Space Cases: 'Spung at Heart' - Nick Knacks Sample Platter

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We return to Space Cases to introduce Elmira, Warlord Shank and the Spung. It's kinda like a metaphor or something.

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[apbuitron]

Friend, you’re really a fantastic writer. You produce these sample platters relatively quickly and still manage to say something thought provoking and interesting in relation to the episode every time. Bravo!

[twinkieafternoon]

Thank you so much! I’m the Kickstarter/commissioner, and you couldn’t have released this on a better day! It was meant to be a gift to my partner (huge Star Trek fan and Space Cases rememberer) and today you dropped this exactly on our 4th anniversary! Wonderful writing and a great anniversary gift for her!

[animefan]

Fun fact: The actor playing Radu has appeared on a series with another Power Ranger actor. Kristian was on The New Ghostwriter Mysteries where Kevin Duhaney, the Blue Dino Thunder Ranger, appeared in two episodes.

[goodwinter]

Gosh, the best sample platter yet. It helps that I loved Space Cases and Peter David comics at the time of course (and I guess now too, David's comments notwithstanding). Can't wait for the full episode!

[SirPaladin]

"Who doesn't love George Takei?" William Shatner.

[technicolordreamer]

Loved the episode analysis! Looking forward to an episode of this full series! No one ever talks about it. Extremely underrated.

[jamesflowers]

Space Cases is like a fever dream for me. Nobody I know remembers it

[bakomusha]

Deeply amused that not only was I not the only one requesting a Space Cases episode, but that at least two others where! Further this episode, and your narration foreshadow my episode! My hype is off the charts! <3 As for the content of the episode itself; You and me are the same age, so yes this plot and Animorphs felt.. distant. Even with having a grandfather who fought in WW2, even if I was reading Animorphs and watching war movies, even tho I had classmates who where refugee from the Yugoslav wars, it was all so disconnected. But it still stuck, because I was anti-war even after 9/11. I couldn't understand why people would hate whole groups of people for the actions of states.

[FoxInferno]

As someone who grew up on a steady diet of Star Trek and Power Rangers, I'm SHOCKED this show has never popped up on my radar before now.

[michellecrocker]

Boy, I wish this show had gotten more seasons. It was just so good

[VahanNisanian]

It actually aired March 23, 1996. And I checked the newspaper archives to make sure they matched up with the information on Wikipedia, and they did. No episode aired on May 11 due to the Kids' Choice Awards.

[Rmlohner]

I distinctly remember my horrified reaction when David made that rant, largely because I'd grown to love him so much for his work on Babylon 5, a show that was quite eerily prescient about the problems that far right wing politics would cause in the next few decades. In his apology, he specifically said that he'd been taken in by malicious disinformation, something that without going into detail I'll just say that I can fully understand and I fully support him in making an effort to grow past those beliefs.

[cheerijessie]

This series was silly and a bit lite at times, but it was one of my favorite things on the network for a long time (I had a bit of a "like her, or want to be like her?" crush on Catalina). As for what this ep was foreshadowing, I wish they'd held to what I'd heard the original intention was, it would have made more sense.
I love how you framed this. American media, especially kids' stuff, during the "End of History" era in the 90s is a fascinating thing that I imagine you'll probably explore a few more times over the next couple years

[alexgeorge]

Glad to have one of Star Trek's legendary cast members star on this show, and the lesson that the episode teaches is indeed a well learnt lesson indeed. Thanks for sharing and it was nice to see the OG Black Ranger from MMPR in another show.

[pakmanparadise]

To this day, I still remember the, "No way!"/"Uh-oh"/"She's a Spung!" exchange. I was only about 7 years old when Space Cases was airing but I saw most of the series (well, the first season anyway). But I don't actually remember the messaging behind this episode. One of these days I need to rewatch Space Cases.

[gatorboymike]

Warlord Shank be like, "Bitch, we invented the Corbomite Maneuver."

[arlequinelunaire]

When you talked about how Peter David would later go on an Anti-Romani rant despite the message of this episode, I was quickly reminded of your review of the Doctor Who book Lucifer Rising. Where despite having an incredibly diverse cast of characters, one of its authors would later go full reactionary. At least Peter David apologised though, which I can't really see Jim Mortimore doing

[Moonbeam]

I'm glad somebody remembers this show.

[samwill]

I wonder if this show did nearly as good a job hiding Walter Jones' missing finger as Power Rangers did.
And how many people in this comment section didn't even know the original Black Ranger was missing a finger

[vgtrp]

I remember that Student Bodies airing in the U.S. Anyway, I didn't watch Space Cases when it aired, but I heard good things long after the show ended, and the lesson in this episode is more important today then when it aired. As for Peter David, 8f he did apologize for his comments, and the people he offended accepted it, that's good enough for me.