Outcasts (BBC) series 1 discussion thread

[Starkers]

but I'm not au fait with what counts as good, just going on the fact that when Being Human gets those kind of numbers its seen as a good thing

Being Human is on BBC3 and is made for maybe a tenth of the budget, it's comparing apples with oranges.

Which is where the lower budget and lowering prime time expectations comes in. You're right of course, just a shame to see another sci-fi show cancelled.

Yeah that was my point, that the BBC should have worked on a show getting those kind of numbers rather than what they obviously expected shoving Outcasts on at 9 on a Monday (and sometimes a Tuesday). That said I'd hate to think the next genre show the BBC try has to be low budget and on a niche channel in a niche time slot!

Same happened with Defying Gravity. It "Wasn't sci-fi" and was billed as Grey's Anatomy meets Lost... in space and people decided it was horrible from the start but it was actually a fairly decent show when you gave it a fair go.

Yeah, it's all written by the same person but I don't suppose it helps having so many different people to please, but it's a decent show and deserves better. Oh well.

Yeah I missed the first couple of episodes of defying gravity but I really enjoyed the series, despite the mush. The central problem is that many sci fi fans dislike the mush and many women dislike the sci fi; finding a balance will not be easy. US shows have also swung too far towards 5-year arc shows - I think this mindset damages them because the writers are too slow and self-indulgent getting the plot going. Shows like Buffy had the right idea - stick to one arc per season with a very loose series arc and a certain number of filler episodes.

I never saw any of Defying Gravity as it started during a period when I didn't have a lot of free time, I had seen Space Odyssey which I think they partially based it on though.

I think this is yet more evidence that RTD really knew what he was doing when he bought Who back. I'm not, and will never be the guy's greatest fan, but you can see how easily Nu Who could have crashed and burned!

 

[Dac]

That was a pretty great finale. Lots of things happened, the story progressed pretty damned quickly and the show FINALLY divulged what happened on Earth, who Cass was and sprinkled in some moral lessons about humanity to make it seem like a good old fashioned piece of science fiction.

It's a damned shame it's not going to get a second series but it dug its own grave with the snails pace it progressed at earlier on.

So long Outcasts, I'm actually going to miss you.

 

[Tom]

I agree, great episode, i so want to see what will happen next. The show has really found itself, but probably to late, a pity.

 

[firehawk12]

You know, if the meta-story was a lot like the Fallout story - human beings are evacuated and grouped into locked down shelters, at which point social experiments are run on each shelter - then I'd perk up. Certainly they seem to imply that there's social engineering going on.

As for the show itself... I'm fairly neutral on it. I wouldn't mind seeing where the show goes, but it's something I'll probably forget about in a few weeks anyway.

 

[Starkers]

Great final episode, and I'm glad that whilst there was a cliffhanger a fair few things were resolved (we found out about Cass, Berger was finally revealed to most people as not a very nice guy, Stella and her daughter had a moment of connection...) that said great cliffhanger, with Fleur now with the Acs, the Host Force vanquished but it seems only because they allow it, and a bloody great big space ship overhead!

I'm going to miss this show, so much potential, great characters, a wonderful setting...such a shame a lot of people didn't give it a chance to grow.

I'd reccomend anyone who really would want the show to survive do at least one of the following; join the Save Outcasts facebook page (27 members and counting- but I should point out that until just a few days ago it was single figures so it might be snowballing now!) email the BBC, and pre order the DVD (coming out in April).

At the very least a quick comment to the BBC costs nothing except a few minutes (if that) of time.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I'll watch it this evening, but I doubt that I'm going to be lobbying the BBC to save the show.

Defying Gravity was absolute pants in my opinion, and deserved to be axed. Much worse than this.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Here's an interview with Ben Richards about the series in retrospect

http://danowen.blogspot.com/2011/03/interview-ben-richards-writercreator-of.html

 

[trekkier]

Has the show "officially" been canceled yet? It started out really slow, but it really started to be something pretty good

 

[Bob The Skutter]

No official word but it sounds pretty damn definite. Even the writer says series 2 isn't happening.

 

[CaptainWacky]

He sounds more than a ted defensive. Maybe the first episode seemed "great" to him when he was writing it, but the end product was really bad. The "they're clapping. They're all clapping." scene was so terrible that I nearly gave up then. I don't know who he could watch that and think it was great.

Outcasts did get better (the last episode was very good) but the start was so bad that it was doomed within the frist few episodes and it's a shame Ben Richards couldn't spot that.

 

[JoeZhang]

The BBC has confirmed that it has axed sci-fi drama Outcasts.

The programme, which starred Hermione Norris, Liam Cunningham and Eric Mabius, concluded it's eight-part first series last night. However, faced with falling ratings, the broadcaster shifted the show to a late slot on Sunday nights midway through its run.

Following the final episode - watched by an audience of 1.56m (11.6%) - the official Twitter account retweeted a number of messages praising the drama and calling for a second series. However, this morning the feed announced that a second series will not be made.

"No series two Outcasts - we're sorry," it stated. "Thanks so much for all your support over the past three months."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a308844/bbc-confirms-outcasts-axe.html

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I'd reccomend anyone who really would want the show to survive do at least one of the following; join the Save Outcasts facebook page (27 members and counting- but I should point out that until just a few days ago it was single figures so it might be snowballing now!) email the BBC, and pre order the DVD (coming out in April).

41 now. I don't think we're enough to reverse the decision though.

 

[Starkers]

I don't know, he seems to accept that the first episode, maybe even the first two episodes should have done more to hook viewers, and he realises that they should have focused on someone other than Jamie Bamber for the first episode. He's angry, but I kinda don't blame him for that.

Interesting to see his influences, and clearly the ACs are less Cylons than they are Replicants.

The snowball is definitely rolling....last week the FB group had 11 members, earlier today 27, now 46!!!

By the way, does anyone know if iPlayer figures are derived from the download, or the actual watching?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I don't know, he seems to accept that the first episode, maybe even the first two episodes should have done more to hook viewers, and he realises that they should have focused on someone other than Jamie Bamber for the first episode. He's angry, but I kinda don't blame him for that.

Interesting to see his influences, and clearly the ACs are less Cylons than they are Replicants.

The snowball is definitely rolling....last week the FB group had 11 members, earlier today 27, now 46!!!

By the way, does anyone know if iPlayer figures are derived from the download, or the actual watching?

The watching, the client keeps starts, how much you watched, how many times etc.

 

[O'Dib]

I loved the show, and what some see as a cliffhanger left open, I see as a perfect way to wrap things up. It The ending is the best way to broadcast the "humanity can never escape its true nature" message of the show.

 

[Starkers]

I loved the show, and what some see as a cliffhanger left open, I see as a perfect way to wrap things up. It The ending is the best way to broadcast the "humanity can never escape its true nature" message of the show.

Well for all we know CT10 crashed just after we saw it! I am really intrigued to see who was on board, guessing we'd have had a lot of potential new characters in series 2, maybe another settlement warring with Forthaven?

I don't know, he seems to accept that the first episode, maybe even the first two episodes should have done more to hook viewers, and he realises that they should have focused on someone other than Jamie Bamber for the first episode. He's angry, but I kinda don't blame him for that.

Interesting to see his influences, and clearly the ACs are less Cylons than they are Replicants.

The snowball is definitely rolling....last week the FB group had 11 members, earlier today 27, now 46!!!

By the way, does anyone know if iPlayer figures are derived from the download, or the actual watching?

The watching, the client keeps starts, how much you watched, how many times etc.

ah well worth a shot, I'll probably still give it another watch anyway

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I think what I would have liked Outcasts to be was Deadwood with a Sci-Fi setting. I could understand Al Swearengen's motivation but I never found Julius Berger's that believable. It might also have helped the plot dynamics to have the colonists more spread out, have some f***ing transportation, horses or pack animals even, and perhaps basing separated, larger settlements around each transport (akin to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri) each with a different set of philosophical, religious, and political systems.

 

[Starkers]

^That may have been what they were intending for future series.

Given that Earth's in tattered because of division, I can understand the notion of them all congregating together in one place, one society, although there are inherrant risks with that (as C23 almost proved).

Having no transportation means you don't have to build some rubbish looking future vehicles, and besides how much room would such things have taken up? Same with animals, although they could have cloned them (and judging by the pig they could have, but again going on the ACs/C23 connection they thought was there you can see why they shied away from it!).

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

From them referring to the new strain as C24, are we to take it that there were 22 other contagions prior to C23? I'd guessed that the 4-letter code corresponded to base-paired DNA sequences in advance of the episode, but it didn't make it easier to give credence to that or the ultrasonic shield nonsense.

 

[Starkers]

Yes but precious few sci-fi series really make sense when it comes to such things, in the same way precious few police procedurals are that accurate either.