A lot of people slept on this one. I get it. It looks incredible goofy. The costumes may feel very late 1990s-looks-to-the-future with the giant boots, and all the aliens are bipedal humanoids, more or less. I can see some people rolled their eyes and walked away.
Well I’m sorry to inform you that if you like sci-fi, Wynonna Earp, BIPOC gayliens, and Tim Rozon, then you are missing out. The show did get canceled (literally the same week we got the airdates for Wynonna Earp) but you still need to loop back and watch this show.
Vagrant Queen?
Elida is former queen turned scavenger who’s been on the run since her throne was stolen as a child. She is played by triple threat (singing, dancing, acting) Adriyan Rae and is the aforementioned queen. The series follows her, via flashbacks, explaining how she was a child-queen (with all the problems therein) who was betrayed by someone she thought was a friend Commander Lazaro (played with simmering sliminess by Paul du Toit).
Her life is fine as is, she’s making do, but then her old buddy Issac (that would be sans-moustache’d, but lovably scruffy Tim Rozon) shows up and says her mother’s alive! Issac has his own drama. He’s from Earth, which is basically a fable to the people in this universe. An astronaut, he was sucked away from his home and wants to get back, but he always wants to help Elida. Joining them on the trip is the one person who can actually manage and pilot their ship, Amae (Alex McGregor), who gets accidently tangled in everything and sticks around because she totally has the hots for Elida.
Along the way to find her mother, the trio crosses paths with Lazaro again and again, and his plans have gotten worse. Like way worse. Like ‘are you trying to destroy the universe, buddy!?’ worse.
Oh and I mentioned gayliens right?
Season one sets up the slow-burn romance (I cannot tell you how many times Issac and I shouted at these lovable idiots) and while we end on a cliffhanger, we know that the two are finally finally on the same page.
My Favourite Episode: No Clue
Now I know the show’s canceled but I need to talk to you about this episode. “No Clue” is the eighth episode of the season and it is hands down one of the best episodes of TV I’ve seen all year. Yeah, 2020 is a rough year for new scripted TV, but this show took all the things I love and blended them into a puree of perfection.
- There’s a mystery
- All our idiots are drunk/hungover
- Space cops are not amused
- There’s pizza delivery in space
- Secret passageways
- At least one murder
- Sexual tension out the wazoo
- Alien infections
As the episode begins, our idiot heroes are trying to plan how to take down Lazaro on their newly re-captured ship, and decide that some alcohol will help the plan. Spoilers? It does not. In fact, it results in Issac ordering take out. This trips the space cops on to them, and they would like the debts paid off, please and thank you. No money? Time for the impound!
While our gang vies for time (pizza anyone?), the lights flicker, a gunshot is heard, and one of the cops dies. The one who was sick with ‘the flu’ naturally. Now what? We have mystery on our hands, and if you thought being drunk or hungover was bad for planning, it’s worse for solving a murder. Especially when another debt-cop ends up dead, the delivery guy needs to use the loo, and then we find out it wasn’t the flu. It’s worse.
Every single scene is played with note-perfect humour. It balances being goofy with actually moving the plot forward on multiple levels. And it, no questions asked, the best episode of the season.
You can watch “No Clue” (and in fact all of the episodes) on NBC.com or SyFy.com.
Fight for Vagrant Queen
Now I know it’s canceled.
But we don’t give up for shows that are worth having, do we? No, queers, we do not. There is a chance that a streamer might pick this up!
So here’s what you need to do: Tweet out why you love this show using the hashtag #SaveVagrantQueen
Tell people about how it’s a BIPOC lead gaylien who struggles with her past and falls in love and has a goofy sidekick. Tell your friends about the show. Heck, show them “No Clue” first and then go back. Did you love the cinematography where they freeze-frame and move the camera around? Talk about it!
While you’re at it, have a listen to the podcast Dispatches from Xija Station (who had Adriyan Rae help with a charity fundraiser!).
This show is a little campy, a bit slapstick, but it’s a lot of fun and has more heart than you can possibly imagine. It’s a show that should be on your radar, and I really want you all to grab it before it’s too late.
I’ll never accept the fact that Syfy didn’t even give them the chance to shine at a good time slot, and just suddenly changed (cause screw it). This show brings such a good BIPOC and LGBTQI+ rep that, unfortunately, we can still count with our fingers how many shows bring this type of rep on TV, which should be more by now, c’mon it’s 2020, guys. I really loved how campy and trashy it was and it recognized, that was the turning point in this show for me, it kinda reminded me of legends of tomorrow. So. Freaking. Sad.
As a lover of all things sci-fi, Vagrant Queen was a disappointment. I really hope someone buys the rights to this show and hires a new showrunner and writers as this could be a great show. It had lots of promise that was completely wasted. Unfortunately, the romance arc was weirdly paced and awkward like it was added as an afterthought or maybe they thought they had 3 seasons to develop it. I blame the writing and/or direction as most of the acting was quite good. One exception, the Isaac character was completely unbelievable. I don’t know if this was Tim Rozon’s interpretation of the script or the direction he was given but it looked like the kind of overacting you see on a typical Disney kids show. Not his best work. Such a waste, it could have been a great show.
I felt like Issac was the human condition – that is, he was in an insane world that, as we learned, was not his own. And he was totally overwhelmed with everything and just a little crazy.
The romance worked fine for me. They were on different levels of where they wanted to be with each other, and it was tangled up and problematic and now that they’re FINALLY on the same page, whoops. argh.
The show was so much fun, like the comics it was based on. It felt like a slice of that just put on the screen for me 🙂
Please give the show a chance it was just getting good and now you’re going to cancel it different
I am not surprised scifi cancelled vagrant queen,after all they also cancelled the expanse,one of the best scifi series ever
Hopefully they will reconsider,or another
network will pick up the series.I thought the episode with the biography of Lazero
was especially fine.The main characters
are a good crisscross of a crew,and the humor/seriousness of the episodes is entertaining.Come on scifi you ran “the magicians” for how many years?Please!!!
Bring vagrant queen. Love the show its a kick ass show literary. Cliffhanger. I hope they find amae