Customer Reviews
yub yub - By: Jolyon M. Bain, 09 Nov 2008 
I miised this when it was originally on. I don't know how or why as it screams for watching by anyone that's ever been a gleefully geeky type into the sci-fi/fantasy genres that this often references.
The series is excellent. Nothing lets it down. The characters are well realised, the dialogue is spot on, the humour can be a mix of subtle references, situational funnies, & glorious explosions of banter.
This DVD set is also a winner. Like with the Shain of the Dead/Hot Fuzz DvD's, they show a love of the medium. There's options & options, all wrapped upin evocative UI's. This also has an idle mode that is worth letting run a while too.
Gets better with age - By: A. Whitehead, 31 Oct 2008 Spaced was a UK sitcom that ran for two seasonsin 1999 & 2001 & was tremendously critically acclaimed at the time. The creative team subsequently moved into cinema, creating the hit movies Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz & the forthcoming The World Ends, but Spaced remains by far their funniest & most rewarding work.
The series opens with aspiring comic book artist Tim Bisley (Simon Pegg) & workshy writer Daisy Steiner (Jessica Stephenson) both having to find a new place to live. Randomly bumping into one anotherin the local cafe, they decide to fake being a couple to rent a surprisingly cheap flatin London. The rest of the regular cast is rounded off by their landlady Marsha (a wine-swigging, ex-groupie single mum), Tim's best friend Mike (a failed soldier with a weapons fixation), Daisy's best friend Twist (who Tim sums up as being a "bit like Cordelia from Buffy the Vampire Slayer & latterly its spin-off series Angel, which is setin LA,") & Brian, the mildly pretentious artist (specialities: anger, pain, fear & aggression) who rents Marsh's basement flat.
It's a pretty traditional sitcom set-up, but Spaced differs from the average sitcomin two important respects. First, it is directed, shot & edited much more like a movie, with fast-cuts, segues, occasionally impressive special effects & the use of real locations (a nightclub sequence is actually filmedin a proper nightclub, for example, rather than a lame set). Secondly, the series is absolutely overflowing with movie, TV & comic references, some verbal, others visual, some subtle & some pretty outrageous. The DVDs come equipped with a 'homage-o-metre' which tracks these references as they fly past. The homage-o-metre almost explodes during Season 2 when Robot Wars, Fight Club ("No-one talks about Robot Club!") & One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are all heavily referencedin just one episode.
What makes Spaced special is the way these elements are combined with some excellent writing & acting, particularly from Pegg & Stephenson as the leads & the brilliant Mark Heap as Brian (who went on from Spaced to win acclaimin a number of other Channel 4 comedy shows, most notably Green Wing). The comedic situations are also hilarious, such as Tim getting loaded on cheap speed & playing Resident Evil 2 for 12 hours straight, leading to him visualising the world as if a zombie apocalypse is taking place (this was the inspiration for Shaun of the Dead), or the gang's attempts to gatecrash their teenage neighbours' party turning into a Close Encounters of the Third Kind homage. There's also plenty of cameos from other comedians, with Little Britain's David Walliams playing transsexual artist Vulva & The Office's Ricky Gervais puttingin a cameo as a slimy newspaper worker, whilst the irrepressible Bill Bailey steals every scene he'sin as Tim's comic shop boss Bilbo Bagshot (who retains mild guilt about once punching his dadin the face for saying Hawk the Slayer was rubbish, instead of suggesting they watch Krull & compare the two).
The two seasons are linked by ongoing story arcs, although these are fairly low-key. Daisy & Tim having to fake beingin a relationship to appease Marsha is a point revisited several times (leading to awkwardness when both end upin other relationships), whilst Mike is battling to be readmitted to the Territorial Army, having been thrown out after trying to invade Paris with a Chieftain tank. The second season is linked together by Daisy's employment problems, Brian & Twist's romance & Tim's utter hatred & loathing of The Phantom Menace, which lands himin hot water on several occasions (and gives rise to the legendary primal scream of, "BUT JAR-JAR BINKS MAKES THE EWOKS LOOK LIKE FU**ING SHAFT!").
Spaced (*****) lasted for just 14 episodes almost a decade ago, but remains one of the funniest, most entertaining sitcoms ever committed to screen. Even now rewatching certain episodes reveals more previously-missed homages to movies or comics, & the series seems to just get better with age. The complete series is available on DVDin both the UK & the USA. The US DVD edition is even more impressive, as it features guest-commentaries from the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith & Matt Stone.
Hmmmm - By: Gimme Gompo, 27 Oct 2008 
I adore Simon Pegg, & seeing as SO many people seem to love Spaced I thought I'd splash out on the DVD set.
I have to say I am a little disappointed...I have watched 4 episodes & can't bring myself to watch anymore...I have a great sense of humour, & as I said..adore Simon Pegg & everything he has done, but this just isn't funny most of the time, yes there are a couple of titter-worthy jokes but the rest is a bit of a struggle.
Obviously lots of people enjoy it - so I would suggest you buy & see for yourself.
Letdown - By: Sergey Panferov, 28 Aug 2008 
There were so many 5-star reviews so i decided to buy Spaced & this sitcom has let me down. What I didn't like at all is that the creators had just taken out numerous bits from popular movies & tried to spoof them.The whole sitcom is countless unfunny spoofing. For instance we all remember that scene from Pulp Fiction with the toaster where Bruce Willis kills Travolta.OK, you can watch it againin Spaced.Nobody kills anybody here.
The writers just pointlessly put it in. Was it supposed to be hilarious? Where are you own ideas?
On the other hand you can call it a wonderful,inventive breath of fresh airin the stale world of sitcom.
But i prefer The Royle family & The Office to bits from The Shining Pulp Fiction Star Wars & so on....
More like this please - By: Skylark, 07 Jul 2008 Missed this series when it first came out due to working away a lot but recently got this edition on DVD & I absolutely love it. The characters & casting are excellent & I just couldn't help falling for Jessica Hynes who is funny, clever, talented & very sexy! Simon Pegg does not dissapoint,in fact the whole cast are marvelous. Thoroughly reccommend this if you like a good laugh, British comedy at its best.
