Supernova (2005–2006) User Reviews

Stellar

[fozzie747 · 8/10 · 9 December 2006]

The show is set around a deep space observatory in Central Australia and the personalities of those who work within.

The facility is staffed by Aussies except for one English interloper and it is he who adds a delightful twist to many a circumstance.

The eclectic group that staff the facility is highly intelligent, extraordinarily dedicated and personally insecure.

The facility is located not too far from a small outback Aussie town. ( A Pub, a shop and a couple of houses )

This creates a beautiful dynamic between the staff, internally at the facility and the staff with the locals of the town.

This interplay makes for much light hearted humour, very little seriousness and a jolly good time.

The Aussie outback shines almost as much as the delightful performances, the whacki humour and the night sky.

Just gets better and better

[robmukherjee · 8/10 · 25 August 2006]

The above review is misleading. After a slow start, BBC2's quirky comedy improved steadily throughout its first series, not just by giving Rob Brydon the space needed for him to show his talents, but also to give room to his more than able co-stars.

The second series, currently showing on BBC2, hit the ground running - without the need to establish the characters or introduce new ones, the entire cast seemed to have moved up a gear. The plots are more ridiculous and far-fetched, the budget, which stretches to racing camels in one episode, improved and the scripts give all the actors the opportunity to shine.

If there's one criticism, its that six episodes in a series is not enough - roll on series 3!

What a hoot !

[ChrisQ · 15 November 2005]

A comedy about Astronomy professors in an observatory?

Yup that is exactly what it was! I enjoyed the sheer wackiness of this brilliant little gem.

Some of its humour comes from clever in-jokes about matters astronomical - some from the cultural interplay between the English professor and his Australian colleagues and some from the lovable eccentricity of all seven characters.

Occasional contrived situations did occur but the excellent cast carried them off with verve.

The BBC decided that the show might have limited appeal only and so, giving it little publicity, consigned it to a graveyard slot on a minority channel.

What a shame they hadn't the guts to substitute Supernova for one of their multitude of prime-time soaps - they might have got a pleasant surprise.

Supernova is light years ahead of other situation comedies!

[Billyjhobbs-1 · 9/10 · 26 October 2009]

"Supernova" is a refreshing series, filled with excellent (and intelligent) witty lines. I never knew "astronomy" could be so enlightening! The cast is quite well suited for the situations and their relationships with each other is at times intriguing and at other times amazing--all in all, an excellent series, but, alas, it didn't seem to catch on enough for it to continue. Perhaps there is something especially intriguing about Australia. Certainly, the show not only shows a few "Aussie stereotypes" but the witty satire takes care of all this. At the same time, it doesn't revert to dialogue that only Australians can understand. This is almost a "Monty Python" meets "2001: A Space Odyssey" with Max substituting for Hal. The innuendos also score a hit!

PBS does a credit by showing it (and re-showing!).

Fun

[theobenton · 9/10 · 18 June 2020]

Fun light weight comedy enjoyable & a amazing cast!

Good Idea. Bad attempt?

[i-am-a-moose · 3/10 · 13 December 2006]

It's really interesting to read what others have said about this program. It could be because i'm Australian, but i really didn't see what was so great about this program. I'm a huge fan of Rob Brydon, and usually i find his comedy hilarious, as well as that i've enjoyed work by many of the Australian actors in the show, but to me it seems like a lot of corny jokes and bad attempts at laughing at Australian outback culture. I'm not getting on my high horse because i'm Australian either, i love making fun of Australian culture particularly bush culture (that sounded horrible of me), but it has to be done properly, and i just didn't think this was. It just seemed to me that the writing was a big let down for an idea that could have been amazing.

Grows on you.

[andyglen · 6 January 2006]

Being a fan of Rob Brydon I watched the first episode and it wasn't quite what I expected and I wasn't sure whether I was too keen on it. I Sky +'ed (Is that a verb, I think not) the rest of the series and was in two minds whether to watch them, thankfully I did and I started to really enjoy it. It certainly doesn't contain many big laughs but it is quite unusual and nicely filmed. The episode where he stands up to the local thug (and murderer) is probably the best. I think for anyone who quite enjoyed it, I would say that it is worth another watch as you may enjoy it more the second time. If your expecting a real laugh a minute, hitting people over the head with a frying pan sort of show then don't bother, but if you like to see people trying something slightly different to the normal then give it a go, and yes I hope they make another series.

Brain dead but funny

[gilgamesh332 · 12 October 2005]

I laughed until I cried. Maybe I'm warped but I like brain dead comedies, and I thought this was very funny. OK so parts of it were a little predictable, but they carried it off with such style it did not matter. The bit where they had a burial service for the dead pet snake and used a six foot length of bamboo as a coffin had tears rolling down my cheeks. Out of the three main female characters I thought the older lady playing the team leader was gorgeous, like I said maybe I'm warped.

My advice is switch off your brain engage your chuckle button and enjoy.

quirky character-drive comedy in isolated observatory in Australian outback.

[imdb-8006 · 9 January 2010]

I like Supernova, saw it on public TV when it was new, and I've never forgotten it. That's a show with some power to it, and I'd expect it to be a cult favorite someday.

It's certainly not lowest common denominator comedy, there aren't any belly laughs or one-liners. It can be goofy as well as intellectual, mostly it's just offside. The central character is nervous, neurotic, and though he and everyone else consider him odd-man-out in the place, actually they're all so strange, he fits right in.

For me, the best character was the younger bed partner for the woman heading up the observatory's work. He's indigenous Australian from a very tiny settler's town nearby, and perhaps the most modern-day well adjusted of the bunch. The town's rough pub is the only other setting, and the observatory people can drink as dedicatedly as townspeople who seem to seldom leave the bar.

If you're bored by average sitcoms, I'd recommend this. After all, if you don't like it, you've wasted very little time. It's completely non-mainstream, no doubt that's why the series is so short.

Nothing at all special

[Fried-Gold · 11 October 2005]

After the first episode of this disappointing program, I think it's fair to assume that it won't get any better. It was predictable, boring, and a clear waste of the wonderful Rob Brydon's comedic talents. Another big problem with the show is that out of all of the 6 main characters, only 1 is given comedy lines, or put in comedy situation - Rob Brydon. Obviously he is the main character, and therefore should be seen the most, but it would work so much better if all of the oddballs that he works with were funny too. I'm angered that the BBC has once again wasted my licence fee money on a rubbish TV show. PUT SOME BLOODY EFFORT IN TO IT NEXT TIME!