Defying Gravity: Discussion thread for the remaining episodes.

[Christopher]

^That might be a good analogy. Dollhouse was renewed because Whedon proved he could make its second season inexpensively by shooting on digital video and using other shortcuts. Defying Gravity is an international co-production, so no one producing partner needs to carry too much of the cost, and since ABC isn't one of the producing partners, it only needs to pay to air the show, not to help make it. So ABC's costs here aren't that high, which means the ratings threshold for renewal is lower. That is, if the various producing partners decide it's worth making more seasons.

 

[Tomato]

Yeah but..

Cdn production. Less than 30M people. And Germany with 82M people. There is some chance. In the end US, wins and Dollhouse DVD sales were alright but nothing to write home about. Don't forget ABC could barely even "fit" it in its schedule. Along with big name actor's like Ron Livingston. This show can't be cheap.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

They took the entire first run of 13 episodes to get through that first landing?

Jesus Christ! This show sounds even slower than LOST.

Lost grabbed me from the start and I never have once got bored. But I couldn't stand Defying Gravity - it is way more boring than Lost (which is a different thing from having a slow pace).

ABC isn't one of the producing partners, it only needs to pay to air the show, not to help make it. So ABC's costs here aren't that high, which means the ratings threshold for renewal is lower.

Just the fact that ABC would be using a prime time slot for this show costs something - they'd be sacrificing the slot that could be used for a more profitable show. This ain't desperate NBC we're talking about. ABC still has the hope of being able to air shows that can draw an audience.

I also gotta wonder whether the show creator or Ron Livingston is willing to stick with a show that failed with an American audience. That can't be good for your resume by Hollywood standards. It would be a smarter career move to just move on to something else.

I think a big problem with this show was the casting. There's a lot of dull and uninspired actors on it.

Oh yes. Livingston was the only watchable actor on the show. I also liked the jerk boss - good character actor - but the rest gave me the impression of a cheap show that can't afford to hire top talent.

Once again, compare this with Lost, where several of the actors, not just the characters they played, were instantly compelling. I could tell that Locke, Sawyer and Sayid were going to be fascinating to watch even in the pilot episode when there had been no time at all for the writers to develop the characters to any extent. I was also moderately intrigued by Charlie and Jack, and even Boone and Shannon. Actors with real on-screen charisma can help reduce the audience's frustration with a slow-moving plot.

 

[Dream]

They took the entire first run of 13 episodes to get through that first landing?

Jesus Christ! This show sounds even slower than LOST.

Lost grabbed me from the start and I never have once got bored. But I couldn't stand Defying Gravity - it is way more boring than Lost (which is a different thing from having a slow pace).

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge fan of LOST. However the first two seasons took forever to get going. I guess that wasn't a big problem for most audiences since LOST always gotten pretty good ratings.

 

[Nerroth]

I'm surprised at the negative reaction I'm seeing - I love this show.

I have been thinking that the guilt thing has never been aimed at tormenting those affected with it - but rather, as Eve referred to near the end, to make each person confront their own issues, in order to overcome them.

The Jen not seeing the object thing reminded me of what happened with

Spoiler: B5

Mollari when Kosh revealed his 'angelic' Vorlon-ness. While other individuals saw a range of figures (probably planted in their cultures by Vorlon social engineers millennia ago) the Centauri were apparently not high on the Vorlons' agenda, and thus saw nothing.

(Although, in B5, they do show what a non-corporeal Vorlon truly looks like, when they drop the facade. If the Centauri were not affected by the Vorlons, Mollari might have seen that squid-thing. Maybe the Vorlons made it so that the Centauri could not see them on the same 'access level' as other species?)

Shame the Nazca lines got mostly lost, though.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Centauari can see, it's Londo who was dead in side and riddled with Shadow influence.

 

[Chris_Johnston]

The whole thing with the journalist, Trevor Williams, trying to coerce Ajay's buddy Arnel into leaking the big secret had me face-palming, but I am sorta curious to see that impending flashback scene that'll explain why Arnel is now apparently walking with a prosthetic leg. (Did we see him walk like that in previous episodes?)

Incidentally, the guy playing Trevor Williams, Peter Howitt, is also a director, and he's done 3 DG episodes so far, including this latest one.
Hehe, he also directed Rowan Atkinson's movie Johnny English.

 

[Christopher]

Don't forget ABC could barely even "fit" it in its schedule.

That just means that because they started it late, they didn't have time to show the full season before the premiere. So they show part of the season and the rest gets delayed, perhaps until midseason, or perhaps as a replacement for whatever new show gets the axe.

Shame the Nazca lines got mostly lost, though.

Oh, no... they're using the Nazca lines in this? They're bringing in the ancient astronaut cliches? If that's the case, I'm glad I stopped watching.


So what was the big reveal about Beta? That was the one aspect of the show I was mildly curious about, which is why I keep reading these threads.

 

[Agent Richard07]

So what was the big reveal about Beta? That was the one aspect of the show I was mildly curious about, which is why I keep reading these threads.

Spoiler: Beta

Years ago, a signal originating from Mars was detected. Whatever was on Mars directed a signal back to Earth or more specifically to a location in Peru. What was found in Peru was a small artifact that looked like the orbs from DS9. That artifact was called "Beta" since it was the second artifact to get any notice, the first one being on Mars, which was labelled "Alpha". This "Beta object", as they called it, was placed in a compartment on the Antares and is what has been causing the halucinations. A signal has also gone out to other planets where it is believed that other similar artifacts can be found. Here are the names of the objects and where they are...

Beta - Earth (found)
Alpha - Mars
Gamma - Venus
Delta - Mercury
Epsilon - Europa
Zeta - The Rings of Saturn
Eta - Pluto

Antares' mission is to collect them.

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

Hey guys! I downloaded the episode from zShare. Here's a page with a link to it.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5903-Orla...till-airing-the-series--what-this-means-video

 

[chardman]

I think a big problem with this show was the casting. There's a lot of dull and uninspired actors on it. They're all cool when they have others to work off of, but on their own they're just kind of there.

I hear ya. Ron Livingston has got to be the most "blah" leading man in television history.

 

[Count Zero]

The whole thing with the journalist, Trevor Williams, trying to coerce Ajay's buddy Arnel into leaking the big secret had me face-palming, but I am sorta curious to see that impending flashback scene that'll explain why Arnel is now apparently walking with a prosthetic leg. (Did we see him walk like that in previous episodes?)

I asked myself the same thing. I honestly can't remember whether we learned the cause of that already.

Shame the Nazca lines got mostly lost, though.

Oh, no... they're using the Nazca lines in this? They're bringing in the ancient astronaut cliches? If that's the case, I'm glad I stopped watching.

Not really. It was mentioned by one of the characters (which annoyed me) but it doesn't really play a role in the episode.

 

[Tomato]

Hey guys! I downloaded the episode from zShare. Here's a page with a link to it.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5903-Orlando-SciFi-Examiner~y2009m9d19-Defying-Gravity-fans--Canadian-TV-is-still-airing-the-series--what-this-means-video

Countdown.. to copyright (holier than thou) complaints in three... two...

 

[Archangel]

you know...It took real talent for them to make what should have been one of the most riveting moments in the series and managed to make it dull.

Seriously, Eve's monologue about Beta almost put me to sleep and I should have been on the edge of my seat.

 

[Archangel]

The Jen not seeing the object thing reminded me of what happened with

Spoiler: B5

Mollari when Kosh revealed his 'angelic' Vorlon-ness. While other individuals saw a range of figures (probably planted in their cultures by Vorlon social engineers millennia ago) the Centauri were apparently not high on the Vorlons' agenda, and thus saw nothing.

(Although, in B5, they do show what a non-corporeal Vorlon truly looks like, when they drop the facade. If the Centauri were not affected by the Vorlons, Mollari might have seen that squid-thing. Maybe the Vorlons made it so that the Centauri could not see them on the same 'access level' as other species?)

That's exactly what I thought of.....Londo.

 

[Shawnster]

What, no poll?

I give it a Above Average/Excellent.

I do think everyone should share their hallucinations. Off to a good start on seeing that guilt is connected. I think they all need to share every hallucination and dream if they want to figure this thing out. Of curse, that would be too easy. At least Donner and Shaw have finally opened up to each other (and those overhearing) that they are seeing Mars.

Interesting that Jen does see the light emanating from Beta. Now, does she not have anything to feel guilty about? Is that because she's never done anything bad or that she's on the amoral side and doesn't have guilt?

Dang, Jen... cut down those tomato plants, why don't you? No, you may not have any guilt feelings but you sure are acting out. Why do you keep visiting the pod bay if this isn't bothering you? Here's a suggestion, Jen - reach in there and see if you can TOUCH Beta.

I do wonder if, perhaps each individual will find an orb they cannot see. Someone can't see Alpha, someone can't see Gamma, etc... Wonder if each orb affects a different emotion.

Wassenfelder hasn't had any hallucinations? Yet he sees Beta. Hmmm...

Note to Morales: You can be forgiven and still feel guilty. The Bible is full of people who knew they were forgiven and yet expressed guilt. In fact, feeling guilt is one of the first steps toward forgiveness.

Further to Morales: It's hubris to take one small passage from the Bible and immediately conclude "this is what it's about!" As if God gave this revelation to you alone. You cannot take one scripture and twist it into applying whatever situation strikes your fancy. It doesn't work like that.

So, Eve was working for a US disaster/recovery team. At least the US was still a geo-political entity at that time.

Someone posted on Flickr that the ISO and GD from Eureka are the same: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aharvey2k/3877449848/



I agree with Donner that knowing stars are giant gas balls doesn't diminish their beauty and wonder. Knowing that humans are ugly bags of mostly water doesn't diminish their beauty either (well, some of them anyway).

 

[Tomato]

^

The last quote reminded me about a talk Richard Feynman had with an artist. And how the artist said that as a phsyicist he couldn't understand the beauty of a flower b/c all he saw was atoms. This show can do a lot of things wrong but when it does things right. It nails a home run. I guess this is why I keep on watching.

 

[tenmei]

I think it's possible Wass has had hallucinations - and may not have realised he's had them yet.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I don't see the show on CTV's schedule anymore, but it will continue to air on SPACE.

 

[Tomato]

I don't see the show on CTV's schedule anymore, but it will continue to air on SPACE.

Thanks for the heads will they still be streaming them?