Captain Star

Captain Star is a 1997 animated television series created by Steven Appleby and is based on Appleby's comic Rockets Passing Overhead. It stars Richard E. Grant as the voice of Captain Jim Star. The show was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films and HTV.

13 half-hour episodes were produced and aired from 1997 to 1998.

Plot
The narrative of Captain Star revolves around the crew of a rocket ship named The Boiling Hell. They receive orders to travel to a dry planet known as "The Nameless Planet" at the Ragged Edge of the Universe, where they are to await their next assignment. The ship's crew comprises the deeply egocentric and often paranoid Captain Star, the Science Officer Scarlett, the nine-headed, six-armed mutant Engineer/Stoker "Limbs" Jones, and the fish-keeping milquetoast Navigator Black. Later on, they are joined by a robot named Jim-Bob-Bob, tasked with laundry duties and various other acts of menial servitude.

Captain Star is heralded in the opening theme song as "the greatest hero any world has ever known." A legendary explorer with hundreds of planets named after him, Captain Star's birthday is celebrated as a holiday throughout the entire universe. Despite his renowned status, the characters in the program find themselves continuously awaiting further orders from Mission Control, which never materialize. Stranded on The Nameless Planet for an extended period, Navigator Black even constructs a fish restaurant during their wait. It remains unclear whether Mission Control has simply forgotten about Captain Star and his crew, but there is an implication that they have spared him the indignity of forced retirement, allowing him to maintain his hero status in the public eye. Throughout the series, events both on and off the planet frequently necessitate Captain Star's intervention.

Main characters
Captain Jim Star (voiced by Richard E. Grant) &mdash; Groomed from birth to be a starship captain, Captain Star is regarded as the greatest captain in the fleet. Leaving the Captains' Academy at the age of 12, Captain Star embarked on a year-long apprenticeship under Captain Ned Nova of the Merry Cheeser. Notably, Captain Nova had named 115 planets after himself, a record eventually surpassed by Captain Star. At present, Captain Star is approximately 127 "space years" old, equating to a man in his 50s in his society. Possessing confidence that borders on arrogance, Captain Star views himself as a hero and deems himself worthy of the widespread acclaim he receives. Despite his lack of humility, he remains unquestionably loyal and firmly believes that his awaited orders will eventually arrive, often disregarding both danger and the advice or concerns of his crew.

First Officer Scarlett (voiced by Denica Fairman) &mdash; A strong, brave, redheaded woman, and an accomplished scientist, Scarlett often saves the day through her scientific endeavours. Scarlett's logic and investigative mood are a stark contrast to Captain Star's tendency to improvise in an emergency. On The Nameless Planet, where Captain Star has no ship to command or adventures to lead, Scarlett handles most of his command duties.

Atomic Engine Stoker "Limbs" Jones (voiced by Adrian Edmondson) &mdash; Mutated in an atomic accident, "Limbs" Jones has nine heads and six arms. Each of Jones' heads accommodates a different part of his brain, causing each head to have a slightly different personality. Jones is a cat lover, having sequentially named pet cats Sputnik 1 through 374. Conversations between Jones' many heads and other members of the crew often lead them to become impatient and annoyed with him.

Navigator Black (voiced by Kerry Shale/Gary Martin) &mdash; Once the navigator of the Boiling Hell, Navigator Black sets up a small fish-shaped restaurant on The Nameless Planet and becomes the cook. Obsessed with fish, the restaurant is filled with aquariums. Black often swims with his fish, and even creates a brain-computer interface device that depicts their thoughts. Black has a nervous temperament and often panics under pressure. A running gag in the show is Navigator Black's inability to tell his left from his right.

Minor characters
Captain Bloater (Gary Martin)

Jasper Quilt (Gary Martin)

Captain Spratt (Denica Fairman)

Story format and themes
Some episodes of Captain Star commence with a flashback to The Boiling Hell's magnificent missions, promptly contrasted with their present state of abandonment on The Nameless Planet as a crew past its prime. These flashbacks serve to set the episode's tone and offer a foreshadowing of the thematic elements in the story. Concluding each episode, Captain Star, seated in his wheelbarrow, recounts an entry in his Captain's Diary that typically begins with "Uneventful day." This is followed by a brief witticism encapsulating the moral of the story.

The Low-Flying Moon, a small moon in an extremely close orbit around The Nameless Planet, frequently passes overhead, causing objects on the ground to briefly levitate for a few seconds.

For a children's television program, Captain Star deals with unusually advanced themes. The primary theme throughout the series is of society's treatment of the aged. While Captain Star appears to be strong and healthy and continues to save the universe, after several years of distinguished service, Mission Control sweeps him under the rug by sending him to the edge of the universe to an unnamed planet and has him remain there without any orders to carry out. Despite continuing to prove his usefulness, there is an ageist undertone that Mission Control assumes that he is no longer a valuable asset because of his age and extensive service.

Many episodes feature a popular TV show titled "Star of Space" in which actors portray the crew of the Boiling Hell in many of Captain Star's most heroic missions. Captain Star is presented as a James Bond-like hero, handsome and virile, who saves the day almost effortlessly. The episodes exaggerate his role in events while minimizing the contributions of his crew &mdash; most conspicuously presenting strong and scientifically accomplished first officer Scarlett as a bimbo and damsel in distress. Even when watching events that had just occurred earlier in the episode, the entire crew, except for Scarlett, regard the re-enactments as mostly historically accurate, emphasizing the role of television as a means to control public perception of people and events.

Despite Captain Star being out of the public eye, he continues to be showcased as a hero through public propaganda. By maintaining his active duty status and strategically placing him at the Ragged Edge of the Universe, the public perception keeps him as a timeless hero, forever in his prime. His birthday is celebrated as a public holiday throughout the universe, providing an opportunity to portray him as a larger-than-life figure and promote him as a role model. While not overtly dystopian, there is an implication that the government exploits Captain Star's fame, possibly as a recruitment tool and to foster patriotism, unity, and support for the government.

115 space years prior to the events of the program, Captain Star's former captain, Ned Nova, was ordered into retirement. Ignoring orders, Nova fled in his ship, the Merry Cheeser. Captain Star was ordered to arrest his former captain and chased the Merry Cheeser to a black hole. Refusing to retire, Nova piloted his ship into the black hole. He was discovered in the present day in suspended animation in the stomach of a space slug on The Nameless Planet. Star decided to let him leave in his rocket ship and declared that he could never have been Ned Nova because he was only half Ned Nova's age (thanks to his preservation inside the space slug). While an act of loyalty to his former captain and role model, his willingness to preserve an idealized image of Nova by refusing to arrest him and turn him over to Mission Control in disgrace ironically mirrors Mission Control's decision to preserve an idealized image of Star himself by exiling him on The Nameless Planet.

The program frequently satirizes commercialism in an exaggerated manner. The opening theme discloses that Captain Star's renowned heroics involved renaming inhabited planets after himself, akin to explorers during the colonial era renaming and claiming lands for Europe. He would then proceed to sell unnecessary items to the inhabitants, like a group of aliens purchasing umbrellas before returning to their underwater homes. In the second episode, a persistent "hard sell droid" attempts to peddle a carpet to the crew, refusing to accept "no" for an answer. Ultimately, the crew is compelled to dismantle the droid, revealing its brain to be the size of a pea. Numerous episodes showcase improbable Captain Star-themed products and memorabilia, such as a croquet set featuring a tee and hoops shaped like Captain Star's head, highlighting the pervasive consumerism surrounding Star's identity and likeness.

Broadcast
The series was broadcast on ITV in the UK and Teletoon in Canada. Cartoon Network and Locomotion in Latin America, Nickelodeon in the United Kingdom, and Space in Canada. The series was never broadcast in the United States.

Home video
At least one VHS release of Captain Star is known to exist, containing the first three episodes of the series.