Meatspace Pilot Review
I deem it necessary to preface this review by saying that William Carlisle, creator, writer and director of the Meatspace pilot, is a very talented critic. His reviews of Doctor Who (as MrTardis) and general releases (as TrillbeeReviews) are consistently entertaining and informative. Unfortunately, from the evidence of this pilot, that talent does not extend to writing for television.
Meatspace follows the lives of four university students over their time in higher education and their ever-changing relationships with each other and the online world they have grown accustomed to. This episode depicts filmmaker Jamie (John Ferguson), writer Lydia (Della Maylan) and nuisance David (Cayde Sleeth Wilding) as they slowly convince flatmate Megan (Chloey Rose) to open up about her incredible singing voice. Meatspace, we are told by at the start of this episode, refers to the physical world, as opposed to cyyberspace. Carlisle, however, appears to be writing about somewhere else entirely. The world shown in this pilot is not the world you or I live in, and nor do the characters speak or act like it is.
The characters are likable enough, but fail to escape the confines of their stock characters. Jamie is the nice guy. Lydia is the sassy girl. David is the slob. Megan is the shy girl. You've seen these characters a hundred times before, and performed much better. Wilding and Rose are the standouts, generating a couple of decent laughs (a scene based around a Jenga game is excellent) and one particularly touching scene near the end. The other two leads are complete cardboard, expressing minimal personality and even less humour.
The direction is sufficient, although lacking in creative flair. You really don't get a sense of Carlisle's specific style or personality. The scenes are staged capably but are in no way outstanding. It honestly feels like anyone could have directed this. His writing, though, is where he, along with the rest of the episode, fall flat. Nothing seems natural, especially in the comedic scenes. The attempts at emotion are let down by forced, overly expository, dialogue and an apparent lack of human understanding.
A minor issue, but I found the lighting to be overly intense in some scenes, distracting from the dialogue. Other technical aspects work well, though. The sound mixing is especially impressive given the budget. The dialogue and background noise merge perfectly , creating a crisp (I've just made myself hungry, I'll be right back)...
...sound track.
Whilst there are certainly aspects of Meatspace to appreciate, especially a few of the performances, this experiment is ultimately a failure. I definitely see potential in the concept (see more on this here: https://www.facebook.com/MrTARDISreviews?fref=nf) and if the writing improves, I can definitely see an enjoyable version of this show appearing on our screens soon. For now though, I'll pass...
The pilot will be broadcast on the TrillbeeReviews YouTube channel at 21:00 BST on 5th September
Five-Word Verdict: Effort does not equal quality
Score: 2/5
