Captain Eager And The Mark Of Voth review

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The oldest rule of independent filmmaking is to make a virtue of your budgetary constraints, but this ’50s sci-fi parody hasn’t managed it. Captain Eager (James Vaughan) is a James T Kirk-alike – noble, but with a weakness for green-skinned women – who is brought into the modern era by galactic corporation Macrospace. Director Simon DaVison successfully passes off the cheapo effects as parody, but that’s no excuse for the absence of any proper story telling. Having the plot gaps filled in by a computer called “The Expositionite” is an admission of failure, however ironically meant. Green Wing alumni Mark Heap and Tamsin Grieg do their darndest in supporting roles, but with an almost entirely gag-free script, it’s a struggle. This kind of thing has been done before and it’s been done better, too.

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