Defying Gravity

ABC has unleashed scifi upon us!

Which is rather more than Syfy are currently doing.

Defying Gravity is a sci-oap (soap-fi? ming-mong repellant?) set on the Antares mission, a near future tech grand tour of six of the nearest planets. We have a mixed crew of ciphers, at least half of which are romantically involved (as far as I can work out) some not terribly plausible science that explains why ABC didn't spend a fortune on zero gravity effects and a mysterious backstory that is a bit spooky.

It's a bit LOST, in that we're getting to see our characters on the mission as well as while they train for the mission, seeing how they met and interact. Two episodes are available on Hulu for my fellow Americanoids, I'm sure the Yerpies will be able to find ways to view things on Hulu or simply torrent episodes as they become available.

My verdict thus far: It's not awful. People watching it expecting BSG are going to be bitterly disappointed, but people watching it expecting Gray's Anatomyishness are going to find some familiar ground. The effects look nice, in that they are very unobtrusive, and there does appear to be a decent scifi feel to the proceedings, but it's definitely more about the relationships than the hardware or the Boldly Going.

Worth a look.

I think it's on the BBC later this year - they might even be a co-producer on it - so is it worth contacting the internet postmen to get it delivered now, or do you think it can wait until it's broadcast in the Autumn?

I need to check this out. Back in January, because of my Blockbuster.com movie account, I was asked to review the pilot episode for this online, and rate it. They had all sorts of questions about character interactions, the central 'mystery' in the series, and in particular, the ending to the pilot episode.

I'm now curious to see what change- if any- they made.

Nick Barlow wrote:I think it's on the BBC later this year - they might even be a co-producer on it - so is it worth contacting the internet postmen to get it delivered now, or do you think it can wait until it's broadcast in the Autumn?

Too early to tell really. It's kind of got a 2001 meets Lost feel, so it's hard to tell if it's building up to something cool or just hyping up nothing.

Yeah, let's hope we get something cool instead of a giant baby's head and an old man in a bed!

The mystery is called "Beta" and lives in Pod 4.

Spoiler:

So we've started with a ending I didn't like, which is interesting.

Why do aliens always have special powers?

Dave Webb wrote:Why do aliens always have special powers?

Because they're aliens. Do you need another reason?

I'll tell you what worries me: even if this is a good series (and the jury's still out on that), the fact that ABC chose to air this mid-summer is rather telling. I'm wondering if they've decided not to comission it for a full season run, and are dumping their commissioned stories on us in mid-summer simply to get some return on their investment before it disappears into failed series oblivion.

yeah, I'm pretty sure ABC's already in damage control mode. The special two-hour (two episodes) premiere, makes me think that they're well aware that it's kind of boring.

from ain't it cool news-
---spoiler free--- edited for spicy language*

[The first two hours of “Gravity” are a mishmash of sci-fi clichés, watery characterization, and time-wasting who-gives-a-s*** plot twists. ]

[Its pacing infuriates as the show endlessly jumps to (generally disposable) pre-launch flashbacks full of leaden ABC-dramedy banter and lengthy plot-halting montages edited to ghastly power ballads.

One suspects the “Grey’s Anatomy” fans will be driven away by the technobabble, the Trekkies will be driven away by the project’s undernourished imagination, and this show will be remembered alongside the likes of UPN’s “Mercy Point” as one of the sadder chapters in the annals of televised space opera. ]

harsh!

Hrmm. The Lost vibe is strong, as others have noted, though this cast is making much less of an early impression on me than the Losties did. Having an alien entity with plot powers could get old fast. "Beta"...makes me wonder if there was or is an "Alpha" as well.

The jury is out.

Zoltar wrote:The jury is out.

That was my line. I fought hard for that line, Zoltar. I had twinkies thrown at me while I was fighting for that line. I'm hurt you'd take my line like that. I was really proud of that line.

I'm going to have to work very hard to get over this, Zolty. So, since I'm up here in the Pacific Northwest on vacation, I'm going to indulge in lobster to cheer myself up over how you took my line. Lobster... and a martini. See what you've made me do now?

Patrick wrote:That was my line. I fought hard for that line, Zoltar. I had twinkies thrown at me while I was fighting for that line. I'm hurt you'd take my line like that. I was really proud of that line.

I'm going to have to work very hard to get over this, Zolty. So, since I'm up here in the Pacific Northwest on vacation, I'm going to indulge in lobster to cheer myself up over how you took my line. Lobster... and a martini. See what you've made me do now?

Time to face facts, Patrick.

Spoiler:

There was no other option really.

Patrick wrote:

Because they're aliens. Do you need another reason?

Yeah. Like, why don't we ever see an alien species that looks at humans and says things like "holy shirt! You guys can actually see into part of the EM spectrum? No way!"

Or, maybe "It's uncanny how your body mass is supported by water! Where did you acquire these bizarre powers of floating?"

Or "Run, broodlings, the Earthmen are immune to being lightly tapped with a pencil!"

Draculasaurus wrote:

from ain't it cool news-

I'll have to stop you there. Anything that might come after this, I simply don't care about.

Dave Webb wrote:Yeah. Like, why don't we ever see an alien species that looks at humans and says things like "holy shirt! You guys can actually see into part of the EM spectrum? No way!"

Or, maybe "It's uncanny how your body mass is supported by water! Where did you acquire these bizarre powers of floating?"

Or "Run, broodlings, the Earthmen are immune to being lightly tapped with a pencil!"

Aliens are "cool" and we aren't I guess.

You have to look at something like John Carter of Mars to see a human who seems more powerful than the average alien. Of course, the Green Lantern Corps does fairly well with this. Many of the alien members aren't especially more powerful than humans and "puny Earth" has four famous Lanterns.

Or even 5 if you include the Grandad Lantern!

Dave Webb wrote:

Draculasaurus wrote:

from ain't it cool news-

I'll have to stop you there. Anything that might come after this, I simply don't care about.

It's not necessary to inform me every time you find my posts to be less than worthwhile reading.

Draculasaurus wrote:

It's not necessary to inform me every time you find my posts to be less than worthwhile reading.

AICN has long since fallen off my list of sites to pay attention to and it ceased being useful when people decided it was cool. The last time I paid a visit there, it thoroughly depressed me: full of fanboys marking out over a Marvel property and being very snarky towards anything without a pedigree from the Niche entertainment market.

Your personal opinion, on the other hand, now that I would like to read.

yeah sad but true about AICN.
sorry, I think I came across a little snippy- I should have thrown in a winking smiley or something.
Anyway about the topic at hand, I really hope they're able to tighten it up storywise, it's nice to see some straight forward sci-fi in primetime.

Draculasaurus wrote:
sorry, I think I came across a little snippy

Actually, I should probably have been clearer. I think that's that resolved.

It's an odd show. It really does feel like an attempt to mix things that have done well into one show and see what happens. If you flip through the list of characters, all of them have their own reasons for being in entirely the wrong place at the wrong time.

It does the semi-future tech nicely, everything looks just plausible. Given the throwaway explanation about the lack of zero g and the fact that they are spinning at least two sections of the ship, and the hulking great solar array at the front, I do think a scientist has been involved somewhere.

I think what AICN was reacting against was the blatant mush present in the first two eps - lots of emoting and snogging, and angstyness from everyone (failed Mars mission in character backgrounds etc) and the presence of an annoying Brit reporter (It's Joey from Bread!) that indicates Simon Cowell has tarnished our national reputation forever. It's not enough like the Trek movie/BSG to be cool and edgy: people don't have sex because they're angry, for example.

I don't doubt that there are uncomfortable plot twists ahead, and there's some room for characters to be mutually antagonistic, but not to the dizzy heights of:

Spoiler: