Rob Munday

Considering the limitless boundaries that come with the science fiction storyline, you can’t help but feel there’s somewhat of a lack of originality in the genre at the moment. Hollywood’s current obsession for nostalgia has seen it return to the classics (Star Wars, Alien, Bladerunner) and even in the short film arena many of the projects we see feel like a pastiche of these cinematic big hitters. So where is the individuality? Where is the inventiveness? Ladies and gentlemen…may I introduce you to Face Face.

Welcome to the year 372054! Chris Prynoski (Creator/Writer) and Michael Moloney’s (Director) 4-minute animation follows Astronaut Commander Shepard Headstrong as he’s set to be the first test subject in the Faceship initiative – a programme where a space vehicle is fashioned from the pilots own DNA.

Essentially a buddy comedy between Headstrong’s eccentric explorer and his unreliable furry spaceship Whutworth 12, you can expect a bunch of laughs and a whole heap of WTF moments in this sub 5-minute short.

Complete with its own theme tune, Face Face does feel a bit like the pilot for your next favourite animation series (it was created for Nickelodeon). Narratively its more concept than full-fledged storyline, but the energy, style and fun-factor turn the entertainment level up to an 11 here and I honestly can’t remember the last time I had this much fun in just four minutes.

Now I know I started this article with somewhat of a sweeping statement and I’m not claiming Face Face is here to save the world of science fiction, but as someone who devours a lots from the genre it always excites me to see fresh new ideas and this feels like nothing else I’ve seen recently. There was no abandoned spaceship, no predatory aliens and no androids, this is a concept that truly pushes the freedom both sci-fi and animation allows and in my opinion, this is something I would love to see more of.