Defying Gravity

Ghostrider

Ghostrider

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"Defying Gravity" premieres this Sunday, August the 2nd, on ABC. Based on the docudrama "Voyage to the Planets" this international production will hopefully combine German sturm-und-drang drama and chases, British wit, Canadian strong language, sex and nudity and American overcomplicated plotlines, action and gunplay.

Or at least that's what I hope. Your delta-v may vary.

Oh, yes. I forgot the link: http://abc.go.com/primetime/defyinggravity/
 
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When I saw the promo for it I was like "they are totally ripping off Voyage to the Planets".

Hopefully it's good, but it looks 'Desperate Astronauts' or 'Grey's Astronomy'
 
I hope it isn't a total ripoff of Voyage to the Planets, I enjoyed that docudrama.
The premise being on romantic entanglement and mysterious space-pods furthers my disinterest.
 
Ah, I knew you guys would see the Voyage to the Planets connection right off!

Every place else on the Web I've seen this show discussed, they're calling it a Virtuality rip-off.
I posted this thread on IMDB, and variations of it on other sites.
 
I barely watched any of it, but from what I saw it did indeed seem very much like Virtuality.
 
I watched the first (pilot) and second episodes now, on Hulu. It's somewhat entertaining.

It does seem to be more about the relationships of the crew members rather than the mission, and there's some kind of mysterious stuff going on. Something called "beta"? I don't know. These people seem more like jocks than astronauts, but then I've never met an astronaut.

It's somewhat hard sci-fi in some ways, but they do pull a few of the usual "Hollywood" tricks (normal gravity everywhere on the ship, thanks to some high tech suits). Also they're apparently going to visit a bunch of the planets in the solar system and this is only supposed to take 6 years?

I guess TV show producers don't think enough people will watch a show unless there's some emotional drama and mystical forces involved.
 
I was rather disappointed. Everyone knows that professional astronauts would never behave the way they were depicted in the pilot (which is as far as I got). The idea for the plot is nice, but I think that the main demographic that would be attracted to such a show (ie Orbinauts) is going to be turned off by all the silly drama and vast quantities of stuff that could or would never happen.

Or at least I was, but that's just my humble opinion.
 
martins said:
Just stubled across this page from a referrer link:

http://www.spacecast.com/Blogs/Post.aspx?PostID=804

Would be nice to think that orbiter may have an (however microscopic) influence on how spaceflight is depicted in films. Well, you can dream ... ;)
Click to expand...

At the very least, having actors being vaguely familiar with actual orbital mechanics and the terms instead of just trying to rattle off the lines they had to learn phonetically couldn't hurt ... very nice to see 'Orbiter' get a mention.

:cheers:
 
I just saw a few episodes and I have to say I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.

It seems like it's put off a lot of sci-fi fans by focusing heavily on characters and interpersonal drama, and the mere fact that it's set on a spaceship would turn off a lot of other viewers. It's a shame, it seems like it has potential so far.
 
I watched the first 3 or 4 episodes and have mixed feelings about it. It seemed quite interesting but my main problem with it is the same reason that I very quickly stopped watching X-Files and Lost. Namely "here is a secret thing that some of the actors know about but we're going to allude to it vaguely all the time but not actually tell the audience anything just so that they have to watch again next week to find out what the hell is going on" plot points.

Stuff like that just annoys me and instead of making me want to watch again next week to find out what the hell is going on, it makes me think "They'll just throw in another vague and suspicious thing next week anyway, so sod that, I really can't be arsed" and just turn off.

Though due to the popularity of Lost and the X-Files I guess that I'm in the minority in this.
 
agentgonzo said:
I watched the first 3 or 4 episodes and have mixed feelings about it. It seemed quite interesting but my main problem with it is the same reason that I very quickly stopped watching X-Files and Lost. Namely "here is a secret thing that some of the actors know about but we're going to allude to it vaguely all the time but not actually tell the audience anything just so that they have to watch again next week to find out what the hell is going on" plot points.

Stuff like that just annoys me and instead of making me want to watch again next week to find out what the hell is going on, it makes me think "They'll just throw in another vague and suspicious thing next week anyway, so sod that, I really can't be arsed" and just turn off.

Though due to the popularity of Lost and the X-Files I guess that I'm in the minority in this.
Click to expand...

It worked well for me on "Jericho"... although only one character had an idea of what was going on... ;)

But I had also mixed feelings abut Defying Gravity. The "Gravity suits" is probably a necessary device to keep the production costs down. You can't really film a series like that completely in the Vomit Comet.

The producers described the show as "Greys Anatomy" in space. That's almost true. It has just a different kind of cheesyness. (they one that attracts also men ;))

It is cool to see that Ron Livingston (who you might remember from "Office Space") is a fellow orbinaut. I wonder what nick he uses in the forum... ;)
 
Kinda funny that most Sci-Fi is derided for having too much special effects, gadgets & technobabble, and not enough character development and emotional drama.
 
My main gripe with Defying Gravity is not the Grey's Astronomy or Desperate Astronauts angle, rather that it's becoming LOST in space with all the Beta thing. I'm OK with some flashbacks, but a whole show of them...
In the meantime, Stargate Universe, here I come!
 
I have just watched the series and I've grown utterly aggrieved by the show's cancellation. For me, it was a perfect mending of drama and sci-fi, and the plot was really enthralling. A vast variety of would-be's are left unfollowed with such an abrupt ending. Dependency of TV show makers on viewer ratings (especially of some single country's viewers') sometimes really sucks.
 
I saw maybe a minute or so of Defying Gravity, I found it hopelessly boring and crude in terms of any technological credibility. I didn't like it; the mere idea of "Grey's Anatomy in space" turns me away.

Stargate Universe was cancelled? Why?

Why are so many science fiction series To Good To Last?
 
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T.Neo said:
I saw maybe a minute or so of Defying Gravity, I found it hopelessly boring and crude in terms of any technological credibility. I didn't like it; the mere idea of "Grey's Anatomy in space" turns me away.

Stargate Universe was cancelled? Why?

Why are so many science fiction series To Good To Last?
Click to expand...

Perhaps its because Sci-fi has always been had a "cult" following (i.e. small in conparason to other more "mainstream" shows).

I dont think many of the people who make the decision to cancel the shows have any concept of how science fiction shows evolve over time, an example would be to watch the pilot and last 2 or 3 episode of SG1 or Star trek (any of them will do)

Some of the better canceled shows are barely able to get going before they are shut down.
 
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