Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Will BF is clearly having a blast with his lo-fi, sci-fi epic, which he’s developing on the fly over his Fringe run. As is de rigour for the genre, the best bit is reserved for after the credits, when he reveals the changes he’s made over the past few days to the script and its execution – and they are legion.

As every nerd knows, Moon Team IIIV is the much-derided 1999 prequel to a blockbuster hit of 20 years earlier (any resemblance to Star Wars entirely deliberate). And this show is presented as the ‘making-of’ DVD extra, with snippets from the movie interspersed with various talking heads. Literally, in the case of one actor who appears in disembodied form, floating above a theatre auditorium in the accompanying video.

Budgetary necessity is the mother of BF’s invention, as he cobbles together the props and costumes he needs, from the heroic Lord Moonus’s goldfish companion Swimothy – yes, that is the quality of the puns – to his fearsome adversary.  

But there’s creativity from the start, as a member of the audience gets proceedings under way, and later, punters are recruited to play some very low-tech video games to advance the plot, but it is the gentlest of audience participation.

Moon Team IIIV – the Roman numeral is a weird way of writing 2, if you think about it –  mocks some of the blowback the Star Wars prequels copped, but you don’t have to be au fait with the flaws in the George Lucas epics to appreciate what BF is doing. Which, primarily, is dicking about.

It’s not a great space adventure, and the gags and props are all pretty cheesy – but the saga is executed with such generous charm, it’s hard not to get on board the silliness. 

BF is a little too rough around the edges to be a hard recommend, but for some lighthearted, relatively family-friendly, lunchtime fun and frolics, he delivers the playfulness you seek. May the farce be with you.

Review date: 12 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Hoots @ Apex