News Netflix orders series ‘Another Life’ Starring Katee Sackhoff

[eschaton]

Yeah, I finished up the series last night myself. It didn't improve in the end run over the "meh" level, but it didn't screw up the finale at least - which I was worried, because the series creator who wrote the dreadful pilot was given credit there as well. Which is kinda the inverse of what I tend to see more with flawed shows, where the initial setup is promising, and then the arc completely comes unglued in the end run. The Earth-side plot remains boring and predictable all the way until the end - although it's at least clear in the last episode why they kept on checking back in at Earth and didn't just focus on the POV from the ship.

I do sort of agree the show was looking for "woke points" to some extent, between casting a genderfluid/trans actor, depicting a poly relationship, etc. Though frankly the smartest and most thoughtful writing in the entire series was around William the AI. In a lot of ways he acted too human (like it was never explained why he couldn't be in two places at once) but the show at least made a cursory attempt to investigate issues like self awareness, free will, what makes someone human, etc - which was frankly more than I expected it to do.

 

[Q2UnME]

Just finished this series and enjoyed it, I suppose. The thing to me, that kept it in the ‘just OK’ category was that it was just riddled with every sci-fi trope they could find. It’s like they had a check list of tropes and just checked the boxes off every episode when they crammed another one in.

 

[Tarek71]

It did use a lot of well-worn sci-fi plot elements, sampled other franchises heavily, had some scenes that were clearly homages, etc. But they could have done it in a better way. Nevertheless, I was able to enjoy it by not taking it too seriously. There are other genre films and shows that I can watch despite unimaginative plots, b-movie acting, sub-par special effects, "crews" that wouldnt pass week one of real world cosmonaut/astronaut training, 2 dimensional cardboard characters, hilariously miscast actors, etc. Id watch a season 2. Though I think Chatwin, Sackhoff and genre fans deserve better.

 

[XCV330]

I have never seen her in anything - she seemed as bad as the rest of the cast.

I don't see the appeal in her acting. She was ok in BSG, but that was a role and script that anyone competent could have handled well enough. She does this strange face acting thing like she recently acquired a face and has heard people use them to make gestures with by working various muscles to indicate feeling. These movements can be random and exemplified so there are a lot of them. She is the best actor in the pilot, but that's not really the kind of accolade you want to pin on your lapel.

 

[BillJ]

The wife and I made it about halfway through the first episode before turning it off. It was pretty bad. Especially the acting.

 

[Starbreaker]

We watched the first episode. It's a cross between an ABC lost wannabe and a Syfy mercenaries in space show. I will have to see it through the end because I'm mildly intrigued. It seems to be on par with Nightflyers though, only with CW teens.

 

[RPOW0614]

I got thru episodes 1 and 2 and haven't been back yet.
Underwhelmed is the best thing I can say about this.

I love Katee but she is wasted in this and has gotten way too thin.
I not trying to body shame, I'm worried about her, she looks anorexic and unhealthy.

As far as the crew of the "S.S. Instagram" they are all horrible characters and the acting is high school play bad. There is no one on the crew that is likeable or relatable. They are all just stereotypes brought to life by members of the "selfie" generation.

But even if I was able to tolerate the crew, the pseudo science is piss poor too.
I'm always willing to suspend disbelief, that is a requirement of Sci-fi fandom.
Holographic calls, in real time to earth while at light speed? Um, no.
The inability to detect gravitational lensing around a cloud of dark matter?

I wanted to like this show but I don't think I will even if I force myself to finish the rest of the episodes.
Watch "The Boys" instead.

 

[Takeru]

I haven't checked it out and I'm not aure I will, I was initially interested but the consensus really seems to be that it sucks

Watch "The Boys" instead.

Or "Dark" but in german with subtitles, no one should endure the awful english dub.

 

[Starbreaker]

Watched two more episodes. It's half great and half terrible. This could have been a lot better with a better cast.

 

[Aragorn]

Cast doesn't matter if the writing is total garbage. Look at the amount of stupid the casts of Prometheus and Alien Covenant had to deal with.

Not even Daniel Day-Lewis could bring dignity to the amount of unprofessionalism and incompetence in Another Life.

 

[Starbreaker]

I finished it. I liked it overall, but they could send Oliver and August and Javier out an airlock to open Season 2 and the show would massively improve.

 

[Set Harth]

Holographic calls, in real time to earth while at light speed? Um, no.

Star Wars does that now too.

 

[crookeddy]

Cast doesn't matter if the writing is total garbage. Look at the amount of stupid the casts of Prometheus and Alien Covenant had to deal with.

Did you feel the same way about the truckers in space of Alien and the incompetent marines of Aliens?

 

[crookeddy]

Star Wars does that now too.

Star Wars didn't really ever pretend to be sci-fi (other than midicloreans)

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I don't understand the hate the show seems to be getting. I finished it last night and found it to be, on the whole, fairly enjoyable.

It's by no means the best sci-fi show out there but it's better than others I've tried to watch and never gotten into. Though admittedly a crew of astronauts shouldn't be quite so unhinged, this is a unique mission, using technology that does seem very new (their FTL drive and the soma tubes) so who knows the effects they are having that no one could've predicted.

 

[cylkoth]

Netflix infamously writes a check and then steps out of the way with very little of the overbearing edicts handed down as we're used to hearing about. So when producers get to do what they want with minimal interference, it's disappointing when the results are not better. I didn't hate the show, but I do wish it had been better. A second season with improvements would be welcome. Keep Sackoff and the hologram. Add a stronger cast around them. Give us a more freaked out Earthside than obnoxious "Trish Walker" goes wackadoodle after alien makeover. Anything.

 

[Starkers]

Did you feel the same way about the truckers in space of Alien and the incompetent marines of Aliens?

There's a difference though. The space truckers weren't no much incompetent as unprepared. They weren't scientists and explorers, they were a freighter crew so it's far easier to accept them making the wrong calls. (and they had someone working against them from the inside). Remember, If Ash hadn't overridden Ripley the chances are only Kane would have died. Ripley and Dallas at least are competent officers.

Same with Aliens, these were marines trained to fight other human beings, or maybe androids, suddenly having to fight xenomorphs they have no experience of. (and they had someone working against them from the inside). After their initial snafu they're actually fairly competent, they just don't have the resources to fight the aliens off (one reason I hate the special edition, sentry guns are cool but also make it clear if they marines had been prepared they'd have wiped the aliens' butts!)

In both cases the characters are out of their depth dealing with a situation they're completely unprepared for.

Prometheus was a ship filled with scientists and astronauts who'd supposedly been waiting and preparing their whole lives to undertake this kind of mission, yet they're acting like they're Hudson or Brett and doing utterly stupid things. Covenant has the same problem, these are colonists, they're supposedly trained to establish a foothold on an alien planet, yet they don't even take basic biological precautions. I have no sympathy for the cast in either of the last two films, I have every sympathy for the cast of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 (they're prisoners and prison guards FFS) and even Resurrection (hate it but they're just mercs.).

Re the OT I'm 5 episodes into Another Life and it just keeps getting worse! I hate bugging out on something when I've invested some time, but am seriously considering it, at the very least I've put the remaining eps on hold until I've exhausted some other, better shows.

 

[valkyrie013]

Well.. my 2 cents.. Spoilers obviously to follow:
It sucked.. The concept itself was interesting, and the ending was interesting.. the rest.. ugh..
The Good:
William the AI, Danny Pink had the best lines and he done an excellent job.
Plot, the concept of an alien probe landing and we going to find the origin.
Aliens, they take control threw that Ceti Eel...
The Bad:
Every Freaking thing else..
The crew with the ocasinal exception, were completly worthless.. How did they pick the crew? Twitter Poll? Craigslist?
Just pulling 10 random people would have given you a better crew! Lets not wear our helmet.. lets go pick up random life, lets mutiny.. ugh.. Space the whole set and start out new.. Idiocracy in space..!
Story's.. every scifi trope plot was put out.. to disaster level badness..

Yes I watched err... Suffered... through the whole series.. I don't know why I did.. I wouldn't recomend this series to be shown in a Black Site Prison camp.. its against the Geniva convention..

 

[eschaton]

There's a difference though. The space truckers weren't no much incompetent as unprepared. They weren't scientists and explorers, they were a freighter crew so it's far easier to accept them making the wrong calls. (and they had someone working against them from the inside). Remember, If Ash hadn't overridden Ripley the chances are only Kane would have died. Ripley and Dallas at least are competent officers.

Same with Aliens, these were marines trained to fight other human beings, or maybe androids, suddenly having to fight xenomorphs they have no experience of. (and they had someone working against them from the inside). After their initial snafu they're actually fairly competent, they just don't have the resources to fight the aliens off (one reason I hate the special edition, sentry guns are cool but also make it clear if they marines had been prepared they'd have wiped the aliens' butts!)

In both cases the characters are out of their depth dealing with a situation they're completely unprepared for.

Prometheus was a ship filled with scientists and astronauts who'd supposedly been waiting and preparing their whole lives to undertake this kind of mission, yet they're acting like they're Hudson or Brett and doing utterly stupid things. Covenant has the same problem, these are colonists, they're supposedly trained to establish a foothold on an alien planet, yet they don't even take basic biological precautions. I have no sympathy for the cast in either of the last two films, I have every sympathy for the cast of Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 (they're prisoners and prison guards FFS) and even Resurrection (hate it but they're just mercs.).

Re the OT I'm 5 episodes into Another Life and it just keeps getting worse! I hate bugging out on something when I've invested some time, but am seriously considering it, at the very least I've put the remaining eps on hold until I've exhausted some other, better shows.

As I said upthread, there are lots of examples of how to do "average joes" or even "losers" in space correctly. Red Dwarf and NuBSG figured out how to do it. Lexx and Farscape as well. Come up with a premise which allows for an unprepared crew - possibly randomly thrown together - to end up on a ship. Then no one will blink an eye when they do stupid things and seem totally out of their depth.

I think structurally Another Life would have been better if they had - for example, had the crew of 20somethings some random rockhopper in the asteroid belt. They found some sort of alien probe, which attached itself to their hull and took over their system. Suddenly they were going at FTL speeds all over nearby space. But this would be very hard to square away with what they wanted to do with Sackhoff's character and her family, because it's hard to figure out why she would be on a mundane ship like that, leading this crew of losers, and leaving behind her husband and daughter. And the first contact plot on Earth would be hard to mesh in as well.

But yeah, basically the central flaw in the series isn't episode-to-episode writing, so much as just it being so poorly conceived. I still say it gets better further in when it basically becomes a semi-episodic space adventure. But it still has not a single original idea regarding the SF plots of the week, meaning it just comes across as Star Trek, but with immature idiots rather than a competent crew. And a ground-side plot that's boring and slows all forward momentum to a halt whenever we see Earth.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I'm not sure whether I like it or not. I find myself swinging between liking it and wanting ALL of the main cast dead, and the aliens win.

Parts of it seemed good and I did enjoy it but I really felt like this is stuff we've seen tons of times before, and done better on lower budgets if that makes sense. I really found myself swinging between liking this show and hating this show and I do want to see where they go with this but I'm not expecting anything amazing.

BTW did anyone pick on the fact William is Danny Pink from Dr Who? Same actor.


I was kind of hoping that they would have taken the alien AI onboard with them and a few of the aliens that they met as friends and allies.