''Outer Space Astronauts'' is a

science fiction comedy Science fiction comedy (sci-fi comedy) or comic science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that exploits the science fiction genre's conventions for comedic effect. The genre often mocks or satirizes standard science fic ...

television series which aired on Syfy, created by Russell Barrett. The main characters have live-action "real" heads connected to computer-generated and animated bodies in a completely digital environment. The crew of

astronauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

travel through space on a

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...

named the O.S.S. Oklahoma.

Characters

*Commander Richard Amos (played by Adam Clinton) is the second in command, and is portrayed as the smartest and only competent member of the crew. He is constantly stymied by the crew in his efforts to complete the mission or save the ship. *Captain Bruce Ripley (played by Russell Barrett) the ship's captain is portrayed as being lazy, obese and the dumbest of the crew who mainly occupies his time sleeping. When he is in doubt he mainly tries suicidal actions like self destructing his own ship. *Lieutenant Sunny Hunkle (played by Stephanie Clinton) is the ship's always cheerful communications officer. *Pilot Johnny Boothe (played by Benjamin Nurick) is the ship's leather jacket and sunglasses-wearing pilot. *Chief Security Officer Andy Matheson (played by Laura Valdivia) is the ship's burly, violent and short-fused security officer. *Chief Mechanic Burt Pinto (played by Stephen Millunzi) is the ship's often-angry frantic mechanic. *Operations Officer Donna Kennedy (played by Dana Kirk (actress)) is the ship's technophobe operations officer, who frequently breaks or misuses electronic equipment. *Ka'ak (played by Jacey Margolis) is a red bodied alien who volunteered to be a crew member. The character is portrayed as being extremely naive, using broken English and constantly breaking things aboard ship due to her superior strength. *Weapons Officer Chad Brimley (played by Anthony Bravo) is the ship's sarcastic weapons officer. *Intern Jimmy Peck (played by Pete Burns (writer and actor)) is the cheerful but moronic ship's intern. *Kyle 14 (played by Jay Wendorff) is the ship's android and one of the few crew members that is completely animated from head to toe. *Commander Cake (played by

Rob Delaney Rob Delaney (born January 19, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and activist. He is best known for co-creating and starring as Rob Norris in the sitcom '' Catastrophe'' (2015–2019), and Peter Wisdom in the superhero films ''Deadp ...

) was the ship's commander before Richard Amos. Diagnosed with Deep Space Psychosis. *Dr. Swank (played by Trent Lewis) is the sweaty and excitable head of the Science Department on the O.S.S. Oklahoma.

Animation style

Outer Space Astronauts uses an animation technique similar to

Cutout animation Cutout animation is a form of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or photographs. The props would be cut out and used as puppets for stop motion. The world's ...

, which combines live-action

greenscreen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fie ...

footage of the actors' heads with computer generated bodies. The backgrounds are 2D and sometimes

3D animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Modern ...

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1265869 Syfy original programming 2009 American animated television series debuts 2000s American adult animated television series 2000s American animated comedy television series 2000s American comic science fiction television series 2000s American sitcoms American adult animated comedy television series American adult animated science fiction television series American adult computer-animated television series American animated sitcoms American television series with live action and animation Television series about astronauts Works set on spacecraft