SyFy continues its foray into niche sci-fi comic book adaptations with the premiere of Vagrant Queen. This new series is based on the Vagrant Queen comic book series published by Vault Comics, written by Magdalene Visaggio and art by Jason Smith. The series follows the deposed child queen and titular vagrant Elida as she space hops the galaxy in hopes of staying one step ahead of her would-be regicidal pursuers.
The world of Vagrant Queen is host to many colorful characters, neon-lit back alleys of ill repute, and it’s very own cantina packed with outlaws and unsavory folks. All of this is wrapped in a heightened comedic tone. With so many jokes, one-liners, and witty retorts, you will trip over each punchline as you stumble into another setup. It’s all very SyFy, and if you have watched a series by those fine folks, you know exactly what I mean. Let’s dig right into my five thoughts. Minor spoilers incoming.
1. Let’s get all the major comparisons out of the way
Vagrant Queen is not the diamond-in-the-rough space opera you were hoping for. Not in the first episode anyway. There are traces of much-adored franchises all over the pilot. Take the plucky mechanic with a healthy sex drive from Firefly, toss in a healthy doss of Star Wars level Republic infantry, and put them in the gritty spaceports of The Fifth Element and you have got yourself a show. I bring all this up to say I was too busy catching things I recognized from other franchises to really get a sense of what this new universe had to offer. They even copy the rescue of Princess Leia from the Death Star plot and then have the nerve to say, “they saw it in a movie once.” The nerve. I hope the next few establishing episodes can give us a better sense of what makes the Vagrant Queen world tick.
2. Soapbox time, expositional dialogue rant
I hate heavy-handed expositional dialogue. It’s a bummer, and it makes me feel like the writers think I am stupid. It is a way to catch the viewer up on what they can’t possibly know, so they understand the dynamic between characters or their motivations. The issue is that when person A says, “We had an agreement’ to person B, and then proceeds to tell them the agreement that they both already know, I can’t help but think, “No one talks like that.” The unnatural nature of the interaction pulls me right out of the scene. Give us some environmental tidbits to help up piece together things we don’t know. Weave plot points a bit more seamlessly into character dialogue. I say all this because it happens a few times in the episode, and I was less than happy about it. Current rant complete.
3. “I’m just a simple queen trying to make my way in the universe.”
Elida is supposed to be on the run from a galactic republic, right? She is the most exposed fugitive ever. She barely changes her name to stay hidden (El’Dia to Elida). Literally, everybody recognizes her at the drop of a dead republic trooper. She is a queen, after all. To top it all off, she consorts with hordes of outlaws and fugitives who, for the right price, may sell her out. Not to mention the fella Issac, she ends up tooling around the ‘verse with, brought Elida’s would-be captors to her doorstep. So she can’t hide for shit and is a poor judge of character. Maybe she shouldn’t be a queen.
4. Who watches Face Off?
My household loves the SyFy show Face Off. The costume competition is the ultimate chill-out experience coupled with admiring true talent shine in a competition. A lot of the costumes and characters created on that show were totally TV ready by the time the judges went to critique. The costumes of Vagrant Queen feel like a variety of looks from the Face Off series. Some are more successful than others, but their almost DIY look is endearing and adds a bit of flavor to the world. The mushroom haired lounge singer in the outlaw bar stands out to me as a win while the bulky republic soldier outfits may have been a bottom look on Face Off. Just for clarity, I think the republic soldiers are great, they just need a makeover. Someone call Neville Page immediately!
5. It’s your bar. You don’t know there is a camera?
During an interrogation scene in the bar, bad guy Lazaro lays it on real thick to Chaz, the bartender. He goes on and on about his stupid, abusive father and mentions getting caught on a security camera. At this point, shouldn’t Chaz just know that the bad dude is on to him? Instead of acknowledging that he knows the fugitive but doesn’t know where she is, he acts like he doesn’t, then OOOOH BOY he was caught on camera talking to Elida. Then, in a rage-inducing moment, Chaz looks up at his own damn security camera with a face that says, “oh yea…that’s there.” It’s YOUR camera, man. You deserved that beating bartender.
I’ve come out the other end of this premiere lukewarm on the series. I think it has a lot of potentials to carve its own unique path through space. Once the show abandons send-ups to more successful properties and focuses on its individual elements, it is exciting to watch. Right now, it’s taking baby steps to find out what kind of show it wants to be.
Thanks for joining me on this journey into vagrant space, my fellow Loyalists. Interested in the Vagrant Queen comic? Check out my episode of Super. Black. where we break down our thoughts on Vol 1 of the series. See you here next week for another Five Thoughts. God save the (Vagrant) Queen.
