Defying Gravity

The first things I noticed about this series, of course, were the good acting and great CG effects. Then the funny stuff started happening - contemporary clothing and cars over forty years in the future, astronauts who wouldn't have made it past a preliminary interview, trite dialogue, made-up technical details like faster-than-light instant communication from Venus, and General-Hospital plots.

I feel badly for everybody involved with this series other than James Parriott. The people and the sets are very pretty. The music cues us to laugh when the comic relief arrives. We get long music videos twice an episode. For the most part sexual innuendo is completely skipped because it's too subtle - the characters talk constantly about sex because the writers don't know what else astronauts would talk about. The editors gave us lots of long, pregnant moments to give us time to consider the incredible implications of every emotionally charged moment. We're even given lots of "Let's do this" and "when you do this thing that we do" dialogue to remind us that we're watching true heroes, in case we've forgotten. And every episode ends with an honest-to-god "You see, Timmy..." eternal lifetruth.

Admittedly, the plot holes are sometimes pretty large, but that's normal for TV, right?

The whole problem here is that audiences are sometimes too smart. This series should be a rich emotional and philosophical stew but it's really a bowl of thin watery gruel. The "Grey's Anatomy" female demographic doesn't get enough to satisfy, and the sci-fi crowd gets what's left over after the bowl has been licked clean. Without women and sci-fi fans there weren't enough people left to watch this series, and that's too bad for everybody. It's especially bad for anybody who wants to make a sci-fi series for a major network in the near future, because this one will make it tough.

There's a quote from James Parriott that I think is worth including here. "I was reading in The New Yorker how stock market swings follow Pi, the fractal equation. And that's sort of a scary thing, that it just moves. You can plot the right dips and curves that it does indeed move fractally, and that just blows me away. There's just tons of stuff we don't know."

This quote explained loads to me. The problem is that Parriott didn't understand what he was reading, and he got it completely garbled, *and then, being a TV guy, he based a new TV series on his garbled version of what he thought he'd read.* Oh no.

Now, for those who haven't seen Parriott's reveal of where the series would have gone next season, I'll summarize (and no, I'm not making this up):

• Nadia turns into a man. - Donner's vasectomy reverses itself for the second time, so does Zoe's hysterectomy, and he gets her pregnant. - Wassenfelder becomes autistic, making him extra, extra smart, because everybody knows autistic guys are extra, extra smart. - Arnel loses his leg in training, forcing them(?) to recall Zoe. - Jen is forced to kill her bunny in order to have the guilt necessary to see the "fractal objects". - Eve realizes she's supposed to be on the ship, so they put her on a "resupply mission". - Rollie goes to jail again, but when it's necessary to get Eve to Mars Rollie leaves town in a big way. - Goss realizes the "fractal objects" made him a bad guy. - We never find out what the "fractal objects" are, or in fact, what makes them "fractal objects", because frankly, I'm a math guy, and I didn't see no "fractal objects". - Sharon and Walker may still be alive on Mars, but that wasn't completely decided.

There's some good news about all of this that means a lot to me, even though it probably won't mean much to most people. This series has cured me of television for a while. And, as the script writers say, that's a Good Thing.

Very interesting story with a bit of a 2001 feel to it. Space reality, with a touch of otherworldly influence.

I watched this in HD and being a space junkie found it near breath taking. The visuals were so crisp and clear. Things were about as real as they could get. Everything seemed plausible minus the "divine interventions" shall we say.

It also plays heavy with philosophy, debating freewill vs fate. Are we predestined to achieve certain goals, or are we the creators of our future? What is the value of life? Are we just expressed genetics? Where does Biology end and humanity begin?

They've set out on a six year mission to cruise our solar system, will they make it past year one? Let's hope so.

I had no expectations for this show. I'd never heard of it till the week before its eighth (and maybe last) episode. I have no television: I watch shows online. I was looking for something with Ron Livingston in it, after watching "Band of Brothers".

The science and junior-high atmosphere are ridiculous, of course, but I enjoy the slow pace and the wonderment of space. In one narration Donner says, "How the hell did I get here?" I think, if I were aboard Antares as a trained astronaut, I would wonder how I got there, often. After an all-hands meeting, Mintz suggests that they take a moment to remember where they are, then he lowers the light so that they may gaze on Earth and the Moon. That was a nice moment. I think I would alternate between gazing in awe at what surrounds the ship, and cringing in fear at what DOESN'T surround the ship: air.

The mystery of Beta is lovely. I don't care what it is, it's enough that it makes it okay to add weirdness to the story. I'm not familiar with Laura Harris, but she is a lovely and talented actress, and makes a nice foil to Livingston's Donner. Livingston does an extraordinary job, particularly when he reacts with fear and confusion to his hallucinations.

The episodes have improved as the show progresses. At this writing the show has stopped after episode eight, and may not resume. I will be sorry not to see the remainder of the season.

I really enjoyed the pilot and 2 episodes so far. I'm a Sci-Fi nut to start off with and my heads been in the stars since I was a kid, so when they start another space based TV show I'm all in.

Ron Livingston is a great actor and makes a fantastic lead in this futuristic space epic. His character is serious, yet relaxed, which I think makes him more likable. The other characters are slowly developing, but all seem to have their own side stories, which for most people will make the show.

Regarding the ship, they really put thought into the possible future techs that could be reality. The ship is definitely more realistic to what might be our first long term spaceship. Built sort of like the International Space Station, put together by component modules, it's long, cylindrical, and not light-speed. I'm sure we'll learn more about the ship as time goes on, but for now they've not really focused on it much. What we do know is that the ship has mysteries. There is a force that's guiding the ship, its crew and their mission to explore the solar system. Who or what this force is has left us guessing.

Overall, the show is off to a good start. It's got it's drama, suspense, and intrigue. Here's to hoping this one stays on the air for a long time!

I've just finished watching the first 2 episodes, and I must say, I was intrigued.

It's set in a near future (2052), and a team of astronauts are suiting up for what is going to be the trip of a lifetime; A 6 year journey through our solar-system, visiting all the inner & outer planets, and gathering as much information about our galactic neighborhood & scientific data as they can whilst they're out there..at least, those are the official mission-objectives. We are introduced to an unknown factor, a person or entity (Beta), who/which is somehow manipulating the mission, and known about by the higher ups, but never mentioned. Only the mission commander has been fully briefed and instructed to brief the crew, only after they've arrived at Venus.

It has somewhat of a "Lost"-vibe, in that it's very character driven and mysterious. However, this can be a bad thing..I personally lost interest in Lost, because of exactly that fact; There were too many questions, and the answers only brought up more questions & were not to my satisfaction to begin with. I hope Defying Gravity will not be taking the same route, because it definitely has potential.