Final Space: The Complete First and Second Seasons Blu-ray Review

Animated Star Wars Meets Futurama Adventure

Final Space is a colorfully wacky animated adventure made for adults currently airing on TBS. Partially produced by Conan O’Brien’s production house, series creator Olan Rogers has crafted an ambitious space saga smoothly blending elements from Futurama, Archer, and even a dash of Star Wars. Network executives likely thought they were ordering a sitcom such as Family Guy but ended up with a freewheeling intergalactic saga that provides laughs and heart.

A prisoner named Gary Goodspeed and his adorable pet/friend Mooncake end up living in space aboard the Galaxy One, along the way meeting an array of robots and bizarre aliens with quirky personalities. The comedy series dabbles in a wide range of genres, mixing in everything from horror to satire.

Fans of animated adult humor in the vein of Futurama and Archer should give Final Space a shot

The crux of Final Space’s first season is that despite his cute appearance, Mooncake is a powerful being capable of destroying planets. Sought after by the villainous Lord Commander, Gary and friends must protect Mooncake while dealing with their own issues. Like any heavily serialized adventure, Final Space takes time getting off the ground and building up its supporting cast.

Gary’s growing list of allies include Avocato, a cat-like alien bounty hunter that becomes close friends with Gary. Avocato’s son is Little Cato, voiced by Steven Yeun. Gary’s love interest is Captain Quinn, an elite member of Infinity Guard that serves as the Leelah to Gary’s Fry. Tom Kenny voices H.U.E., the ship’s disembodied A.I. that comes off as a mellow version of HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Fred Armisen voices KVN (pronounced as Kevin), a robot that develops an unhealthy relationship with Gary. Purely comedic characters like Tribore and Clarence become more prominent in the show’s second season. Clarence is voiced by Conan O’Brien himself.

The series follows their adventures across the galaxy as the allies embark on a quest to unlock the mystery of “Final Space,” the place where the entire universe ends. They meet bizarre aliens on many different planets. For what is supposedly a comedy, plot developments include characters getting killed off and generally a darker, more mature tone. That’s not saying Final Space isn’t packed with laughs. Olan Rogers neatly balances humor with the demands of more serious character development.

The primary character is Gary Goodspeed, voiced by Olan Rogers. He’s a likable goofball that serves as the driver behind Final Space’s wacky adventures. Gary falls into the animation trope of weak, underwhelming male protagonists surrounded by a cast of more capable characters. His personal failings serve as comedic farce, though he’s given far more character development in two seasons than say Peter Griffin on Family Guy. Gary’s loyalty to his friends through thick and thin defines the character.

Final Space takes bits from different sci-fi touchstones and fashions an interesting and humorous series over its first two seasons. Like most comedies, the series takes a few episodes to find its voice. Everything nicely gels together by the second season when new characters like Ash and AVA are introduced. Fans of animated adult humor in the vein of Futurama and Archer should give this intergalactic space comedy a shot.

Video

Final Space’s art direction and animation is refreshingly two-dimensional in the vein of popular stalwarts such as Futurama and Archer. The character designs borrow liberally from a wide array of sci-fi sources, everything from Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey to smaller tributes such as Moon. A creative mix of robots and aliens fit with an overall consistency.

The animation hits a stable benchmark after the first couple episodes. It is a bright, boldly stylish animated style with detailed background art. Final Space operates in a wide spectrum of diverse palettes, including colorful primary colors and moodier space scenes with perfect black levels. Polished and fairly refined with any number of impressive visuals, the show’s animation clearly deserved hitting Blu-ray.

The first two seasons, nearly 500 minutes in content, are spread over two BD-50s and a third BD-25. The 1.78:1 presentation is neatly encoded in AVC with only mere hints of visible color banding. Warner Archive has great people handling their Blu-ray transfers and this set blows away the broadcast version seen on TBS. This is superb 1080P video without any technical mistakes.

Final Space and its brilliant animation shines in high definition on Blu-ray, looking great on newer OLED displays.

Audio

Final Space arrives on Blu-ray in lossless 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio. Made for cable television, Final Space’s surround mix is propelled by laser blasts and explosions in space with generous soundstaging. The animated space saga offers fantastic vocal clarity and perfect music fidelity. One episode in season two even has a couple musical numbers when Gary dreams of a dance-off with an alien overlord.

The low-end is generous, pumping out tight LFE with real kick. Animation often affords more precise and theatrical sound design since everything is created in a recording studio. Final Space has an active, discrete mix with powerful dynamics.

Optional English SDH subtitles play in a white font.

Extras

Warner Archive issues all 23 episodes of Final Space’s first two seasons on three discs. Arriving in a standard Blu-ray case, series creator Olan Rogers provides short featurettes for every episode from the two seasons. There’s no real room for complaints when the vast majority of cable shows never hit Blu-ray.

Given the lack of special features these days on television Blu-ray sets, fans should be mostly happy. Appearances by voice actors other than Olan Rogers would have been nice. They are noticeably absent from the featurettes.

Disc 1: Each episode from season one receives a brief discussion from creator Olan Rogers, sharing his thoughts on various production topics. As can be seen below, none run much longer than a couple minutes.

Episode 1: Inside The Episode (01:09 in HD)

Episode 2: Inside The Episode (01:07 in HD)

Episode 3: Inside The Episode (01:49 in HD)

Episode 4: Inside The Episode (01:54 in HD)

Episode 5: Inside The Episode (01:52 in HD)

Episode 6: Inside The Episode (01:21 in HD)

Episode 7: Inside The Episode (01:17 in HD)

Episode 8: Inside The Episode (01:10 in HD)

Episode 9: Inside The Episode (01:09 in HD)

Episode 10: Inside The Episode (01:30 in HD)

Disc 2:

Season 2’s episodes receive longer behind-the-scenes featurettes for each episode. Featuring creator Olan Rogers and other creative crew members, such as the art director and episode director, these special features delve much deeper into the show’s production with focused commentary. Storyboards and clips are used with production matters thoughtfully discussed in interviews. Producer David Sacks tends to take a broader overview on topics when interviewed.

Episode 1: Final Thoughts (06:59 in HD)

Episode 2: Final Thoughts (05:46 in HD)

Episode 3: Final Thoughts (03:43 in HD)

Episode 4: Final Thoughts (03:41 in HD)

Episode 5: Final Thoughts (03:33 in HD)

Episode 6: Final Thoughts (03:22 in HD)

Episode 7: Final Thoughts (03:59 in HD)

Episode 8: Final Thoughts (02:57 in HD)

Episode 9: Final Thoughts (03:20 in HD)

Disc 3:

Episode 1: Final Thoughts (03:05 in HD)

Episode 2: Final Thoughts (03:10 in HD)

Episode 3: Final Thoughts (02:52 in HD)

Episode 4: Final Thoughts (03:10 in HD)

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.

The 15 unaltered screenshots below have been pulled directly from the Blu-ray. For an additional 41 Final Space screenshots, early access to all screens (including more than 120,000 already in our archives), 100 exclusive 4K UHD reviews, and more goodies, subscribe on Patreon.