In the meantime, Davenport and Bova manage to sneak onto the sister ship, and Bova battles down Shank with his more formidable electrical abilities (Shank wields an electrical scepter) while Davenport releases the tied-up crew. Goddard instructs Davenport to return the crew to the ship, and then home (in a moment of high emotion, regarding each other by first name for the first time ever) before he enters the battle and takes Shank on directly, allowing his crew to escape. Ultimately overwhelming Shank, Goddard joins the others and helps guide his crew through the airlock, with Harlan and then Catalina at the back of the line. As Goddard traverses the airlock to get to Catalina and help her through, Shank leaps from the shadows and pulls Catalina back into the sister ship just before the airlock closes and seals them inside. The rest of the Space Cases are pulled back into the Christa, which automatically departs as Harlan tries to break through the air lock door and save Catalina. Unfortunately, his efforts are futile, and the sister ship is destroyed in a massive explosion, with Catalina and Shank stuck inside. In the end, Goddard gives Catalina's eulogy
, apologizing for failing to care for his crew, and insisting they carry on nonetheless, but Harlan is saddened that Catalina would never know that he really did like her (Catalina kissed him on the cheek after she awoke and heard that Harlan saved her from Shank). But in the final moment of the episode, a cloaked figure appears, confusing the crew with the fact that she seems to know all of them despite none of them recognizing her.
In the beginning of the second season, the cloaked figure is revealed to be none other than Catalina's "imaginary friend" Suzee. The highly intelligent Suzee explains to the crew the nature of her situation: apparently the powerful explosion that destroyed the Christa's sister ship opened a dimensional tear in space that threw Catalina into Suzee's dimension, and knocked Suzee into their dimension, safely within the Christa. It turns out that the ship responds to Suzee's control as well, because she bonded with it at the same time that the rest of the crew did at the start of the series. With Catalina safe at Suzee's home, and Suzee the new engineer of the Christa, the crew heads for home (something is blocking the sonic frequencies that allow Suzee and Catalina to communicate inter-dimensionally).
The crew spend the majority of the rest of Season Two stranded on an unknown planet, following a violent attack by the Spung. Here, they must learn to survive in their new environment as they dedicate themselves to repairing the ship and going home. Several times in the season, the Space Cases come across different technologies that offer the lost cadets hope. In one such encounter, the crew discovers technology that will allow each of them to talk briefly to a loved one back home (Suzee gets to speak to Catalina, who makes her only appearance in this season). Harlan and Radu would again become rivals over the romantic interests of the attractive, rainbow-haired Suzee.
After the botched ascent of a newly repaired Christa, another attack on the ship not only damages it further, but causes it to land on top of Goddard, crushing and critically injuring him. He would then spend the majority of the rest of the series healing in suspended animation. Eventually he heals by the end of the series.
Because of its cancellation, the series has no true ending, and leaves several storylines open. One such storyline comes about in the episode "Trouble With Doubles," in which the crew becomes cloned and must each battle their own evil selves. At the end of the episode, it is explained that Goddard has been cloned before. When asked what assurances the crew has that he isn't a clone of the real Goddard, the episode ends in ambivalence, with no true answer to the question.
The final episode sees the crew responding to a distress call coming from a satellite that was ravaged by an attack from the Spung. When Goddard leads Suzee, Harlan and Radu on an away mission to the satellite to find the originator of the distress call, they instead find that the satellite itself is the originator. The sentient, lonely satellite, known as Pezu (patterned after a female), is elated to have company after so many years, becoming particularly bonded to Suzee who is similarly intelligent and comes to understand her after Suzee reads her mind. Pezu eventually turns hostile, capturing the visiting crewmembers when she feels betrayed by Suzee who has the others distract her while she searches Pezu's systems for the truth behind what Suzee senses she's hiding. In the meantime, the returning Warlord Shank and his henchmen invade the satellite and attack Goddard, Harlan and Radu, after losing to them in battle so many times in the past. Eventually, Pezu releases the crew when Suzee convinces her that she can't force people to like her and that Suzee would hate her forever for trying to. As the crew departs to adventures unknown, Pezu is left with the Spung who damaged her trapped inside her for her to exact revenge upon.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series that aired on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
for two seasons. Created by Peter David
Peter David
Peter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
and Bill Mumy
Bill Mumy
Charles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is an American actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his work as a child television actor....
, it premiered on March 2, 1996, and was cancelled a year later. It aired for a time on Nickelodeon's Saturday night block of shows known as SNICK
SNICK
SNICK was a two-hour programming block on the American cable television network Nickelodeon, geared toward general audiences, that ran from August 15, 1992 until August 28, 2004. It was aired on Saturdays starting at 8 p.m and ending at 10 p.m. ET. In 2004, SNICK was revamped as the Saturday night...
, and on Nickelodeon UK
Nickelodeon UK
Nickelodeon is a children's television channel available on Sky, Virgin Media, Smallworld Cable, TalkTalk TV and UPC Ireland in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including on demand on BT Vision. The channel was launched on 1 September 1993...
, with reruns on Family and TVOntario
TVOntario
TVOntario, often referred to only as TVO , is a publicly funded, educational English-language television station and media organization in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Its premise revolves around a group of misfit students and two adults who are stranded far from home aboard an alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
ship. Their attempts at journeying back see many dangerous adventures and controversies, with some occasionally more mature themes.
Because of budget constraints, props from Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Are You Afraid of the Dark? may refer to:* Are You Afraid of the Dark?, a 1992 television series* Are You Afraid of the Dark? , a 2004 novel by Sidney Sheldon...
and other Nickelodeon shows were used in the show. In other episodes, more mundane props were used, as in the episode "Homeward Bound," the character Suzee is sitting in a chair with compact discs pasted to either side. During the first season, electronic games such as Lights Out
Lights Out (game)
Lights Out is an electronic game, released by Tiger Toys in 1995. The game consists of a 5 by 5 grid of lights. When the game starts, a random number or a stored pattern of these lights is switched on. Pressing any of the lights will toggle it and the four adjacent lights...
, were used as 'control panels' on walls.
Season One's original theme song was orchestra-based, with an announcer voiceover giving a preamble. A vocal song telling the story of the Space Cases was used as the closing. For Season Two, this song was moved to the front and re-recorded to accommodate the removal of Catalina, the addition of Suzee, and some re-arranging to how the characters were presented. At some point after the series ended, Nickelodeon had the song re-recorded once more, using the same character arrangement as Season Two, but removing Suzee and adding Catalina back in, and created a new opening for the Season One episodes with this song.
The series also features a multitude of celebrity guest stars throughout its run, including George Takei
George Takei
George Hosato Takei Altman is an American actor, author, social activist and former civil politician. He is best known for his role in the television series Star Trek and its film spinoffs, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the...
, Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
, Bill Mumy
Bill Mumy
Charles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is an American actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his work as a child television actor....
, Katey Sagal
Katey Sagal
Catherine Louise "Katey" Sagal is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She first achieved widespread fame as Peggy Bundy on the long-running Fox comedy series Married.....
, Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl...
, Danny Tamberelli
Danny Tamberelli
Daniel "Danny" Tamberelli is an American actor and musician.-Biography:Tamberelli played Jackie Radowski on the television series The Baby-Sitters Club shortly before more notably playing Little Pete on the Nickelodeon television show The Adventures of Pete & Pete and provided the voice for Arnold...
and Robin Leach
Robin Leach
Robin Douglas Leach is an English celebrity writer famous for hosting his first show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, in the mid-1980s and into the mid-1990s, which focused on profiling well-known celebrities and their lavish homes, cars and other materialistic endeavors...
.
Cast
- Theresa James "T.J." Davenport (Cary LawrenceCary LawrenceCary Lawrence is a Canadian actress born May 28, 1964 in Montreal and is best known for her role as Davenport on Nickelodeon's hit show Space Cases. She has two daughters with her husband Thomas: Paige and Georgia .-Films:...
) is the children's vice principal, but serves as their teacher aboard the Christa. Davenport takes herself and the rest of the universeUniverseThe Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
a little too seriously. She has a habit of fainting at the first sign of danger, but on several occasions has stood strong in the face of terrible danger, even though she ends up bluffing some of the time. - Commander Seth Goddard (Paul Boretski) is a former Stardog, and fought in the Spung War. Busted in rank from Captain and forced to teach the "Space Cases," Goddard is tough enough to whip the kids into shape, though his rigidity sometimes entices the kids to provoke him and Miss Davenport with practical jokes. He has a long and bitter rivalry with a space pirate named Reaver. It is revealed in the second season episode "Long Distance Calls" that Goddard was busted in rank for "almost starting a war" with Reaver. Goddard's backstory is one of the least explained in the series, and Reaver's appearance in the episode (whose entrance into the plot is explained by the creation of a communications device that the Christa's crew has possession of and Reaver wants to steal) raises more questions than answers. For example, Reaver can hold his own in a fight against Radu, who is Andromedan and allegedly has the strength of ten Earth men. Reaver even, for a time, 'psychically' combats Suzee who, up to this point in the series, never had problems pitching her consciousness into another entity to control them.
- Harlan Band (Walter Emanuel JonesWalter Emanuel JonesWalter Emanuel Jones is an American actor and dancer known for playing the role of Zack Taylor, the Black Ranger on the hit television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.-Life and career:...
) is a humanHumanHumans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
from EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, and is attending the Academy to become a Stardog like his biological father, who was killed by an Andromedan during the Andromedan War. Because of this, he is often antagonistic and prejudiced against Radu, at least during Season One. Harlan is headstrong and the self-appointed leader of the students, acting as pilot on the bridge. However, he is extremely overconfident, which sometimes leads to his endangering the crew. Harlan displays advanced martial artsMartial artsMartial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
and gymnastics skills. Jones is also credited as stunt coordinator in an episode of Space Cases. - Catalina (Jewel StaiteJewel StaiteJewel Belair Staite is a Canadian actress, who portrayed Catalina in Space Cases, Kaylee Frye in Firefly and Serenity, and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis.-Personal life:...
) is from TitanTitan (moon)Titan , or Saturn VI, is the largest moon of Saturn, the only natural satellite known to have a dense atmosphere, and the only object other than Earth for which clear evidence of stable bodies of surface liquid has been found....
, a moonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
of SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
. Saturnians possess evolved vocal patterns, giving them and Catalina the ability to release destructive sonic screams. Though hers have disabled missiles, floored large attackers and assaulted the ship and all its contents, Catalina considers her powers to be "nothing" compared to the really skilled Saturnians who are known to shatter buildings with a single sonic blast. The rainbow-haired Catalina is the engineer on the Christa, and quite the technical genius, though it is sometimes questionable whether her knowledge is her own or belongs to her invisible friend, Suzee, who allegedly exists in another dimensionDimensionIn physics and mathematics, the dimension of a space or object is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus a line has a dimension of one because only one coordinate is needed to specify a point on it...
, on a planet called Yensid. The other crewmembers believe Suzee is merely imaginary and often are annoyed by the mention of Suzee's name. As Season One progresses, the nature of Suzee's alleged existence is explained. Catalina is often heard using the term "Grozit" which appears to be a Saturnian non-vulgar expletiveExpletive attributiveExpletive comes from the Latin verb explere, meaning "to fill", via expletivus, "filling out". It was introduced into English in the seventeenth century to refer to various kinds of padding—the padding out of a book with peripheral material, the addition of syllables to a line of poetry for...
, similar in usage to the word "Heavens," in context such as "Heavens, no/Grozit, no." Peter DavidPeter DavidPeter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
has used the curse "Grozit" in his Star Trek: New FrontierStar Trek: New FrontierStar Trek: New Frontier is a Star Trek novel series created by John J. Ordover and Peter David and published by Pocket Books. The idea behind it was to create a Star Trek book series with its own continuity and not one that is purely a reaction to the television shows. Nearly every story of the...
novels and Captain MarvelCaptain Marvel (Marvel Comics)Captain Marvel is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Most of these versions exist in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe.- Publication history :...
comics. Though Catalina explains that all Saturnians share the ability to vocally discharge sonic blasts, it is unclear whether all Saturnian sonic screams take on the same form as Catalina's, which discharge as a continuous projection of transverse circular shockwaves, similar in effect to the rings that are produced in water when a foreign object is dropped in. There seems to be a discrepancy in the way Catalina and Suzee communicate inter-dimensionally. In Season One, Catalina explains that their brainwaves are attuned to the same sonic frequency, allowing them to speak and even see each other as though they are in the same room (Catalina even turns to face Suzee as she talks to her). Catalina even tells the others that she can see Suzee, but no one else can. In Season Two, when Suzee and Catalina trade places, Catalina lives at Suzee's home and is not present on the ship in the same manner that Suzee seemed to be during Season One. During the second season, Suzee explains that something blocks off her ability to communicate with Catalina inter-dimensionally, which may have something to do with the reason why Suzee can't see Catalina the same way Catalina saw Suzee in Season One. Jewel StaiteJewel StaiteJewel Belair Staite is a Canadian actress, who portrayed Catalina in Space Cases, Kaylee Frye in Firefly and Serenity, and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis.-Personal life:...
would again play a young engineer on a spaceship years later in the cult television series FireflyFirefly (TV series)Firefly is an American space western television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear....
. - Radu (Kristian AyreKristian AyreKristian Ayre is a Canadian actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of the character Radu from the Nickelodeon children's science fiction show Space Cases.-Early life:...
) is a being from a planet called Andromeda (most people assume this to mean that he is from the Andromeda GalaxyAndromeda GalaxyThe Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. It is also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224, and is often referred to as the Great Andromeda Nebula in older texts. Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the...
). He has no real family, since Andromedans are hatched from eggs. Radu has super-sensitive hearingHearing (sense)Hearing is the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations through an organ such as the ear. It is one of the traditional five senses...
and superhuman strengthSuperhuman strengthSuperhuman strength, also called superstrength, super-strength, or super strength, is an ability commonly employed in fiction. It is the ability for a character to be stronger than humanly possible...
, just as all Andromedans do, which was the reason behind the Spungs enslaving them and starting the Andromedan War. Radu suffers from an inferiority complexInferiority complexAn inferiority complex, in the fields of psychology and psychoanalysis, is a feeling that one is inferior to others in some way. Such feelings can arise from an imagined or actual inferiority in the afflicted person...
; as such, he tries his very hardest to get people to like him. The Andromedan culture is based on uniformity of mind and purpose, making Radu's desire to have a family and be his own person an anomaly of character. Radu has an appreciable sense of direction, which makes him the best candidate for the ship's navigator, forcing him to work in conjunction with the pilot, rival Harlan Band. Andromedans not only possess an internal temperature, but an internal barometric pressure as well. It is possible, when ill, for an Andromedan to have snow come from their ears. Radu has a significantly greater molecular density than most humanoids, which accounts for his superior strength, stability and long hair (which is nearly impossible to cut). In the episode "Desperately Seeking Suzee," the Christa is knocked around, and the entire crew is thrust about except for Radu who stands comfortably still with his arms crossed. He is also more patient,logical and realistic than the rest of the crew, especially Harlan. - Bova (Rahi Azizi) is from UranusUranusUranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...
. His race possesses an extra appendage: a small, pronged antennae growing from their forehead which can generate powerful blasts of electricityElectricityElectricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
. Bova has an incredible metabolismMetabolismMetabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
that supplements his advanced energy production, which is the reason for his incredible appetite. He will eat nearly anything, and is always hungry. Being from Uranus, and thereby "the butt of every joke," he is consistently pessimistic in every situation, a Uranian cultural trait. Bova is responsible for operating and monitoring the Christa' s shields. The nature of Bova's name is never explained, but in the Season Two episode "Long Distance Calls," when Bova's father, Benn, calls to speak to his son. This is a reference to science fiction writer Ben BovaBen BovaBenjamin William Bova is an American science-fiction author and editor. He is the recipient of six Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor for his work at Analog Science Fiction in the 1970's.-Personal life:...
. (It is assumed that Uranusians have only one name.) - Rosie Ianni (Paige Christina) is from MercuryMercury (planet)Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
, and has the ability to produce vast amounts of heatHeatIn physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
at will. At the beginning of the series, she wore a helmet to help her control this ability, but it was removed in subsequent episodes, revealing her inherent bald head, which is a trait of all Mercurians. Rosie is the mothering influence within the crew, always trying to make sure that her fellow cadets are happy and getting along (because Mercury is so close to the SunSunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, all Mercurians have a tendency to 'look on the bright side' of things). She serves as a doctor/scientist, and has a tendency to adopt seemingly cute things that turn out to be troublesome for the crew. At one point in the series, Rosie temporarily took on the power to generate telekinetic energy blasts, on top of her fire-based powers. - Thelma (Techno Human EmuLating MAchine) (Anik MaternAnik MaternAnik Matern is an actress and founder of the Dynamic Theater Factory. She graduated from John Abbott College Professional Theatre Program.Television series and voice work includes:* The Littl' Bits...
), the mysterious ship's only native inhabitant, is an android who often malfunctions, owing in no small part to the fact that her memoryMemoryIn psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
chip, a small gemGemstoneA gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
residing in her forehead, is cracked. (It is unclear whether the crystal was cracked when Harlan stepped on it, or if the damage was preexisting.) She has a habit of taking things too literallyLiteral translationLiteral translation, or direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the sense of the original...
, and often does not realize moderately obvious things. In season 2, her appearance changes to reflect the altered appearance of the Christa following the emergency crash on a planet. Her color changes from copper to silver and her gem changes from amber to saphire.- Though actress Anik MaternAnik MaternAnik Matern is an actress and founder of the Dynamic Theater Factory. She graduated from John Abbott College Professional Theatre Program.Television series and voice work includes:* The Littl' Bits...
portrays the cybernetic THELMA throughout the series, in the Season Two episode "Both Sides Now," in which a spatial phenomenon causes the crew's wishes to experience life through each other, THELMA trades places with Suzee, allowing THELMA to become human; predominantly blonde with streaks of colors in her hair after she trades places with Suzee.
- Though actress Anik Matern
- Suzee (Rebecca HerbstRebecca HerbstRebecca Herbst is an American actress, best known for playing nurse Elizabeth Webber on the daytime drama General Hospital, a role she originated on August 1, 1997, and Suzee, an alien on the Nickelodeon show, Space Cases.- Personal background :Herbst was born in Encino, California. Her parents...
) is Catalina's best friend, and is believed to be imaginary by the crew throughout Season One. Following Catalina's apparent death at the end of Season One, Suzee joins the crew in her stead. Suzee's hair is similar to Catalina's, but is longer and actually shows up as colored streaks interspersed through her predominantly brunette hair. She is immensely intelligent, and has two sets of gills just beneath both sides of her clavicleClavicleIn human anatomy, the clavicle or collar bone is a long bone of short length that serves as a strut between the scapula and the sternum. It is the only long bone in body that lies horizontally...
that allow her to breathe in any atmosphere, though not in the vacuumVacuumIn everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...
of spaceSpaceSpace is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
. A bit overconfident herself, and sometimes at odds with Miss Davenport for being treated like a child despite not officially being one of her students, Suzee's plentiful character traits also include telepathicTelepathyTelepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
abilities that allow her to depict her consciousness into others, letting her do things such as read minds and take over enemies' bodies. On one occasion, she even projected her mind into a sentient space satellite. Suzee often acts as a rival to Harlan, though as the season progresses a possible love interest seems to develop between them. However Rosie once accidentally blurts out that Suzee likes Radu the best of all the crew members. Moreover, Radu and Suzee appear to be more at ease with one another, and it is evident that Suzee also prefers him rather than Harlan. - Elmira (Katie Emme McIninch) is a frequent ally of the Christa crew. She is a Spung oracle and as such, the crew did not trust her at first (especially Radu). Due to Spung society having a low opinion of their womenSexismSexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, Elmira ran away from home years ago. Despite her upbringing, she is quite gentle and pleasant, if rather secretive. Although Radu at first despises her for her origins, the two grow close and kiss twice. It is revealed in the Season One finale that she is Warlord Shank's daughter. It is interesting to note that she gives the first foreshadowing of Catalina's later "death" when she predicts that someone new will come and Catalina will disappear. - Warlord Shank (George TakeiGeorge TakeiGeorge Hosato Takei Altman is an American actor, author, social activist and former civil politician. He is best known for his role in the television series Star Trek and its film spinoffs, in which he played Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the...
), is a Spung commander who is a deadly space pirate and adversary for the crew of the Christa, having elite Spung officers under his command. He first appears in his Killcruiser when he intercepts and threatens to destroy the Christa after discovering that his daughter Elmira, a Spung princess and love interest of Radu, could be onboard. Shank develops into a major villain throughout the run of the series.
Additional cast
- Mark HamillMark HamillMark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
as Pel - Bill MumyBill MumyCharles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is an American actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his work as a child television actor....
as Jin - Serge Houde as Neinstein
- Daisy EaganDaisy EaganDaisy Eagan is an American actress.In 1991 she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden...
as Sofiana Mrtz - Mark CamachoMark CamachoMark Camacho is a Canadian actor who has starred in many films, and more notably, some voice acting roles, such as Oliver Frensky in Arthur, Lyle in Animal Crackers, Dad in Rotten Ralph, Harry and Dragon in Potatoes and Dragons, Spritz T...
as Warden Opus - Jim Bradford as Dram
- Zachary Ouimet as Kirge
- Peter DavidPeter DavidPeter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...
as Benn - Chip Chiupka as Reaver
- Alexander Chapman as Ubi
- Robin LeachRobin LeachRobin Douglas Leach is an English celebrity writer famous for hosting his first show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, in the mid-1980s and into the mid-1990s, which focused on profiling well-known celebrities and their lavish homes, cars and other materialistic endeavors...
as Utz - David SchrammDavid Schramm (Actor)David Schramm is an American actor. He is best known for playing Roy Biggins, the portly, curmudgeonly rival airline owner in the TV series Wings. He portrayed J.J. Peachum in the Westchester production of The Threepenny Opera and starred as Mr. Mister in the John Houseman directed revival of The...
as Yee Haw Jones - Marcel Jeannin as Jesse
- Ted JessupTed JessupTed Jessup is an American television writer, producer, and performer. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland where his father was serving with the U.S. State Department. He graduated from Hamilton College...
as Gunter Ianni
Series overview
See - List of Space Cases episodesThe series opens in a Space Academy orbiting Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
, in which a small group of misfits are kept behind from a field trip
Field trip
A field trip or excursion, known as school trip in the UK and school tour in Ireland, is a journey by a group of people to a place away from their normal environment...
. Nearby, an odd bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
-like alien ship appears, and Harlan Band decides to sneak onto it; the other students, all of which are younger and much less troublesome, follow Harlan onto the ship. During their exploration of the ship's interior, the seemingly organic space shuttle appears to bond to each student when each touches a bulkhead.
TJ Davenport, their teacher and principal, and Commander Seth Goddard go after them and, in a series of unfortunate events, become separated throughout the vessel. A disoriented Bova falls out of the Jump Tube system, a network of tubes used by the crew to transport throughout the ship, and accidentally fires an electrical blast that charges the engines, hurtling the ship off into a spatial rift. By the time everyone figures out that only the children who bonded to the ship can actually control it, the ship is stopped and it is discovered that they have traveled light years away from the Academy, and it would take a direct journey of seven years, four months, and twenty two days at maximum speeds to make it back home the soonest.
THELMA, a cybernetic female, is discovered on the ship, but Harlan accidentally damages her, leaving her somewhat unreliable for the rest of the journey. Also, as a result of the damage caused to the crystal in her forehead, THELMA cannot offer much of any expertise as to how to operate the ship, but does explain that it is named the Christa, in memoriam of Christa McAuliffe
Christa McAuliffe
Christa McAuliffe was an American teacher from Concord, New Hampshire, and was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster....
, a science teacher from Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
who died in the infamous explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...
in 1986. Resigned to their fate, the group of lost "Space Cases" must establish a chain of command and a schedule in order to find their way home. Along the way, the Space Cases meet new allies and deadly enemies, most notable of which are the malicious Spung, a lizard-like race ruled by Warlord Shank (who has a particular hatred for "Earthers"), who is also the father of a young oracle, Elmira, who seeks to escape the evils of her race, and takes brief refuge aboard the Christa. Some of the crewmembers are wary of the girl because of her notoriously villainous ancestry. Radu especially does not trust her at first, much in the same way Harlan dislikes Radu for being from Andromeda because an Andromedan killed Harlan's father in the war. Radu, in turn, feels ambivalent toward Elmira for being a Spung because it was the Spung who enslaved the Andromedans to fight for them in the war. However, Radu and Elmira soon bond and start a subtle flirtation (which is featured in other episodes later in the series). Eventually, Elmira leaves the Christa in order to distract an attacking Spung vessel that was overwhelming the apparently harmless Christa.
Throughout the season, Catalina and Harlan would compete more and more for their dominance over the rest of the kids, with Catalina arguing that Harlan is rude and Harlan insisting that Catalina is crazy for having an imaginary friend named "Suzee," but Harlan and Radu's rivalry would prove to be the most controversial. Harlan would continue to be unwilling to trust Radu for being of the same race that killed his father, despite Radu's rationalization that the Andromedans were enslaved by the Spung, thus making them victims as well, and hostiles only as a result of that. On several occasions, Harlan and Radu would be forced to set their biases aside and risk themselves to save the other's life.
The Christa would remain a mystery to the crew for the entire season, with many controls, decks and rooms that they know nothing about. At the end of the first season, the Christa comes across a debris field filled with the remains of an exact duplicate (save for its color) of itself. Also, among the debris are the remains of several Spung Killcruisers, revealing to the Space Cases that if the sister ship was an exact duplicate, then their own ship must contain the same powerful weaponry that allowed the destroyed ship to defeat that many Spung ships. Seeing it as essential to their survival to research the secrets of their own vessel, Commander Goddard leads an exploration of the sister ship's remains, sans Bova and Miss Davenport who remain on the Christa. A damaged ship's log is discovered that reveals that the owners of the ship, a race called the Lumanians (also the creators of the Christa), had managed to escape the destroyed sister ship after destroying several Spung ships. On top of that, they reveal that they left the ships remains to self-destruct in order to destroy the surviving Spung, prompting Bova and Davenport to get to the sister ship and warn the others. Much to their surprise, the ship traps the exploring crew inside with the surviving Spung, which includes Warlord Shank and Elmira.
With the Spung still seeking to put Elmira's fortune-telling gifts to military use, Elmira has continued to distance herself from her race, but before the crew can return to the Christa, each member is systematically incapacitated and captured by Shank. Seeking information about the Christa's weapons, and believing the Space Cases and their ship to be responsible for his defeat, Shank uses Catalina as a hostage but just before he can kill her, Harlan saves her life by offering Shank fake information that confuses him.
In the meantime, Davenport and Bova manage to sneak onto the sister ship, and Bova battles down Shank with his more formidable electrical abilities (Shank wields an electrical scepter) while Davenport releases the tied-up crew. Goddard instructs Davenport to return the crew to the ship, and then home (in a moment of high emotion, regarding each other by first name for the first time ever) before he enters the battle and takes Shank on directly, allowing his crew to escape. Ultimately overwhelming Shank, Goddard joins the others and helps guide his crew through the airlock, with Harlan and then Catalina at the back of the line. As Goddard traverses the airlock to get to Catalina and help her through, Shank leaps from the shadows and pulls Catalina back into the sister ship just before the airlock closes and seals them inside. The rest of the Space Cases are pulled back into the Christa, which automatically departs as Harlan tries to break through the air lock door and save Catalina. Unfortunately, his efforts are futile, and the sister ship is destroyed in a massive explosion, with Catalina and Shank stuck inside. In the end, Goddard gives Catalina's eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
, apologizing for failing to care for his crew, and insisting they carry on nonetheless, but Harlan is saddened that Catalina would never know that he really did like her (Catalina kissed him on the cheek after she awoke and heard that Harlan saved her from Shank). But in the final moment of the episode, a cloaked figure appears, confusing the crew with the fact that she seems to know all of them despite none of them recognizing her.
In the beginning of the second season, the cloaked figure is revealed to be none other than Catalina's "imaginary friend" Suzee. The highly intelligent Suzee explains to the crew the nature of her situation: apparently the powerful explosion that destroyed the Christa's sister ship opened a dimensional tear in space that threw Catalina into Suzee's dimension, and knocked Suzee into their dimension, safely within the Christa. It turns out that the ship responds to Suzee's control as well, because she bonded with it at the same time that the rest of the crew did at the start of the series. With Catalina safe at Suzee's home, and Suzee the new engineer of the Christa, the crew heads for home (something is blocking the sonic frequencies that allow Suzee and Catalina to communicate inter-dimensionally).
The crew spend the majority of the rest of Season Two stranded on an unknown planet, following a violent attack by the Spung. Here, they must learn to survive in their new environment as they dedicate themselves to repairing the ship and going home. Several times in the season, the Space Cases come across different technologies that offer the lost cadets hope. In one such encounter, the crew discovers technology that will allow each of them to talk briefly to a loved one back home (Suzee gets to speak to Catalina, who makes her only appearance in this season). Harlan and Radu would again become rivals over the romantic interests of the attractive, rainbow-haired Suzee.
After the botched ascent of a newly repaired Christa, another attack on the ship not only damages it further, but causes it to land on top of Goddard, crushing and critically injuring him. He would then spend the majority of the rest of the series healing in suspended animation. Eventually he heals by the end of the series.
Because of its cancellation, the series has no true ending, and leaves several storylines open. One such storyline comes about in the episode "Trouble With Doubles," in which the crew becomes cloned and must each battle their own evil selves. At the end of the episode, it is explained that Goddard has been cloned before. When asked what assurances the crew has that he isn't a clone of the real Goddard, the episode ends in ambivalence, with no true answer to the question.
The final episode sees the crew responding to a distress call coming from a satellite that was ravaged by an attack from the Spung. When Goddard leads Suzee, Harlan and Radu on an away mission to the satellite to find the originator of the distress call, they instead find that the satellite itself is the originator. The sentient, lonely satellite, known as Pezu (patterned after a female), is elated to have company after so many years, becoming particularly bonded to Suzee who is similarly intelligent and comes to understand her after Suzee reads her mind. Pezu eventually turns hostile, capturing the visiting crewmembers when she feels betrayed by Suzee who has the others distract her while she searches Pezu's systems for the truth behind what Suzee senses she's hiding. In the meantime, the returning Warlord Shank and his henchmen invade the satellite and attack Goddard, Harlan and Radu, after losing to them in battle so many times in the past. Eventually, Pezu releases the crew when Suzee convinces her that she can't force people to like her and that Suzee would hate her forever for trying to. As the crew departs to adventures unknown, Pezu is left with the Spung who damaged her trapped inside her for her to exact revenge upon.