Space Command Redemption wasn’t made by Hollywood, yet looking at the cast you’d never know it. Looking at the special effects? Yeah, you would know it. Still, writer/director Marc Scott Zicree made a love letter to science fiction, new and old, and managed to bring along a few friends, many of whom you’ll probably recognize. Watching his crowdfunded film we have to wonder if this is our future. Not just things like synthetic humans helping us colonize Mars, as we see on the screen, but also if this is the future of movies and the way they are funded.
After a brief prologue set to JFK’s “We Choose to go to the Moon” speech, we’re introduced to helmsman Jack Kemmer (The Walking Dead’s Ethan McDowell) looking on in horror as a damaged spaceship hurtles toward a planet. Though he believes he can save it and the women on board, his captain orders him to stand down. That’s not what Jack does. He maneuvers their ship under the damaged craft and carries them to a safe landing. And as a consequence of his insubordination he’s … promoted to captain?
Meanwhile, a distant mining colony suffers a catastrophic accident that destroys all of the robot slaves but one, Dor Neven (Doug Jones, not under heavy makeup for once). A human manager, Yusef (Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager) repairs Dor Neven, but allows him to operate without the regulatory chip that prevents him from taking independent action. Though a devout Muslim, Yusef confesses that he hasn’t heard from God since his wife died, to which Dor Neven responds, “Perhaps he’s speaking to you now.”
As part of his first mission for Space Command, Jack lands on Mars and meets with one of the women he rescued, Dr. Odara (Mira Furlan, Babylon 5). She’s an archeologist studying the lost civilizations of Mars and uncovers a Martian spaceship that’s just what Dor Neven needs to start his robot uprising. Now Jack finds himself involved in a battle for humanity in which no one is really right or completely wrong.
Along the way we also meet characters played by sci-fi stalwarts Bruce Boxleitner and Bill Mumy.
For all the tropes about what qualifies as a person, the line that stood out to me most comes early in the film. “Humans weren’t designed to observe. They were built to do.” From the time God put Adam in the garden to now, we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).
The violence is more corny than jarring, and the language is mild. There is an inexplicable lesbian kiss in the epilogue. Everything leading up to that reminded me of the optimism of early Star Trek, with dynamic characters unafraid to break rules to maintain their humanity. That Zicree was willing to do one of his own stories is inspiring in and of itself, no matter how cheesy. (Indie Rights. Free on Tubi and for rent on Amazon Prime and other platforms)
About the Author
Trevor Denning is an alumni of Cornerstone University and lives, lifts weights, and spends too much time in his kitchen in Alma, Mich. His first short story collection is St. George Drive and Other Stories.