CSI: Crime Scene Investigation--'A Space Oddity'

<p><b>Synopsis:</b><p>David Hodges is shocked to run into Wendy Simms at a Whatifit convention dedicated to the sixties television show <i>Astro Quest</i>. Before the two can delve too deeply into their shared love for the show, there's a commotion on the convention floor: a man has been found dead on the mock up bridge of the starship from the show. Hodges confirms he's dead and calls Brass, gravely stating, "He's dead, Jim." When the CSI team arrives, Nick learns the dead man is thirty-six-year old California resident Jonathan Danson. David Phillips determines that the man died between midnight and 3 am. Jonathan's producing partner, Melinda Carver, tells Brass that he spent the last five years working on a pilot for a new <i>Astro Quest</i>, which had just been picked up. Melinda financed it--and retains the rights now that Jonathan is dead. Langston observes that the broken skin on Jonathan's face is split rather than cut, suggesting a sharp impact. At the lab, Archie plays video footage of Danson debuting his new show, <i>Astro Quest Redux</i> and witnesses the crowd react angrily to it, displeased by his darker, edgier version of their beloved show. Back at the scene, Nick and Riley examine the bridge and find semen stains on the command chair. Riley discovers Danson's laptop as well as a DVD player with a DVD in it made by outraged fans who find Danson "guilty of high treason" and execute him in video effigy.<p>Hodges broaches the subject of what would happen to two lab workers in a romantic relationship with Catherine and she tells him that one would have to switch shifts. Greg speaks with Penelope Russell, a media professor who was studying Danson's relaunch of the classic series. Russell tells Greg that Danson was a provocateur, the science fiction equivalent of Martin Luther. In the morgue, Dr. Robbins confirms that a blow to the head did Danson in, while Langston theorizes that the murder weapon was likely angular. Robbins shows Langston the odd substances he found in Danson's stomach: a mixture of worms and alcohol. Nick speaks with the bartender from the convention bar who served Danson the bizarre space age drink. He tells Nick that Danson hit on an <i>Astro</i> girl and got attacked by her two friends, whom the bartender identifies as two angry fans from the video of the <i>Astro Quest Redux</i> unveiling. While Hodges examines a metal collar found at the scene, Mandy recovers prints from the DVD that match Steuben Lorenz and Lionel Rose. Brass goes to Rose's address and the door is answered by Lionel's mother, who shows the detective to a space age room where the two super fans are roleplaying. When they're brought in for questioning, Lionel and Steuben insist the video was a joke. Neither knows where the girl, Risa Varness, they fought Jonathan over is. In the lab, Wendy matches the DNA in the chair to Danson and an unknown female. She invites Hodges over to watch several episodes of <i>Astro Quest</i>, throwing the smitten lab tech off.<p>Nick tracks Risa down thinking Danson may have forced himself on her, but she tells him they had consensual sex--and that she liked his show. Riley finds photos on Danson's laptop of him hooking up with various women--including Melinda Carver. Brass questions Melinda, who doesn't seem bothered that Danson had other lovers. She tells the detective that they were in an open relationship. Suspecting Danson had installed a video camera on the bridge mock up, Riley and Langston go to look for it. They're stymied until Hodges calls with a revelation: Danson was killed by a retractable viewer, likely hidden in the helm. Sure enough, they discover it by pushing the "targeting scanner" button. Langston finds blood on it--and a bloody print. The print proves a match to Penelope Russell, the media professor. She tells Brass that Danson was in her Media Semiotics class--and that he stole her ideas for <i>Astro Quest Redux</i>. When she confronted him, they got into a physical fight and she threw him into the console--releasing the retractable viewer, which struck and killed him. Nick, Riley and Ray head to the break room to watch <i>Astro Quest</i>, but both Wendy and Hodges decline to join them, instead watching each other forlornly from their respective labs. <p><b>Analysis:</b><p>A delectable geek fest chock full of winks and nods at science fiction shows--and their zealous fans--"A Space Oddity" is pure fun from start to finish. It's the brainchild of three writers with science fiction backgrounds: <font color=yellow>Naren Shankar</font> worked for <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> while writing team <font color=yellow>Bradley Thompson</font> and <font color=yellow>David Weddle</font> came to <i>CSI</i> from the brilliant, dark <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>. Science fiction fans are like no others: passionate to a fault, they know what they love--and won't hesitate to vehemently criticize anything they think violates their sacred cows. No one knows this more than <font color=yellow>Ron Moore</font>, the man who re-imagined the 70s <i>Battlestar Galactica</i> into a dark, gritty show about humanity's fight for survival--and who makes a brief cameo in this episode as the first person to stand up and call out a passionate, <i>"You suck!"</i> to Jonathan Danson after the latter has screened a scene from his pilot. Like <i>Battlestar</i>, Danson's <i>Astro Quest Redux</i> is a dark re-imagining of a campy old sci-fi show that, cheesy as it was, had a devoted following.<p><HR ALIGN="CENTER" SIZE="1" WIDTH="45%" COLOR="#007BB5"><p>To read the full reviews, please click <A HREF="http://www.csifiles.com/reviews/csi/a_space_oddity.shtml">here</A>.<center></center>

 

Excellent review, dahling.

I enjoyed this episode, and it was nice to see Hodges and Wendy take the forefront. A lot of the stuff in the episode was stereotypical sci-fi geek stuff, but then that is realistic (for some fans, of course, not all) - and we did get to see other parts of the sci-fi culture as well, such as the highly-intellectual side of things with the professor and the scene with the bartender that showed why the idealized world from Astro Quest would be appealing (and why the mindset of the devoted fans was something that could be admired - if only a person is willing to see it that way). The episode acknowledged the stereotypes but didn't limit the portrayal of fans to those cliches.

I'll admit it - I got a bit emotional at the end when Wendy translated what Hodges said in the other language. *sniff sniff* Poor dears, doomed to remain separate - at least until one of them is willing to switch shifts.

BTW, Hodges' hair in the fantasies was hilarious. :lol: And I may have a wee crush on Wendy now.

 

Gosh, i have never been this embarrassed watching an episode CSI! It was good to see, that the lab rats are again being featured in an episode. The story telling was so lame and so was the acting of Hodges and Wendy. We know that both of them are diehard fans of Star trek. We have seen them in You Kill Me and Lab Rats – they were really good and I enjoyed watching it.

In Space Oddity, sorry to say they really sucked! We know that even the sanest people behave their weirdest when they are love. In this case, it was “pure yucky”. It must have been a slow, slow week at the lab – the whole CSI team was involved in solving this case and so were the lab rats. Are the writers suffering from writers block or are they brain dead.
I wonder if they if they ever read feedback from viewers or they too arrogant to do so. This episode was so melodramatic with a handful of soap opera and comedy central thrown in. Are Hodges and Wendy trying to emulate GSR?

Henry to Hodges “Both of you have been doing this dance for so long”
This was what Petersen exactly said of Grissiom and Sara in the interview. It is obvious they are – it was corny and in poor taste.

Shame on the director!! Looks as if they sent their proxy to direct this episode! We have seen their works; this is a far cry from their norm.
Wendy dancing in the Harlem scene (it lasted a full 1 minute in a 42mins episode – yes i did time it!) it looks like as SNL rendition of the Arabian Nights. It looks like the writer or the producer or the director or maybe all of them wanted to fulfil their fantasy of seeing Liz Vassey in the skin. And Wendy playing coy – does not fit her character!

As usual Nick/Greg/Catherine are again playing 2nd fiddle since Grissiom’s exit. Poor Greg it looks as if he had been taking a lot of vacation days since Langston joined the team.

Now coming to our Oscar Nominee and the main star of the show – Lord Fishburne. Langston a CSI 1 – only 4 months on the job given the privilege of working solo most of the time – he is now processing bodies with a lab rat – as they also did in last week’s episode.

I personally felt, it was disrespectful of Hodges to slap Steven’s body in the back in last week’s episode. I have never seen this happening before in 8½ years of CSI. I am confused; it looks like Langston is the new Boss, have they forgotten to inform the viewers, just as they did in Season 9 episode when Grissiom out of the blue mentioned that Greg is now a CSI 3.

Maybe it is about time, Langston goes on Sabbatical!

Now it looks like Dr. Robbin has joined David to play the clown. Did they inhale some toxic gas in the morgue? Both Robbin and David have been their since the beginning, playing the “Idiot” does not fit their characters. I am sure they could have put down their foot and told the directors that it did not suit their characters.

We have seen humour in the morgue in previous seasons – it was done in class and dignity!

 

Great review Kristine. I hope that Hodges and Wendy do overcome their obstacles.

I disagree because I think there is something so charming about that Wendy/Hodges romance that was lacking in GSR. GSR was so overly dramatic at times.

They've been that was since season seven when GSR was canon. But I was hoping it would change when they left. However, it doesn't appear to be thay and it all comes down to dollars and cents and in this case its lack of.

IMO, for what it is worth, it's all to do with the network. They want a HUGE name to take over the show. So they hired Fishbourne and are paying him the big bucks to do it. I don't think he signed up to just play second fiddle to the established cast. No. He signed up to be the centre of attention. It doesn't matter what the cast want, or the writers want, it's what Jerry Bruickheimer and Les Moonves want.

Remember when Naren Shankar and Carol Mendohlson wanted to hire the actress from BSG to play Riley Adams. They were all set to go when Jerry and Les put a stop to it and hired Lauren Lee Smith instead. So that just goes to show that even the writers don't have the final say. It's no wonder Billy Petersen once said he'd like to see those two cast as bodies on the show. I concur with BP on that one.

So as I said, and it's my just my opinion. It doesn't matter what we want, or what even the cast or TPTB want, it's the network big wigs who have the final say.

As for Space Oddity, I don't think I've laughed lthat hard in a long time. It was so funny, everything about it just had me in stitches. Could be my foul mood, so I laugh at everything now.

 

Lol. It's called a parody. And just because someone is serious most of the time doesn't mean that they can't joke around part of the time. No matter how dark the jobs they work or the seriousness with which they take their jobs, they still need some lightness in their lives, and, IMO, this was the perfect episode to see that. I agree with you (m1304) about Ray having too much responsibility (though I suppose it's still inevitable given LF's contract), but I thought this was a great episode. It's easy to enjoy if you don't take it too seriously.

 

Hi all,

First off, let me say that I adored this episode for many reasons. I'm a huge Trekkie as well as many other Sci-Fi shows, so it was a pleasure to see them tackle a lot of the interesting and high diversity of the "sci-fi" genre in a CSI way. Sure there was a lot of humor in the show, and fun gadgets etc - but it really had a lot to like.

Jim Brass's line of "red alert" made me laugh out loud, as did his line about the the dichotomy of language. Very nice.

I have to say that there is a very good chemistry between Wendy and Hodges, but personally I'm not sure I want them to have a relationship situation in every variation of the franchise.

A nice episode, with a great twist and enough geekyness to keep me smiling until the next one!

Z

 

To be fair, it was Super Dave clowning around in the morgue. Doc Robbins just put a stop to it.

And I'm surprised that no one remembers that Bradley Thompson and David Weddle got their starts on Star Trek DS9 (thus all three writers on this episode have Star Trek backgrounds).