“Defying Gravity" 13-episode ABC sci-fi astronaut space series

[Agent Richard07]

The promo has been playing a lot over the last few days. The first thing I thought was "sex in space" because the promo was filled with it. Then sure enough, one of the characters says... "sex in space".

I plan to check it out. I'm very impressed with the cast. It has some good american and canadian actors that I like. I noticed Ron Livingston, Paula Garces, Christina Cox, Laura Harris and Maxim Roy so far.

Interesting that it's an international production. Kinda shows too. It looks like it has the same production values as Farscape.

[Worf2DS9]

The promos for this series aren't exactly lifting my anticipation for it, but I'm willing to give it a go.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I'm not going to make time for this on the first go-around - if folks are digging it after a few weeks and it looks like it has some legs, I'll catch up later.

[Temis the Vorta]

I'll be in Montana waaay the frak off the grid when this thing debuts but the VCR is rarin' to go. Hope it doesn't get cancelled before I get back!

Interesting that it's an international production. Kinda shows too.

Looking at the crew, to me it was, "wow a buncha white people and the Token Black Guy," as per usual. They coulda tried a little harder, maybe? Even Star Trek does better than that. Whatever, I'm sure that will be the least of our concerns.

[bigdaddy]

Didn't you know? They only let white people in space.

They are showing the show in August with very few ads which no one is watching anyways, it's already canceled on ABC.

[Christopher]

All 13 episodes were already produced before it was even offered for sale. ABC would've therefore presumably paid for the entire package, as with a syndicated show. So I don't think they'd have an incentive to cancel it before airing it all. After all, they don't have to pay for its production as they would with a typical network show. So they don't save themselves any money (except maybe in advertising) if they stop airing it. And because they didn't pay to produce it, they don't need as much ad revenue to recoup the cost, so it doesn't have to score as high in the ratings to count as a success. Or so I figure.

Also, it's an international production being sold to networks around the world. No matter what ABC does, it's got a full season already made and it's going to be shown.

[Temis the Vorta]

bigdaddy wrote:

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Didn't you know? They only let white people in space.

One of em is sposed to be Latina but she's the white kind of Latina pretty obviously. Maybe they don't count the Jewish guy as white?

We're gonna have fun with this one.

They are showing the show in August with very few ads which no one is watching anyways, it's already canceled on ABC.

Oh I dunno. They're getting $$$ from foreign investments so they don't have to get killer ratings to survive.

Then again this review makes it sound like we should shove the sucker out the airlock now.

[Christopher]

It looks like there's also an Indian character, Ajay Sharma.

Artificial gravity "that runs off magnetically charged nanites in their clothing"? A novel and clever handwave, but it raises questions. For instance, does it work on their hair too?

[bigdaddy]

I have a good review to offset the bad one...

http://www.cliqueclack.com/tv/2009/0...-numbers-game/

[jefferiestubes8]

I caught the last 1 hour and 20 minutes.

This is just my initial short review.
I liked it. I will plan to watch the whole thing. I already hope for season 2.

It had drama. actual sci-fi drama when someone was in a dangerous science-based believable situation.

This had a lot of flashbacks to training but I don't know if they will keep that up during the season or just the pilot.

The effects were top notch on SD NTSC monitor from HDTV Over-the-airwaves downconversion.
Good acting, good writing. I can't ask for more from a Summer television series.
Yes there were some dream sequences with unclothed people. Yes there were also regular scenes of sexual situations. It was rated:
"TV14 S" on ABC network here in America.
I realize other countries won't get this for weeks still so no spoilers.

A weak point was the regular spacesuits specifically the neck area. It is a TV series and not a feature film so we won't be getting super expensive suits.
The ship is pretty realistic.
Interiors:
There is a nice area for morning briefings with a roof that reminded me of a TNG/VOY/ENT Trek bridge in the actual roof being shown.
Industral crossbracing is in the straight walkway corridors [no curved corridors Trek-like seen yet] and not just clean walkways with minimal bulkheads. Maybe a little too gravity-bound but it does make it somewhat believable. Nice blue lighting built into the set walls itself like in Moon (2009).
Exteriors:
There is a huge sunshield in front of the ship that also has solar panels on it. That part of the design reminded me of
Sunshine (2007) .
Part of the ship's exterior lengthy design reminded me of the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and the 2nd ship that went to Mars in Mission to Mars (2000) that was hit by micrometeorites.
There were 2 rotating gravity-creating areas that reminded me of the Alexei Leonov ship in 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) .


This show does have the potential to bring a wider audience to Science Fiction on network television. I'll take the relationship drama along with it. Thank god for a spaceship-based television series on TV where there are not lasers, rayguns, phasers [I know it sounds sacrilige].

[Deckerd]

The BBC has it listed as a BBC Two commissioned drama. I don't understand why it's playing overseas before here.

[bigdaddy]

Because ABC bought the rights to show it when they feel like it and BBC is BS.

I completely forgot to watch it, oh well, probably on Hulu. It will have flashbacks throughout the show because only the first hour was the pilot.

[Deckerd]

BBC is BS? Please elucidate.

[Tomato]

bigdaddy wrote:

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Didn't you know? They only let white people in space.

Too true.. Well I'm glad Paula Garces made the cut. She's smoking!!!! I was kind of disappointed they didn't have the token Asian nympho walking around too. Hell these are the guys that put more limelight on Sandra Oh

[Christopher]

Deckerd wrote:

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The BBC has it listed as a BBC Two commissioned drama. I don't understand why it's playing overseas before here.

It's an international production, backed by production companies in the US, Britain, Canada, and Germany and produced in Canada. It doesn't belong to any one network. Although, ironically, the US is the only country where it isn't showing on the network of one of its production partners; the US producer is Fox Television Studios, part of the same Rupert Murdoch-owned conglomerate that also encompasses the FOX television network, but it's showing on Disney-owned ABC.


I found it rather disappointing. I guess I shouldn't have expected good science from a TV drama, but the Voyage to the Planets thing it's inspired by was pretty good in that regard, so I was hopeful. But it was too much to ask for.

First off... we do NOT explode like pinatas when exposed to vacuum. If they didn't do enough basic research to debunk that stupid, profoundly wrong myth, that pretty much scuttles any hope for solid science. There wasn't anything else quite as bad as that, but there were some problems -- mainly with gravity, ironically, considering the title. I mean, if the magnetic pull on the nanoparticles in their jumpsuits is the only thing holding them down, then why was Christina Cox's ponytail hanging downward?? Even in the supposedly free-fall sex scene, they made no attempt to hide the fact that her hair was sliding downward past her ear. Very careless. And then there were the shots in episode 2 of Laura Harris out in space in the Venus suit. When she was getting woozy from nitrogen narcosis, her head was lolling downward as if under gravity. They just aren't even trying.

In the same shots, the sun was reflected in the middle of her visor, meaning she was looking right into it, but she didn't have her sunshield deployed, just the clear helmet wide open to the light. She should've been blinded and severely burned by the unfiltered UV. Not to mention that in the reverse shots where we were seeing her POV through the helmet, the sun was nowhere to be seen.

I'm also not happy with the portrayal of Ajay's Hinduism. The terminology was wrong. Karma doesn't mean fate. That's a myth arising from confusion of karma with the Arabic kismet, which does mean fate. Karma means "deeds." It's the exact opposite of fatalism -- instead of believing that your future is fixed no matter what actions you take, the Hindu belief is that your deeds, your karma, determine the course your future takes. When Ajay was talking about the path he believed himself to be on, the word he used should've been dharma. In Hinduism, righteousness is defined by matching your karma, your actions, to your dharma, your rightful path. It's not about fate, it's about being true to your proper path.

The constant flashbacks aren't working for me. They can be confusing. I didn't even realize the first scene with Laura Harris mentioning her pregnancy to Christina Cox was in a flashback until the next flashback in that sequence came along.

The character drama isn't all that interesting, and I could do without the prophetic dreams and hallucinations and the mysterious thing in Pod 4 that's apparently calling the shots on this mission and is presumably alien in origin. Why can't we just have a straightforward drama about exploring space? That's a grand enough adventure that it shouldn't need mystical embellishment.