Jont Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article327528.ece Endemol, the company behind 'Big Brother', is pulling out all the stops for its new Channel 4 production. In it, contestants vie to fly to space. The snag? They will be grounded at a military base, victims of probably the biggest hoax ever attempted on TV For 10 days, the channel will televise the contestants as they undergo intensive training in Russia, before being flown 100km (62 miles)above the Earth into near space. Here they will spend five days orbiting the Earth and conducting experiments. Or so they think. In reality, the nine - joined by three actors whom they believe to be fellow contestants - will be at a disused military base somewhere in the UK and will never leave the ground. The whole process will be filmed live in an unprecedented television event presented by Johnny Vaughan. The unwitting participants, who were selected for their suggestibility, are currently being kept in a secret location and denied all access to television or newspapers, which would instantly give the game away. The training they receive will consist of lectures delivered by actors accompanied by a genuine space expert, in which 80 per cent of the information will be true and 20 per cent fiction. Issues that will be explained to them include the fact they will not be weightless in near space and that, like Sir Richard Branson's space-tourist shuttles, their craft will take off horizontally rather than vertically. A Russian fitness trainer will also take them through their physical paces. Space Cadets has been one of the best-kept secrets in the television world. Since the programme went into development in March, only a handful of people has known about it The idea came out of Endemol's comedy production arm Zeppotron, which also made Nathan Barley, a spoof on London's über-trendy Hoxton district, the sketch show Spoons and the Friday night panel show Eight Out of 10 Cats. It was dreamt up when the production team tried to think of the most difficult idea for a television programme imaginable. Zeppetron's creative director, Ben Caudell, came up with the idea of sending contestants in to space. The idea came out of Endemol's comedy production arm Zeppotron, which also made Nathan Barley, a spoof on London's über-trendy Hoxton district, the sketch show Spoons and the Friday night panel show Eight Out of 10 Cats. It was dreamt up when the production team tried to think of the most difficult idea for a television programme imaginable. Zeppetron's creative director, Ben Caudell, came up with the idea of sending contestants in to space. I don't care what anyone else thinks, I'm a Big Brother fan. There's something cool about a show where what happens is unplanned and unpredictable. And to take this to the next level and completely mess with the contestants fucking heads, that is just fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycaon Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 Actually there was a tv show called Joe Schmoe that beat this to the idea of tricking people into thinking that they were part of a reality show. The only site I could find was the sequel, Joe Schmoe 2: http://www.spiketv.com/shows/series/joeschmo/index.jhtml I'll edit this later if I can find more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signal08 Posted November 18, 2005 Share Posted November 18, 2005 ok... how do they simulate zero gravity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jont Posted November 18, 2005 Author Share Posted November 18, 2005 Sorry, I forgot to quote that bit. They're going to tell the contestants that they aren't high up enough to feel the effects of zero gravity. The contestants were screened by psychologists and selected for their suggestibility (read: idiocy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signal08 Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Sorry, I forgot to quote that bit. They're going to tell the contestants that they aren't high up enough to feel the effects of zero gravity. The contestants were screened by psychologists and selected for their suggestibility (read: idiocy) well, I was thinking they'd give them video monitors in their 'spacesuits' and put them in a huge ass pool, that way they feel something like it and if they are in huge suits they couldnt tell that it was water, yet they are looking at 'fake space' thru their head pieces... not high enough to feel it.. lame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jont Posted November 20, 2005 Author Share Posted November 20, 2005 Yeah but this isn't about creating a realistic experience, it's about fooling some idiots. I hope when they do it they pull some sweet sci-fi twists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalHeart Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 haha wow. This show may make me watch television again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jont Posted December 14, 2005 Author Share Posted December 14, 2005 Well, the Space Cadets are up in "orbit" now, and so far things have been disappointing. They can only see outside of the capsule from the cockpit, which they seem to spend approximately no time in. So most of the show and the suicide inducingly dull live coverage sitting around eating space food, not floating, not seeing space, not really having much of a good time. I don't know if the producers are going to have any fun with them before the show ends (on friday), but I think a Meteor shower was mentioned. Personally, I think the only way they could make up for the disappointment is to have the space cadets abducted by aliens. Either that or tell them they're burning up on reentry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King of Snake Posted December 14, 2005 Share Posted December 14, 2005 I think the only way to lift this sack of shite is to tell them the ship's gone 'Apollo13' and have them say tearful goodbyes to their family and friends...then try a suicide-style burn-up re-entry glide (wow, lots of hyphenation...). Though I doubt that'll happen, it'll probably be as dull as the rest of it. When your episode highlight is a moth on a screen then you know you're in TV hell. over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jont Posted December 15, 2005 Author Share Posted December 15, 2005 What ever they do it better be something. I watched some of the training in "Russia" and followed them as they explained how they were going to pull of the gag, and I couldn't wait for the fun to begin. Turns out that was the fun. I still maintain that this was the best idea for a reality show ever, but Channel 4 fucked it up. A lot of my initial faith was put in the show on the strength of the production company, or at least the production company's name. (that's Zeppotron, creators of TV GoHome, notice how the site doesn't list the show, or even fix it's dead links) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ganny McVagflaps Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 Anything happen in the end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jont Posted December 20, 2005 Author Share Posted December 20, 2005 I didn't watch that far, but apparently the thick as shit guy from the west country got the closest to twigging it. I didn't get to see that meteor shower they were talking about. They're all back on the ground now, I think they're getting a trip to Kennedy Space centre or something. Personally if I was in their shoes, I would be more offended that they didn't pull any crazy shit, at least then they'd have something fun to look back on, not hey kids did I tell you that I was once fooled into thinking I was in space and they showed the footage twenty four hours a day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimsonfire Posted December 30, 2005 Share Posted December 30, 2005 Funny as hell in my opinion. Didnt see their reactions or anything though. Despite all the meticulous planning i still think it would have been fairly easy for a person of above average intelligence to see right through it. they did mess with them a bit though which was funny. made us all feel really smart it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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