“The question isn’t where, Constable, but when.”
Untitled Web Series About a Space Traveler Who Can Also Travel Through Time premiered Monday on YouTube, months after actor Travis Richey launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a small, recurring gag on Community a reality.
“Inspector Spacetime” started out as a spoof to the long-running BBC science-fiction show Doctor Who and first appeared in the Community episode “Biology 101” as something for Abed Nadir to watch when his favorite show, Cougar Town, was pushed back to a mid-season premiere. From the telephone booth to blorgons, the Inspector’s Optic Pocketknife to his choice in hats, many Doctor Who fans could see the parallels.
Even actress Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond in the current season of Doctor Who, came out and said that she would be interested in being part of “Inspector Spacetime.”
“This is the best show I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Abed said.
Many people thought so as well, and Richey, a longtime Doctor Who and Community fan who actually plays Inspector Spacetime, wanted to make his own series for the fans after Hollywood didn’t show an interest in making series.
“We’d have to do it,” Richey wrote on his Kickstarter page. “Ourselves. The fans. Because that’s what we do. In fact, what made Inspector Spacetime anything at all. Fans turned a 15-second clip into a show with 50 years of history!!”
Richey received a notice from NBC and Sony to stop production on his “Inspector Spacetime” Web series, but Richey just switched some things up instead. He gave the series a ridiculous name, modified the Inspector’s outfit, and made sure that he only asked for the minimum amount of money to make the series (so as not to profit from it). His Kickstarter campaign managed to reach its goal on April 1.
The first episode introduces the audience to the inspector and his companion Piper—portrayed by Richey and Carrie Keranen, respectively—as they explore Second New Old Earth 7 and run into the Inspector’s sworn enemy, which is an homage to another classic Doctor Who villain.
Over 11,000 people have watched the first episode since it premiered online and fans are already weighing in. Richey might not be able to call the series “Inspector Spacetime,” but as he informs commenters, you still can.
“Looks about as good as the actual Doctor Who and far better than Inspector Spacetime,” Enemynarwhal wrote.
“Oh man, that was beautiful. I get new doctor who and the first not-inspector-spacetime in one week. Color me spoiled,” elvenemo wrote.
Untitled Web Series… will have a six-episode run and updates every Monday.
Photo via YouTube
