If you've ever said to yourself, "That weirded me out! I want more!" then Naked Cosmos may make your day! I missed the "hand-made" days of early cable TV but I saw plenty of homemade programing from local VHF and UHF stations when I was a kid growing up in the 60s. "The Naked Cosmos" slyly captures a goofy, retro, analog kind of vibe that was taken for granted (at best) and derided (more likely) back before the day of 700 channels.
Gilbert Hernandez hosts each of the four episodes as Quintas - a space-out, androgynous teddy-bear - and also weighs in as Kalisto, Quintas's archenemy. The lovely Carol Kavinick adds some wide-eyed appeal as Mistress Velda and the leopard-masked Chief! Mr. Hernandez takes on other parts and may even be the "upside-down jaw" puppet Zansky (a clever trick I last saw on the Winchell-Mahoney Show decades ago and that never fails to amuse me).
"The Naked Cosmos" wavers on a vague wavelength, somewhere between new-age mysticism and 1950s science-fiction. It is consciously comic and creepy without seeming to be self-consciously smug regarding the sort of clueless flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants weathermen-drafted-as-kiddyshow-or-horror-movie-host train-wreck waiting to happen programming that many of us look back on with such fondness. What fun! Watch an episode alongside your favorite cheap sci-fi flick or perhaps even The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra! Invite your friends! (12**)