Dylan: So you're all queer sci-fi geeks?
Rae: Generally I prefer the term 'enthusiast'. And 'science-fiction'. And 'homosexualist'.
A comedy about a gay science fiction fan club. In the closet, no one can hear you squeal. Outland is a six-part Australian television series that aired on the ABC in February-March of 2012. It follows the lives of five "homosexualist" science-fiction enthusiasts as they try to establish a new group following the breakup of the original larger fanclub, the Gay and Lesbian Fantasy League.
No relation to the 1981 film Outland. Or to the successor comic to Bloom County. Or to the 2011 Metroidvania-lite game.
Outland contains examples of the following tropes:
- All Gays Love Theater: The fifth episode centers around the all-gay group having drinks before a planned night at the theatre.
- Bad Liar: Max has a tendency to make up outrageous lies when he's having a panic attack."My mother, she's... dead. No, that's too much. She's having a party. Yeah. A party. For dead people."
- Blackface: Fab and Toby (the Brownface) in the sixth episode. Max and Toby are horrified by Fab and immediately make him take it off. Toby on the other hand lampshades the tropes.Toby: (I used bronzer because) this ways it's a tribute to Lulara's African heritage without the inherent racism of blackface.
- Call-Back: In the third episode Fab is trying to remember the name of a film, describing what sounds like the film Scanners. Max suggests he means Scanners several times as it gets more and more obvious that's what it means. Fab finally remembers the name of the film - Highlander. In the sixth episode Andy can't remember the name of the film about the taxi driver. Max suggests he's thinking of Taxi Driver. He is.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Fab. Not only is he incapable of keeping a secret, he seeks them out with such relish that he will look at people's private electronic communication. This trait of Fab's is one of the main factors in the groups breakdown at the end of the fifth episode.
- Captain Ersatz: Space Station Beta and its main character Lulara are clear homages to Star Trek and Uhura.
- Cast Full of Gay: All five main characters as well as almost all of the guest characters are queer.
- Childhood Friends: Max and Fab. When they were at school Max would often try and step in when bullies were beating up Fab, which usually resulted in Max getting beaten too.
- Cowardly Lion: Max. He suffers from terrible, sometimes prolonged panic attacks and appears to have generalised anxiety disorder. He is only able to manage these on a case by case basis.
- Dating Service Disaster: Max initially doesn't want a dating profile. Fab and Toby conspire to set one up for him. Despite being initially angry, Max ends up using it and meets a man. It turns out to be Toby using online anonymity to get closer to Max, whom he has a crush on. Fab finds out and reveals it to Max. It does not end well.Max: I told you things that only a stranger on the internet should know. Oh god.
- Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: Toby. After the others explain the plot of Show Within a Show Space Station Beta, which involves an African female captain and her chain-smoking monkey first officer, noting that it sounds a bit ridiculous. Toby snorts derisively, saying "yeah! a female captain!". Being a comedy this is Played for Laughs.
- Embarrassing Cover Up: Rae tries to invoke this in episode two by claiming that the package containing a nude portrait of her actually contains tampons. Max, since he isn't holding the Idiot Ball, doesn't buy it.Max: Huge box of tampons.Fab: Don't draw attention to Rae's gigantic muff!
- Fake High: Andy takes part in a drug trial in the sixth episode, complete with mood swings and erratic driving. Then the company calls - he was in the placebo group.
- Gag Penis: Andy's house is practically overflowing with dildos, some of which are ridiculously huge or novelty shaped. Toby uses one as an Improvised Weapon, throwing it at Fab after he's caught in a state of undress with Toby's boyfriend Nathan. It hits Max instead after Fab uses him as a human shield. This combined with Bigger Is Better in Bed during the first episode as Fab tries to both cheer Max up and improve his chances of sexing it up with Dylan by repeatedly mentioning Max's huge penis.
- Give Geeks a Chance: It looks like the show might head down this road with Max and Dylan, as the first episode is centered around Max not wanting the gorgeous, cool Dylan to know he is a science fiction geek. Averted when Max breaks it off when he realises that he can't handle Dylan's lack of knowledge about something as mainstream as Doctor Who.
- Innocent Bigot: Fab honestly seems to be unaware of how offensive blackface is, in spite of being friends with a black woman.
- Insistent Terminology: Played for Laughs. Rae prefers the terms 'enthusiast' over geek, 'science-fiction' over sci fi, and 'homosexualist' over queer.
- The Millstone: Fab is responsible for a large amount of conflict in the group while not adding much to anyone's happiness or wellbeing outside of Max.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Toby greets all the group members by name when they arrive at what turns out not to be his apartment except for Fab who he calls 'others'.
- Noodle Incident: What happened at the Gay and Lesbian Fantasy League meeting where the group broke up? All we know is that it involved a nasty public breakup between Rae and Simone that culminated in the sprinklers going off after Andy accidentally set someone on fire.
- Odd Friendship: At first glance the entire group is this, all being very different in personality and life experience. Most obvious with Max and Fab. Fab is loud, obnoxious, camp and hypersexual while Max is cautious, suffers from panic attacks, blends in with the crowd and likes to get to know people before they get intimate.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Fab. His real name is never given.
- Only One Name: None of the characters (including guest characters Dylan, Simone, and Nathan) are given surnames.
- Real Men Cook: Andy loves making muffins. He's inventive with them too - creations of his include Peking duck and beef and horseradish.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Andy is a walking leatherman and BDSM stereotype, but he really loves making muffins. Also, all the boys happily dress as Lulara complete with purple minidress in the final episode.
- Shout-Out: Oh so many.
- They include numerous references to Doctor Who including Jammy Dodgers and Andy's long exposition about how the tragic romance between Ricky and Jake is the scariest thing ever on Who.
- Rae's use of 'homosexualist' is a reference to those who claim that homosexual is not a noun and thus shouldn't be used to describe an individual gay person.
- The name of the group (and therefore the show) is taken from "Andy's second favourite Connery film", Outland (1981).
- The Smurfette Principle: Rae is the only female member of the main cast.
- Token Lesbian: Rae (and ex-girlfriend Simone). Justified in-universe by having the larger group split offscreen during the first episode. Most of the women took Simone's side and formed their own group, leaving Rae by herself with the guys.
- Transparent Closet: Camp Gay Toby isn't out to most people and honestly believes that no one would think he was gay.Toby: Besides, we can't go anywhere else. No-one but you guys knows I'm gay.Andy: Hang on, you're not out yet?Toby: As if! Everybody thinks I'm straight!Rae: (exchanges incredulous look with Andy) I'm sure they do, honey.
- True Companions: The group seems to be set to become this at the end of episode six. They've got a name for themselves, "Outland", and they've found a place where they can belong.
