Remember Telstra’s intergalactic villains? Well, apparently getting defeated once wasn’t enough. Steve Buscemi returns as the wonderfully over-the-top space emperor in the sequel to last year’s sci-fi-inspired campaign, and his cyber-criminal crew has a new plan for “Oooostralia.”
Created by Bear Meets Eagle On Fire with +61 and directed by Randy Krallman through Smuggler, the new campaign picks up where the original left off. The villains have supposedly upgraded their technology, but Telstra has upgraded its security too. So much for evil genius.
Meet the Scam-pocalypse
The 90-second hero film drops us into a futuristic control centre, where a three-armed overlord unveils his latest invention: “Scampocalypse v.2.1.” The presentation has everything a proper space villain could want, including a furry bug-eyed sidekick, golden robes and plenty of ominous enthusiasm.
Then comes the anticlimax. The scam launches, only for a giant “Scam Blocked” message to appear almost immediately. Telstra has strengthened its network since the villains’ last attempt, leaving everyone in the room rather less enthusiastic about their supposedly advanced technology. Two additional 30-second films give the supporting characters more room to cause trouble.
Evil Has a Soundtrack
The sequel also knows that a good space opera needs a soundtrack. Retro-futuristic bleeps, bloops and other wonderfully silly noises fill the campaign, while a celestial keytar player punctuates the action with the kind of glam-rock energy that makes a 1974 space band feel entirely plausible.
Behind all the slime, zapping and sci-fi spoofing sits a serious message. Australians reported more than US$1.4 billion in scam losses last year, while Telstra’s network blocks millions of scam calls and texts every month. Turning invisible protection into a ridiculous villain is a pretty entertaining way to make that protection visible.
And as His Excellency discovers once again, sometimes the biggest threat to a villain is simply being several steps behind.
May the firewall be with you. — Julian Vega
