Film / Space People

Captain Vek Tempus and his crew

Space People and its sequel Space People 2 are No Budget independent science fiction comedy films produced by Smoking Bottle Entertainment, creators of The Cartoon Man.

The films cover the adventures of Captain Vek Tempus and his Space Squad crew, a group of mostly-humanoid aliens from the other side of the galaxy. In the first film, Captain Tempus makes a detour from a routine escort mission in order to pursue his arch-nemesis, the flamboyant would-be galactic empress Lady Gravatox. The resulting chaos forces the crew to flee across the galaxy where the end up stranded on Earth, where no one believes they're truly extraterrestrials because - due to the film's low production values - they all look like people wearing incredibly cheesy costumes.

Space People 2 sees Captain Tempus framed for an assassination attempt on the galactic president and forced to flee to Earth while his crew works to clear his name. The assassination soon proves to be just the first step in a massive conspiracy to conquer the galaxy orchestrated by a mysterious villain.

All in all, the campy, obviously low-budget aesthetic of the series is part of the appeal. Both films screened at multiple genre-oriented film festivals throughout 2016 and 2017 and are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video

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The Space People films provide examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: At one point, Tom refers to Lady Gravatox and Vek Tempus as "Lady Gagatox" and "Vark Tampax."
• Aliens Speaking English: Lampshaded. No one on Earth believes Vek and his crew are really aliens largely because they speak perfect English. But apparently, English (and it's even called English) is the galaxy's most common language.
• Alternate Universe: In Space People 2, the Galactic Conglomeration discovers a portal to a parallel universe which turns out to be ruled by an evil version of Vek Tempus. There is also a brief glimpse of another universe that should be familiar to longtime fans of Smoking Bottle Entertainment.
• Arch-Enemy: Lady Gravatox to Captain Vek Tempus.
• Arm Cannon: When in battle mode, IPAL shoots bursts of energy directly out of his arms.
• Asteroid Thicket: The crew flees into an asteroid field to escape from Lady Gravatox, with IPAL providing particularly unhelpful navigation around the asteroids.
• Automobiles Are Alien: Mara seems to have a hard time driving the car Jane and Tom lend the crew and complains that it lacks a "torque velociter."
• Awful Wedded Life: Lady Gravatox marries Lord Tempus within hours of meeting him. Almost immediately, they find themselves at odds with each other.
• Bar Full of Aliens: The restaurant where Vek and Drinexia have their date is pretty much the zero budget version of this trope.
• Beard of Evil: Lord Tempus obviously sports a goatee, being the hero's evil parallel universe doppelgänger and all.
• Bee People: Beatrix, who looks like a human/bee hybrid, at one point mentions being a "Worker Sectarian," and implies she comes from this type of race.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Vek Tempus and Lady Gravatox are arch-enemies, but clearly attracted to each other. He's just much less willing to admit to it than she is.
• Big Applesauce: Played with. The Galactic Conglomeration maintains a secret outpost beneath Central Park, but in the first movie, IPAL's battery dies before he can give its exact location and the crew ends up beaming to Boston instead. In the sequel, part of the climax involves them traveling to New York to reach the outpost.
• Big Bad: Lady Gravatox in the first movie, Lord Tempus in the sequel.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Lady Gravatox wants to believe she and Lord Tempus form in one of these in the sequel, but he clearly considers her a subordinate.
• Big Good: President Leah Smoot of the Galactic Conglomeration is the closest thing the setting has to a big good.
• Blind Jump: With the Starskimmer critically damaged and Lady Gravatox in pursuit, Vek orders Mara to open a wormhole to "the other side of the galaxy" without any more specifics.
• Bondage Is Bad: Lady Gravatox really likes tying Vek up and trying to seduce him.
• The Bridge: The Starskimmer has very small one with five crew members crammed in tightly.
• Canon Welding: At one point in Space People 2, Cosmic Ray helps Vek and his crew escape capture using dimensional transponders that look like pens. Ray even opens a portal to the Second Dimension while some familiar music plays.
• The Captain: Vek Tempus
• Captain's Log: Vek Tempus semi-regularly records updates into his mission log.
• Captain Space, Defender of Earth!: Captain Vek Tempus fits this character type to a degree.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Lady Gravatox openly identifies as an evil supervillain. In Space People 2, the parallel universe version of Vek Tempus does as well.
• Casual Interstellar Travel: The Starskimmers (and most other alien ships in the series) have the ability to generate wormholes and travel at "photon speed," allowing for easy travel throughout the galaxy.
• The Cavalry: At the end of the first movie the rest of the Space Squad arrives on Earth the thwart Lady Gravatox's invasion.
• Conveniently Close Planet: Earth itself, after the Starskimmer travels through a wormhole and needs to land due to all the damage it sustained battling Lady Gravatox in the asteroid field.
• Cool Starship: Well, the main ship is a vortex football covered in aluminum foil... In fact, all of the ships are very obvious models constructed of household items.
• Da Chief: Commander Zebulon
• Danger Room Cold Open: The adventure on the ice moon at the beginning of Space People 2.
• Dating Catwoman: Captain Vek Tempus and Lady Gravatox have this sort of relationship by the end of Space People 2.
• Death Ray: Lord Tempus's Dreadnaught is equipped with a hyper death ray, which destroys Starskimmer 53.
• Deceptively Human Robots: IPAL looks human, but pretty much has the personality of a smartphone.
• Do-Anything Robot: IPAL has an extensive database of information, sensors that can detect almost anything produces energy blasts when in battle mode, can project video from his visor, the list goes on.
• The Dragon: Snoytch to Lady Gravatox in the first movie.
• The Dreaded Dreadnought: In Space People 2, Lord Tempus's ship is explicitly identified as an Iota Class Dreadnaught. It's the largest, most powerful ship in the series.
• Dressed All in Rubber: Many of Lady Gravatox's costumes include a substantial amount of latex.
• Dressed Like a Dominatrix: Lady Gravatox, much of the time.
• The Empire: The Galactic Imperium, ruled by an evil Vek Tempus in a parallel universe.
• Evil Twin: The main villain of Space People 2 ends up being an evil version of Vek Tempus from a parallel universe.
• Extra Eyes: Cosmic Ray and Agent Orange each have a central third eye that they keep hidden most of the time.
• Fake Action Prologue: Not technically the prologue, but the first sequence that re-introduces Space Squad in Space People 2 is eventually revealed to be a training simulation.
• Fantastic Racism: In the second movie, the characters have to deal with an anti-extraterrestrial movement on Earth, largely spearheaded by Dr. Paula Nielsen who has developed a hatred of aliens after being tortured by Lady Gravatox during the events of the first Space People.
• Faster-Than-Light Travel: The Starskimmer is able to travel very quickly at "photon speed," though it doesn't quite seem to be faster than light. Wormholes appear to bed required to cover truly vast distances.
• The Federation: The Galactic Conglomeration, which seems to control most of the Milky Way galaxy.
• First Contact: Happens in the first movie, though it takes the people of Earth a while to realize it.
• Flying Saucer: Lady Gravatox's ship in the first movie has a vaguely saucer-like design. More traditional-looking cartoon flying saucers appear in some of Cosmic Ray's advertising.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Cosmic Ray and Agent Orange both have much more alien appearances than they usually let on.
• Galactic Conquerer: Lady Gravatox's ultimate goal is to conquer the galaxy. Lord Tempus actually succeeded at conquering the galaxy in his universe.
• Gratuitous Princess: Princess Altima, who has that title despite being the daughter of the Galactic President. Her capture sets the plot of the original movie in motion.
• Hollywood New England: The majority of the Earth-based scenes are set in Boston and the surrounding area.
• Human Aliens: The majority of the extraterrestrials in the two films.
• Impractically Fancy Outfit: Many of Lady Gravatox's looks.
• Inexplicable Cultural Ties: One of the main jokes of the movie. The aliens all look mostly-human, speak perfect English, and overall seem to have a very Earth-like culture.
• Insectoid Aliens: Beatrix is a "Sectarian," with wings, antennae, and an acid-spitting defense mechanism.
• Insignificant Little Blue Planet: Earth is portrayed this way, being way out in an isolated corner of the galaxy.
• Interdimensional Travel Device: In Space People 2, the characters are able to travel between universes using dimensional transponders that look like ordinary pens, in a bit of Canon Welding with The Cartoon Man.
• Kitschy Loca L Commercial: The sequel begins with an ad for Cosmic Ray's Electronic Emporium that's incredibly cheesy even by the Space People standards.
• Large Ham: Much of the cast, considering the type of movie it is.
• Lost in Character: In a twist, it's revealed that this is the case with Vek. He had a mental breakdown after splitting with his girlfriend and created an elaborate space fantasy involving the two of them... And THEN, it's revealed that no, he really is a Space Squad Captain and the first twist was just a ruse by Lady Gravatox.
• Masquerade: Aliens have been secretly visiting Earth for decades, but The Men in Black have been keeping it a secret from the population. Lady Gravatox's invasion at the end of the first Space People results in The Unmasqued World.
• Mecha-Mooks: In Space People 2, Lord Tempus has an army of IPAL duplicates at his disposal.
• The Men in Black: Er, the People in Black Agent Kilroy, Agent Muntz, and their superior Agent Orange pursue after the Space Squad crew for landing on Earth without authorization.
• Me's a Crowd: Snoytch has the ability to make duplicates of himself to battle the Space Squad.
• Miniature Effects: All of the spaceships, space stations, asteroids, and so on.
• Ms. Fanservice: Lady Gravatox
• The Multiverse: Space People 2 lays out the multiverse theory of quantum mechanics, and establishes a multiverse that includes the main Space People universe, the parallel universe ruled by Lord Tempus, the Second Dimension, and presumably the universe inhabited by the characters from The Cartoon Man. The various other Smoking Bottle Entertainment films could easily be a part of the multiverse as well.
• Naïve Newcomer: Downplayed, but Wallando fills this role, especially at the beginning of the first movie.
• Nanomachines: The crew faces off against a swarm of nanobots near the beginning of Space People 2.
• No Such Thing as Alien Pop Culture: Averted. They're implied to have something along the lines of comic conventions and the news ticker in the second film mentions a couple of TV shows that have been pre-empted.
• Off-the-Shelf FX: Pretty much all the props and sets in both films.
• Opposites Attract: Space Squad Captain Vek Tempus and nefarious supervillain Lady Gravatox.
• Our Wormholes Are Different: For one thing, they can be generated almost spontaneously by most spacecrafts. Ships enter wormholes, travel through some distorted space, and emerge across the galaxy.
• Panspermia: Mentioned by name twice in the first movie, and implied to be the reason most of the aliens in the series are humanoid.
• A Planet Named Zok: Planets mentioned include Boxelta, Chaxxo, Kingelfel, Malvago, Queltzok, Zintagena, Zorlak...
• Plant Aliens: Wallando looks human, but is apparently part of a species that evolved from tomato-like organisms.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Cordac Zydeco seems to have been this prior to the events of the movie, telling Lady Gravatox he only helped her as a way to make money.
• Rogues Gallery: Only a handful of villains actually appear in the films, but some lines in Space People 2 make it clear that the galaxy is home to a whole host of evildoers.
• Shiny-Looking Spaceships: The spaceships in these films are certainly shiny... considering most of them are coated with aluminum foil.
• Single-Biome Planet: At the beginning of Space People 2, Vek and his crew visit a moon covered entirely in ice in what turns out to be a [1].
• Solar Flare Disaster: One of IPAL's advertisements mentions that this is a frequent occurrence on the resort planet Rubaludaca.
• Space Clothes: The alien characters have wardrobes ranging from relatively normal clothes to the insanely over-the-top outfits Lady Gravatox regularly wears.
• Space People: The film actually has nothing to do with this trope. The title comes from the fact that the extraterrestrials characters all look and act like regular people from Earth.
• Space Police: The Space Squad, the Galactic Conglomeration's most elite peacekeeping force.
• Stalker Shrine: A corner of Lady Gravatox's ship contains a wall covered in photos of Vek Tempus, as well as a mannequin with his face taped to it that she's fond of embracing.
• The Starscream: In Space People 2, Lady Gravatox becomes this to Lord Tempus fairly quickly.
• Techno Babble: For starters, he quantum caliber transceiver dish requires gamma cables, argon diodes, and a tri-optic metric reductor to function properly.
• Teleporters and Transporters: Most ships in the series are equipped with a beamer that can teleport occupants to any spot within close range. Some also have a hand-held mobile beamer tied to a specific ship.
• Tentacled Terror: Agent Orange's true form has green tentacles growing out of her head.
• Tractor Beam: Lord Tempus's Dreadnaught has a tractor beam that he uses to capture other ships on two occasions.
• Ungovernable Galaxy: In Space People 2, it's eventually revealed that Lord Tempus left his own universe because ruling the galaxy had become too much of a burden and he missed the thrill of conquering it.
• Unholy Matrimony: Lady Gravatox and Lord Tempus get married mere hours after they meet. The marriage does not last long.
• United Space of America: The Galactic Conglomeration, run by President Leah Smoot.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Lady Gravatox has a different outfit, hairstyle, and makeup almost every time she appears.
• The Unmasqued World: By the end of the first movie, the people of Earth are aware of the presence of intelligent aliens an and off of their planet.
• The Vamp: Lady Gravatox
• Video Phone: As is standard for this sort of sci-fi setting, the characters communicate with each other through video screens... which are "played by" actual iPads, and iPhones.
• Villainesses Want Heroes: Lady Gravatox wants Captain Vek Tempus almost as much as she wants to rule the galaxy.
• Virtual Training Simulation: Early on in Space People 2 Vek and his crew go on a mission to an icy moon that's eventually revealed to be one of these.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Most the Earth-based characters seem to believe they live in a realistic setting, and not a cheesy sci-fi movie.