ABC's new Defying Gravity

#1

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8/2/09 at 5:08pm

Nelson Au
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Any one watching this?

I thought it was a TV movie or mini series. I guess it's a real series.

I did a search, sounds like Grays Anatomy, but in a space ship.

#2

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8/2/09 at 6:56pm

mattCR
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Basically you got it.. Grey's Anatomy in a ship.

#3

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8/2/09 at 9:25pm

Patrick Sun
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Good think it's being shown in the summer with little network TV competition.

But there are a lot of eyerolling subplots going on in this 2-hour pilot. I do enjoy staring at Laura Harris, so I'll keep it on the record list for now, but don't expect much out of the show.

"Jee-sus, it's like Iwo Jima out there" - Roger Sterling on "Mad Men"
Patcave | 2006 Films | 2007 Films | Dragon*Con 2009 | Heroes Con 2009

#4

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8/2/09 at 9:49pm

Greg_S_H
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I missed it. I was going to watch for the Laura Harris factor. Maybe it'll be available online.

#5

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8/3/09 at 5:42am

Steve Berger
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Speaking of Laura Harris, how do you suppose they're going to slip a Reaper on board?
Maybe they will pass through a cloud of ashes.

#6

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8/3/09 at 5:59am

NeilO
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I thought it was a nice two-hour start.

Quote:

how do you suppose they're going to slip a Reaper on board

Well, they have a Reaper's father on the ground (Andrew Arlie playing Mike Goss).

I was surprised by the zero-gee sex scene, but the one big mystery - Beta - is what will keep me coming back. Somehow it can manipulate people physically. I presume that it reversed Maddux Donner's vasectomy for some mysterious reason, caused the heart problems of the two members so that Donner and Shaw would replace them and requested Wassenfelder? It is behind lots of weird things on the ship.

There were more similarities with Virtuality than I expected.

#7

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8/3/09 at 7:06am

mattCR
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I didn't get quite a bit of it.. was the implication at the beginning that abortion/contraception was banned in the world in which they start? That was seemingly implied in the bar scenes ... (?)

#8

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8/3/09 at 9:16am

Nelson Au
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I see it's on Hulu. The phone kept ringing, so I missed a few bits. The original commander and AJ were recalled because they had a heart problem? I'll re-watch that part see. Plus some of the other bits. Like Laura Harris' character's constantly hearing a baby crying.

I thought it had some very good production values. The CGI was well done. The various plot lines of the characters are so soapy!

What was interesting is that this is a co-production between the US, Canada and Germany.

#9

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8/3/09 at 10:54am

Shane D
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here is what i got from the hour and 50 mins i saw.

evidently in pod 4 there is an alien lifeform that about 5 people know of and its what has spearheaded this trip to venus. The original commander and and Aj were given the plaque build up in their veins in 1 day because the alien wanted the other 2 on the ship. Same with the computer guy hacking porno all the time, he should have been flunked out cause he can't swim, but the presence wanted him.

Ron livingston's character had something go bad on a trip to mars and yet he was hailed as a hero on return and got a vasectemy after that, now it looks like the vasectemy was healed so he could impregnate the blonde girl and she wasn't scrubbed from the mission so she would have to choose to terminate it, and now i think shes hearing a baby because the presence is putting her thru a penance. Just kinda my gist of it so far.

i had never heard of the show and i was just flipping thru the channels at 8:10 and saw ron livingston so i stopped to see what the show was, ended up watching all 2 hours. the effects in space were pretty cool looking.

also to what someone said earlier, it did sound like abortions were completely illegal, but preventing births isn't, just on a long space flight it looks like this company enforces sterilization as a practicality.

#10

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8/3/09 at 11:36am

mattCR
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I watched it again. Some good, some bad. Here's the things that stick to me:

(1) Why do they have the long bar conversation on Supreme Court and illegality of abortion? In 2052?  This can be done interesting in SciFi (see BattleStar) where there is a population pressure or some force behind the discussion. But here it seems too pop-culture and strange.. it stands out like a sore thumb.

(2) What is up with the pop culture references?  Bringing up YouTube on the ship? Does anyone believe YouTube will be present in 2052? In even remotely the way we think of it? Or at all?

(3) So the one girl hid fertilized embryos.. the point being?  They won't go anywhere ina petri dish.. (?) In fact they'd die very quickly...

#11

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8/3/09 at 12:46pm

Will-n-Miami
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Hello all, new member here.

In addition to the abortion references, there was a comment about the beaches , "or what's left of them".. so tack on global warming as another issue.

It's unclear as to whether the writers are trying to use "the future" as a warning, or if they really think that several decades from now the beaches will be underwater and getting pregnant means you HAVE TO hide and sneak around if you don't want to carry and deliver.

The explanation as to how artificial gravity worked was either confusing or incomplete, something about fibers in their clothing being magnetically attracted downward. Not sure how that made the tomato float but not other objects (like their hair).

Also, the "ominpotence" of "Beta" is inconsistent. Why do the two scrubbed crew members come down with the SAME condition? ... Why wasn't the reversed-vasectomy "re-done", or why not impregnate "imaculately". lol.

Not being picky, just wondering. I agree effects and CGI were good!

#12

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8/3/09 at 1:44pm

Shane D
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Will-n-Miami

Also, the "ominpotence" of "Beta" is inconsistent. Why do the two scrubbed crew members come down with the SAME condition? ...

maybe to let the ones in charge know it was him and not just a random happenstance

#13

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8/4/09 at 2:49am

Kevin Hewell
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Quote:
Not being picky, just wondering. I agree effects and CGI were good!

Yeah, right.

#14

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8/5/09 at 6:40am

Randy Tennison
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I looked on it as 2 hours I could have spent doing anything else. It was contrived, boring, and way too complicated. So, we have Lost in Space meets Star Trek meets X-Files meets Days of our Lives.

Feh.

Randy T.
Orlando, FL
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#15

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8/5/09 at 2:25pm

Greg_S_H
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I made it through the first half hour and shut it off. I understand that the creative people on these shows want to build a mystery, but I didn't have a real clear idea what the point of the show was by that point, and I didn't much care. Look at Lost: it's a show that is all about mystery, but we at least thought knew what it was about just a few seconds in.

Plus, I was really disappointed to find out that Daisy Adair is all tatted up.

I didn't hear any abortion talk in the bar scene. Either there was another bar scene later, or that was cut for the Canadian feed. I'm sure it would not have changed my decision to drop the show in any case.

#16

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8/8/09 at 3:33am

Brian^K
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My wife and I love it. It's a bit of a shame that it is a summer series. It doesn't have much hope of continuing with the ratings it is getting over the summer.

But great stuff. Two thumbs up.

#17

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8/9/09 at 11:05am

NeilO
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I just noticed that the 2-hour premiere is a free download from the iTunes store at the moment.

#18

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8/9/09 at 9:06pm

mattCR
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I'm cashed out on this show now. The 3rd episode didn't advance the plot at all, and the flashback sequences helped to setup.. nothing really. Absolutely nothing happened outside of some women stripped down to their tops. And other people sulked around. Other then that, there was no action at all, and if there were even rumors of action, they are effectively a long ways off, as they are planning a landing months in the future.

The only thing that added excitement and effects was seeing puke fly across the living area, because it's weightless. Meanwhile, everyone has hair that stays right in place. They explained this, it's thanks to nanites that have been injected into them. How those little magnetic robots get into their dead cells like hair and things is something that apparently will never come up.

Oh, and next week, they've already previewed we get to see "Friends with Benefits" in space! Wow, so tune in for that!

This is maybe one of the worst rendered sci fi concept pieces I've ever seen. At first I thought Grey's Anatomy in space. But at least Grey's has some medical cases and a bit of tension/trauma. I can't figure out if there was any tension at all.. was there? Did I miss it?

#19

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8/9/09 at 9:58pm

JimKr
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I agree with mattCR. Very boring and predictable IMO also. I always get my hopes up for new sci-fi and this was a real letdown. Much to my delight Eureka is now back with a new season and it's better than ever.

I gotta say I like apocalypse type shows also and I'm still licking my wounds over Jericho, a show that should have lasted another season or 3.

#20

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8/10/09 at 12:49am

Brian^K
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No offense, but Jericho sucked after the first season. It should never have been brought back.

#21

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8/10/09 at 2:31am

Cees Alons
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian^K

No offense, but Jericho sucked after the first season. It should never have been brought back.

You're referring to the US (CBS) series Jericho, isn't it?

Not that splendid BBC one?

Cees

HTF Rules (uhm ... and has Rules)

#22

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8/10/09 at 3:29am

Brian^K
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Given the context and content of Jim's message (he mentioned "apocalypse type shows"), I believe we can indeed assume he's referring to the US series.

#23

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8/10/09 at 6:02am

NeilO
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Quote:

Originally Posted by JimKr

I gotta say I like apocalypse type shows also and I'm still licking my wounds over Jericho, a show that should have lasted another season or 3.

By the way, you might be interested in knowing that the creators of Jericho are continuing the story in comic book form. I saw
http://previewsworld.com/public/default.asp?t=6&m=1&c=23&s=126&sn=402032

If the info isn't in an existing Jericho thread I'll have to post it there as well.

#24

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8/10/09 at 7:44am

NeilO
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I enjoyed last night's episode on ABC. For a summertime series it was interesting. There was more mystery about Beta and what it is doing to the crew. The flashbacks did provide more insight into some of the crew, their backgrounds, and their relationships.

#25

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8/14/09 at 1:57am

Heim
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I'm only watching this because it's the biggest train wreck of a space show I've ever seen. You missed the best part. The video phone communications back to the base are in real time. They have figured out how to send transmissions instantaneouslythrough long distances of space. It is my guess that whatever dimension they are sending these communications through to get it there so quick, is the same one the demon comes from.

#26

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8/14/09 at 3:39am

Brian^K
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Heim

You missed the best part. The video phone communications back to the base are in real time.

Let me get this straight: You'd like to have to sit there watching a scene taking ten times longer, complete with several minute long communications delays, sucking all the life out of the scene? If you think that most people would think that this is better, you know nothing about most entertaining people, and television is entertainment, not science.

Folks are, of course, welcome to make the deliberate decision to be dissatisfied with whatever they really want to be dissatisfied with. However, as someone who, when watching television, focuses on the human drama of the scene, instead of the unimportant scientific details, I can tell you that you're missing some really good stuff with your misdirected attention.

#27

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8/14/09 at 5:29am

Steve Berger
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Instantaneous communication has been a sci-fi topic in literature for a long time.
There have been actual experiments that demonstrate paired particles (?) that seem to mirror each other with no delay even when separated; so there is some basis for real-time conversations.

I don't know if I buy the nano-fiber attraction, but trying to film weightlessness would be very cumbersome and detract from the telling of any stories.

#28

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8/14/09 at 6:02am

NeilO
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Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Berger

Instantaneous communication has been a sci-fi topic in literature for a long time.
There have been actual experiments that demonstrate paired particles (?) that seem to mirror each other with no delay even when separated; so there is some basis for real-time conversations.

I don't know if I buy the nano-fiber attraction, but trying to film weightlessness would be very cumbersome and detract from the telling of any stories.

You have to get around weightlessness one way or another - through rotation, Minbari/Vorlon technology, strapping them in or some other explanation - in this case the nano-fiber attraction. Otherwise, you'd bust your budget right there. As far as the real-time conversations - as they travel further away from the Earth it would get worse for current technology and if they wanted to deal with that, they could have some interesting plots involving this. If they have some advanced technology that makes it happen, great. I am more interested in the story and the mysteries therein than the details. It is not as if they are promoting this as "the most realistic space adventure ever!"

#29

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8/14/09 at 8:45am

Shawn Shultzaberger
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I am enjoying this show quite a bit. Unfortunately, as the recent ratings have shown, it is not long in life. The reality shows are just killing it.

"A human being is part of the whole called by us the Universe. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest --a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for...

#30

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8/14/09 at 11:27am

Brian^K
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Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilO

I am more interested in the story and the mysteries therein than the details.

This is really a very critical point. While there are some people who love "the details", there are far more of us who just care about the story. More and more I believe we'll see all networks focusing more those things that drive the audience profiles that best serve the network's owners' best interests, rather than pursuing any other goal.

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