Moon Team IIIV
It was twenty years between the release of Moon Team, the 1979 science fiction action film of rogues and rebels taking on an evil empire, and its eventual sequel prequel, Moon Team IIIV, its success hampered in the eyes of many fans by the lack of continuity of the characters, with only one bewildered centenarian performer returning, barely able to remember his lines let alone that he was actually a younger version of his previous self.
Director Willie B Bach undeterred, he could not compete with love for the iconic original Moon Team lineup, Lord Moonus, a prince who objected to taxation, Houston the rat, pocket robotic W D Four Zero, Flora, a hyper-intelligent telepathic space flower and the swift-growing sentient goldfish Swimothy Chalamet, opposing the evil Lord Phoebus, swanning about in a cape with the head of a giraffe.
The compromised production of Moon Team IIIV explored and recreated by comedian Will BF who plays all the parts on stage and numerous other contributors, creatives, commentators and fans via a constantly running video feed with which he interacts, the show is certainly an inventive multimedia presentation, but while he is a likeable performer, comfortable on stage and interacting with his audience, the material is thinner than his silver lurex shorts.
With jokes juvenile and stale substituting for sharp insight into the fan/filmmaker relationship, the tropes of science fiction and why audiences connect with inspirational escapism, the primary target is Star Wars but nothing approaching The People vs George Lucas is offered, nor is the “film within a show” original in itself or in reflecting a parallel between the storyline and the memories of the production, a disappointing contrast to the sheer inventiveness of One Woman Alien performed in the same venue only a few years before, Moon Team IIIV an evolving work in progress which has not yet found itself.
Moon Team IIIV continues at The Apex on the Grassmarket until Monday 26th August
