By Colin Flaherty
Surely you have seen the 1979 classic Moon Team? How about the failed prequel made in 1999? Fear not, Will B F has produced a “documentary” telling the tale of how this relic of sci fi history was made, complete with extended scenes and behind the camera footage.
From early on there is no mistaking which real life movie prequel this is lampooning. Some lines are lifted directly from that backlash while quite similar plot points are cheekily explored. It is both a love letter to the genre and a hilarious vent about filmmakers ruining a perfectly good franchise.
Will B F trades in ultra low tech props and he is brilliantly creative in the items that he uses to bring the characters and scenes to life. Similarly the video components of the show have a very slapped together quality that gives it a kooky inept charm. This is especially evident in the 8 bit interactive computer segments as technology had clearly advanced further than that in ‘99. It’s clearly a design decision as there are segments that obviously have had good editing work done to them.
Mr B F throws himself around the stage with gusto, executing dialogue between characters by switching back and forth, and reacting to many audio cues as he moves around the space. He is a such a whirlwind that props and characters get misplaced regularly. It is very much the “hyperactive child acting out a story” mode of theatre.
Moon Team IIIV is an ambitious one man sketch show. Will plays all the characters (save for one tiny role thrust upon an audience member), features in every video segment and narrates the show. To make things even more challenging, he has been tinkering with the content, adding and subtracting segments from night to night. It adds a fair bit of danger to proceedings as Will flies by the seat of his pants. Unfortunately it messes with the structure such that he often leaves us with an empty stage when a linking video ends before he has changed costume.
This is clearly aimed at genre fans but everyone will enjoy this wonderfully hilarious romp. Put on your “Space Hats” and strap in for some fun.
Moon Team IIIV is on at Hoots @ The Apex until August 26
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/will-bf-moon-team-iiiv