Man, are these guys film geeks! Jay Bryant, Craig O’Conner and Tom Antonellis here join director Scott R. Martin in that old standby of no-budget video productions, the sketch comedy show. Hosted, for reasons known only to them, by a tube of Aqua-Fresh toothpaste that speaks in a voice resembling Mr. Bill, the common schtick linking all the “Realm of Wonder” skits is that they’re all either film parodies or at least film-related in some sense. Although a clever, if unflattering, send-up of George Lucas at a sci-fi convention kicks things off on a decent note, the show soon bogs down in a “Twilight Zone” spoof featuring a Daryl Zanuck (former 20th Century Fox chief) impersonation, followed by a tasteless Nazi-themed “Good Morning Vietnam” knock-off.
“Realm of Wonder” hits closest to home with an almost shot-for-shot Cliff Notes parody of “Pulp Fiction,” (which is actually kind of amusing now that the passage of time has allowed for some scabbing over of Tarantino-fatigue). Like most similar productions, “Realm of Wonder” features a handful of inspired moments surrounded by loads of marginal material. Fortunately, at only twenty-seven minutes in length, the show is over before the burnout becomes acute…which is merely a polite way of saying that “Realm of Wonder” is mostly harmless fun; a good-natured but public access-level outlet for some serious film geeks to show off their geekness.
