Nebula-75 is a Supermarionation Web Series made by Century 21 Films and charts the exploits of Commander Ray Neptune and the crew of the spaceship NEBULA-75 as they make their way across the stars, encountering strange worlds and forms of life hitherto unknown by mankind.
It has been created and produced by a small group of filmmakers during the British lockdown of 2020, using pre-existing items from previous Century 21 Films Productions.
The Series was originally viewable here
, but after it became an official production, the videos in question were privated. The series can however be viewed for a price on Amazon and Vimeo.
This show provide examples of:
- Artistic License: Deliberately Invoked as, at least, according to Circuit at the beginning of each Episode, all Scientific inaccuracies in the Show are intentional.
- Ghost Ship: Episode VI has the crew encounter a Ship called; The Empire. Turns out, the Ship is also haunted by the Ghosts of its lost crew, trying to save the Nebula-75 from a similar fate such as theirs.
- Halloween Episode: Episode VI is this.
- The Homeward Journey: The general premise of the Show. Stranded miles from Earth, the Nebula-75 must traverse space in order to get Home.
- I'm Not Afraid of You: How Commander Neptune defeats the entities in Negative Space, in Episode IV.
- Intrepid Merchant: Rusty, a Scrap-Iron Merchant who the crew encounter in Episode III.
- In-Universe Marketing: The Show Creators made an Advert for a fictional cereal, which ties-in to the Show, with the characters promoting said cereal.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Lord and Lady Menteur pull a Wounded Gazelle Gambit on the Nebula-75, before Doctor Asteroid himself pulls the same trick on them, while also taking the Key to their Space Ship.
- Literal-Minded: Circuit is this, when Lord Menteur makes a joke asking Circuit to "Take (them) to (his) Leader", Circuit looks to Commander Neptune, who is standing right next to him.Circuit: You have reached your destination!Commander Neptune: Erm, A Turn of Phrase, Circuit.
- Made of Explodium: In Episode V, Doctor Asteroid says that the Components of the Ship's Main Computer are extremely volatile, unless kept under refrigerated conditions, leading to Commander Neptune to comment...Commander Neptune: Tell me, Doc...Is it possible to build just one component that doesn't have a potential of going supernova!?Doctor Asteroid: Well...Uh...
- Retraux: The Show completely evokes the film style of 1960's, from the opening titles, credits, aspect ratio, to even using music from the Barry Gray Archive for the Soundtrack. This is done as a large Homage to the Gerry Anderson Shows of the time, such as Thunderbirds.
- Scifi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale: Deliberately Invoked, as mentioned above. The Nebula-75 is supposed to be Stranded outside the Solar System, and are specifically said to be Thirty-Three-Million Miles from Earth. For the record, that is a shorter distance than between Earth & Mars. Circuit lampshades this to the Audience in Episode IV.
- Shout-Out: In Episode V, when giving a Tour of the Ship to a couple who claim to be a Lady & Lord, Circuit says "Yes, M' Lady". Given this is Supermarionation, this is most likely in Homage to Parker from Thunderbirds.
- Space "X": In Episode V, a pair of thieves comment how they intend to make "Space-Pounds" on the "Black-Hole Market".
- Telepathy: Athena of the Space Maidens has this ability.
- Unusual User Interface: In Episode V, Lord and Lady Menteur have a Space Ship, whose navigation control is literally the handle bars of a Motorcycle, as well as using a normal looking ignition key!
- "What Do They Fear?" Episode: Episode IV is this for Commander Neptune, with an entity using his imagination and insecurities against him.
