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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Titan in the Playground
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    Feb 2011

    Default Defying Gravity - Has Anyone Seen This?

    I just came across this one-season show while I was searching for the song from Wicked. Turns out this was a short-lived SF series from several years ago, with what seems like an interesting premise--at least to my SF-starved sensibilities.

    So, did anyone watch this while it was on, or afterwards? Near-future spacecraft are dear to my heart, and I'd love to know if this is worthwhile.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    GnomeWizardGuy

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    Nov 2013

    Default Re: Defying Gravity - Has Anyone Seen This?

    Quote Originally Posted by Palanan View Post
    I just came across this one-season show while I was searching for the song from Wicked. Turns out this was a short-lived SF series from several years ago, with what seems like an interesting premise--at least to my SF-starved sensibilities.

    So, did anyone watch this while it was on, or afterwards? Near-future spacecraft are dear to my heart, and I'd love to know if this is worthwhile.
    I watched it and quite enjoyed it. It CAN get a bit silly at times but the show had a great deal of promise.

    Be warned going in though - the show was meant to be much longer, so it cuts off on a bit of a cliffhanger and there is no resolution to the plot. As I recall, it was another case of the network was trying to screw the show over from pretty much day 1 and they eventually succeeded. Hollywood hates Sci-Fi.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Titan in the Playground
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    Feb 2011

    Default Re: Defying Gravity - Has Anyone Seen This?

    Originally Posted by Rodin
    I watched it and quite enjoyed it. It CAN get a bit silly at times but the show had a great deal of promise.
    Okay, thanks. When you say "silly," do you mean, "goofballery among the crew," or "plays extremely fast and loose with physics as we know it?"

    Originally Posted by Rodin
    Be warned going in though - the show was meant to be much longer, so it cuts off on a bit of a cliffhanger and there is no resolution to the plot.
    Yar, I had a feeling this would be the case. Earth 2 was the same way, to say nothing of Firefly.

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    Troll in the Playground
     
    Kitten Champion's Avatar

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    Aug 2012

    Default Re: Defying Gravity - Has Anyone Seen This?

    Quote Originally Posted by Palanan View Post
    Okay, thanks. When you say "silly," do you mean, "goofballery among the crew," or "plays extremely fast and loose with physics as we know it?"
    There's a fair bit of melodrama and overly convenient events with the characters, it can go from a space drama into space soap opera at times... and that can be vexing.

    While there is a mindscrew-y magical thingy that's significant to the overall narrative, they did in fact put some effort into realism as far as the space exploration science goes. Even explaining the stuff they clearly didn't do because of budget concerns (like, why doesn't their hair float in zero-g) with credulous explanations. Which is good, both for its own sake and because it makes the mindscrew-y magical thing much more interesting when it's clearly the thing you're supposed to suspend your disbelief for.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    GnomeWizardGuy

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    Nov 2013

    Default Re: Defying Gravity - Has Anyone Seen This?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kitten Champion View Post
    There's a fair bit of melodrama and overly convenient events with the characters, it can go from a space drama into space soap opera at times... and that can be vexing.
    This is indeed what I meant. A fair bit of the show takes place as flashbacks on Earth, and the bits that take place in space are far superior to the more soap opera style flashbacks.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    GnomeWizardGuy

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    Nov 2013

    Default Re: Defying Gravity - Has Anyone Seen This?

    Quote Originally Posted by Kitten Champion View Post
    There's a fair bit of melodrama and overly convenient events with the characters, it can go from a space drama into space soap opera at times... and that can be vexing.
    This is indeed what I meant. A fair bit of the show takes place as flashbacks on Earth, and the bits that take place in space are far superior to the more soap opera style flashbacks.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Spamalot in the Playground
     
    DigoDragon's Avatar

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    Default Re: Defying Gravity - Has Anyone Seen This?

    I watched that series as well. It had potential, yes. The drama was alright as some of it had bits of background connected to the odd alien thing they kept talking about. The spaceship itself was beautiful. A good bit of detail was put into it and there was enough realism that I could believe it without any trouble at all.

    I read an interview with the creator and revealed his ideas on what he'd like to have done with the show had it stayed on the air the entire way~
    Spoiler
    Show
    1. The two astronauts that were stranded on Mars lived a couple days, and the two crew members who were part of the old Martian landing mission would have to confront their ghosts to seek closure.

    2. The crew will learn that the ship was purposely only given half the needed fuel for the mission, thereby once the crew collected all the alien artifact pieces, they'd be forever stranded at the edge of the Solar System. This is because Mission Control didn't know what all the pieces did when collected and thought to strand them far away from Earth in case it was a weapon.

    3. The alien pieces would be put together like a giant jigsaw puzzle and create a device that functioned like a universal "Undo" button. It would then be used by the crew to erase the mistakes in each one's past. The new universe created from this ends with the crew returning home from the mission (as they undid the conspiracy to only fuel the ship for halfway).
    Digo Dragon - Artist
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  8. - Top - End - #8
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    SamuraiGuy

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    Default Re: Defying Gravity - Has Anyone Seen This?

    I saw it but the only main things I actually remember where the relationships between the astronauts and the frequent "People need to be shown having sex" moments that kept happening. It appeared more to me that the show was about who had slept with who then who had gone exploring with who aboard the ship.

    It was like they were shooting for some kind of record because nearly all of the episodes had a sex scene or something sex related, then there was the visit and find "all the dragonballs" plot represented by the weird glowing balls of light. Yes, I am calling them dragonballs because they are essentially duplicating a plotline from DBZ which was to collect all of the dragonballs and make a wish.

    Aside from that, the show looked like it had promise, maybe more exploration of what the collectable glowing balls of light did and what was with the weird hallucinations the cast was having thanks to the one dragonball they had on the ship. It was all in all something that would have been fun to explore.

    Like Firefly, it ended before its time and before it was able to turn into something. Of course, Fox is still paying through the nose for canceling Firefly, since it has developed a reputation that isn't pleasant. It ought to come back, but since it can be bought in DVD form, then it can't really.

    When a show gets canceled and then gets a DVD set, it means the show will never come back onto tv or its nearly impossible.

    Of course, the general public seems mainly interested in watching childish potty humor shows and the networks don't care much for anything interesting anymore. The fact that more science fiction shows start and then get canceled rather than reality tv show garbage (its tv, so its no real how matter much you call it reality tv; its been edited to be entertaining and get people to watch)
    Last edited by russdm; 2014-04-21 at 04:10 PM.
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