‘Spaced Out’ is quite the interesting segment to discuss here. While the story itself isn’t anything that special, the segment does establish plenty of things that become recurring elements throughout the series. As such, it’s one of the more important ones so far, and it’s worth talking about in that regard.
In this segment, Timmy, Chester and A.J. are having fun watching the newest “Crash Nebula” episode and acting it out, and Timmy wishes for an actual alien to be involved. But fairies are unable to create new aliens, so Cosmo and Wanda had to borrow one from a race known as the Yugopotamians. While the alien, Mark, falls in love with Vicky and refuses to leave her side, Timmy and his fairies have to seek audience with his parents to convince him to take him home peacefully, lest the Earth be destroyed.
While the story itself is fairly standard, what really makes this segment work is the comedy. Mark playing off of the humans, particularly Vicky, is effectively humorous, thanks in part due to Mark’s voice actor. Despite being a space alien, Mark has an inexplicable surfer voice with the lingo that goes with it. It’s a bizarre choice that none of the characters bring up, but that just adds to the odd humor of it all.
Speaking of which, all the Yugopotamians are performed in funny ways. While their voices sound normal at first listen, their inflection and emphasis on certain words are just off enough that it feels appropriately alien. No human in the show really talks like they do, so it fits. Next time you watch one of the scenes involving the Yugopotamians, pay attention to how they speak. It’s really funny when you notice it.
The crown jewel of the comedy, though, is easily the sequence involving the “trials”. To get the chance to speak to the king and queen, Timmy has to endure three trials to show how much of a warrior he is. Said trials consist of him skipping through a field of flowers, hugging a stuffed teddy bear, and eating a bar of chocolate. The trials actually being super easy would have been funny enough on its own, but with the Yugopotamians being established to consider anything pleasant to be deadly and vice versa, they end up being the icing on the cake. Their absolutely shocked and horrified reactions to seeing Timmy do all these harmless things is comedic genius, and it got me laughing out loud throughout.
As far as the Yugopotamians go, their introduction is excellent. But the segment also introduces “Crash Nebula” and Mark Chang’s romantic attraction to Vicky, which get brought back into the show several times afterward. The former‘s introduction is quite epic, as the animators get the chance to experiment with a new art style. In contrast to the Crimson Chin’s pulpy comic book style, Crash Nebula’s world is considerably grittier and darker, and so the imagery showing off this in-universe show have the appropriate linework and character designs to make it fit. Not gonna lie, I’d actually love to watch a show like that in the real world, and Timmy and his friends geeking out over it is just all kinds of adorable as well.
As for Mark’s crush on Vicky, it’s effective as well. It perfectly fits Mark’s character; because Yugopotamians love anything evil, him being attracted to Vicky like he is is only logical. It’s also quite funny seeing him simp for this girl, as he does everything he can to please her even with her constantly berating him. The voice performances from both characters really sell it.
Oh, I should also mention that the segment also introduces Cosmo’s nickel that he names Philip. This ends up becoming more of a running gag throughout the show, and as far as I recall, it’s never really plot-relevant at any point. But it’s worth pointing out because it‘s a sign for what kind of character Cosmo is. He takes joy in the little things in life, so much so that he’s willing to name this random nickel he found because he’s just that attached to it. The jokes that arise from it in this segment are also pretty damn funny, particularly with the whole “girl nickel” reveal. It…kinda makes more sense in context, lol.
Despite being rather standard as far as the story goes, ‘Spaced Out’ is worth experiencing for the comedy and the recurring elements it introduces for the show. You’re bound to get a good few laughs out of it, as well as get to see the start of a few fun characters.
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