Nebulous

Sci-fi comedy series by Graham Duff, set in the year 2099, about Professor Nebulous and his team of eco-trouble shooters

3 Series, 18 episodes of 30 minutes | 128/44 |LINK

Series 1

The Man Who Polished The Sun
6/6 With Earth in the grip of a new season called Hamble, the Professor asks an enemy for help
View Programme information

The Coincidence Machine
5/6 Doubling up - just one of the dangers of studying randomology in an ad hoc way.
View Programme information

Madness is A Strange Colour
4/6 The Professor visits a monastery where the theme of a kid's TV show is the call-to-prayer.
View Programme information

The Dust Has Landed
3/6 The Professor teams up with ex-fiancee, Erica Flazenby, to give the Earth a spring clean.
View Programme information

The Loverly Invasion
2/6 Are the alien newcomers as benign as they seem? The Professor spies a hidden agenda.
View Programme information

Night of the Vegetarians
1/6 Mystery deaths lead the Professor to a meat-free colony run by the notorious Dr Klench.

Series 2

Last of the Present Sirius
6/6 The Professor gets trapped in a time loop - but what's causing his intergalactic deja vu?
View Programme information

Tempus Fugitive
5/6 What is the dark secret of the time-splintered Linda-viduals? From May 2006.
View Programme information

Destiny of the Destinoyd
4/6 The Professor meets the woman of his dreams, but is the lovely Franabelle what she seems?
View Programme information

I Nebulous
3/6 At a peace conference, the Professor is forced to swap minds with the evil Dr Klench.
View Programme information

The Buzzing
2/6 The Professor battles against giant, murderous insects in Graham Duff's sci-fi sitcom.
View Programme information

The Deptford Wives
1/6 Professor Nebulous and his inept team investigate a menacing race of cloned women.

Series 3

Us and Phlegm
6/6 99 percent of the nation's workforce phone in sick. Nebulous meets a nasty alien life form
View Programme information

Rebel Without a Cortex
5/6 Nebulous and his team have to transport a dangerous criminal to Saturn. But who is he?
View Programme information

We, Nebulous
4/6 Nebulous has been incarcerated in prison alongside the galaxy's most evil masterminds.
View Programme information

The Girl With The Liquid Face
3/6 Nebulous and the team travel to Atlantis, where the Professor battles the legendary Kraken
View Programme information

The Past Must Be Destroyed!
2/6 Nebulous returns to his old university, where he discovers several lecturers have vanished
View Programme information

Genesis of the Aftermath
1/6 Even given a second chance, can Nebulous prevent the destruction of the Isle of Wight?

A bit more info:

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Earth of 2099
In the year 2099, the Earth is far different from how it is today. Following a number of environmental disasters, such as “the Withering” which resulted in the loss of a great deal of human knowledge and “Cattle-clasm” that killed off most of the livestock, the Earth has been reduced to a wasteland separated between “Withered Zones” and the remaining inhabitable areas.

The geography of Earth is radically altered from its current state. Many locations have been displaced and reduced to islands such as Oxford and the London borough Deptford, which is now in the Indonesian Ocean as a part of the Cockney Islands. This indicates that global warming and a rise in sea level took place at some point, among other things.

The Withering shifted the Earth into a new orbit resulting in a reform of the calendar and seasons. Every day of the week is 25-hours long except for Thursday and the creation of new months such as Janril, Febtober, and Marchuary. In addition to these changes, the dreary season of Hamble was also created.

Religion also exists into the year 2099. Pieced together following the Withering, theologians conclude that there were four true deities: the evil twins Ying and Yang, Feng Shui the destroyer, and merciful Bod. Bod is analogous to God, hence the phrase "Oh my Bod!"

The solar system is equally altered. Jupiter has been deep fried, Mercury and Neptune have been knocked together, and there was an initiative to destroy the Moon as it was deleterious to the nightlight industry. There also appear to be a variety of alien species that are known to the Humans, mainly due to their attempted invasions.

Eco-Troubleshooters
The story of Nebulous is dominated by the eco-troubleshooting team of K.E.N.T. (the Key Environmental Non-Judgmental Taskforce). The group is directed by Professor Nebulous and its goal is to restore a natural balance to Earth. Unfortunately, the team is woefully under funded; K.E.N.T. was forced to open a Laundromat to supplement funds. On the bright side, if their actual missions go awry, the team is still applauded for its excellent dry cleaning service. The Laundromat contains three Zenusi 370 tumble dryers, two of which were the team’s first new pieces of equipment in twelve years.

There is at least one other eco-troubleshooting team based out of England, and despite their common goals, they have a less than hospitable view towards one another. L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H. (the Legitimate Organization Undertaking General Humanitarian Business Operations Requiring Optimum Unconditional Global Harmony) is run by Professor Nebulous’ ex-love interest, Doctor Erica Flazenby, is over funded, and is equipped with info pills, bazers, and black helicopters.

Characters
Professor Nebulous (Mark Gatiss) — The brilliant, unappreciated leader of K.E.N.T. whose downfall is a direct result of his destruction of the Isle of Wight while he was moving it slightly to the left to give it more sun. He is also tortured by his repressed memories of his childhood and his clown parents who don’t encourage his affinity for the sciences. He experiences fits that are usually brought on with words that sound like “clown”, during which he hallucinates about an incident in his childhood that has some connection with his current situation, or simply links back to something he was thinking about earlier.

Paula Breeze (Rosie Cavaliero) — The ditsy assistant to Professor Nebulous, although how she qualified for a position in such an organisation given her apparent lack of any degree at all is a mystery. Paula is constantly pursuing her infatuation with Nebulous, despite him not noticing; any attempts that may actually get anywhere are always ended by her own idiocy.

Rory Lawson (Graham Duff) — Professor Nebulous’ other assistant, the self-professed ladies’ man of the team who handles the more physical side of operations. His catchphrase is "Bollocks!...Sir".

Harry Hayes (Paul Putner) — The fourth member of K.E.N.T. who is responsible for technological development. He was badly injured when Professor Nebulous disintegrated the Isle of Wight. He was rebuilt by the professor and lives his life in constant agony while trundling around in a wheelchair constructed from old kitchen units. He is also afflicted by a faulty voice box that plays his voice at an unbearablely high volume. Each episode features him saying, at least once, "UNLIKE YOU, PROFESSOR, I NO LONGER HAVE THE LUXURY OF [Insert bodypart of choice here]". Despite his betrayal of the team at the end of series one to aid Doctor Klench, Harry has been forgiven by Nebulous in series two, although Paula still does not trust him.

Gemini (Julia Dalkin) — The AI of K.E.N.T. that has the combined intelligence of three Oxford dons and a supply teacher. The name suggests that there is a counterpart somewhere, but the only reference to this counterpart so far has been a brief comment about Gemini's evil twin, sent to K.E.N.T. on a weekend exchange program.

Sir Ronald Rolands (Graham Crowden) — A Minister with Unusual Portfolio who is K.E.N.T.’s attaché to the government, commonly saying in his appearances "Like to do what I can, but afraid I can't."

Doctor Erica Flazenby (Julia Deakin) — The rival and former love of Nebulous who is currently the director of L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H. The two met while at the Oxford University Islands. (Apparently at the last moment, Erica Flazenby’s name was changed from Erica Moody to its present form. This error hasn’t been rectified on the BBC Radio 4 website.)

Doctor Joseph Klench (David Warner) — The arch villain of Professor Nebulous and K.E.N.T. whom the professor describes as “a chap who came to a crossroads in life and took a turning marked evil. He put his foot to the accelerator and he’s not stopping”. His plans to date have included destroying the world with a stolen fragment of the sun, luring a sentient cactus to Earth, and destroying the Intergalactic peace conference while in Nebulous' body, although all three attempts have been thwarted by the Professor.

Nebulous's parents (Matt Wolf and Julia Dalkin) — in each episode Nebulous has a flash back to his childhood, in which his parents wanted him to become a clown and ignored such major scientific discoveries as his cure for blindness. Nebulous commonly awakes from these flashbacks saying "…I shall not clown…"

Colonel Bream — Nicholas Briggs

Replies

Anson (Bob) Roberts July 22, 2015 at 9:46am

A bit more info:

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Earth of 2099
In the year 2099, the Earth is far different from how it is today. Following a number of environmental disasters, such as “the Withering” which resulted in the loss of a great deal of human knowledge and “Cattle-clasm” that killed off most of the livestock, the Earth has been reduced to a wasteland separated between “Withered Zones” and the remaining inhabitable areas.

The geography of Earth is radically altered from its current state. Many locations have been displaced and reduced to islands such as Oxford and the London borough Deptford, which is now in the Indonesian Ocean as a part of the Cockney Islands. This indicates that global warming and a rise in sea level took place at some point, among other things.

The Withering shifted the Earth into a new orbit resulting in a reform of the calendar and seasons. Every day of the week is 25-hours long except for Thursday and the creation of new months such as Janril, Febtober, and Marchuary. In addition to these changes, the dreary season of Hamble was also created.

Religion also exists into the year 2099. Pieced together following the Withering, theologians conclude that there were four true deities: the evil twins Ying and Yang, Feng Shui the destroyer, and merciful Bod. Bod is analogous to God, hence the phrase "Oh my Bod!"

The solar system is equally altered. Jupiter has been deep fried, Mercury and Neptune have been knocked together, and there was an initiative to destroy the Moon as it was deleterious to the nightlight industry. There also appear to be a variety of alien species that are known to the Humans, mainly due to their attempted invasions.

Eco-Troubleshooters
The story of Nebulous is dominated by the eco-troubleshooting team of K.E.N.T. (the Key Environmental Non-Judgmental Taskforce). The group is directed by Professor Nebulous and its goal is to restore a natural balance to Earth. Unfortunately, the team is woefully under funded; K.E.N.T. was forced to open a Laundromat to supplement funds. On the bright side, if their actual missions go awry, the team is still applauded for its excellent dry cleaning service. The Laundromat contains three Zenusi 370 tumble dryers, two of which were the team’s first new pieces of equipment in twelve years.

There is at least one other eco-troubleshooting team based out of England, and despite their common goals, they have a less than hospitable view towards one another. L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H. (the Legitimate Organization Undertaking General Humanitarian Business Operations Requiring Optimum Unconditional Global Harmony) is run by Professor Nebulous’ ex-love interest, Doctor Erica Flazenby, is over funded, and is equipped with info pills, bazers, and black helicopters.

Characters
Professor Nebulous (Mark Gatiss) — The brilliant, unappreciated leader of K.E.N.T. whose downfall is a direct result of his destruction of the Isle of Wight while he was moving it slightly to the left to give it more sun. He is also tortured by his repressed memories of his childhood and his clown parents who don’t encourage his affinity for the sciences. He experiences fits that are usually brought on with words that sound like “clown”, during which he hallucinates about an incident in his childhood that has some connection with his current situation, or simply links back to something he was thinking about earlier.

Paula Breeze (Rosie Cavaliero) — The ditsy assistant to Professor Nebulous, although how she qualified for a position in such an organisation given her apparent lack of any degree at all is a mystery. Paula is constantly pursuing her infatuation with Nebulous, despite him not noticing; any attempts that may actually get anywhere are always ended by her own idiocy.

Rory Lawson (Graham Duff) — Professor Nebulous’ other assistant, the self-professed ladies’ man of the team who handles the more physical side of operations. His catchphrase is "Bollocks!...Sir".

Harry Hayes (Paul Putner) — The fourth member of K.E.N.T. who is responsible for technological development. He was badly injured when Professor Nebulous disintegrated the Isle of Wight. He was rebuilt by the professor and lives his life in constant agony while trundling around in a wheelchair constructed from old kitchen units. He is also afflicted by a faulty voice box that plays his voice at an unbearablely high volume. Each episode features him saying, at least once, "UNLIKE YOU, PROFESSOR, I NO LONGER HAVE THE LUXURY OF [Insert bodypart of choice here]". Despite his betrayal of the team at the end of series one to aid Doctor Klench, Harry has been forgiven by Nebulous in series two, although Paula still does not trust him.

Gemini (Julia Dalkin) — The AI of K.E.N.T. that has the combined intelligence of three Oxford dons and a supply teacher. The name suggests that there is a counterpart somewhere, but the only reference to this counterpart so far has been a brief comment about Gemini's evil twin, sent to K.E.N.T. on a weekend exchange program.

Sir Ronald Rolands (Graham Crowden) — A Minister with Unusual Portfolio who is K.E.N.T.’s attaché to the government, commonly saying in his appearances "Like to do what I can, but afraid I can't."

Doctor Erica Flazenby (Julia Deakin) — The rival and former love of Nebulous who is currently the director of L.O.U.G.H.B.O.R.O.U.G.H. The two met while at the Oxford University Islands. (Apparently at the last moment, Erica Flazenby’s name was changed from Erica Moody to its present form. This error hasn’t been rectified on the BBC Radio 4 website.)

Doctor Joseph Klench (David Warner) — The arch villain of Professor Nebulous and K.E.N.T. whom the professor describes as “a chap who came to a crossroads in life and took a turning marked evil. He put his foot to the accelerator and he’s not stopping”. His plans to date have included destroying the world with a stolen fragment of the sun, luring a sentient cactus to Earth, and destroying the Intergalactic peace conference while in Nebulous' body, although all three attempts have been thwarted by the Professor.

Nebulous's parents (Matt Wolf and Julia Dalkin) — in each episode Nebulous has a flash back to his childhood, in which his parents wanted him to become a clown and ignored such major scientific discoveries as his cure for blindness. Nebulous commonly awakes from these flashbacks saying "…I shall not clown…"

Colonel Bream — Nicholas Briggs
- codepop > Anson (Bob) Roberts July 26, 2015 at 9:23am
  
  Cheers!

This reply was deleted.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Replies