Space Voyages: Galactic Journey (YouTube series)

Space Voyages: Galactic Journey is the first of seven planned video series that will mirror the original Space Voyages books in chapterly installments. Production began in August 2011 with the release of the first two chapters via the Ben Boatwright Productions YouTube channel, nearly a decade after the original Galactic Journey was written; the last chapter was completed in May 2015. The series stars Ben and Annabella Boatwright, who play multiple roles (see below) via split-screen and other cinematic trickery. In general, the series aims to satirize the outlandish nature of the originals by reciting the majority of the text verbatim. This often leads to a comic interpretation of the supposedly "serious" text. The series will be followed by Thaddeus and the Time Warp Trio.

Chapter 1
The series begins amidst a space shuttle simulation with Sergei Rochavov and Sai Hwong at the controls. They are competing for a coveted spot on the first Search for Intelligent Life Project Shuttles (SILPS) mission against three kid geniuses: Frank Softey, Jack Mailey, and Courtney Morridaughter. After the completion of their testing, simulation coordinator Bob Sandals informs them that they have tied.

Chapter 2
The next week, Frank, Jack and Courtney are ready to begin what has been made a dual mission with Rochavov and Hwong in two separate spacecraft, to be launched simultaneously only miles apart. The trio receives a temporary scare when a repairwoman enters the capsule unexpectedly. Things stop going according to plan soon after liftoff, as the trio soon realize the malicious intent of Rochavov and Hwong, who purposefully collide with their ship and knock the three unconscious.

Chapter 3
The trio awakens to find themselves far off-course and hopelessly lost. Mission control manages to tell them that they have been unconscious for 22 hours, but they soon lose contact. Their small capsule appears to be orbiting a purple planet that they have never seen before. They receive radio communication from D. Strange Cat, governor of the state of Blarnis on the planet below, Galaxian Prime. Frank obliges his request to land. After a rough ride through the atmosphere, they land and disembark. Before them stands a large road sign welcoming them to the town of Mutantopolis.

Chapter 4
The trio is greeted by a futuristic flying wagon and a humanoid cat who proclaims he is Darby Strange Cat, Governor of Blarnis. Jack asks if he can call him "Darb," to which Darby responds by arresting him on the spot. Frank and Courtney are horrified as he is dragged off to Darby's wagon and whisked away. Once inside the town, Frank and Courtney overhear a final call for a bus to Blarnis Capital and board just in time. They arrive in the capital city to find Jack's prison wagon a short distance away. Frank decides to hijack one of the flying buses and ram it through the prison wagon. Instead of picking up Jack, he inadvertently catches Governor Cat on the end of a grappling hook. Darby pulls his revolver and shoots at the bus, causing Frank to lose control and plummet toward the ground.

Chapter 5
The bus explodes, but Jack has managed to escape and joins Courtney. Frank has miraculously survived the crash by ejecting at the last moment with a parachute. Governor Cat puts Jack and Frank on trial and reaches a hasty verdict after Courtney protests the accusations made by Darby against Jack. The trio makes a run for it. Courtney and Jack make it back to the capsule while Frank is sucked up into an enemy fighter jet by an energy beam extending from its fuselage. Courtney pilots the capsule toward the jet where Frank is being held captive and climbs aboard using a bungee cord. Once inside, they realize Rochavov and Hwong are at the controls and narrowly escape being captured again. Once back in their capsule, they quickly fly away from Galaxian Prime but end up just as quickly in the midst of a "severe cosmic storm!"

Chapter 6
The capsule is about to be sucked into a cosmic space tornado when the tornado suddenly disappears. A massive white spaceplane pulls up alongside them. They go outside to find another cat alien, Thaddeus P. Cat, "cousin of Governor D. Strange Cat," before them. "I highly disagree with his forces of evil against you. Come aboard and I'll explain." The trio parks their capsule and finds a lively ballroom inside with the likes of Admiral Harriman Nelson and Lord Comforter, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Gus Grissom and Christa McAuliffe, Doug Phillips, Tony Newman and Althea Hall. Thaddeus announces them as new "club members" but says their names incorrectly. When Frank corrects Thaddeus, the entire audience bursts into laughter at these "alien" names. Thaddeus leads them up to his office/cockpit and takes off into the storm.

Chapter 7
Once under way, Frank begins reading a book from Thaddeus's library that contains an entry on an invincible fighter jet known as the Phantasm. Intrigued at the possibility of using it as a weapon against Darby, Thaddeus interrupts by reminding him that the plane is located on the planet Amnesia, a toxic place deadly to any form of life. Undeterred by this seemingly insurmountable complication, Frank insists that Thaddeus take them to Amnesia. Thaddeus refuses and goes on to explain how Darby is the leader of a wider galactic empire known as the Blarnis Evil Forces, or BEFOs, and that Thaddeus himself has merely been trying to rescue hapless space explorers like themselves from his evil clutches, to varying success. Before they have much time to contemplate what he has just said, alarms begin to sound, and Thaddeus quickly realizes that his plane is being pulled by a magnetic field toward none other than Amnesia itself!

Chapter 8
The trio attempts to escape but soon find themselves overwhelmed by a blinding green light. When they awake, they are on the surface of Amnesia. Meanwhile in Blarnis Capital, Darby has convened a meeting to decide whether to seek out the Phantasm himself. Despite concerns voiced by Mr. Garbanzo, a fish-head alien, Darby goes ahead with the plan without further resistance. Frank passes out on Amnesia, forcing Jack and Courtney to drag him through the forest to an impromptu campsite. As darkness falls, a black-robed figure emerges from behind a tree and wields a knife!

Chapter 9
Jack is stabbed by the Amnesian alien while he is asleep, but Courtney fends it off with a punch to the face. Frank awakes from his daze as Courtney removes the knife from Jack's torso. Amazingly, there is no blood on the weapon. Jack suddenly sits up and pushes Courtney away, calling her and Frank "Earthlings." Frank remembers reading in Thaddeus's book about the Phantasm that Amnesia is home to the Blackrobians, creatures who transform their victims into fellow Blackrobians by stabbing them. The only known cure is to "find the Phantasm and break the control panel." The next morning, they emerge from the forest to find a massive canyon before them.

Chapter 10
The trio decides to cross the canyon, where they find a cave that they decide to explore, hoping that the Phantasm might be inside. Jack is possessed a second time and nearly strangles Courtney in the process. Frank knocks Jack against a wall, which causes a cave-in that seals the entrance and traps them. After a time, Courtney notices a passageway that they hadn't seen previously. At the other end of this passageway is none other than the Phantasm itself. Frank breaks the control panel, curing Jack. Together they ride off in the Phantasm into the Amnesian sunset to begin their crusade against the BEFOs in earnest.

Production timeline
The following table includes the release dates of each of the ten chapters in the first series.

A blooper reel was released on July 3, 2015.

DVD video release
A DVD release of the series by Ben Boatwright Productions was originally intended for sometime in 2015. It would have included the ten individual episodes as they appeared on YouTube, plus a blooper reel and a re-edited "theatrical" version that would show the episodes continuously without the original breaks. However, due to budget constraints and issues with the use of copyrighted material in the soundtrack, such a release has been put on hold indefinitely.

Roles
Ben and Annabella Boatwright have both played multiple roles in the series thus far, and future installments will likely include various cats as well. Daniel Ang will hopefully be playing the voice of Thaddeus throughout the series. The following lists which characters are, have been, or will be played by each person/cat:

Ben Boatwright

 * Frank Softey
 * Jack Mailey
 * Bob Sandals
 * Sergei Rochavov
 * Drunken spectator (Chapter 2)
 * Darby Strange Cat (voice)
 * Harriman Nelson (Chapter 6)
 * Lord Comforter (voice, Chapter 6)
 * Doug Phillips (Chapter 6)
 * Tony Newman (Chapter 6)
 * Leonardo da Vinci (Chapter 6)
 * Mr. Garbanzo (Chapter 8)

Annabella Boatwright

 * Courtney Morridaughter
 * Sai Hwong
 * Capsule repair[wo]man (Chapter 2)
 * Drunken spectator (Chapter 2)
 * Lord Comforter (Chapter 6)
 * Althea (Chapter 6)
 * Michelangelo (Chapter 6)

Daniel Ang

 * Thaddeus P. Cat (voice)

Jay Faires

 * Gus Grissom (Chapter 6)
 * Blackrobian (Chapters 8-9)

Taylor Faires

 * Christa McAuliffe (Chapter 6)

Bert

 * Darby Strange Cat

Big Cat

 * Thaddeus P. Cat