HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing 0:55 Ashley does the announcements 3:50 Intro cinematic 5:20 Episode Starts 8:45 Intro ends, Nautilus reveal 9:55 Dr. Nomen Frenno intro 10:45 Dr. Ramsey Wiser intro 11:00 Gunnery Sergeant Cameron Garrett intro 12:00 Forrest Coreman intro 12:40 Captain Seraphine Glass intro 13:30 That whole exchange was in tubes 15:55 6969 16:45 Mother 23:35 Making our way 24:55 Naming the guns 26:15 Do an ops 30:20 Vax suits 33:45 Sergeant Cameron drops some bombs 36:20 You can certainly try 47:10 In hindsight, maybe guns in space are a bad idea 49:30 Happy to stay safe 50:35 Into the Nordiverse 52:10 Ashley miniseries when? 52:40 Space map 54:00 Space walk begins 55:25 Psssht 57:45 Nomen has poor trigger discipline 59:20 Never trust black space goo. Tasha Yar taught me that 1:12:20 An important clarification 1:15:20 Pooper on the bridge 1:19:35 It’s everywhere 1:33:35 Laura has already been infected 1:36:55 A monstrous creature 1:38:10 Break Starts 1:53:10 Break Ends 1:54:35 …Meanomorph 1:57:45 Battle begins 2:01:50 To be clear, Matt would look real messed up right now 2:04:00 Wiser’s psych degree 2:07:45 Wait, he’s not a robot? 2:17:50 Max damage on Travis 2:25:05 Forrest's secret 2:32:10 Bleeding Quaker Oats 2:34:30 Dropping a med kit 2:38:00 Asking in binary 2:40:25 Sarge, duck 2:47:15 Virgil 2:53:45 HDYWTDT 3:03:50 One last game of Scrabble 3:08:55 Nomen ends her mission 3:13:30 Family 3:17:25 Ashley Planet of the Apes’d us 3:19:20 Thanks Kyle’s Mom 3:20:20 The origin of Nomen 3:22:40 Post credit thank 3:23:05 Episode Ends The in-game start date for the episode was set sometime after 3051 PD. The system they used for this game was a hybrid of Mothership RPG and the Aliens RPG systems. Some other sci-fi systems you might like are Esper Genesis (a DnD 5e based system), Starfinder (a Pathfinder based system), and Stars Without Number (based in some old school DnD mechanics). I love science fiction, I don’t get to use it enough in my games, and this one-shot was definitely an inspiration to correct that. Also, if you like this, watch The Expanse. Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?
I’m not gonna lie to my DM. This shit is usually boring af… I’m waiting for my character to be killed off naturally to stop playing. Over the computer is lame af.
@@discolullaby5777 Literally making the game worse, because you keep forcing yourself to play. I had a player like this and he just eventually left because "it sucked" but everyone else was having a fun time. Just leave the game, it'll be better for everyone.
"So I fired and I missed, I fired again and I missed, I fired again hit something, but it wasn't what I was aiming for so I technically missed." - Captain Glass's mission report.
It was not a very smart gun and Laura sadly did not quite get to live out her Ripley fantasies here. Would have been something if everyone died, she was the lone survivor and initiated self destruct before escaping in that escape pod.
nothing says romance like travis's hardened veteran character looking at his wife's stoic captain character and saying "I read your file, I know its your favorite. The flamethrower's for you."
It's weird - I rate Liam's horror as scarier than Taliesin's even though I am heavily steeped in HPL. Weird. Looking forward to Ashley's version! Let's see how she does :)
@@g0lddustt29 I don't really watch a lot of horror; this is mostly expressing appreciation at there being so many varieties (cosmic horror, space horror, dream horror...), and how well done they are without resorting to shock value.
I started by drinking coffee cause I needed to wake up and stay focused. Now I just drink it to get rid of the headache from drinking it. I'm gonna die one day.
@@warmpancaxe I have the same issue; It’s easier to wean off of it than hop off the coffee immediately cause it’s essentially a caffeine addiction and the headaches we get are a sort of withdrawal. I used to drink 2 cups; one in the morning and night, but after weaning off of it, I can drink one cup in the morning and not get a headache.
That scene at the end with Dr Nomen was a masterclass by Marisha tbh. She had everyone completely engrossed, it was a fantastic blend of funny, sad and shocking and the reaction was delicious. This whole thing was great, Ashley did an amazing job as did the production crew. Would totally watch a 100+ episode weekly series of this haha
Agreed. Marisha's ending was so well executed. The comedy of being born in a petri dish, the lack of identity for being "yet another Johnson frog" to the dramatic ending itself. Just wow. I rewatched that scene 2 or 3 times.
Ngl 100+ seems way too much, would make it like a ‘The 100’ situation which went from being a series about a 100 people be sentenced to survive in a “inhospitable” planet earth, and then slowly devolved into being about “Hey there is an omnipresent being that will determine whether all of humanity will become one with it and basically live in equilibrium, or death made by the choice of words made by a representative of humanity which whoops the main character became one of the worse people in the entire series and chose to be the representative.”
@@joxyver ohh i remember the 100. i only watched the first one or two seasons. your synopsis.... you gotta be kidding me. what the hell happened to that show??
@@Ailieorz It's honestly impressive. He's just a really great storyteller. I'm impressed with just how /kind/ Forrest seemed, how goodness seemed to almost radiate from him. Acting! :o
Spoilers: Do NOT! read if you haven't watched the video yet. I was honestly surprised that Sarge didn't shotgun himself to the chin instead of going out like that.
Ashley’s calm voice and narrations seem to bring to life the empty nothingness that is space. Coupled with the minimalist ambient soundtrack its eerie and wonderfully so.
Its my first time watching this and I found it boring. I'm not sure what the appeal is. Only here because of the twitch hack, never heard of them before.
@@beayn While Ashley's one shot here is quite fantastic, it certainly may not be the taste for everyone. I highly suggest watching one of the Critical Role Campaigns to more properly get an understanding for the appeal of CR as a whole.
I know Ashley said she never wants to do this again, but I would watch her DM literally anything. I am truly overwhelmed by how incredible this is. This has been by far my favorite one-shot I have ever watched, on CR or otherwise. I got so emotional at the end. It was well balanced in every way. I wish this were a longer series but that would detract from the beauty of this story. Well done, Ashley. Truly, phenomenal job.
Like, I know it was probably nerves, but the way Ashley paused with every line and let it all... just... _hang in the air..._ just set the tone perfectly
It's that uncanny valley from AI generated voices where, even if it's nearly perfect human speech, your subconscious reminds you, "Right, a computer just said that, not a person." She truly nailed it so well.
When Travis says "this is the best", Ashley's reaction almost made me legitimately cry. As a frequent GM, it hit me right in the feels seeing all of her anxiety melt in that moment as a player had a genuine, unprompted moment where they said they were enjoying themselves. And yes, Ashley, this was AMAZING Also love when all the players one by one notice and start laughing when they realize they're getting "Planet of the Apes" 'd Update: hey look, I cried anyway
AMAZING JOB You did a great job providing this world for these characters, these brilliant actors to live and die in. Wonderful job everyone, living characters it was fun to watch succeed and fail. Brilliant Thank you for sharing your game with all of us.
i know ashley said she never wants to do this again, but truly this is one of my favorite one-shots, she did such a great job DM-ing! i keep coming back to rewatch this
@@pizzamom555I watch it to go to sleep and my dreams are amazing. I’ve shown this to about 30 people to try to get them into critical role and D&D by proxy
Ashley: the sounds that Sarge are making are horrifying Travis: *high pitched sounds of agony* Ashley: ...guttural... Travis: *lower pitched sounds of agony*
I remember early in C1 there was a scene where Percy perfectly explains how primitive firearms work and how they were engineered. So I also found that pretty funny since Talesin most definitely knows a thing or two about guns from all the research he did for Percy
Marisha panicking in character and stumbling around trying to get the med-kit, whilst out of character knocking over her glass, is so incredibly on par. I'm dying! XD
It's probably because as a actor, voice actor and professional dnd player, she likely has taken many improv classes, which means some of the experience is there despite it being her first time. But yes, I agree.
Taliesin with specs, Travis “The Yee-est of Haws” Willingham, Laura’s unfortunate dice journey, Marisha teaming up with Sam’s lil’ one, Liam as a beautiful ruddy android, and most importantly Ashley’s Mother voice and very good GMing? Looks like this is one space horror feature I can actually get behind.
The way Ashley paused for a beat or two before doing almost anything added to the tension of the experience. Yes, it's most likely because this was her first GM experience and it was overwhelming. It didn't matter what's the cause, the result was that it make the experience more intense.
I believe, that Laura and Travis don't tell each other anything about how they are going to dress up for CR. They simply go into different rooms, get all sorted out and then open the door, look at each other, nod and walk to the car. I have no other explanation for Travis' outfit.
I love how even though this is so trope-heavy, basically re-doing existing sci-fi movies, and yet Ashley makes it feel so fresh, like it's something completely new. And I have never seen someone so delighted to have his character killed as Travis was here.
Travis opening up with 5 crit successes is like when they establish the guy in the horror movie who will either be the hero or the Wharf that gets ganked first
I think what worked especially well were her pauses. I guess many of them were due to her fresh DM mind racing (decisions, phrasing…), but it created the right tension for this setting. And everybody was just glued to her mouth.
obsessed with the fact that all the characters are just designed to look like the VA with different styling and clothes, and Marisha is out here as a humanoid intelligent frog
In another universe: Doctor survives, walks out of escape pod, credits roll... Mid credit scene, camera goes back to escape pod, and we see a drop of ichor, cut to black
Johnson knocks it out the park for this genre. Her understated and matter-of-fact style suits cosmic horror down to the ground. Genuinely surprised by how well she commanded the tone. Love to see a follow up series.
Liam smiling and jumping up and down in happiness looking like a kid when he hears MOTHER @ 16:45 is one of the best moment. It's so great so see a moment of pure joy!
The cast's and Ashley's reactions at Marisha's final act were GOLDEN. Also, I need NEED Travis and Marisha to play some sort of relatives for C3! The way they play off each other's chaotic energy in every game is hysterical and perfect; can you imagine them being siblings or cousins and having that energy be in-character?!
Travis is paladin energy. Aura of Supportiveness, GetBehindMeI'llProtectYou energy, bit of a boisterous bruiser deal going on, at least on the surface, BUT belies a deeper pensive thought beneath. Plus he's married to Laura MF Bailey. Definite goals
I love how Travis rolling four Crit successes and Liam rolling four failures in a row has both of them equally happy. Liam plays for the sake of the game and it's beautiful.
@@madhatter873 don’t forget travis literally reminded Matt that he forgot to roll his constitution saving throw with disadvantage when fighting with craven edge and got grog killed because of it. then he laughed.
Ashley's narrative voice is just phenomenal. She did a fantastic job for someone DMing for the first time. Most of us can only hope we'll be half as good when taking our first plunge into DMing.
I just wanna say that, as much as everyone absolutely nailed their roles to the goddamn wall, I was so happy to see Ashley killing it as GM. I was really looking forward to her one-shot, especially once I heard what the genre was. Even if she does decide never to do this again, I hope she knows that the community are really happy that she did indulge us this one time and that it was awesome. Loved the production values, loved the plot, loved the performances, loved the GMing, five stars all round.
"Phezzww, I wish I could really do sound effects" "That was pretty good" I love how even with the smallest hint of self doubt, the cast are quick enough to assure each other that they're doing greater than they think they are. Love this people so much
This whole one-shot was so cinematic. I think this alone would be a great movie. It had action, drama, emotional highs and lows, a solid story, good characters, and opens the door to a series.
@@ethanlivemere1162 imo a movie that entirely happens on a ship with an AI voiced by Ashley, this specific crew (frog and garter snake included) and their successes and failures would render a little different than Alien and it could be a really fun watch. a lot of movies are very similar to others - especially in these genres - and it could even be an homage so i don't think the similarities would take anything away really
@@ethanlivemere1162 oh well in that case i guess the more obvious references could be swapped or something, with enough different details for it to be passed as an homage or even just inspired - for instance even though she's also named Mother it tracks in relation to Dr Nomen L. Frenno and she didn't speak in Alien, or she could be named something else entirely and then it's just another AI on a spaceship. i know my comments get a little lengthy and i'm not disagreeing w you, i just haven't slept and find the idea of this as a movie really cool
That water part in the helmet happened to an astronaut on the ISS, Ashley is nerdy enough, I bet that’s where she got the inspiration. Awesome reference.
Yeah, that’s happened to Chris Hadfield too. He was the first Canadian commander of the ISS. He has a whole thing about going blind on a space walk when something got in his eyes and his tears wouldn’t leave his face. Pretty crazy!
@@emersonboatwright5391 Yeah, the inside of NASA visors have anti-fog chemicals, and water that touches that is *not nice* when it gets in your eyes. That's what happened to Chris in 2001; when that bulge of water got over his eye, his body just reacted by closing his eyelid. IIRC when it got bigger, it slipped over the bridge of his nose and got in the other eye, fully blinding him. A Globe and Mail article (major Canadian newspaper) from 2014 titled "Water leak problem that nearly drowned astronaut was misdiagnosed earlier" mentions the Hadfield incident while discussing the 2014 incident with Luca Parmitano where he water filled the top half of his helmet, down to his nose (but not quite his mouth), so he had to pull himself back to the airlock by his safety tether because he couldn't see. (UA-cam is deleting comments with links, otherwise I'd link it) And apparently shaking his head around to try to move the water just made things worse, not better. Things like this are why nerves of steel and the ability to stay calm while solving life threatening problems are key criteria for astronaut selection. And it's still damn impressive when those skills are actually put to the test. --- Does the ship in Ashley's one-shot have any kind of spin gravity or other artificial grav at the cargo bay? I was thinking it did, in which case getting back to that would give you a wet shirt or feet, instead of a wet face, while the airlock was repressurising. But given the model of the ship + spinning living section + cargo container, maybe not? Nobody's RPing weightlessness inside the ship, at least not before intermission, but if it has a spin section then they probably don't have sci-fi artificial gravity. You wouldn't want your cargo bay / airlock in a portion of the ship where things would fly off, or have to match spin to dock.
Ashley freaking killed this. If this ends up being her only one-shot, what a one-shot this was. Even better seeing just how fully enraptured everyone was by the game and in her as GM. Liam looked so proud at the end ❤
I always come back to this one shot. Might have seen this like 8-9 times by now. Ashley killed it. Hope she does another one.. it’s worth the millions it cost (donations) to make Ash do this
To everyone watching fresh: you’re in for a treat. It is so good, and Ashley did a great job for her first time GMing. The ending especially WILL make you cry.
It's cause she's so confident in her narration throughout the whole thing and plays her own world straight, then she just randomly breaks and admits "Yeah this thing is a Xenomorph with the serial numbers filed off."
I know for a fact I cannot be the only one, but dear fucking god that last exchange between Mother and Nomen had me _sobbing._ Can I please just have AI Ashley Johnson on hand at all times to tell me she's proud of me and I've never disappointed her?
Ashley's measured pace when answering questions & giving details builds the tension so well!👏👏 I've lost count of the number of points of stress I've got!
It came off good, but as a kinda new DM... it just gives more time to think what to say, I believe that it was not an intentional choice, rather a bit of newbie fault played off with confidence that added more to the story. It is still really good, but i believe it was not intentional.
@@rosiecooper8030 Well at least she tends to perch on her chair when she gets excited, so that's about as close as she can get to a frog without wearing a mask ;-)
@@willoux_ that’s the impression I got, to roughly emulate the appearance of a frog. And while she obviously wasn’t gonna wear a see-through top, I thought what she wore spoke some flavor about Frenno as a character.
So, a little fun smol fact: 'glass frogs' are known as "ranitas plataneras" or "plantain frog" here in Latinoamérica, bc they are little jewel-like thingies that sleep on the folds of banana and plantain trees. They are the CUTEST things sleeping, harmless, and incredibly important for a healthy enviroment. Marisha did a wonderful job. And Ashley RULES the 80's synth vibe, great work!!!
@@hammeroftyr eeeees decir... you can. but I didn't wanted to be obnoxious or anything. it's just such a cute creature, and a great RPG decision. moar please!
@@AdriftInTheWatersGorge 🐸🤍💗🐸. one of my dreams one day, would be to create some sort of Magical Bestiary with the animals on my home country (COL 🇨🇴). like... we have FROGS, y'all. and 🦋. it'd be a year's endeavor.
Can I just say that Ashley is an AMAZING GM? Like, I have been neglecting her a lot as a player for being a bit... background-ish compared to others, but her GM flow is glorious. She has the strength, the storytelling timing, everything. She sounds like she's been doing it for years.
@@munchkin5679 a DM needs time to think, and having the self-awareness to NOT fill that space with uh, hmm, and um, is HUGE. Silence builds anticipation and tension and is a wonderful thing.
These 5 characters might be the most type-cast for each of the players they've done yet. Who's surprised that Travis is playing Gunny? Or that Laura is the Captain of the spaceship? Or any of the other three? They are all the type of character I'd expect these people to play in this sort of setting. And it's wonderful.
I agree, especially with Travis, but I have the impression after watching several one-shots that they are so good actors that they make you think they are typecast for the role no matter what they play. If you want to know what I mean, watch the Honey Heist one-shots. They roll for for their role in the team and they simply roll with that and make it seem as if they planned to play that role all along. At this point I can't tell what any of their real personality is like except that Travis is into military, Liam likes drama and Sam is above average goofy.
I thought Laura's calm captain role was quite different from how excitable she often is when playing other characters, even Vex'ahlia. I'm not surprised she's *able* to slip into that role like she has into many others, but it was something I hadn't seen her do before in a live-play. (I've seen all of campaign 1, and up to C2E69, and almost all of the one-shots, including all before ~2019.) I think Laura's natural tendency (if she wasn't specifically playing a captain character) would be to react more to stuff that was happening, not hiding that she doesn't fully know what to do. In most games, she's often kind of in character while listening to the GM's narration, e.g. in her body language. But here you can see her getting super excited as usual about the crazy stuff that's happening (e.g. during the first combat), only getting into character to actually RP. vs. earlier in the game keeping more of a straight face even for some cool narration by Ashley where the rest of the cast were more animated. That first combat was right after the break, so probably she got out of character a bit. Anyway, I'm just pointing this out to show how the Captain is different from baseline Laura, not a criticism. The rest, though, especially Travis and Taliesin, are certainly playing in pretty recognizable ways. (And I think I've seen Marisha do a wide-eyed enthusiastic character before, too.) And yeah it's great, they're very good at it, making each new character still interesting even if the basic personality isn't a big stretch for the others. Some of the non-roleplaying videos they've done gives a bit of insight into their real personalities, like one where they had a ghost hunter come over to one of their houses. Laura got pretty excited about the possibility that something had been detected by a gadget, IIRC. (I forget if this was Sam&Liam's podcast or what). Or where Laura and Liam played a video game together, and tried to made their characters look like twins. (Then found out the names Vex and Vax were of course already taken on that server :P)
I don't really agree. Laura's Jester is a galaxy away from the captain. Marisha's sweet Nomen is nothing like Beau or even Keyleth. Travis's ultra-tough sergeant is nothing like Fjord (or even Grog, aside from toughness). Etc. Liam's Forrest is nothing like either Vax or Caleb. Tal's doctor definitely has some of the arrogance of Percy, but there is zero Caduceus in him. So -- I don't know. I don't see it. I love the one-shot and think it's amazing, but calling all of these characters "type-cast" just sits wrong with me and feels a tiny bit like an insult (although I know you didn't mean it that way) because the reality is, they are all just talented enough to play whatever they need to. Either way, I agree that this was wonderful.
Hearing Marisha mope about the pet snake is kinda funny at first, but then you see that basically Virgil is her only friend and companion she truly appreciated during the break slides and it just turns from hilarious to heartbreaking.
This is what I was thinking! If it's the streaming aspect that makes her so nervous (which is totally understandable), she should totally DM for them without streaming it.
I can't even imagine having my first time ever DM'ing being live to thousands and then video'd for posterity... she ought to play some home games to get used to it before going live, I can't imagine the stress! She complimented Matt and exasperatedly said "How does Matt do all this!!" BUT even in S1E1 Matt had years or maybe decades of experience!
@@didrikschubertsson8673 - Yes. Reverend handed her his last bar, she's like "what's this" and takes a bite. I just rewatched it after realizing I didn't remember most of these quotes, and it was as pure gold (and silver) as it was the first time. I'd remembered the basic shape of the ending, but not how they got there or much about the characters. And partly due to the the time limits of the charity stream (and the donation-imposed wackyness), that was the best part.
I don’t know why, but Ashley simply reading the writing from the Statue of Liberty’s book moves me so much. Her voice has such a power and beauty to it
When Ashley said at the beggining that the Nautilus entered the Solar system I thought maybe she messed up, and my brain played with the thought for a brief moment that they returned to the Earth and quickly dismissed it. Also, her narration was soooo good for this game. With the slow sentences and the long pauses between words, she built up tension. It was perfect.
I also realized that she deliberately used the word "planet" and not "Earth" during the prologue. I thought it was an insignificant detail but it wasn't at all.
I'm glad to hear someone say she's nailed it. I'm only just past the announcements, and I've been so terrified for Ashley. She's always seemed to be a background player (which is fine, because so am I), and the few times I've DMed, especially for other people who've DMed for me, it was absolutely nerve-wracking.
Im surprised Taliesin didnt just play himself considering hell still be alive in the far flung future. Side note, this is top five best one shot theyve done. Well done Ashley and props to the crew who helped get it to this level. Amazing work.
I literally just introduced my 22 year old son to Alien and we watched 4 of the movies in the last 2 weeks. Coming on to see this made my heart ache with such joy. Ashley being so nervous knocked it out of the park, Travis owned that role, Liam as an android is fantastic. I can't praise Taliesin Jaffe enough, the man just makes me giddy with every roll. Marisha is so sweet, always and using Sam's daughter's character was terrific. Laura is just a goddess forever. Man, I have missed these guys.
This was probably the most coordinated I've seen any of the Critical Role cast. They knew every freakin' thing aboard that ship! That was amazing! I would love to see Ashley do a part 2 of this!
This is absolutely one of my favorite one-shots I've ever seen! My boyfriend and I were cheering on Ashley and the rest of the crew the entire time. You did amazing, Ashley! 💖 If we have to raise another 8.8 million dollars so that you'll GM again, I'll be sure to chip in.
Sad that the cast were so worried they were going to get ragged for not knowing the science of sci-fi/Space. I'm a science teacher and knew from the get go this is a bunch of people having fun with hokey movie science. The science works because the game says it works! Have we been watching sci-fi for the past 50 years? Enjoy it!
It even seemed like Ashley and also Marisha prepped quite a bit, you know? Though I was kinda amused at the idea of a frog holding its breath underwater
It reminds me of my grandpa and how western. If you ever asked him why they didn't just do xyz his answer would always be "because it's in the script" Same with scifi I figure. People whoop expect realism in fantasy scifi blow my mind. Its like they go "the movies ruined. Can't watch it. What? No the giant alien that looks like Jeff Goldblum mixed with an epileptic walrus is fine but my god they miscalculated the thrust equation at the end so now it's just too unbelievable"
@@tycol322 this still seems more hard sci fi than space opera or science fantasy. But tbh I’m only 50 mins in and can’t help but put in my two cents before I have the full picture so I guess I’ll see!
I’m a person who is bothered by lack of realism in movies. The tone matters a lot; the intentional goofiness lets you know not to take the science too seriously. But either way, as a viewer it’s frustrating to be invested and kind of trying to problem-solve what they could do, and then it just turns out that in this universe sound travels through space or something like that. I don’t think anyone ever has an excuse to be an asshole about something like that, but I resent the idea that there’s something wrong with me (or people like me) because I don’t enjoy inaccurate sci-fi as much. All that said, watching these guys was wonderful. I miss CR so much!
@@DanKaschel I mildly agree but it's the difference between fun falseness and blatant falseness. Star Trek and Pacific Rim are fun, even though there are scientific inaccuracies like sound in space or Jaeger Suits being able to move as easily as they do. Then there's ones that take you out of it like Battlefield Earth. This? This is the perfect balance. I love everything about this and I wish they would do more.
@@EightThreeEight this community is so weird with all of the 'are we allowed to talk about this?' It's not up to anyone to 'allow' you to talk about whatever you like.
Ashley is the greatest in this game. So wonderful, in control, and let the cast shine. Her "Mother" character was just TOO GOOD TO RETIRE! This story sets up perfectly for follow-up one-shots. Please
Not to get all sappy, but this was absolutely my favourite of the one-shots so far. I have loved them all (obviously), but this one just hit different. I don't know if it's because I really needed something to get me through today, or if it's my heavy sci-fi bias, but I could not have loved any moment of this more than I did. Ashley's love for sci-fi in all its forms is so clear - this is a love letter to everything science fiction and written with such love and care I'm so glad I saved this to watch today. It's been a really tough week and this reminded me of all the good in the world (and all the sci-fi I've yet to see!). Thank Crit Role, and thank you in particular to Ashley Johnson and Kyle for creating this masterpiece.
It makes me a little happy that Ashley’s one shot is space themed, especially since Ellie (TLOU) loved space, it’s almost like Ellie finally got too :]
Apparently a lot of Ellie's love for space was inspired by Ashley's interest in it, as Druckmann got to know her over the course of making the game. So full circles all around. :)
HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing
0:55 Ashley does the announcements
3:50 Intro cinematic
5:20 Episode Starts
8:45 Intro ends, Nautilus reveal
9:55 Dr. Nomen Frenno intro
10:45 Dr. Ramsey Wiser intro
11:00 Gunnery Sergeant Cameron Garrett intro
12:00 Forrest Coreman intro
12:40 Captain Seraphine Glass intro
13:30 That whole exchange was in tubes
15:55 6969
16:45 Mother
23:35 Making our way
24:55 Naming the guns
26:15 Do an ops
30:20 Vax suits
33:45 Sergeant Cameron drops some bombs
36:20 You can certainly try
47:10 In hindsight, maybe guns in space are a bad idea
49:30 Happy to stay safe
50:35 Into the Nordiverse
52:10 Ashley miniseries when?
52:40 Space map
54:00 Space walk begins
55:25 Psssht
57:45 Nomen has poor trigger discipline
59:20 Never trust black space goo. Tasha Yar taught me that
1:12:20 An important clarification
1:15:20 Pooper on the bridge
1:19:35 It’s everywhere
1:33:35 Laura has already been infected
1:36:55 A monstrous creature
1:38:10 Break Starts
1:53:10 Break Ends
1:54:35 …Meanomorph
1:57:45 Battle begins
2:01:50 To be clear, Matt would look real messed up right now
2:04:00 Wiser’s psych degree
2:07:45 Wait, he’s not a robot?
2:17:50 Max damage on Travis
2:25:05 Forrest's secret
2:32:10 Bleeding Quaker Oats
2:34:30 Dropping a med kit
2:38:00 Asking in binary
2:40:25 Sarge, duck
2:47:15 Virgil
2:53:45 HDYWTDT
3:03:50 One last game of Scrabble
3:08:55 Nomen ends her mission
3:13:30 Family
3:17:25 Ashley Planet of the Apes’d us
3:19:20 Thanks Kyle’s Mom
3:20:20 The origin of Nomen
3:22:40 Post credit thank
3:23:05 Episode Ends
The in-game start date for the episode was set sometime after 3051 PD.
The system they used for this game was a hybrid of Mothership RPG and the Aliens RPG systems. Some other sci-fi systems you might like are Esper Genesis (a DnD 5e based system), Starfinder (a Pathfinder based system), and Stars Without Number (based in some old school DnD mechanics). I love science fiction, I don’t get to use it enough in my games, and this one-shot was definitely an inspiration to correct that. Also, if you like this, watch The Expanse.
Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?
BOOST THIS MAN!!
Flando with the speed
Oops ignore the comment I just made lmao
Thank you💛
flando legend
Travis and Liam constantly interjecting with "Ashley this is so fun" is what every player everywhere should do for their dm.
I’m not gonna lie to my DM. This shit is usually boring af… I’m waiting for my character to be killed off naturally to stop playing. Over the computer is lame af.
Disco Lullaby Sounds like it’s not for you if you aren’t having fun.
Travis is the perfect hype man for any DM I swear
@@discolullaby5777 just... just dont play
@@discolullaby5777 Literally making the game worse, because you keep forcing yourself to play. I had a player like this and he just eventually left because "it sucked" but everyone else was having a fun time. Just leave the game, it'll be better for everyone.
"So I fired and I missed, I fired again and I missed, I fired again hit something, but it wasn't what I was aiming for so I technically missed." - Captain Glass's mission report.
"I tried to grab the smart gun, but I missed. I grabbed the flamethrower. I tried to put the flamethrower back. I missed. I dropped it on the floor."
"This went on for several hours".
Ah yes, the glory of Game Grumps!
It was not a very smart gun and Laura sadly did not quite get to live out her Ripley fantasies here.
Would have been something if everyone died, she was the lone survivor and initiated self destruct before escaping in that escape pod.
I was out of bullets, then i got sad. I had a popsicle, then i passed out in the snow.
"The fuck am I gonna do in here math?" How does Travis always make me love his characters?
he can totally do math.... he just can't do reverse math.
Because Travis is amazing at making his characters come to life and making them relatable and funny.
He’s an overall like-able and charming dude
ashley: *constant stress*
everyone else: omg, this is so cool, i love this
This is very much a summary of the DM (and GM ) experience.
This was me running my first one shot last week for my partners birthday it wasn’t even dnd it was just a Sam style one pager and I was terrified!
Never underestimate the effectiveness of positive encouragement.
nothing says romance like travis's hardened veteran character looking at his wife's stoic captain character and saying "I read your file, I know its your favorite. The flamethrower's for you."
She looked so happy when he said that!
... that man ... Is texan god bless him
I think that might be a FMAB reference
@@EthanGeye unintentionally it kinda is 😂 but I think it’s a reference to ripley from alien it’s kinda who Laura’s character is based on
do you have a timestamp?
I adore how well-differentiated Taliesin-horror and Ashley-horror are.
And Liam-horror
It's weird - I rate Liam's horror as scarier than Taliesin's even though I am heavily steeped in HPL. Weird. Looking forward to Ashley's version! Let's see how she does :)
Wow different people running different games are different? Who would've thought
@@g0lddustt29 I don't really watch a lot of horror; this is mostly expressing appreciation at there being so many varieties (cosmic horror, space horror, dream horror...), and how well done they are without resorting to shock value.
@@curtisholsinger6023 the real horror of Lovecraft is all the racism
Taliesin going for coffee before anything else is probably the most accurate roleplaying I've ever seen of a software engineer
As a software engineer, the fact that he got to sleep at all, is the most fantasy element of this entire adventure :P
Lore dropping some addictive tendencies with his *special brew*
I started by drinking coffee cause I needed to wake up and stay focused. Now I just drink it to get rid of the headache from drinking it. I'm gonna die one day.
@@warmpancaxe get off of it. suffer for 1 week. you will thank yourself afterwards.
@@warmpancaxe I have the same issue; It’s easier to wean off of it than hop off the coffee immediately cause it’s essentially a caffeine addiction and the headaches we get are a sort of withdrawal. I used to drink 2 cups; one in the morning and night, but after weaning off of it, I can drink one cup in the morning and not get a headache.
That scene at the end with Dr Nomen was a masterclass by Marisha tbh. She had everyone completely engrossed, it was a fantastic blend of funny, sad and shocking and the reaction was delicious.
This whole thing was great, Ashley did an amazing job as did the production crew. Would totally watch a 100+ episode weekly series of this haha
Agreed. Marisha's ending was so well executed. The comedy of being born in a petri dish, the lack of identity for being "yet another Johnson frog" to the dramatic ending itself. Just wow. I rewatched that scene 2 or 3 times.
Agreed!
Totally. It takes serious skill to give people the feels for a character that we only know for a few hours.
Ngl 100+ seems way too much, would make it like a ‘The 100’ situation which went from being a series about a 100 people be sentenced to survive in a “inhospitable” planet earth, and then slowly devolved into being about “Hey there is an omnipresent being that will determine whether all of humanity will become one with it and basically live in equilibrium, or death made by the choice of words made by a representative of humanity which whoops the main character became one of the worse people in the entire series and chose to be the representative.”
@@joxyver ohh i remember the 100. i only watched the first one or two seasons. your synopsis.... you gotta be kidding me. what the hell happened to that show??
Travis channeling every 80s badass trope with so much joy makes my heart full.
That's actually the meanomorph ready to burst...
it was truly a role he was born to play
Travis is as we know a man of chaos
Gunnery Sgt Grog at your service!
He is such a goofball.
"Are you a cyborg what are you"
"I'm just trying to help"
This line just got me
What time stamp was this line? I couldn't find it.
@@nathanielkeys3597 2:25:05 I believe is the reveal
So sad we didn't get to hear more about Forrest. He seemed like the best.
@@emilyredbird7497 I don't know how Liam manages to make the BEST characters in one shots that we just want so much more of
@@Ailieorz It's honestly impressive. He's just a really great storyteller. I'm impressed with just how /kind/ Forrest seemed, how goodness seemed to almost radiate from him. Acting! :o
The collective gasp at the end with Marisha is why I love bold roleplay choices like that. It gave me chills.
Marissa is so underrated 💙
Omg i mean Marisha hahahaha
@@reichadendeng9007 apparently so much so that you can’t even spell her name correctly when complementing her 😂
@@RDR911
Its Marsha Roy right ?
But yeah, suicide sounds preferable to hatching that thing.
Travis unlocked the bad end.
@@reichadendeng9007 That and "I go back into the science lab." "NO YOU DON'T" "YES I DO"
Spoilers: Do NOT! read if you haven't watched the video yet.
I was honestly surprised that Sarge didn't shotgun himself to the chin instead of going out like that.
just rewatched this and laura bailey's badass ripley-like character missing all of her shots is still sooo fucking funny
Ashley’s calm voice and narrations seem to bring to life the empty nothingness that is space. Coupled with the minimalist ambient soundtrack its eerie and wonderfully so.
I know right! I had a crisis about our insignificance and it’s a bit terrifying but really cool
Its my first time watching this and I found it boring. I'm not sure what the appeal is. Only here because of the twitch hack, never heard of them before.
@@beayn While Ashley's one shot here is quite fantastic, it certainly may not be the taste for everyone. I highly suggest watching one of the Critical Role Campaigns to more properly get an understanding for the appeal of CR as a whole.
@@beayn Right, the fake Twitch hack with no credible reason to believe it at all lol
Agreed! I'm really digging the cold heart of space vibes!
I know Ashley said she never wants to do this again, but I would watch her DM literally anything. I am truly overwhelmed by how incredible this is. This has been by far my favorite one-shot I have ever watched, on CR or otherwise. I got so emotional at the end. It was well balanced in every way. I wish this were a longer series but that would detract from the beauty of this story. Well done, Ashley. Truly, phenomenal job.
See for me Grogs oneshot was the best. Not because it was emotionally heart wrenching or anything but because I just could not stop laughing lol
I was very surprised at how much I loved Ashley's one-shot! 😍 I would definitely watch more!!
Ashley DMing a Mass Effect campaign would be DOPE
@@danielpayne1597 omfg I'd love that so much
Same here. This was wonderful. Ashley's voice and delivery was so amazing.
here's hoping that ashley's campaign 3 character is a motherly warforged to give us more of that sweet
A.I. voice
Now that's something for her to think about!
👍👍😎😎
Well done running your first game, Ashley
😎😎😎😎
I'd bet she could give Rhi/Sentry a run for her money.
Ugggg right
That shit was nice
That’d be awesome, especially if paired with Fearne’s deceptively sweet and dark personality.
Like, I know it was probably nerves, but the way Ashley paused with every line and let it all... just... _hang in the air..._ just set the tone perfectly
Laura: "I don't want shoot grenades into the engine room"
*proceeds to shoot every fuel tank in the engine room with a Smartgun*
I just imagine the Spongebob "You're Good... You're Good..." each time another one blows up
@@Project_Lies That truly was a glorious moment.
“You need air to start a fire right?!”
I just wish someone had seen the word hypergolic...
As Jester would say: Well technically... :D
Letting them roleplay, then adding that she forgot to tell them that they're still in cryo is such an Ashley Johnson thing to do.
I took that as their introductions to each other 30 yrs ago before they went into cryo
@@Lulu-qp4jm Based on what they were saying, I think that's what they retconned it to as well as soon as she mentioned they were in cryo.
@@Lulu-qp4jm once Ashley mentioned they were still in cryo, they all agreed that this had been their intro before getting frozen.
Unintentional power plays. Classic Johnson.
Ashley's "Mother" voice is an odd combination of soothing and unnerving.
It's that uncanny valley from AI generated voices where, even if it's nearly perfect human speech, your subconscious reminds you, "Right, a computer just said that, not a person."
She truly nailed it so well.
Really can’t blame Marisha for rolling an insight check there tbh
Yeah its like Glados's voice! Just much less robotic. Some of the moments in this when "Mother" was talking gave me chills.
Aka the perfect sci-fi AI voice
As all good AI should be
When Travis says "this is the best", Ashley's reaction almost made me legitimately cry. As a frequent GM, it hit me right in the feels seeing all of her anxiety melt in that moment as a player had a genuine, unprompted moment where they said they were enjoying themselves. And yes, Ashley, this was AMAZING
Also love when all the players one by one notice and start laughing when they realize they're getting "Planet of the Apes" 'd
Update: hey look, I cried anyway
AMAZING JOB
You did a great job providing this world for these characters, these brilliant actors to live and die in.
Wonderful job everyone, living characters it was fun to watch succeed and fail.
Brilliant
Thank you for sharing your game with all of us.
when does he say this
@@DevDog98 roughly 1:14:30 I think
Never underestimate the power of positive encouragement.
52:12 is another one
Taliesin as Dr. Wiser not wanting to be a hero and just booking it to the escape pod was my favourite thing.
Such a great character moment!
Man wanted his character to live for once
I just feel robbed that nobody called Dr. Weiser "Bud"
To be fair, who was he to argue with a direct order from his Captain? XD
Laura finally finds dice that roll consistently high, but it is in a game where rolling low is mostly desirable.
@@wafelsen I love Liam combining Brett from Alien and Bishop from Aliens.
“Manipulation is my highest skill” i literally was yelling w the cast ugh so good
I swear they all have a master degree in One Liners
i know ashley said she never wants to do this again, but truly this is one of my favorite one-shots, she did such a great job DM-ing! i keep coming back to rewatch this
I've watched it at least 20 times now, it's just so great.
@@pizzamom555I watch it to go to sleep and my dreams are amazing. I’ve shown this to about 30 people to try to get them into critical role and D&D by proxy
Facts! She crushed it
Me too, Ive watched this one shot a few times already!
hey, i'm back here again. the ending still hits!
Ashley: the sounds that Sarge are making are horrifying
Travis: *high pitched sounds of agony*
Ashley: ...guttural...
Travis: *lower pitched sounds of agony*
Possibly my favorite part of the entire stream.
@@JB-xl2jc Besides Laura doing her best to end her hubby.
Timestamp?
@@-lackey-849 3:05:30
@@-lackey-849 3:05:30
I love how Travis takes every opportunity to go all-out on his cosplay. It's such a delight xD
"Get a theater degree kids. It's not totally useless"- Travis with a completely dead-eyed stare while wearing Harvey Dent makeup
@@wolight while wearing PERFECT Harvey Dent makeup
...and just the way he always cheers Ashley on - love it!
He’s the ultimate team player and one of the biggest examples of “nerds and jocks have a lot more in common than they think”
His Orly costume is the best example of this
"It's got a trigger and a little thing"
Best description of how a gun works by the man formerly known as Percival von Longest Name Ever.
When he goes "I'm not that great of a shot" I immediately went "Yes you are!" and then was like oh wait...LOL
I remember early in C1 there was a scene where Percy perfectly explains how primitive firearms work and how they were engineered. So I also found that pretty funny since Talesin most definitely knows a thing or two about guns from all the research he did for Percy
@@TitoMcFadden he probably invented them, everyone knows he's an elder god from the dawn of time.
Lord Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III of Whitestone's Firearms, Ammunition, Supply, Surplus, & Satisfaction With A Shit-Eating Grin Guaranteed, Incorporated®© At Your Service™
☮️❤️🍀☺️🎲
@@MidoriChanOG "You can call me Percy."
Marisha panicking in character and stumbling around trying to get the med-kit, whilst out of character knocking over her glass, is so incredibly on par. I'm dying! XD
The fact that Ashley remembered every single one of Travis’s guns names is the absolute best
truly a contrast to her narrative telephone skills
I am blown away by how well Ashley did. I would have guessed she was a seasoned game master, not that this was her first time.
First time, and streamed to millions of people.
There are some obvious points that demonstrate a first time DM here, but overall, she did well
It's probably because as a actor, voice actor and professional dnd player, she likely has taken many improv classes, which means some of the experience is there despite it being her first time. But yes, I agree.
Taliesin with specs, Travis “The Yee-est of Haws” Willingham, Laura’s unfortunate dice journey, Marisha teaming up with Sam’s lil’ one, Liam as a beautiful ruddy android, and most importantly Ashley’s Mother voice and very good GMing? Looks like this is one space horror feature I can actually get behind.
Finally getting caught up on the one shots. Ashley Johnsons "Mother " voice sounded legit like an A.I.
It’s like she’s a voice actor or something lol agreed, though
The subtle “no pressure” pun when exiting through the airlock was amazing
The way Ashley paused for a beat or two before doing almost anything added to the tension of the experience. Yes, it's most likely because this was her first GM experience and it was overwhelming. It didn't matter what's the cause, the result was that it make the experience more intense.
Newer DM's take note of this. If you need time to make something up, use the silence to build tension as you think.
Ashley did great. She designed the game so that her need for pauses would compliment the tension.
I believe, that Laura and Travis don't tell each other anything about how they are going to dress up for CR. They simply go into different rooms, get all sorted out and then open the door, look at each other, nod and walk to the car. I have no other explanation for Travis' outfit.
Laura thought Stargate SGC, Travis thought Andromeda High Guard Lancer Corps.
Now all I want to see is behind the scenes and Travis in a dress and go “well one of us has to go change and it’s not gonna be me”
@@Eheroa I can totally see Travis doing that
I love how even though this is so trope-heavy, basically re-doing existing sci-fi movies, and yet Ashley makes it feel so fresh, like it's something completely new.
And I have never seen someone so delighted to have his character killed as Travis was here.
Seriously, the ending was awesome, even though it was planet of the apes, it wasn't, because they weren't from Earth, they were from Exandria!
Yes I agree yet it feels like it was set in the Riddley Scott universe it fellt like it belonged
@@AllMenAreBerries Yeah...::forces himself to not think of Prometheus and Covenant:::
Players love a trope they recognise.
Ah fuck, when will I ever learn not to look at comments before finishing watching. Damn it.
Travis opening up with 5 crit successes is like when they establish the guy in the horror movie who will either be the hero or the Wharf that gets ganked first
Though appearently he stole all the crit successes from Laura...
Karma for that rogue he player who couldn't succeed at anything.
Resident Evil when the hypercompetent PMC sergeant leading the Op who consistently makes the right choices.... gets, ahem, latticed.
In fairness, he was the first to fully die, so that tracks.
Especially for her first time GMing, Ashley is a friggin’ incredible Game Master. This was so awesome.
I think what worked especially well were her pauses. I guess many of them were due to her fresh DM mind racing (decisions, phrasing…), but it created the right tension for this setting. And everybody was just glued to her mouth.
Man that "older and wiser" line by Liam was criminally underappreciated. if that was ad libbed, that was amazing. So damned clever.
Time ?
@@RamonCerrat Narration starts at 3:12:20, line is at 3:12:50
why? is it a reference to something or?
@@CrazyGoGoVrose "older" means he survived. "Wiser" means he is still himself.
It’s a role playing game, of course it’s ad libbed.
obsessed with the fact that all the characters are just designed to look like the VA with different styling and clothes, and Marisha is out here as a humanoid intelligent frog
I feel that everybody needs to be a frog at least once in their life. Valuable life lessons to be had there... Probably
Right, so all normal
I love that the explanation of WHY she is a frog person doesn't happen until after the game is over.
I'm sorry what's the VA ?
@@raiduk VA = Voice Actor. = All the cast members and most of the guests on Critical Role.
In another universe: Doctor survives, walks out of escape pod, credits roll... Mid credit scene, camera goes back to escape pod, and we see a drop of ichor, cut to black
No joke I was waiting for the end to be some sort of "and then a little puddle of black stirred..."
i was actually hoping for Mother to respond with "Terrain scan complete. Both of you may now exit the escape pod without issues.", or something.
When he got out his favourite book to read in the escape pod on the way down I definitely expected some ichor to drop onto the pages
I was expecting the snake to be infected and in the pod
I was 100% positive this was going to happen
Johnson knocks it out the park for this genre. Her understated and matter-of-fact style suits cosmic horror down to the ground. Genuinely surprised by how well she commanded the tone. Love to see a follow up series.
Well-said! Couldn't agree more :)
Liam smiling and jumping up and down in happiness looking like a kid when he hears MOTHER @ 16:45 is one of the best moment. It's so great so see a moment of pure joy!
I absolutely love Marisha’s frog-eye-esque space-buns;
_they’re a ‘toad’al look._
honestly that was a great croak, I mean joke!
The fact that no one laughed when Marisha said "I check myself" and Liam responds with "before you wreck yourself." Shows how tense this was for them.
Which in the end makes it funnier because in the end she did wreck herself lol
I love the little throwback that Travis knew which side of the ship the Starboard side was lol
He didn’t even need his sailor’s guide!
omg you’re right- i didn’t even notice that!!
Noticed that, was hoping for a 'oh, you know your way around ships, Sergeant?'. ;-)
@@kieran163 No, I'm Starboard.
@@putinmahcochin1636 Nice catch (pun intended haha)
An easy way to remember it is “there is no PORT LEFT”
Ashley said something like "Mommy's taking you to space". She wasn't lying.
0⁰p⁰⁰0
Oh wow replying while sleeping is fun! I speak alien tongue while sleeping, good to know!
Oh wow replying while sleeping is fun! I speak alien tongue while sleeping, good to know!
@mmpj twod that's not science, that's SCIENCE! Entirely different! Needs the caps, and the exclamation- SCIENCE! is an entirely different beast!
I love how the sarge is just smoking that cigar during rapid oxygen loss, haha. Zero shits given.
Could just be chomping it.
Its for looks and nothing else
He's probably basing the behavior off of Aliens, so the cigar's unlit.
@@rowanw1312aww, you mean he didn't do it as a metaphor like that male lead from The Fault in our Stars? 🥺🤣🤣🤣
Except for that one, very liquidy one at the start, of course.
The cast's and Ashley's reactions at Marisha's final act were GOLDEN. Also, I need NEED Travis and Marisha to play some sort of relatives for C3! The way they play off each other's chaotic energy in every game is hysterical and perfect; can you imagine them being siblings or cousins and having that energy be in-character?!
Captain and first mate was already fun, family would be great for 3!
trav and marisha playing family in c3 would be BEAUTIFUL aaaaa
Marisha is just so unbearably annoying.
@@paulsokeel568 😂ok
I love how supportive Travis is. It's so flipping cute like Ashley wanted Matt there to make noises she did... Travis: You did it!! Jdizbuesnaidj
Travis is paladin energy. Aura of Supportiveness, GetBehindMeI'llProtectYou energy, bit of a boisterous bruiser deal going on, at least on the surface, BUT belies a deeper pensive thought beneath. Plus he's married to Laura MF Bailey. Definite goals
Travis is everyone's big brother and I fucking love him for it. He is positive energy personified
It's so fun to watch how supportive he is of his friends while playing these RPG's. He was lovin every minute of this one shot.
He carries divine masculine encouragement energy
@@JB-xl2jc this is healthy masculinity.
I love how Travis rolling four Crit successes and Liam rolling four failures in a row has both of them equally happy. Liam plays for the sake of the game and it's beautiful.
They both do, actually… I’ve seen Travis and Liam both embody the rolls they make… Even if they’re straight up dog shit
@@madhatter873 don’t forget travis literally reminded Matt that he forgot to roll his constitution saving throw with disadvantage when fighting with craven edge and got grog killed because of it. then he laughed.
@@Imasquidx Oh boy I really need to stop reading comment sections before I catch up on all 3 campaigns.
(no fault of yours, I blame myself)
@@mel_virgo I've been there my friend. Spoilers suck bit the comments are always so good.
Ashley's narrative voice is just phenomenal. She did a fantastic job for someone DMing for the first time. Most of us can only hope we'll be half as good when taking our first plunge into DMing.
I just wanna say that, as much as everyone absolutely nailed their roles to the goddamn wall, I was so happy to see Ashley killing it as GM. I was really looking forward to her one-shot, especially once I heard what the genre was. Even if she does decide never to do this again, I hope she knows that the community are really happy that she did indulge us this one time and that it was awesome.
Loved the production values, loved the plot, loved the performances, loved the GMing, five stars all round.
Not 15 minutes in and Travis has me crying at “Number humpers”
"Phezzww, I wish I could really do sound effects"
"That was pretty good"
I love how even with the smallest hint of self doubt, the cast are quick enough to assure each other that they're doing greater than they think they are. Love this people so much
This whole one-shot was so cinematic. I think this alone would be a great movie. It had action, drama, emotional highs and lows, a solid story, good characters, and opens the door to a series.
It would be a great movie if not for the fact that it's basically a copy of Alien
@@ethanlivemere1162 With a bit of Planet of the Apes.
@@ethanlivemere1162 imo a movie that entirely happens on a ship with an AI voiced by Ashley, this specific crew (frog and garter snake included) and their successes and failures would render a little different than Alien and it could be a really fun watch. a lot of movies are very similar to others - especially in these genres - and it could even be an homage so i don't think the similarities would take anything away really
@@soniaiboyako4023 I didn't really mean it from a perspective of enjoyableness, more from a legal perspective
@@ethanlivemere1162 oh well in that case i guess the more obvious references could be swapped or something, with enough different details for it to be passed as an homage or even just inspired - for instance even though she's also named Mother it tracks in relation to Dr Nomen L. Frenno and she didn't speak in Alien, or she could be named something else entirely and then it's just another AI on a spaceship. i know my comments get a little lengthy and i'm not disagreeing w you, i just haven't slept and find the idea of this as a movie really cool
Marisha: I bet the code is 6969.
Travis: Nah, it couldn’t be.
Laura: it’s 6969.
Laura’s face: Goddamnit Marisha.
Missed opportunity.
"Swordfish. It's always Swordfish"
Timestamp?
“It feels like fiberglass”
“Oh, that’s, that’s dark, Ash”
“🥺 I’m sorry”
And Travis' face immediately after that. He's so supportive
I didn't get the reference, is it something personal to Marisha?
@@chrism7395 im curious too
@@chrism7395 Trust me, you dont want to end up in a position where it feels like shards of fiberglass are sliding down your throat.
@@prozythos8397 but is it a reference to something specific or just a horrifyingly vivid description
That water part in the helmet happened to an astronaut on the ISS, Ashley is nerdy enough, I bet that’s where she got the inspiration. Awesome reference.
Whaaaat imma Google, I hope they were ok
@@lordofgraphite search Astronaut Luca Parmitano.
@@Gegs12 just read about it, she definitely was referencing the real life event. So glad he's ok
Yeah, that’s happened to Chris Hadfield too. He was the first Canadian commander of the ISS. He has a whole thing about going blind on a space walk when something got in his eyes and his tears wouldn’t leave his face. Pretty crazy!
@@emersonboatwright5391 Yeah, the inside of NASA visors have anti-fog chemicals, and water that touches that is *not nice* when it gets in your eyes. That's what happened to Chris in 2001; when that bulge of water got over his eye, his body just reacted by closing his eyelid. IIRC when it got bigger, it slipped over the bridge of his nose and got in the other eye, fully blinding him.
A Globe and Mail article (major Canadian newspaper) from 2014 titled
"Water leak problem that nearly drowned astronaut was misdiagnosed earlier"
mentions the Hadfield incident while discussing the 2014 incident with Luca Parmitano where he water filled the top half of his helmet, down to his nose (but not quite his mouth), so he had to pull himself back to the airlock by his safety tether because he couldn't see.
(UA-cam is deleting comments with links, otherwise I'd link it)
And apparently shaking his head around to try to move the water just made things worse, not better. Things like this are why nerves of steel and the ability to stay calm while solving life threatening problems are key criteria for astronaut selection. And it's still damn impressive when those skills are actually put to the test.
---
Does the ship in Ashley's one-shot have any kind of spin gravity or other artificial grav at the cargo bay? I was thinking it did, in which case getting back to that would give you a wet shirt or feet, instead of a wet face, while the airlock was repressurising. But given the model of the ship + spinning living section + cargo container, maybe not?
Nobody's RPing weightlessness inside the ship, at least not before intermission, but if it has a spin section then they probably don't have sci-fi artificial gravity. You wouldn't want your cargo bay / airlock in a portion of the ship where things would fly off, or have to match spin to dock.
Ashley freaking killed this. If this ends up being her only one-shot, what a one-shot this was. Even better seeing just how fully enraptured everyone was by the game and in her as GM. Liam looked so proud at the end ❤
I always come back to this one shot. Might have seen this like 8-9 times by now. Ashley killed it. Hope she does another one.. it’s worth the millions it cost (donations) to make Ash do this
Ashley so dreaded doing a one-shot, and honestly this may be the best one-shot not DMed by Matt that Critical Role has done.
Gotta contest that, sorry. Song of the Lorelei by Liam is the best.
Bears, man... Bears
Well call of cathulu by taliesan was great too
I don't know, the sleep-deprived madness that was Honey Heist 2 is a HIGH watermark
This was really good but I will second song of the lorelei too that really felt like its own campaign really.
To everyone watching fresh: you’re in for a treat. It is so good, and Ashley did a great job for her first time GMing.
The ending especially WILL make you cry.
I'm excited for this!
classic ashley, always making us cry lol
You are so correct. The tears came down so fast!
I've seen pretty much every one shot that they have done.... And I gotta say.... Ashley KILLED it here wow... She's been on fire lately!!
They are amazing voice actors, but Ashley is so fucking incredible.
The part where Ashley says "M-Meanomorph" is the hardest I've laughed in years
Mean O Morph or "Mom" for short.
Coincidence?
Like it was clearly not something she had thought off and had to think quickly for a copyright free name.
@@markkoehr5003 I'm sure she didn't have that repair-- prepared :)
It's cause she's so confident in her narration throughout the whole thing and plays her own world straight, then she just randomly breaks and admits "Yeah this thing is a Xenomorph with the serial numbers filed off."
it's the meanest form you'll ever see
I know for a fact I cannot be the only one, but dear fucking god that last exchange between Mother and Nomen had me _sobbing._ Can I please just have AI Ashley Johnson on hand at all times to tell me she's proud of me and I've never disappointed her?
You can literally hear just how nervous Ashley is in the beginning with her breaths, she did so well!
"Captain, we're at the hull breach. Waiting on your orders."
"(Static) Fix it."
Cracked me up!
UH
Ashley's measured pace when answering questions & giving details builds the tension so well!👏👏
I've lost count of the number of points of stress I've got!
It seemed so effortless on her part. I loved how intense she was at times.
It came off good, but as a kinda new DM... it just gives more time to think what to say, I believe that it was not an intentional choice, rather a bit of newbie fault played off with confidence that added more to the story. It is still really good, but i believe it was not intentional.
Gad damn it Liam. I knew there was a reason why he wasn't panicking when he was drowning in the suit!
I'm crying over "I wish we were playing Scrabble right now"
How is nobody commenting on Taliesin's "a smart rifle is a rifle with a PhD"?
That was genius!
A lot of his best jokes go completely unmentioned. I will do a second view and focus in him if I think I missed something.
It's because they'll give anything a degree these days. Those rifles probably didn't even have to earn them.
@@troodontalon5990 very well done. You got a chuckle out of me.
It is because Taliesin's comedy is so smart half the time that can be easily missed.
@@troodontalon5990 *Envisions rowing team using rifles as oars.*
"Dr. Wiser handles the software, I'm more the hardware...engineer." -definitely not a synth
I am so pissed I didn't catch that...dammit Liaaaaaammmmm!!
Oh wow. Damn Liam, xD nice!
This is the second time Liam, in a one-shot, was not what he first appears. The first time was in Talisen's Call of Cthulu one-shot.
Bit suspish
Ooh, great catch! Also, for anyone who wants to rewatch that moment, here's the timestamp: 12:10
“ on the contrary, Mother, I found family “ why did that hit so hard 😭😭😭
I was surprised that even the captain didn't get to bring family members.
because liam has made it his life goal to make me cry
@@akirastcroix I am SO glad Im meeting all the CR members at NYCC this fall!
When Liam said "I found family." that shit was damn. Made me fuckin tear up.
Liam is a master of the zinger.
THIS
I was already in tears by this point and that did not help at all
I love that travis’ character LITERALLY looks like him, and Marisha is a whole frog person 😂
...Travis as a frog person 🤣
I mean, I imagine that would've been a difficult costume...
@@rosiecooper8030 Well at least she tends to perch on her chair when she gets excited, so that's about as close as she can get to a frog without wearing a mask ;-)
@@chrisrudolf9839 i think her space buns are either a pun on space haha OR its to emulate the big eyes frogs have in a similar spot of the head
@@willoux_ that’s the impression I got, to roughly emulate the appearance of a frog. And while she obviously wasn’t gonna wear a see-through top, I thought what she wore spoke some flavor about Frenno as a character.
So, a little fun smol fact:
'glass frogs' are known as "ranitas plataneras" or "plantain frog" here in Latinoamérica, bc they are little jewel-like thingies that sleep on the folds of banana and plantain trees.
They are the CUTEST things sleeping, harmless, and incredibly important for a healthy enviroment.
Marisha did a wonderful job. And Ashley RULES the 80's synth vibe, great work!!!
Ranitas se traduciría mejor como "froggies" which just adds to the cuteness.
@@hammeroftyr eeeees decir... you can. but I didn't wanted to be obnoxious or anything.
it's just such a cute creature, and a great RPG decision. moar please!
Thank you for the fun facts 🥰 adorable 💖
@@AdriftInTheWatersGorge 🐸🤍💗🐸. one of my dreams one day, would be to create some sort of Magical Bestiary with the animals on my home country (COL 🇨🇴).
like... we have FROGS, y'all. and 🦋. it'd be a year's endeavor.
Can I just say that Ashley is an AMAZING GM?
Like, I have been neglecting her a lot as a player for being a bit... background-ish compared to others, but her GM flow is glorious. She has the strength, the storytelling timing, everything. She sounds like she's been doing it for years.
She's an outstanding player also, always giving plenty of room for the rest of the party but then turning up with the coup de grace when required.
Totally agree that her gm skills are incredible. The pauses she takes add so much tension
@@munchkin5679 a DM needs time to think, and having the self-awareness to NOT fill that space with uh, hmm, and um, is HUGE. Silence builds anticipation and tension and is a wonderful thing.
at this point everyone of the cast is lowkey top shelf at DMing. Honestly was there any oneshot which was lacking?
I was the same watching the first 50ish episodes of campaign 2, but now in campaign 3 she's really made a presence for herself
These 5 characters might be the most type-cast for each of the players they've done yet. Who's surprised that Travis is playing Gunny? Or that Laura is the Captain of the spaceship? Or any of the other three? They are all the type of character I'd expect these people to play in this sort of setting. And it's wonderful.
Marisha is totally in Sam's shoes
I agree, especially with Travis, but I have the impression after watching several one-shots that they are so good actors that they make you think they are typecast for the role no matter what they play.
If you want to know what I mean, watch the Honey Heist one-shots. They roll for for their role in the team and they simply roll with that and make it seem as if they planned to play that role all along.
At this point I can't tell what any of their real personality is like except that Travis is into military, Liam likes drama and Sam is above average goofy.
I thought Laura's calm captain role was quite different from how excitable she often is when playing other characters, even Vex'ahlia. I'm not surprised she's *able* to slip into that role like she has into many others, but it was something I hadn't seen her do before in a live-play. (I've seen all of campaign 1, and up to C2E69, and almost all of the one-shots, including all before ~2019.)
I think Laura's natural tendency (if she wasn't specifically playing a captain character) would be to react more to stuff that was happening, not hiding that she doesn't fully know what to do.
In most games, she's often kind of in character while listening to the GM's narration, e.g. in her body language. But here you can see her getting super excited as usual about the crazy stuff that's happening (e.g. during the first combat), only getting into character to actually RP. vs. earlier in the game keeping more of a straight face even for some cool narration by Ashley where the rest of the cast were more animated. That first combat was right after the break, so probably she got out of character a bit. Anyway, I'm just pointing this out to show how the Captain is different from baseline Laura, not a criticism.
The rest, though, especially Travis and Taliesin, are certainly playing in pretty recognizable ways. (And I think I've seen Marisha do a wide-eyed enthusiastic character before, too.) And yeah it's great, they're very good at it, making each new character still interesting even if the basic personality isn't a big stretch for the others.
Some of the non-roleplaying videos they've done gives a bit of insight into their real personalities, like one where they had a ghost hunter come over to one of their houses. Laura got pretty excited about the possibility that something had been detected by a gadget, IIRC. (I forget if this was Sam&Liam's podcast or what).
Or where Laura and Liam played a video game together, and tried to made their characters look like twins. (Then found out the names Vex and Vax were of course already taken on that server :P)
Travis seems to be the smartest of the group. He could play any role. Marisha is just annoying no matter what she does
I don't really agree. Laura's Jester is a galaxy away from the captain. Marisha's sweet Nomen is nothing like Beau or even Keyleth. Travis's ultra-tough sergeant is nothing like Fjord (or even Grog, aside from toughness). Etc. Liam's Forrest is nothing like either Vax or Caleb. Tal's doctor definitely has some of the arrogance of Percy, but there is zero Caduceus in him.
So -- I don't know. I don't see it. I love the one-shot and think it's amazing, but calling all of these characters "type-cast" just sits wrong with me and feels a tiny bit like an insult (although I know you didn't mean it that way) because the reality is, they are all just talented enough to play whatever they need to. Either way, I agree that this was wonderful.
Ashley's pure calm voice is so soothing, while also being so creepy and eerie at the same time...this is so amazing.
OMG yes, so creepy.
“Both fail, things get bad.”
This was such an amazing one shot, holy shit Ashley. So fucking good. Also god damn it Liam you synthetic bastard.
Hearing Marisha mope about the pet snake is kinda funny at first, but then you see that basically Virgil is her only friend and companion she truly appreciated during the break slides and it just turns from hilarious to heartbreaking.
If Ashley is not comfortable with this online, she should definitely turn this into a home game. This is so good and her friends had so much fun.
This is what I was thinking! If it's the streaming aspect that makes her so nervous (which is totally understandable), she should totally DM for them without streaming it.
@@danthomas2003 could also be what she said, and not something else.
I can't even imagine having my first time ever DM'ing being live to thousands and then video'd for posterity... she ought to play some home games to get used to it before going live, I can't imagine the stress!
She complimented Matt and exasperatedly said "How does Matt do all this!!" BUT even in S1E1 Matt had years or maybe decades of experience!
@@JB-xl2jc and honestly she did amazing!
@@theusfilipe full agree!
"Wtf am I gonna do in here, math?" Never has someone quite summarized my feelings for my highschool algebra class so adequately.
Every time Laura plays a one shot character, all I can think of is:
“Them calls me Stinky Jules. On account of the fact that I don’t like to bathe.”
"Ma momma was an ESCORT!"
Was that the one were she ate the soap? Cause that was bloody brilliant.
"I prefer shootin' men to FUCKIN' em" followed by Mercer advising parents to not let their kids watch.
Those character intros were a work of art.
"You got pretty mouth reve"..... Stinky Jules Rip.
@@didrikschubertsson8673 - Yes. Reverend handed her his last bar, she's like "what's this" and takes a bite.
I just rewatched it after realizing I didn't remember most of these quotes, and it was as pure gold (and silver) as it was the first time. I'd remembered the basic shape of the ending, but not how they got there or much about the characters. And partly due to the the time limits of the charity stream (and the donation-imposed wackyness), that was the best part.
I don’t know why, but Ashley simply reading the writing from the Statue of Liberty’s book moves me so much. Her voice has such a power and beauty to it
When Ashley said at the beggining that the Nautilus entered the Solar system I thought maybe she messed up, and my brain played with the thought for a brief moment that they returned to the Earth and quickly dismissed it.
Also, her narration was soooo good for this game. With the slow sentences and the long pauses between words, she built up tension. It was perfect.
I caught that solar system thing too, but I though she meant to say galaxy. Good call back!!!
it's even better, she's implying that our ship is actually from the far future of exandria, note the date and the fact that its moon blew up.
I presumed she was just using "solar system" I'm the scientific sense in order to not have to worry about system names!
They were from another planet that went to Earth
I also realized that she deliberately used the word "planet" and not "Earth" during the prologue. I thought it was an insignificant detail but it wasn't at all.
Ashley nailed this (no surprise there)
The story and how it unfolds. Classic 70’s 80’s sci fi, so good
I love that kind of stuff, I miss the old ascetic like in the old alien films and such
I'm glad to hear someone say she's nailed it. I'm only just past the announcements, and I've been so terrified for Ashley. She's always seemed to be a background player (which is fine, because so am I), and the few times I've DMed, especially for other people who've DMed for me, it was absolutely nerve-wracking.
Yep Ashley was (inter)stellar here
Im surprised Taliesin didnt just play himself considering hell still be alive in the far flung future.
Side note, this is top five best one shot theyve done. Well done Ashley and props to the crew who helped get it to this level. Amazing work.
I literally just introduced my 22 year old son to Alien and we watched 4 of the movies in the last 2 weeks. Coming on to see this made my heart ache with such joy. Ashley being so nervous knocked it out of the park, Travis owned that role, Liam as an android is fantastic. I can't praise Taliesin Jaffe enough, the man just makes me giddy with every roll. Marisha is so sweet, always and using Sam's daughter's character was terrific. Laura is just a goddess forever. Man, I have missed these guys.
Ashley: "we asked ourselves as a species are we worth it?"
Me: *eating a twinkle*
I don't know you, but when i read this comment i could see your face XD
The fact the you misspelled "Twinkie" made this 1000 times better
This made me burst out laughing so hard 😂😂😂
YUM! TWINKLES!
HEY!... You got anymore Twinkles?
"I'm here to babysit all you egg heads and number humpers." Number humpers. I'm dieing XD
This took me out because I’m an accountant. The degree I’m perusing is almost purely “number humping”
This was probably the most coordinated I've seen any of the Critical Role cast.
They knew every freakin' thing aboard that ship! That was amazing!
I would love to see Ashley do a part 2 of this!
This is absolutely one of my favorite one-shots I've ever seen! My boyfriend and I were cheering on Ashley and the rest of the crew the entire time. You did amazing, Ashley! 💖 If we have to raise another 8.8 million dollars so that you'll GM again, I'll be sure to chip in.
Sad that the cast were so worried they were going to get ragged for not knowing the science of sci-fi/Space. I'm a science teacher and knew from the get go this is a bunch of people having fun with hokey movie science. The science works because the game says it works! Have we been watching sci-fi for the past 50 years? Enjoy it!
It even seemed like Ashley and also Marisha prepped quite a bit, you know? Though I was kinda amused at the idea of a frog holding its breath underwater
It reminds me of my grandpa and how western. If you ever asked him why they didn't just do xyz his answer would always be "because it's in the script"
Same with scifi I figure. People whoop expect realism in fantasy scifi blow my mind. Its like they go "the movies ruined. Can't watch it. What? No the giant alien that looks like Jeff Goldblum mixed with an epileptic walrus is fine but my god they miscalculated the thrust equation at the end so now it's just too unbelievable"
@@tycol322 this still seems more hard sci fi than space opera or science fantasy. But tbh I’m only 50 mins in and can’t help but put in my two cents before I have the full picture so I guess I’ll see!
I’m a person who is bothered by lack of realism in movies. The tone matters a lot; the intentional goofiness lets you know not to take the science too seriously. But either way, as a viewer it’s frustrating to be invested and kind of trying to problem-solve what they could do, and then it just turns out that in this universe sound travels through space or something like that.
I don’t think anyone ever has an excuse to be an asshole about something like that, but I resent the idea that there’s something wrong with me (or people like me) because I don’t enjoy inaccurate sci-fi as much.
All that said, watching these guys was wonderful. I miss CR so much!
@@DanKaschel I mildly agree but it's the difference between fun falseness and blatant falseness. Star Trek and Pacific Rim are fun, even though there are scientific inaccuracies like sound in space or Jaeger Suits being able to move as easily as they do. Then there's ones that take you out of it like Battlefield Earth.
This? This is the perfect balance. I love everything about this and I wish they would do more.
Ashley should DM more! She was so fun!
Travis is just playing his character in Aliens: Colonial Marines.
I thought we weren't allowed to talk about that game.
Why not?
@@Blackthorne369 Because the game sucked.
Though that wasn't Travis's fault, of course.
@@EightThreeEight this community is so weird with all of the 'are we allowed to talk about this?' It's not up to anyone to 'allow' you to talk about whatever you like.
@@MrRumcajs1000 I was kinda joking, dude.
“Can you shoot?”
“Somewhat…..Does It matter?”
“Yeah!! We’re in a pressurised vehicle in the middle of fuckin space, I’d say it matters!!!!”🙌🏻god level
Ashley is the greatest in this game. So wonderful, in control, and let the cast shine. Her "Mother" character was just TOO GOOD TO RETIRE! This story sets up perfectly for follow-up one-shots. Please
Can we all just appreciated the fact that for once Taliesin's character is the ONE that managed to stay alive. 😆
A very unlikely Final Girl in this horror movie.
I was waiting for Ashley to say there was another one of those monsters in his escape pod. xD But the end she brought was interesting so much more.
He could have been the one to get away in Doom but wanted to finish the mission like a boss
Nerdy computer scientist with glasses is the only survivor. Sounds illegal.
I knew I shouldn't have read the comments.
Not to get all sappy, but this was absolutely my favourite of the one-shots so far. I have loved them all (obviously), but this one just hit different. I don't know if it's because I really needed something to get me through today, or if it's my heavy sci-fi bias, but I could not have loved any moment of this more than I did.
Ashley's love for sci-fi in all its forms is so clear - this is a love letter to everything science fiction and written with such love and care
I'm so glad I saved this to watch today. It's been a really tough week and this reminded me of all the good in the world (and all the sci-fi I've yet to see!). Thank Crit Role, and thank you in particular to Ashley Johnson and Kyle for creating this masterpiece.
Thank you for your words. I feel the same, but you worded the sentiment so well.
It makes me a little happy that Ashley’s one shot is space themed, especially since Ellie (TLOU) loved space, it’s almost like Ellie finally got too :]
Apparently a lot of Ellie's love for space was inspired by Ashley's interest in it, as Druckmann got to know her over the course of making the game. So full circles all around. :)
@@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll this is so cute to know!