On Defying Gravity
I had some time to kill on a flight recently, so I watched the first 5 episodes of Defying Gravity and caught the 6th this morning. I'd had my expectations sufficiently lowered ahead of time, which was good. Lowered expectations is definitely what you need to get through this show.
Maybe it's just me not watching anything ABC for the last decade and a half, but is this really a 2009 show? The plot lines, the relationship dynamics - I feel like it's a show straight out of the nineties. You can see the plot turns coming a mile away, and the characters...well, they are largely heckneyed TV stereotypes. The male and female leads have this kind of "Sam and Diane in space" dynamic, which I found annoying even when it was Cheers. The Wassenburger/Paula dynamic is even more grating, and it makes me wish Laura Rosslyn or Starbuck was onboard the Antares, because they'd send that dude out the airlock by ep 2.
The one thing not-so-'90s about the show is the flashbacks. They serve as a dual timeframe, linking events in the current 2052 with those of 5 years earlier. But they are so prevalent (almost half the airtime would be my guess), and the clues at being in "flashback mode" are not easy to follow. Many of the characters have identical appearance in 2052/2047; it would've been nice to have more hairstyle changes etc. to help parse through all the time-hopping. Oh, and although most time jumps go back 5 years, there are other time periods explored as well. All the more to juggle in the course of forty-some minutes - a recipe for confusion.
Oh yeah, and the sci-fi (such as it is): There's the big mystery about the "Beta" alien, but mostly it's about relationships of 8 really neurotic people (how did most of these people pass a psych test??) and those on the ground who love them or hate them. It's sort of on a sliding scale of "bad". I find myself drawn to some storylines over others, but not because they're compelling, just that they are a bit of relief from the parts that make me want to claw my eyes out (i.e., Wassenburger). OK, some of the plots are getting a little bit better by Ep #6, and I'm rooting for Rollie because he was on BSG, but mainly I'm sticking around to see where the Beta plotline goes.
Maybe it's just me not watching anything ABC for the last decade and a half, but is this really a 2009 show? The plot lines, the relationship dynamics - I feel like it's a show straight out of the nineties. You can see the plot turns coming a mile away, and the characters...well, they are largely heckneyed TV stereotypes. The male and female leads have this kind of "Sam and Diane in space" dynamic, which I found annoying even when it was Cheers. The Wassenburger/Paula dynamic is even more grating, and it makes me wish Laura Rosslyn or Starbuck was onboard the Antares, because they'd send that dude out the airlock by ep 2.
The one thing not-so-'90s about the show is the flashbacks. They serve as a dual timeframe, linking events in the current 2052 with those of 5 years earlier. But they are so prevalent (almost half the airtime would be my guess), and the clues at being in "flashback mode" are not easy to follow. Many of the characters have identical appearance in 2052/2047; it would've been nice to have more hairstyle changes etc. to help parse through all the time-hopping. Oh, and although most time jumps go back 5 years, there are other time periods explored as well. All the more to juggle in the course of forty-some minutes - a recipe for confusion.
Oh yeah, and the sci-fi (such as it is): There's the big mystery about the "Beta" alien, but mostly it's about relationships of 8 really neurotic people (how did most of these people pass a psych test??) and those on the ground who love them or hate them. It's sort of on a sliding scale of "bad". I find myself drawn to some storylines over others, but not because they're compelling, just that they are a bit of relief from the parts that make me want to claw my eyes out (i.e., Wassenburger). OK, some of the plots are getting a little bit better by Ep #6, and I'm rooting for Rollie because he was on BSG, but mainly I'm sticking around to see where the Beta plotline goes.
Tags: sci-fi
Mood: 
cynical
Labels: sci-fi
posted by Skunque at
3:40 PM
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