Remember the commands only works in combat, not if you're seeing the Sparkmaster, but are still not in combat...
Could be the reason for seeing this...
When I try using the remote in combat with the Sparkmaster, it brings my character out of combat and after I use the remote, skips his turn until the very end and doesn't seem to do anything. I've even tried doing this with half my team in combat and the character with the remote out of combat.