Space Cadets (game show)

Space Cadets was a British comedy panel game broadcast on Channel 4 in 1997. It was presented by "High Commander" Greg Proops with Bill Bailey and Craig Charles as the "Space Captains" (captains of the two teams). It ran for just one series with 10 episodes.

Space Cadets
Presented byGreg Proops
StarringBill Bailey
Craig Charles
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of series1
No. of episodes10 (list of episodes)
Release
Original networkChannel 4
Original release15 July (1997-07-15) –
16 September 1997 (1997-09-16)

Like the BBC's Have I Got News for You, the contestants were celebrities and the show was played mainly for laughs. Bestselling author Terry Pratchett once appeared as a guest. When the contestants were asked who was Britain's most shoplifted author, Pratchett immediately answered "I am!" which was the correct answer. (The other contestants and Proops all immediately pulled out "shoplifted" copies of Pratchett's books, one of which Pratchett proceeded to sign.)

Opening sequence text

The following text appeared on the screen in the opening title sequence (over footage of Charles, Bailey and Proops): 3 Cosmic Comics, On A Journey From Planet Mirth To Do Battle Against The Weird, The Unthinkable, The Unknown. They Are Space Cadets.

Rounds

These are only some of the rounds used on the show. It is unknown if any other rounds were played in episodes 8 or 9.

  • Doctor, Who Am I? has each team captain standing center stage and being "morphed" into a character that may or may not be related to sci-fi. They then ask their teammates questions which can only be answered with "negative" or "affirmative" in order to decipher their "new identities".
  • Space Oddities has each member of a team giving explanations of what they think a given object is, with only one being right. The opposing team must guess which is correct.
  • The War of The Words is like Film Dub on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but with a sci-fi clip.
  • What Happens Next? has each team guessing what happens next in a sci-fi film shown to them.
  • Photon Photos has the teams guessing what is happening in a still photo and what movie it is from.
  • How Did They Get Out of That? has each team watching a clip of sci-fi characters in peril and guessing how the characters get out of peril.
  • Mind Your Klingon has Proops giving a phrase in the Klingon language and the players must translate the phrase into English.
  • Bill Shatner or not Bill Shatner has Proops read a series of facts purporting to pertain to William Shatner. Teams, including William Shatner himself, respond 'Bill Shatner' or 'Not Bill Shatner' according to whether they believe it to be true or not.
  • Final All-Comers Trivia Scan has Proops asking the teams sci-fi trivia questions until time runs out.

Episode guide

The coloured backgrounds denote the result of each of the shows:

  -- indicates Craig's team won
  -- indicates Bill's team won
Episode Air Date Craig's Guests Craig's Team Name Bill's Guests Bill's Team Name Score
01x01 15 July 1997 Kim Newman and Ford Kiernan Meteors Hattie Hayridge and William Shatner Comets
[fn 1]
01x02 22 July 1997 Sara Cox and Walter Koenig Blobs John Moloney and Claudia Christian Things
20–23
01x03 29 July 1997 Ford Kiernan and Sophie Aldred Omegas Fred MacAulay and Sylvester McCoy Alphas
25–17
01x04 5 August 1997 Trevor Neal and Armin Shimerman Quarks Simon Hickson and Max Grodénchik Roms
17–19
01x05 12 August 1997 Ford Kiernan and William Shatner Leias Angela Rippon and Bruce Dickinson Lukes
[fn 1]
01x06 19 August 1997 Ben Miller and Kim Newman Stingrays Gareth Thomas and Alexander Armstrong Thunderbirds
37–44
01x07 26 August 1997 Felix Dexter and Ed Bishop Astronauts Ronni Ancona and Rob Grant Cosmonauts
16–18
01x08 2 September 1997 Terry Pratchett and Fred MacAulay Jetsons Elaine C. Smith and Sylvester McCoy Rocketeers
TBC
01x09 9 September 1997 Claudia Christian and Ed Byrne Morks Robert Llewellyn and Susan Moore Mindys
19-17
01x10 16 September 1997 Tricia Sullivan and Kevin Day Vulcans John Moloney and Chloë Annett Klingons
22-20

Notes and references
  • Peter Waymark, "Space Cadets" in "Television Choice: A down-to-earth quiz", The Times, 15 July 1997, p 46.
  1. The score for this episode was not revealed as Proops awarded the win to the team William Shatner was a guest on.
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