Whilst falling down the quirky old British television shows rabbit hole, researching cult TV shows to watch, I heard about Luna. It was a well liked but mostly forgotten children's show about a found family unit living together in a dystopian 2040s city after environmental collapse. Knowing all this it sounded right up my street so I thought I'd check it out.
Doing some research I found that there had been two series which had aired in 1983 and 1984 on ITV. The show starred a 14 year old Patsy Kensit. Now, I knew of her as the 90s girlfriend of Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher and an actress who was in Lethal Weapon 2 but that was pretty much it but others knew of her from this show and a member of the band Eighth Heaven.
A young Patsy Kensit stars in this show and is good in the title role of Luna.
Set in the year 2040 within the bureaucratic confines of the Efficiecity, a sealed-off metropolis due to a polluted outside world, Luna offered a decidedly distinct and colourful vision of the future. The inhabitants, officially known by their 'batch codes' rather than names, are artificially grown and assigned to shared living quarters. Kensit, in the first series, played the titular character, '72 Batch 19Y,' who earns the nickname 'Luna' because she was 'batched' on the moon.
The show is a blend of futuristic dystopia with everyday family situation comedy. Luna lives with an eccentric 'family' unit, including Gramps (an old punk fond of 'classical' 1980s music like Human League), Brat (a 'dimini male' from the same batch), and the robot Andy (played by co-writer Colin Bennett). This unconventional household navigates the rigid rules and obscure jargon of the Efficiecity, leading to many humorous situations such as wanting a pet, going on holiday, saving an obsolete (android) family member from being junked. Yknow, all the typical comedy tropes we know and love.
The show was created and produced by Micky Dolenz of The Monkees and carries the same anarchic and goofy nature as that series but Luna was surprisingly prescient in its exploration of themes like artificial intelligence, bureaucratic control, and environmental degradation. However, it was all wrapped up in a package digestible for younger audience. Its blend of sci-fi, comedy, and subtle dystopian undertones made it stand out from typical children's programming of the era where it covers themes that were also explored in The Prisoner (in that Luna is more than a mere number under control), George Orwell's 1984 (in that there is a hierarchical beauracracy that controls and oversees everything) as well as most family situation comedies.
One of the most distinctive elements of Luna was its 'echno-talk' – a futuristic dialect designed to be easily understood by computers (but reminded me of the ‘True. True’ Cloud Atlas speech patterns. Phrases like "diminibeing" (teenage girl), "habiviron" (living quarters), "batchday" (birthday), and "obligivation" (deactivation/death) litter the show and, from doing some research, seem to remain fondly remembered by fans. The language and wordplay is a huge part of Luna's charm, emphasizing the show's thought-provoking themes about individuality and conformity in a highly regulated future.
Patsy Kensit, at around 14 years old during the first series, delivers a performance that is both precocious and earnest. She delivers the lines with gusto and even manages to talk to a dodgy looking alien muppet creature like it was a real being.
Despite its relatively short run and its status as a somewhat forgotten gem, Luna still works as a show that you can watch today. Its unique world-building, quirky humor, and Patsy Kensit's early performance make it a genuine cult TV series. Nearly 40 years after its release, it remains a fascinating and slightly unsettling glimpse into a future that, in some ways, doesn't feel so far off today.