Customer Reviews

Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Defying Gravity is the story of eight astronauts who begin a record setting tour of the solar system. The mission is billed to both the crew and the world as an example of human achievement and satisfying humankind's desire to explore the unknown, but it soon becomes clear that there is much more to the mission than this. Before reaching their first destination, Venus, the crew discovers the 'Beta Object', and the true nature of their quest is revealed.

This show is full of mystery and unanswered questions that leave you with great anticipation for the next episode. Throughout the season, we get to know the crew through their interactions on the spaceship Antares and through their memories of what happened on Earth before the mission. The characters struggle with the complications of friendships, romance, and passion both on the Antares and Earth, which test their integrity and strength as human beings. In addition to the interpersonal challenges, the Beta Object is affecting the crew physically, mentally, and emotionally. We are left wondering if these changes will help or hurt the astronauts on their journey...

Defying Gravity does an outstanding job of appealing to all viewers, regardless of whether they consider themselves SciFi fans or not. Sadly, this television show went mostly unnoticed due to poor management by the ABC network. While it may not have gained the huge following desired by ABC during its short-lived debut, it has a loyal fanbase and the potential to achieve great success if properly advertised and scheduled.

I have been obsessed with this show. It has such a great story, the actors are great, I cant say enough about it. We need more seasons. I was so upset when ABC stopped airing it. I think it would fit wonderful on the SyFy network. I really hope the writers can get this back on tv for more seasons. There is a huge following for this show. There are 2 fan site pages on Facebook with updates and lots of neat info about the show. (Defying Gravity and Save Defying Gravity) I would trade all shows that I normally watch on TV for this ONE SHOW!!! (i no longer watch ABC) CANT WAIT FOR THE DVD!

Most shows, even shows I love, I don't buy, with few exceptions, because most shows I just don't feel I'd ever watch again. This is an exception. This show is so amazing; how ABC could drop it is completely beyond me. Someone already said it, but I had been thinking it for awhile now - this show is so great, I'd swear off all other shows for this one.

Prime time space science fiction is a very rare occurrence on major network television these days. Sure we've got our Stargate shows and the recent Battlestar Galactica but keep in mind that these were relegated to the SyFy network, which, in my opinion anyway, should certainly be in the habit of running science fiction shows!

That brings us to "Defying Gravity", a very unlikely serial to come to ABC in 2009 that told the ambitious futuristic tale (set in the year 2052 with flashbacks to five years earlier) of eight astronauts (four women and four men from five countries on a six-year space mission through the Solar System) where nearly everything they do is monitored via camcorder and broadcast back to Mission Control (and relayed to the public via International television).

To cut to the chase, the show was axed after only 8 episodes aired despite fairly decent ratings. Fortunately the DVD release spans 4-discs and contains all 14-episodes produced that constituted the entire first (and obviously only) season of the show.

Aside from the 14-epiosdes (13 + the pilot), the set contains a few interesting extra features: Mission Accomplished: A Look at the Defying Gravity legacy, a crop of deleted scenes, a slide show of production stills, a look at the design of the spacecraft, and some 20th Century Fox previews. Total runtime of the set comes in at 560 minutes.

Now to get the obvious out of the way from the get go, no this isn't a "Star Trek" or "Farscape" alternative by any means, it is to science fiction what Grey's Anatomy is to medicine or Desperate Housewives is to marriage. This is drama boys and girls, and not only is it drama but it's made-for-TV serial drama that just so happens to deal with conditions outside of earth's atmosphere some of the time. However, don't mistake this for a complaint, shows like DG work off establishing character-driven crisis, even at the expense of pacing or future story threads.

In keeping that in mind, DG's greatest strength, it's human element, just may be it's biggest weakness as well. A contradiction, normally, but here the show bounces nearly constantly between the present-plot (the astronauts on their mission) and earlier points in each of their (sometimes combined) lives prior. Not a crime on it's own, the trouble is that far too much of these flashbacks center on a small pub with the candidates essentially acting like a bunch of college kids.

The effect of course is to establish back-story without boring the viewer with linear plot progression, a technique done to death on shows like "Lost". It works here some of the time; other times it comes off as a bit forced. While I'm a huge fan of Ron Livingston for his work in films like "Office Space" his casting in the lead role of this series is far from perfect. In fact his effort in appearing cool and unaffected by stress is certainly overdone in many instances.

The space segments of the program, a major draw for many potential fans, are very well done with the type of realism seen in films like "Sunshine" or "Red Planet"/ "Mission to Mars"; with realistic physics & distances. Space is a harsh and formidable environment and traversing it, even on a mission only to Venus, is portrayed as painstaking and tedious.

The show isn't without it's flaws though either. The characters are often strangely one-dimensional and type cast: We have the religious one, the slacker, the leader, the skeptic, the playboy and so on. Worse still is that while each character has an archetype that was clearly intended to provide the source for episode topics, the grand scheme isn't near as smooth as it ought to be. There's never a natural dynamic that forms as they play off one another- in other words it's often difficult to get lost in the flow of interaction between the cast that is, in my opinion, an essential aspect to true classic visual storytelling. This is a very common complaint among television drama, but worse still here considering the time and deliberateness clearly spent in trying to build it up with the flashbacks.

There are other strange story threads throughout that do their best to intensify the human element (threads like the contrived religious integration or the reluctant surgeon) that fail in execution as well. The writing intentions are clear but rather than intensify the character bonds, I felt like many of the show's little tangents only muddled the grand prose.

Perhaps that, then, is my major complaint in a nutshell: The science, which is quite consistently accurate throughout, is constantly given the backseat to the squabbles and drama of a bunch of immature astronaut trainees. Many episodes will discount or overlook monuments achievements like planetary orbits or stellar phenomenon in favor of a spat that took place between two of the crewmembers five years earlier.

The viewer comes away from the whole experience with a feeling that had they met the storyteller sitting around the campfire one evening he might have summarized the whole tale like this: "Let me tell you all about the daily trials and tribulations of eight buddies I once knew. They drank, they partied, there were many crises and quarrels, a pregnancy scare, some were religious, others not so much. A few liked each other while some didn't get along so well. Oh and I almost forgot, they went to Venus once. But anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, about those squabbles..."

On the other side of the coin, the production designs are pretty spotless. The fact that NASA aided in the set design and ship models is apparent constantly. There's no discounting the gritty realism presented throughout and without giving away any spoilers, this isn't simply a fictional documentary piece: Like some of the films mentioned above, there is a supernatural/ extraterrestrial slant to the prose that goes a long way in stringing the viewer along in the early episodes. However, take heart those individuals afraid that the show's premature cancellation will leave such threads unanswered, answers in this category are revealed before the set concludes (and in typical double edged sword nature, both satisfy curiosity while simultaneously killing a major reason to tune in).

In all, there is definitely much to enjoy in Defying Gravity so long as you approach it as the scientifically slanted equivalent to "Lost" rather than action/ space opera entries like "Battlestar Galactica". Indeed, the show's early termination is a bit surprising considering the success of prime time dramas in recent years, but I suppose there is some consolation in the fact that 20th Century Fox not only bothered to bring the show to DVD but even went as far as to include 5-episodes that never even got the chance to air and put them into a single DVD release. If, after reading this critique, the program sounds like something you might be interested in, this DVD collection makes for a great investment.

There are 13 episodes on the four discs, 5 of them unaired. I'm certainly eager to see if they wrapped up the season satisfactorily.

There are indeed bonus features as listed in the Fox press release as follows:

DVD Content:

Disc 1:
Episodes
* Pilot
* Natural Selection
* Threshold
* Disc 2:
* Episodes
* H21K
* Rubicon
* Bacon
* Fear

Disc 3:
Episodes
* Love, Honor, Obey
* Eve Ate The Apple
* Deja Vu
* Solitary

Disc 4:
Episodes
* Venus
* Kiss
Special Features
* Mission Accomplished - A Look At Defying Gravity
* Photo Slide Show
* Spacecraft Design
* Set Design
* Costume and Prop Design
* Production Graphics
* Promotional Photography
* 29 Deleted Scenes

Everyone happy now?

Like many here, this show came to me recommended by a friend. That comes as no surprise, since ABC bungled the airing of this show like nothing else I can remember. No marketing, no advance advertising of any kind leading up to the show. I picked it up in episode 2, fortunately, and was intrigued from the get-go. And it could not be further from "Grey's Anatomy in space" if it tried, an incredibly bad advance moniker that ABC cursed it with, since they didn't care about it (which makes you wonder WHY they picked it up in the first place, if they didn't want it!).
As so many have said here, each episode left you eager or anxious (or both!) waiting for the next episode. The plotlines, flashbacks and yes, even flashforwards, in some cases, coupled with the superb casting made for an emotional investment in the characters. The cast chemistry is outstanding, something that just happens, it cannot be faked or bought. The overall story provides an original kind of mystery that can only build and has a thousand places to go, also difficult to find. It is an intelligent, thought-provoking (without being over analyzing) and thoroughly entertaining story that unfolds perfectly, much like a good book does. Though it is set in space, don't be fooled by the sci-fi aspect; that's merely the backdrop and this show could've taken place in almost any other setting. This show has almost no flaws of any kind, and only the sci-fi people nitpick over the technical space inaccuracies, of which there are not many anyway.
ABC pulled the plug 8 episodes in, but fortunately for everyone, there were a few places on the internet where the series could be picked up and seen in it's entirety, and thank God for that!
As others have said here, the final episode, 'Kiss' is worth this purchase alone. So, you'll not only get that but all the episodes and extra's, which makes this one of the better "value" buys you'll find anywhere in TV & Movie DVD land!
I like to close this by making a few personal points. After it was dropped, I did something I'd never, ever done in my whole LIFE! I wrote to a TV network. I joined the 'Save Defying Gravity' facebook page. I signed any and every petition I could find. And much, much more. I'd also like to say that I'm not some dork living in my mother's basement, either. I am in my early 50's, married with a child, gainfully employed and have lots of things to keep me busy. I'll watch sci-fi but am not a loyalist to that genre, and don't watch much TV anymore, especially since the "duh" factor has swept through the networks like the Swine Flu. Mostly garbage. So if I'm this big a fan, there MUST be SOMETHING to it, right?!? And that's my closing (and ironic) point: It now turns out that the fans of this show are not, in fact, young and sci-fi bound, but across the board, like the population; from young to old, rich to poor and everything in between. And isn't that what a network would kill for? Here's hoping that SOMEONE will see this situation and realize what a gem they've got here and that they could make this run for SEVERAL years! It's not impossible; has happened before and can happen again with this show, despite ABC's colossal incompetence. A no-regrets purchase! Enjoy the series and....great choice!!!

My wife and I watched this show and were thoroughly engrossed in it. The special effects are very convincing and the musical score fits the mood. We were sorry that we only got to see the first eight episodes but are looking forward to the remaining shows. Besides, it is worth the price of admission just to watch laura Harris.

When the show was canceled, I was able to find the remaining episodes on a site outside of the US. The finale was probably the best finale I have ever seen. This was an amazing show that did not deserve the poor attention from ABC that resulted in its early demise. This was a flashy but intelligent show that discussed the meaning of life, who is god, what is good and what is the purpose of our trials in life. I guess just not enough shoot em ups and laugh tracks.

The finale is amazing. The pilot and the finale are works of art. For an idea of where the show was going, visit one of the fan sites where the creator tells all. I would hope that although this is listed as a failed project, someone picks it up where it left off and develops a movie out of it. Just too many interesting characters, intelligent dialog and intriguing plots to let it sail off into space.

Warning! Multiple spoilers below!

The bad news about DEFYING GRAVITY is that it was cancelled after its first and only season. The good news is that the thirteen episodes making up the show are nicely self-contained and tell a coherent story that can be completely enjoyed on its own. Telling the story of the first manned mission to Venus, the series focuses on the crew members and support team of the spaceship Antares, who we eventually learn are not going to Venus merely in order merely to explore. The series splits its time between real time coverage of events both on the spaceship and back on earth and flashbacks to the period of time in which the selection for the Antares mission were being made. I like that it focuses so deeply on interpersonal relationships and the development of characters. Many of these things we learn only gradually, such as the entire meaning of one character's memories of the apparently miraculous resurrection of her German Shepherd when she was a little girl or all of the circumstances surrounding the botched abortion one of the candidates. The story moves slowly and the show contains few big moments, but if you appreciate subtlety and elegance to explosions and shockers, this is a series that will definitely please.

As a Canadian production most of the actors will be familiar from shows shot in Vancouver or elsewhere. For instance, Ty Olsson has been in a host of series, including BSG as Captain Kelly and an hysterical turn in EUREKA as an android sheriff. Laura Harris is a Canadian actress who has worked in Hollywood as well, most notably 24 and THE WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB, though most of her work has been in Vancouver. She is probably best known for her marvelously nuanced performance as the sexually promiscuous thirties starlet and grim reaper Daisy Adair (she claims to have died having sex on the set of burning of Atlanta on GONE WITH THE WIND) on the TV series (though not movie) DEAD LIKE ME. Zahf Paroo, who plays Ajay Sharma, is a character actor you see on a lot of shows like EDGEMONT, though I spotted him in a crowd scene on Caprica in the BSG miniseries and recently while rewatching DARK ANGEL I noticed him as a news anchor on a couple of episodes. Christina Cox is a very beautiful woman with an unforgettable face who is always identifiable on any of the many shows she has appeared on. She has long deserved a major hit series and it is unfortunate that this excellent show was not it. The biggest name actor on the show is Ron Livingston, who plays Donner on GRAVITY, who has to live down having left two fellow crew members behind on Mars on a previous mission, a decision not made easier for him by the fact that he was ordered to do so. Of course, knowing that, you as a viewer know that he will be put in a situation on the Venus mission where he will have an opportunity to redeem himself for that. I loved this cast and found them believable both as a unit and as individuals.

What breaks my heart about this show is how poorly promoted it was. I actually never heard about it through any promotions and only discovered it by accident before it was too late. I suspect the network imagined it would both be a show with stronger ratings and more of an action-packed show. Despite being set largely in space, this is not a space opera. Set only a few decades in the future, the technology is not greatly beyond our own. Compared to STAR TREK the space travel seems (and is) primitive. No warp drive. No space aliens. No space battles. My one complaint with the technology on the show is that all communication with the space ship takes place live, with a character on the Antares and a character in mission control on earth having real time conversations, never talking over one another. Heck, my friends and I talk over each other because of the lag with cell phones and VOIP. In fact, a message broadcast from near Venus would take so long as to make any actual conversations impossible. Communication would be more like sending e-mails to one another.

There will not be a Season Two of DEFYING GRAVITY, but the single season that we do have works extremely well on its own. We don't learn the secret of the mysterious entity that drives the entire project, but that hardly matters compared with the drama involving the characters on the ship. At least the show's one season was a good one.

Not too often that we see good SF grounded in hard science set in the near future. Anyone remember Space 1999, made in the 1970s, at a time when there was widespread post-Apollo loss of interest in space exploration? Moonbase Alpha and the Eagle transporters looked very plausible, although the premise of the show was not (radioactive waste stored on the moon explodes, blasting the moon out of orbit in to deep space at relativistic speeds, enabling the marooned crew of the Moonbase to encounter various English speaking aliens from week to week). SF has tended to overestimate what can be plausibly achieved in the near term and underestimate what could be achieved in the longer term (e.g, the original Star Trek. Computers now, let alone in the 23rd century don't use tapes anymore for memory storage). Defying Gravity breaks with this trend. Perhaps this is because executive producer Tim Haines has a background in science (degree in biology, before joining the BBC) Ten years ago he was able to exploit the convergence of improved CGI technology and falling cost to make the groundbreaking Walking with Dinosaurs series. If the Antares mission looks credible, it is because it is based on a series he also produced in 2004, Space Odyssey, which followed a docu-drama format, and examined how a crewed Grand Tour of the Solar System could be carried out. DG ended on such an open ended note, that really, provided enough time and thought is put in to writing further series, it could be remembered as one of the best SF shows ever. Axing the show is just such a poor decision.