Critic Reviews

None of these three [actors] are rewriting their comedy handbooks as much as bringing their A-game to some sharp writing and allowing their different styles to bounce off each other. It makes for a tight, quirky comedy that has more laughs in its blessedly brief three-hour total running time for this six-episode season than most comedy films released this year.

There is quite the understated humor that one would expect from the show’s stars and creators, which can make the series hard to get into at first. The first two episodes are certainly more of a light chuckle than any big laughs, but as the season progresses—and honestly, by the third episode—the show’s rhythms and idiosyncrasies are quite apparent. ... “Moonbase 8” is a project that manages to combine their [Armisen, Heidecker, Krisel, and Reilly's] collective talents into something both weird and heartfelt.

One of the reasons Moonbase 8 works as well as it does is that it’s deliberately not telling stories on a grand scale. Its episodes and its scope are streamlined and focused, and the things its characters confront are purposely not grand at all. It helps, too, that the team behind it shares the same deadpan comic sensibility.

Even when the premise feels overly familiar in the wake of similar comedies (to say nothing of all the recent space-race dramas), Heidecker, Reilly, and Armisen generate enough oddball chemistry to power a remote lunar base.

Krisel and the cast delight in finding ways to mine subtle comedy from the folly of earnest but bumbling men who’ve got the spirit, but not the talent, to escape their own gravity.

Unlike other ambitious adventures into the night sky, “Moonbase 8” is grounded; there’s room for creative expansion in future seasons, but this is a small-scale mission that’s off to a solid start.

While we didn’t laugh much during the first episode of Moonbase 8, we still saw the beginnings of three interesting characters and a great chemistry among them.

While “Moonbase 8” is often more relaxed than laugh-out-loud funny, it’s a step up from Netflix’s “Space Force,” which tried way too hard and wound up being seriously underwhelming.

The comedy here is dry and subtle. If you’re used to watching network sitcoms, this show is not for you. ... Depending on who you ask, “Moonbase 8” is either a hilarious, irreverent comedy or a snoozefest. You’ll have to watch for yourself to see which description is more accurate.

In all, “Moonbase 8” is comforting, but disposable entertainment. While the finale surprisingly teases a larger world beyond the desert, the first season is an uncomplicated hang-out.