Odyssey 5 (TV Series) Pilot (2002) User Reviews

Wow! Shockingly good!

[flynnjuan · 9/10 · 16 July 2002]

Previews of this show left me with a bad taste in my mouth, but I was totally wrong. The first half of the pilot has been the weakest segment so far, but stick with it.

Just gets more interesting with every episode. Heavy on plot and characters. The promos compared it to the xfiles -- really a quite inaccurate comparison in so many ways (stylisticly and thematically). This is no vague "oh the truth is out there", but a gritty desperate attempt to prevent a concrete disaster.

Even commerical-free pay channels shows often feel like they have spaces for the future insertion of commericials (ie, they tend to be broken up in 5 mini acts or whatever) but O5 don't play like that. The pacing and style are real breath of fresh air. Resolutions to episodes feel like a natural progression forward of the show instead of a deus-ex machina reset button -- they play right into an overall meta-narrative.

There are places you can nitpick a few technical details (ex. the midi 'code' or the 'feeding on waste code' explanation of the ai organisms) but the fundamental concepts are sound, and very interesting. Check it out. From the beginning if possible, with digital cable showtime shows things a million times on one of the 6 or 7 channels.

Just watched all 20 Episodes

[brainframe · 9/10 · 10 May 2007]

This is one of the best SciFi shows I've seen in a long time. Im very sad to see it canceled. The new Battlestar and Heros are a close second. I wanted to comment more on Author: ben-mcfee from Canada earlier comments concerning the shows cancellation. The notion that a Right-wing political power may have someway canceled this show, is almost laughable if not sad. Read a biography! You watch way to much conspiratorial fiction. If the Right was "so" powerful Micheal Moore and Al Gore's stupid SciFi documentaries would have never seen the light of day. The silliness to think that this show would even be a blip on the Conservative Christian's radar is down right goofy. With shows like The West Wing, Saturday Night Live and The View lasting for years, you have to be an idiot to draw that conclusion.

Surprisingly good, unfortunately cancelled.

[ganda1f · 30 June 2003]

Accidentally catching the pilot for this show on late night TV, I decided to give it a chance in lieu of the infomercials playing on other channels.

I was lucky that I did. From the moment the Earth explodes this show dares to be different, with charismatic acting and witty scripting. It is rare to find a television show that explores hard-sf ideas, and even more rare to find one that is actually entertaining.

If you have ever wished that sf was as smart, well-presented and entertaining as the Sopranos then your wish is fulfilled.

Unfortunately, this show was canceled after it's first season. (A surprising move, given that it was Showtimes second-highest rated show.)

You can't miss this one!

[hodges_ss · 10/10 · 28 June 2002]

I was very surprised with this piece. It is quite possibly the best new Sci-Fi show on television in the past 10 years! It is well thought out with a great cast and an excellent plot. I will definitely catch every episode of this one!

Ever notice that the two most common things in the English language aren't all that common?

[yanivjay · 10/10 · 3 September 2005]

The 2 things I'm talking about are common courtesy and common sense. What the hell was Showtim thinking when it cancelled this show? Well written? Good acting? Smart script? Who cares... the show was just great but heres the killer..... who was the moron that cancelled a show without at least giving the faithful viewers (oh yeah that would be us... the ones that pay his/her salary) an ending? There's got to be something that we can do. A strike on Showtime... a riot.. I don't know... but I NEED CLOSURE ;) The show was definitely entertaining and well acted. Weller is always a pleasure to watch as the epitome of brass balls smart ass. I'm hoping one of the heads at Showtimes falls on his head and realizes what kind of mistake they have made and corrects it.

F*CKIN AWESOME!!!

[skruff · 10/10 · 22 July 2002]

This show is great! Everything from Peter Weller's piercing glares to Sebastian Roche's comical wit. I love this show, but you should do more on the twins, Kelsey and Bodanis (Mat Langford and Jon Langford), as they are really great characters, and I feel that if they were worked into the script more, that they could make the story alot more interesting. But the show is FUC*ING AWESOME!!! KEEP UP THE OUTSTANDING WORK "ODYSSEY 5"!!

Five astronauts have a chance to stop the earth from exploding after being sent back in time 5 years

[ben-mcfee · 10/10 · 21 September 2005]

This is probably one of the best written, and performed series' ever made for television. While the astronauts have plenty of opportunity to change history, and also the things that went wrong in their lives, things don't always work out like they hope it would; as you might imagine, it's a little tough to change what people don't know is going to happen without some questions being asked. The show also has brains, and while the concept of the earth blowing up seems completely outrageous, as the story progresses and the astronauts find out a little bit more about what's going on in the world, the suggestions given provide a disturbingly realistic way such an extreme catastrophe might actually happen. Odyssey 5 was Showtime's number 1 grossing television show when it was on the air, so it's a wonder why they canceled it (for no real apparent reason other than... it was canceled) without even letting them shoot a finale to an otherwise complete first season. The only thing I can come up with - and granted this IS just me, but it seems to make sense - is that around the year 2002, the religious right, and right-wing politicians became increasingly powerful in the United States. The show itself was both very left-wing in its politics, and many different religious views were presented without any comment as to which one was right. They even went so far as to have the leader of the group be an ex-Christian. Maybe this had something to do with its early demise.

Odyssey 5 is a ten, Showtime is a zero.

[gloff-1 · 10/10 · 3 December 2005]

Finally an intelligent well written excellent SciFi program, the best I've ever seen and what does Show Time do, ax it. Odyssey 5 had a very strong cast doing equally strong work, they deserved better.

Peter Weller was outstanding and completely believable as was almost all the cast. The one weak link was "Neil" as a 21 year old astronaut but after a few episodes Christopher Gorhams excellent portrayal made you forget the incongruity of such a character.

Each episode added to the suspense and rewarded you for watching without spoon-feeding the plot away.

I forget who said it but it won't be the lawyers who are shot come the revolution it will be the TV programmers.

Very Cool! (Thumbs Up)

[Powers-3 · 10/10 · 23 September 2002]

I just caught what I think is the pilot episode for this new Series on Showtime and I am very impressed.

Not only by the cool premise but also between the characters themselves who I feel have great chemistry together.

I hope to enjoy the continual adventures of these 5 heroes!

Odyssey 5 is one of the most original shows to grace the small screen in the past decade

[Erik Magnus Lensherr · 27 October 2002]

It is a well-constructed show with a good pace to it. The cast is brilliant and their on-screen chemistry only adds to the brilliance of the show.

In particular, the characters of Kurt Mendel, played by Sebastian Roché and Chuck Taggart, played by Peter Weller of RoboCop fame, are the most prominent ones in the show.

Kurt is the comedian of the show and the way in which Sebastian has brought him to life on-screen has not been accomplished successfully for a long time.

Peter Weller does a terrific job as the astronaut, Taggart. The role of the astronaut has been played many times before but Weller manages to reinvent it.

The action is also first rate and the storyline is original. Odyssey 5 is also effective in holding the viewer in suspense until the next episode. This is one of the many elements of the show that will guarantee its success in the future.

Long may Odyssey 5 last.

In the vein of greats cut short like Nowhere Man and Space: Above and Beyond

[Krakn3Dfx · 17 August 2002]

I had been vaguely interested in the previews for this show a few weeks before it came out. When the premiere came on I caught it out of luck more than anything else because I had no idea when the show was actually supposed to be on. **Possible Spoilers** Odyssey 5 tells the story of a group of 3 astronauts, 1 scientist, and a reporter who are aboard the space shuttle Odyssey performing maintenance on a satellite in Earth's orbit. The groundwork for the characters is laid down very well in the first 15 minutes of the show, and you get a good idea of what expect from each person and their personality. After completing their primary mission, they sit around and drink Dom chatting it up about the mission and other things. Suddenly they lose communication with Earth, are showered in a bright light coming from Earth's direction, and are then thrown backwards by a huge blast. Eventually they learn that the Earth has been obliterated and they prepare to die due to a lack of oxygen. Fate steps in and the lone survivor of an alien race whose planet was also destroyed offers to send their conscious minds back in time to their bodies 5 years before to figure out what happened and hopefully avoid it happening again. If this intrigues you, you should check out the show. Unlike the X-Files, that tended to skip the mythology section of the storyline except during sweeps, every episode of Odyssey 5 so far has addressed and focused on the storyline itself, moving the story forward. Hopefully they can keep up the plot and, also unlike the X-Files, not create so many hanging questions that it would be impossible to answer them all. All in all, the 9 episodes of this show I've seen so far have floored me. The family life of leader Chuck Taggert, played by the excellent Peter Weller, is a story in itself, and well worth the time to delve into. If you can't tell, I enjoy this show immensly and hope that it progresses through the entire 5 year run.

Kinda weird...

[Queen Selqet · 21 June 2002]

This kinda weirded me out and I really didn't get the show. I didn't realize the names of the people on the show, and I don't think that the swearing was 100% nesesary but, hey, it happened and it added effect to show that these people could be like us if we were in a situation like that. Not that all of us would really got into space and meet up with an alien after earth is destroyed.