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Before Hot Fuzz, before Shaun of the Dead, there was Spaced. And it was very, very good.

In this internet-filesharing-bit torrent-downloadable age, items of quality rarely go “undiscovered” for very long, and the whole world of visual media seems to wait at the touch of a keyboard. In the good ol’ days, we were vaguely aware that Colin Baker had been replaced by some funny-looking bloke on Doctor Who, but it might be years before the episodes actually hit our PBS station. Now, pristine, DVD-quality copies of each episode come down the internet pike just minutes after they air in the UK, and you’re considered a luddite if you haven’t seen the show in just-shy-of-real-time. Virtually everything is readily available, and as such, not that much goes unnoticed.

Even so, it was not until Shaun of the Dead finally premiered in the States, making more of a splash than anyone anticipated, that I became aware that the creators of that superlative zom-rom-com had already produced one of the greatest sitcoms of the age: Spaced. Bootlegs were quickly purchased at a local comic show, and my worldview was forever altered.

Debuting on England’s Channel 4 in 1999, Spaced is the tale of “amiable twentysomethings” Tim Bisley (Simon Pegg) and Daisy Steiner (Jessica Stevenson, who now goes by Jessica Hynes) living their life in a small North London flat. Tim (an aspiring comic book artist whose work looks suspiciously like that of his namesake) and Daisy (an unpublished writer) are good-natured slackers trying to navigate through their twenties, assuming as little responsibility as possible. In their orbit are Tim’s military-minded best friend Mike (Nick Frost), Daisy’s flighty pal Twist (Katy Carmichael), downstairs neighbor and oddball artist Brian (Mark Heap), and their boozy, eccentric landlady Marsha (Julia Deakin). The series at first builds from the idea that Tim and Daisy – who meet for the first time as the show begins – are pretending to be boyfriend-girlfriend because Marsha had restricted the rental agreement to a “professional couple,” but, unlike most American sitcoms, this “hook” is never allowed to get in the way of the stories.

Often erroneously identified as a “pop culture spoof,” Spaced is indeed laced with references to all kinds of popular media, but is decidedly not a parody of anything in particular. In fact, it is far more a “relationship” comedy, with Tim and Daisy feeling their way through various couplings while the realization slowly dawns that they are, in fact, in love with each other. But this doesn’t happen in a strained, Cheers-esque fashion, and in fact, the series ends with no overt declarations of undying love – in interviews, Pegg has maintained that if a third series had ever happened, it probably would have ended with Tim and Daisy together, but as it stands, the implications are still somewhat foggy. And this is all the more engaging because it isn’t playing by typical sitcom rules. In fact, Spaced is anything but typical, and what is most pleasing about the series is how sure-footed it seems. Series director Edgar Wright – an early collaborator with Pegg and Stevenson on the prior series Asylum – lends the show a muscular, filmic style, complete with innovative transitions, a highly mobile camera, and various asides that punctuate the stories with dream sequences, story tangents, and other ephemera. At times it’s like The Young Ones, but on milder drugs. That the series is as visually compelling as it is tightly written is one of the chief appeals of Spaced.

And it is supremely well written; fourteen episodes total, and there’s not a stinker in the bunch. Pegg and Stevenson, the show’s writers as well as co-stars, have an admirable ear for character and funny dialogue, but they are also very good at structure, and one is struck how Spaced, even though it has a consistent tone, doesn’t really repeat itself, and seems far less formulaic than most sitcoms, without spiraling off into Monty Python territory. The show is eminently quotable and consistently entertaining, and the subject matter will be highly relatable to anybody who frequents this website.

Not to mention the note-perfect performances. Quite simply, everyone is superb. Pegg is boyish and charming, Stevenson neurotic and loveable, Frost is energetic and adept, Heap is bizarrely hysterical, and Carmichael is deceptively ditzy. If I had to single anyone out, it would be the wonderful Julia Deakin, who makes Marsha, with her gin-soaked gravel voice and winsome eyes, into one of the most specific and amusing characters in sitcom history. It’s as good an ensemble as I’ve ever seen.

The series ran on BBC America in the mid 2000s, clumsily edited and apparently shown out of order as well, but the DVD release has long been delayed because of music rights; as revealed in the DVD liner notes, the creators originally did not clear all the music for worldwide use because “why would we?” None involved had foreseen the show’s huge cult following in the United States and beyond. However, the rights were eventually worked out, and the show finally debuts in Region 1 unchanged from its original form. As with many shows in England these days, Spaced was shot on digital video and then filtered to look like film, and the resulting image has always looked a tad soft, with the underlying video quality coming through in some scenes where there is fast motion; Series 2 looks somewhat sharper (due to a change in cameras, apparently), but both look about as good as is possible given the source materials. All fourteen episodes are included, with optional English subtitles (you may need them from time to time to catch some of the slang).

This DVD release consists mainly of the outstanding R2 Definitive Collector’s Edition set that’s been out since 2006 in the UK, augmented with just a couple of U.S.-only extras. Simply put, this is everything you could possibly ever want to know about Spaced. And then some. Special features include:

Audio Commentaries on all episodes, all with Pegg, Stevenson, and Wright, along with some combination of Nick Frost, Julia Deakin, Mark Heap, and producer Nira Park. These are fun, though the gang often tend to talk over one another, with Wright providing most of the nuts-and-bolts information. But clearly these guys enjoy each other’s company, and the tracks are all the more enjoyable for it. A new addition for the R1 DVD is a new set of commentary tracks with a similar mix of Wright, Pegg, and Stevenson interacting with an American “guest star.” These include Kevin Smith (3 episodes), Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody (2 episodes), Quentin Tarantino (2 episodes), South Park co-creator Matt Stone (2 episodes), comic Patton Oswalt [King of Queens](3 episodes), and SNL’s Bill Hader (2 episodes). These are, unfortunately, largely useless, and consist mainly of the participants shooting the bull, and virtually never commenting directly on what’s happening on screen. They sometimes degenerate into mutual admiration societies (particularly Tarantino), and are often redundant, with different guests asking essentially the same questions (you’ll be sick of hearing about the show’s casual drug use by the end). They add nothing to the set though, to be fair, they’re not really bad per se – just sort of pointless.

Out-takes – The obligatory blooper reel; actually, three different ones. A slight bit of overkill, but if you love the series as much as me, they’re fried gold. There are also two sections of Raw Footage, which gives an interesting look at the group’s working process.

Trailers – Many, many trailers, for both seasons of Spaced. Most of them pretty entertaining.

Deleted Scenes – Mostly just trims, but there is a long-ish bit where Tim chats with FBI Agent Dana Scully, played by a not-so-look-alike actress (which is perhaps why it was cut).

Homage-O-Meter – An interesting subtitle track that lists the various pop-culture references, but doesn’t really explain them.

Cast & Crew Biographies – Text-based bios, a bit of a throwback to the old days of DVD text files.

Skip to the End – Far and away the treasure of this DVD collection is this superb feature-length documentary about the making of Spaced. Structured around interviews with Wright and the cast, it details the lengthy origins of the series, including the prior work of the stars (with several funny clips of earlier shows such as Six Pairs of Pants, Mash & Peas, and Asylum, the show that led to Pegg & Stevenson being offered their own sitcom to develop), the writing process, and how the show was ultimately made. It’s superbly put together, and remarkably comprehensive. It even features a neat little coda to the series at the very end.

NFT Q&A – The only new video addition to the R2 DVD is this two-part Q&A session filmed during a 2007 Spaced marathon held at the National Film Theater in London; the first part features just Pegg and Wright (Stevenson was not able to attend, but supplies a vaguely amusing introduction explaining that she’s being held hostage in a production office), while the second includes the rest of the cast – but Pegg and Wright still do the lion’s share of the talking. It’s a nice enough little tidbit, but if you’re coming to this last after watching everything else (and listening to the commentaries), it’s going to seem fairly redundant, as it goes over a lot of the same material. And an hour is really a long time to stare at a one-camera static shot that never changes, never zooms, never moves. Mainly for the truly fanatical, but not bad overall.

It should be noted that, although the packaging is quite similar to the R2 set, much of it has been re-arranged and/or altered somewhat; the front cover image, in particular, has been changed from somewhat amber/gold-tinged art to purple, which has the unfortunate effect of making Daisy look much harsher and less attractive; also, while the images of Tim and Daisy are essentially the same, the lower part of the image has been replaced with entirely different artwork that is noticeably inferior to the original and, aside from Mike, completely fails to capture the likenesses of the characters/actors. Given that the original artwork was quite satisfactory, it’s a bit odd that they would go to such great lengths to make it look worse. But then, I’ve stopped trying to second-guess the marketing people at 2Entertain, who have been making hash of the Doctor Who DVD covers for years now.

Spaced in America has been a long-time coming, and its arrival is reason to celebrate, even if the U.S.-only supplements are completely disposable. If you’ve never seen the show, take this opportunity to spend a few hours with Tim, Daisy, Marsha, Brian, Mike, and Twist. They’re quite the amusing bunch, and will likely bring a smile to your face. Spaced is quite simply one of my favorite sitcoms of all time, and, given the chance, it might just make your list too.

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