Outer Space Astronauts is a 5-episode TV series that debuted in 2009. It was a low-budget show built with a fun gimmick in mind: cartoony graphics, but real-life heads on the bodies of the characters. It was possible with green screen tech, and I was in love with the idea from the first time I saw the show. It was a super fun show. Had its flaws like any other, but there was a ton of potential for the format in my opinion. In recent years I decided to poke around the internet to find any rare materials that might still be available online. I was right!
I’ve re-watched over the years, thanks to the series creator Russell Barrett uploading each episode to Youtube. I managed to get in contact and thank him for producing the show, and stated my intent to preserve the show as best I could. He was very happy and thanked me.
On Youtube itself were the five episodes, with one of them also being available in 3D. There were also a few Violator promos. Those are little banners that played over the current show you were watching, advertising another show coming up later that night or on another day for example.
A big source of the bonuses came from the official Facebook page. Still frames from the show, video extras, et cetera. Even a script for another episode! One of the videos shows Boothe doing his signature “Psycho Donut” maneuver, which is just a clip from the show, but it’s followed up with Booth in a different backdrop singing a song about it! We’ve also got intern Jimmy Peck trying to advertise for the show, but he keeps naming other shows like Scare Tactics and Top Chef. Some of these were labeled Junket promos – haven’t looked into that yet. Some deleted scenes, too!
Five MP3s also survived, covering most of the show’s music.
Although unrelated to OSA, I did find some buried footage of the cast in other productions. Adam Clinton – who plays Commander Amos on OSA – was part of a short, interesting stage skit I only know as “Gentlemen”. Adam and Stephanie are both in an old commercial for a local company called Carpetland Warehouse in California.
Moreover, Pete Burns – who portrays intern Jimmy Peck – appears in a Youtube video called Cooking With Stupid – Texas Barbecue. The premise is that Pete is bad at cooking, and is given a grand recipe for a barbecue that he is sure to screw up. The delightful surprise here was that much of the OSA cast came to his house at the end to sample the food. Their reactions were… also a delightful surprise. For any OSA fan this unrelated media is like its own treasure. It’s also the sole proof we have that the cast have full bodies instead of just necks and heads. And, in my email exchange, Russell did confirm that he’s still traumatized by Pete’s collard greens.
I’m really glad I saved as much as I did! According to Russell, the only thing he did not post were a few episode scripts. I should reach out again to ask if he’d speak with the other writers for permission.
OSA is a super cool concept, and I want to try doing the same kind of footage eventually.