The American Astronaut



The American Astronaut is 2001 Space Western Science Fiction musical about space captain Samuel Curtis in middle of a Chain of Deals to give the Venusians a new king and earn a few bucks while being chased by the mentally-unbalanced Professor Hess that sabotage his plans.

In this original take of Sci Fi, space is mostly guided by roughnecks and all spaceships seems to be easy repaired with hammers giving it a feeling of Used Future for truckers, with goes along pretty well with the awesome music, this can only be described as a Firefly musical with Flash Gordon serial props.

Also by the same people (and in the same vein) is Stingray Sam, an episodic serial which can be played on screens of all sizes, including mobile phones.

The American Astronaut includes examples of:

 * Absent Aliens
 * Arc Words: "It's my birthday."
 * Big Lipped Alligator Moment: The whole space barn sequence.
 * Berserk Button: You don't dare to forget Professor Hess' birthday, you just don't...
 * Body Horror: The reason the miners from the space barn can't return to Earth.
 * The Captain: Sam Curtis.
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Chain of Deals: Sam must return the late king of Venus to his family in Earth, to do so, he must provide Venus with a new king; so he will give the owner of Jupiter a woman and he will give in return The Boy Who Saw A Breast. The woman in turn, is a clone of Eddy, the owner of the Ceres Crossroads who wanted a cat.
 * Disintegrator Ray: Wielded by Professor Hess; it turns people into a pile of ash.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Boy Who Saw A Breast.
 * Evilly Affable: Professor Hess.
 * Foe Yay: Sam and Hess.
 * Ho Yay: Sam and The Boy Who Saw A Breast.
 * Indy Ploy: Curtis seems fond of these ones.
 * I Just Shot Marvin in The Face
 * Knight Errant: Curtis.
 * Lady Land: Venus.
 * Mars Needs Women: Jupiter needs women and Venus needs men.
 * Memetic Mutation: RIO YETI RIO YETI RIO YETI RIO YETI RIO YETI RIO YETI RIO YETI RIO YETI
 * Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Professor Hess.
 * No Womans Land: The entire planet of Jupiter is an all-male mining Company Town whose sole entertainment is listening to The Boy Who Saw A Breast describe ("briefly and arrogantly") his encounter with said body part.
 * One-Gender Race: Venusians are all women, except for their king they need to mate. Jupiter men are actually hired and brought from all the space system.
 * Oh Crap
 * Planet of Hats: Everyone in Jupiter is a miner, everyone in Venus is a Southern Belle and Ceres is just a small bar.
 * The President's Daughter: The prince of Jupiter, AKA The Boy Who Saw A Breast.
 * The Professor: Hess.
 * Schizo Tech: Rayguns, spaceships, portable cloning devices and yet we still use razorblades to shave.
 * Southern Belle: Everyone on Venus, seriously.
 * Squick: The Jupiter ruler's new wife is a clone of Eddy, if you saw Eddy you understood what I mean.
 * Space Pirate: The Blueberry Pirate. Who steals fruit.
 * Space Western
 * The Unintelligible: Bodysuit.
 * The Un-Reveal: The audience is left in the dark about Sam and the Professor’s shared past when the movie enters into a slideshow-like montage of Sam and the Boy just as Sam begins to explain. Nevertheless, they both seem to find the story hilarious.
 * Used Future: This version of space consists mostly of grease monkeys, miners and hard-boiled thieves.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Is not unusual for Professor Hess to fall into this every once in a while.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: A Space Cowboy Science Fiction Musical!
 * We Will Use Manual Labor in The Future
 * You All Meet in An Inn: Ceres' Crossroads, set on Ceres.

Stingray Sam
"Liberty Chew Chewing Tobacco presents!"

Stingray Sam, a lounge singer on parole on Mars, finds himself invited kidnapped by his former partner-in-crime The Quasar Kid on a mission to rescue a girl child being held by Upperclass Twit Fredward. This provides an excuse for much social satire, Big Lipped Alligator Moment songs, and dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing!

"Stingray Sam is not a hero
 * Bounty Hunter: The Quasar Kid
 * Bragging Theme Tune

But he does do the things that folks don't do that need to be done

He's got a bravery inside

That won't let him run away

It will not let him run..."

"And so the plot begins to thicken...but not by much."
 * But Now I Must Go: Stingray Sam has to leave the Carpenter's Daughter at the end because, well, he's a lounge singer, and folks need to be sung to.
 * Cliff Hanger: Stingray Sam is produced in the form of a weekly serial.
 * Cloning Blues
 * Dap Greeting
 * Explosive Leash
 * Ho Yay: Fredward's attraction to the Quasar Kid after the latter dances at his party. Then there's that Latex Space Suit he wears.
 * Incredible Shrinking Man: Mass matter compression is used to put people inside the Tiny Little Robot.
 * Mister Seahorse: The rich have only been having male children (via gender-decisive drugs) in order to perpetuate their dynasties and so are in danger of dying out. Doctors Fred and Edward come up with a solution by combining their DNA to create their son, Fredward.
 * Mugged for Disguise
 * Must Have Olives: The Quasar Kid.
 * The Narrator


 * Nobody Poops: Averted, which is why the Corporate Mascot Rehabilitation Program failed. Turning a corporate mascot into a solitary confinement Mobile Suit is not a good idea. After a while they start to...smell.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: The receptionist at the Intergalactic Hall of Records and Trivia.
 * Offhand Backhand: When Stingray Sam swings his 'Asking Stick' at the back of the Quasar Kid's head, the latter blocks it without looking.
 * One Product Planet: Every planet has only one industry or social class. The planet Durango changes from Planet of Rocket Builders to Planet of Criminals to Planet of Prison Factories.
 * The Red Planet: Mars, once the entertainment capital of the galaxy, has fallen out of fashion and is now a Crapsack World.
 * Running Gag: Folks plugging Liberty Chew Chewing Tobacco.
 * Shout Out to The Manchurian Candidate with the Brainwashed visitors at Fredward's party smoking "bizarre tobacco substitutes".
 * Stingray Sam Has No Sense of Scale: The scientists on Planet Fredward point out that you only have to cross one galaxy to get there, not two.
 * Swiss Cheese Security: No-one dares see Fredward without an appointment, so his fortress isn't even guarded.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Jerry the Carpenter.