Spaced: Mettle Rewatch
April 5, 2015 10:05 PM - Season 2, Episode 3 - Subscribe
Tim and Mike run into old rivals as they prepare to enter the "Robot Wars" quarter final. Meanwhile, after being sacked from several jobs, Daisy is sent to work in a kitchen by her temp agency: it's 'Neo Nachos' in Kentish Town ("I've been there; it's nice."). Brian is given little notice of an opening at an upcoming exhibition and is left scrambling to create something, anything.
The set-piece in the middle of the show that ties in Daisy, Mike and Tim, and Brian's efforts to meet their separate challenges is a highlight, as is the homage to One Few Over the Cuckoo's Nest within Daisy's storyline at Neo Nachos.
Joanna Scanlan (In the Loop, "The Thick of It") plays the 'Nurse Ratched' role perfectly. And Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen) makes an appearance as Robot Wars nemesis, 'Dexter'.
Info on Philippa Forrester, a presenter on Robot Wars for the first few seasons, and the Wikipedia page on Robot Wars itself (BBC).
Trivia: Mark Morriss, lead singer of British indie band The Bluetones, can be seen at the end of the episode when the characters are all in the pub. The Bluetones' music features in several episodes of Spaced. (more trivia at imdb)
Originally aired 9 March 2001.
Daisy: "Juicy Fruit?"
Chief: "No thank you."
The set-piece in the middle of the show that ties in Daisy, Mike and Tim, and Brian's efforts to meet their separate challenges is a highlight, as is the homage to One Few Over the Cuckoo's Nest within Daisy's storyline at Neo Nachos.
Joanna Scanlan (In the Loop, "The Thick of It") plays the 'Nurse Ratched' role perfectly. And Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen) makes an appearance as Robot Wars nemesis, 'Dexter'.
Info on Philippa Forrester, a presenter on Robot Wars for the first few seasons, and the Wikipedia page on Robot Wars itself (BBC).
Trivia: Mark Morriss, lead singer of British indie band The Bluetones, can be seen at the end of the episode when the characters are all in the pub. The Bluetones' music features in several episodes of Spaced. (more trivia at imdb)
Originally aired 9 March 2001.
Daisy: "Juicy Fruit?"
Chief: "No thank you."
Joanna Scanlan was so perfectly awful, it always depressed me that she didn't get cast as Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies. Imelda Staunton did a grand job but I always had that little wish in the back of my mind.
The man playing "The Chief" at Neo Nacho is the son of the man who played the actual character in Cuckoo's Nest, and has played him on stage as well.
posted by angeline at 7:35 AM on April 6, 2015
The man playing "The Chief" at Neo Nacho is the son of the man who played the actual character in Cuckoo's Nest, and has played him on stage as well.
posted by angeline at 7:35 AM on April 6, 2015
I loved Robot Wars, which was narrated by Craig Charles (Lister from Red Dwarf), so always enjoy this episode, which captures the geeky joy of it (although there was a distinct lack of missile launchers on the show).
posted by Cannon Fodder at 5:20 AM on April 8, 2015
posted by Cannon Fodder at 5:20 AM on April 8, 2015
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
As always you can take a look at fried gold for this episode.
The Fight Club scenes are well-done - I was still laughing out loud at the recitation of the rules prior to the game. And also by the time we get to the "They're all writers, Daisy." part of Neo Nachos, I was losing it. (I think Neo Nachos may be a riff on Nando's.)
I also came across this page whilst writing this post and I thought it was neat (UK Robot Wars second chart down). Yeah.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:10 PM on April 5, 2015