Customer Reviews

Pilot - Part 1

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Initially, I stuck with this show because I wanted to support a new science fiction series, of whatever kind: there aren't a whole lot of those on network television these days. It starts out a little rough; the acting and the motivations of some of the characters at first appear to be something out of 1950's movies like, "Plan 9 From Mars", and the later, "2010"--they're going to colonize, only there aren't weird hairdos or an obelisk; some of it is a little hokey, and possibly overdone.

Stick with it, though. The people writing this aren't showing their hand all at once.

After the first episode or two the series hits its stride and starts to make sense: this is an allegory for the development of human emotions over a long arc; the space travel is the vehicle for the heroes' journey into the Underworld; a betting man would say that Venus is a level of Hades yet to be gone through.

And, then, about the fifth episode, it hit me why this becomes almost haunting--the videographer, and possibly the scriptwriters, have been watching novelist Stanislaw Lem's 1972 Russian masterpiece, "Solaris", which is a ghostly, dreamlike vision of a Russian cosmonaut who may be going insane aboard a dying spaceship as he spends the film talking to his dead wife.

A lot of the shots feature ghosts that appear in the same type of shot you see in "Solaris", where the camera stays steady, but one minute, nothing is there, and then something is. The visual cuing on this is even the same tempo as parts of "Solaris", meaning it's cued to make the viewer feel disjointedly, dreamily and menacedly nervous.

Particularly if you are expecting boilerplate,surface level, stock characters with a lot of explosions and space monsters, this is not your series. However, if you are willing to put up with some unexplained, elliptical storylines, this is an emotionally rewarding show of surprising, almost ethereally lyrical depth.

I actually enjoyed Defying Gravity more than I expected to. Thanks to Amazon for allowing users to view the pilot for free. I'll most likely purchase this show when it comes to dvd (hopefully in a complete season set).

Defying Gravity is an internationally produced space travel television drama series that first aired on television August 2, 2009. Set in the year 2052 with flashbacks to five years earlier, the series follows eight astronauts (four women and four men from five countries on a six-year space mission through the Solar System) where everything they do is monitored.

The show kind of reminds me of a made-for-tv movie that aired back in 1996 called Star Command which was to be the unofficial pilot of a series called In The Fold. The lack of popularity that movie received canceled out any hope of the series but some of the themes have lived on here in Defying Gravity.

Considered a drama, the series was pitched to networks as "Grey's Anatomy in space" which is especially funny considering that Star Command was pitched as an American teen drama in space (which resulted in such humorous nicknames at the time as Melrose Space and Deep Space Nine-0210).

Now that Star Trek Enterprise has bit the dust and Battlestar Galactica has reached the end of its run, the world could certainly use some fresh space science fiction drama. I do hope this show continues to build in popularity.

I really love this show. I have never been of thses kind of shows. It has drama and mystery as to what is really going on. Very disappointed that there won't be another season. The last ep left a big cliff hanger. It makes you really want to know what is going to happen next.

You know what - I am really sick and tired of the banal drivel that qualifies for television in America these days. I mean Brothers and Sisters....REALLY??? And then brilliant shows like Defying Gravity are panned and get low ratings. It is so rare these days that a show really sparks my interest and this one definitely has. Of course now I will watch it only half-heartedly, knowing that it will probably be cancelled before all the episodes are even aired. Seems like these days anything with any intelligence and sensitivity shares the same fate. Alas, I will enjoy it while I can and recommend that anyone who likes good sci-fi and good storytelling check it out on ABC. Ron Livingston is great and the ensemble cast has good chemistry. I love the fact that there is some philosophical and spiritual depth to the show. Of course, with American television pandering to the lowest common denominator, that is probably the kiss of death (Boston Legal, Six Degrees, etc.) Oh well.

Defying Gravity was very good in my opiniion, I enjoyed it greatly. This is the first time I have heard of this show and being somewhat of a scifi nut I was happy to have seen in in Amazon list of programs, but would like to know if it is on anywhere in my area. Thank You Amazon for this kind of service.

This is a wonderful show that excites the imagination. The viewer can't help but be drawn into the interpersonal relations and become invested in the characters' fates. That said, I bought two episodes at 99 cents just 17 days ago. Now they are $1.99 per episode! Amazon, have you heard that there is a recession going on?

Where to begin? This show was great. It had a simple surface story line for those that didn't want to think. That is not a slight, some people, maybe all some of the time, want to watch something and not think to hard about it. BUT it had many finer grained, subtle story lines that did take some following. The obvious one being what's the deal with "It"? Personally, I think calling it "Grey's Anatomy in space" did both shows a disservice. It was way deeper than Grey's but did have its share of eye candy. I was quite disappointed with ABC on this one. I do so really enjoy Ron Livingston's narrative style he had in Defying as well as Standoff.

It never fails to amaze me that excellent shows are canceled because they are science fiction and crummy shows live forever because they are 'comedies' or 'cop shows'. It has been my experience that there are some truly wonderful, deep, and moving science fiction stories out there and this is one of them. It really is too hardcore for a network station. No way, it would/could survive that jungle.

For those who like deep, intricate plots, stunning graphics, quirky humor and something more than just explosions, shootouts and sex... this is one of those shows that make you think that there is hope for entertainment that makes you think.

I bought and watched my 8 programs, all that was available currently on Amazon. The channel decided to cancel the program. I don't understand their thinking. The is a very exciting SciFi packed with loving relationships between crew menbers hoping to travel the solar system. It's an adventure and action packed. Since Amazon is not selling the additional 5 programs that were not made available I had to search the internet until I could see them free but bad quality. I hope Amazon makes the additional 5 shows available as I really want to buy them and watch them from my Amazon video on demand library. It's well worth the money to buy and watch the 8 shows that are currrently available.

Note: this program is cancelled by the network.

The cast, headed up by Ron Livingston who played the lead role in "Office Space" (available on amazon.com Video on demand which I highly recommend) as the second in command of the mission which is to visit several planets in six years, and who narrates the series via talk over, is talented enough to put conviction and believability into the roles, especially the roles of the astronauts on the spaceship. The script and dialogue move at a moderate pace (some may find it too slow) and so demands some patience from the viewer.

From the pilot of this new series, it is very obvious that this is not going to be a "Roger Ramjet," or "Flash Gordon," type good guys wastes bad guys space flick. So be forewarned . . . it is a psychological Sci-Fi genre' although the technical work on the CG and other graphics is respectable enough.

Through a recurrent series of flashbacks, the current six year mission is merged, blurred, related, or whatever ya want to call it, with a previous mission headed by Ron Livingston and the now commander of the current mission. During that mission to Mars, Livingston is ordered to leave two members of the crew behind as a tremendous storm is approaching just before the module is to blast off from Mars; and he does which burdens both he and his fellow mission astronauts with a great deal of guilt. Further complicating the plot, Livingston was romantically involved with one of those left on Mars, while at the same time there is great doubt as to whether they really had to leave the two behind, or whether they could have in fact waited a few minutes and saved them while safely leaving - an error in judgment that would have been made by the mission head back on earth who also happens to be heading up the current mission too.

There are similarities to other well known Sci-Fi films such as Solaris and 2001 right down to an vague similarity in music to Solaris. These similarities are not blatant enough to be seen as rip-offs, IMO, but more like nods of acknowledgement and/or intended to evoke a relationship to those films which is completely acceptable as a cinematic device.

The mild (relatively) sex scenes are understandable as a traditional way to attract a significant TV viewing audience, and are not exploitative, IMO, but enlarge on the relationships between the characters. The frequent flashbacks to events before the current mission I did find somewhat disruptive and wondered at times of their relevance to the plot. However, I did not find them as disruptive as the maddeningly frequent, disruptive and blatantly sexually exploitative sex scenes and vanilla content in such popular TV series as "Lost."

I found the different nationalities and ethnicities enriching to the series so far, and fair although somewhat stereotypic; although a Hindu Indian, as in India with a first generation accent may seem cliché, it is not any more cliché than a white male who loves baseball and was born in a small town, and has a drunk for a father. I wonder, would a Christian of Indian heritage who speaks with a perfect English accent make the film more believable? Would an atheistic female Latino with an extremely strong libido or sex drive like the German woman seem believable?

The object or thing in Bay 4 which seems to be the real one in control of this mission right down to who is included on the mission, is reminiscent of HAL in "2001", or Mother in "Alien" in that it has its own definite agenda for the space mission. The contents of Bay 4, what it really is, what its agenda is, its genesis, and how it took control of the mission, and why the mission leaders allow it to control the mission drives the tension in the film - and I for one am extremely intrigued. Actually, I'm just about besides myself with curiosity to the nature of what is in Bay 4. Well, it had better be good with all the build up.

At any rate, the contents of Bay 4 manipulates the members of the mission both psychologically and physically, excludes two original members of the team by spontaneously giving them heart trouble just before the mission, and manipulates the selection of the current mission team members so that some very unlikely astronauts are included such as one who fails his swimming test, a test that is meant to immediately exclude anyone failing it.

Interestingly, the "thing" in Bay 4 (at the time I am writing this the contents of Bay 4 is on the verge of being revealed I hope) doesn't seem to like using the mission for commercial exploitation by business interests back on earth; the mission members are scheduled to unveil a banner out in space for the "Big Buster" candy bar (or something like that) candy company on the eve of Halloween. To accomplish this, the contents of Bay 4 induces severe hallucinations in all but two of the mission astronauts which results in a somewhat humorous situation where all but two of them are trying to exit a bay door into outer space but are too terrified of their hallucinations to move. Two other members of the mission who couldn't make it to the exit bay are themselves very busy, one having PTSD flashback of the war in Chechenia, and the other attending to the hallucination of her dog dying.

At this moment, just after viewing episode 8, I am waiting with bated breath for the next episode to see what in the heck is in Bay 4.

To be continued . . . .