Defying Gravity TV Series

[Ranxerox]

Defying Gravity (http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/674962) starts tonight on ABC. It is to be about a near future manned mission to explore our solar system. The mission is to take 6 years and a lot of the plot is to about interaction between the crew being stuck together all this time so expect some soap opera. Still, based on the premise alone, this is must-watch tv for me.

[Edsel]

Yeah, I am making it a point to watch this one. All I know about it is the few commercial spots that I barely saw. I figure I can go into it with an open mind and hope it turns out to be something good.

[Lord Liaden]

Hopefully the commercials' emphasis on sex between crew members won't be the focus of the show itself.

[Clonus]

Well, what else do they have to do except sex?

[sinanju]

Defying Gravity (http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/674962) starts tonight on ABC. It is to be about a near future manned mission to explore our solar system. The mission is to take 6 years and a lot of the plot is to about interaction between the crew being stuck together all this time so expect some soap opera. Still, based on the premise alone, this is must-watch tv for me.

Yeah, Alan Sepinwall (a tv reviewer I follow) had a friend describe it at "Grey's Astronomy" so, yeah--lots of soap operatics. I'm gonna give it a shot, but...we'll see how it goes.

[Ragdoll]

Defying Gravity. The best show I never heard about?

Seriously, maybe I've had my head in the sand, but I'm usually pretty up on upcoming shows.

This one. Not even a peep until just 'now'. :straight:

[Rapier]

I wanted to watch it but got distracted and missed the first hour. I'm hoping they'll rerun it.

[clsage]

Yeah, Alan Sepinwall (a tv reviewer I follow) had a friend describe it at "Grey's Astronomy" so, yeah--lots of soap operatics. I'm gonna give it a shot, but...we'll see how it goes.

I caught some of the episode last night and DVR'd it for some later review...I'd have to say that I am of several minds about what I saw:

A) the "Grey's Astronomy" idiom does have truth in it....

B) given the use of Faulkner's dictum I suppose it was mostly engaging storytelling (what portions I did see)....

C) I was somewhat reminded (in a good way) of the syndicated series "The Cape" (basic info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cape_(TV_series) ) as far as the human interactions went and the character complexity....

D) I have tended to enjoy the work of the cast members I recognized in prior work.....

E) The production values were excellent....As someone once said I could "see every dollar spent" up on the screen....

F) From a visual point of view the design "worked" for me, no matter it's level of realism....

So, all things said, my opinion ? Just based on the portions seen and without re-watching the entire show: C. Or maybe C-. Probably not going to my "need to watch list". Tho' depending on how ABC schedules Flashforward and the V re-imagining it might catch an hour or so more of my time.

Just my slightly greater than $.02US.

-Carl-

[Nyrath]

The spacecraft actually had some scientific accuracy about it.

The woman testing the Venus spacesuit was actually in danger from decompression illness (the bends), which was a nice scientific touch.

The magic nanotechnology artificial gravity clothing made me groan.

The plot foreshadowing was ham-fisted (Gee, an alcoholic put on a six-year mission in a ship with no alcohol, that couldn't possibly be a problem. The main character is always fighting with the blond, so we know it is true love, however he also has a photo of him and the other crew woman whose husband had to be transferred to Earth so she's looking at an unexpected six years of celebacy, and then there is the brunette who keep throwing herself at the main character. )

And then there is that npphefrq ZnpThssva va gur sbez bs na nyvra sebz bhgre fcnpr jub vf bpphclvat cbq ahzore sbhe juvyr orvat n chccrg znfgre (rot13)

[mattingly]

I missed it. How was the show?

[Clonus]

And then there is that npphefrq ZnpThssva va gur sbez bs na nyvra sebz bhgre fcnpr jub vf bpphclvat cbq ahzore sbhe juvyr orvat n chccrg znfgre (rot13)

Well without the ASB messing with them, all they'd have is their love lives.

[Ragdoll]

I missed it. How was the show?

I thought it was actually a pretty interesting show. Characters and plot didn't seem boring or anything. I'd tune in next sunday to watch another episode.

[Ranxerox]

I missed it. How was the show?

I liked it, and plan on watching it again next week.

It exceeded my expectation, though admittedly I set them pretty low. IMHO, you have to reasonable about things. Nyrath groaned about their clothes pulling people toward the floor thus imitating gravity, but otherwise they would have had to spend their entire budget simulating weightlessness. So, I gave the magical clothes a pass.

The same goes all the personal interaction scenes. Scenes like these are cheap to do which saves money for episodes big special effect moments, and personal scenes provide a point of connection for non-scifi geeks that might be watching. As a plus point, it doesn't hurt that the characters at least have the decency to (for the most part) be half interesting. I for one really like the character A.J. Sharma, and hope that they keep him in the story even though he is no longer on the ship.

[sinanju]

I liked it, and plan on watching it again next week.

It exceeded my expectation, though admittedly I set them pretty low. IMHO, you have to reasonable about things. Nyrath groaned about their clothes pulling people toward the floor thus imitating gravity, but otherwise they would have had to spend their entire budget simulating weightlessness. So, I gave the magical clothes a pass.


I haven't watched it yet (it's on the Tivo), but--based on what I've read, I'm with Nyrath. Magical nanotech gravity-imitating clothes? Is everything they handle also wrapped in MNGIC?

A CGI spaceship with a rotating lifesystem to produce simulated gravity couldn't be much (if any) more expensive than a CGI spaceship without one. I'm even willing to ignore the fact that the sets don't actually look they're built into a large ring.

But MNGIC? It is to laugh.

[Hyper-Man]

I haven't watched it yet (it's on the Tivo), but--based on what I've read, I'm with Nyrath. Magical nanotech gravity-imitating clothes? Is everything they handle also wrapped in MNGIC?

A CGI spaceship with a rotating lifesystem to produce simulated gravity couldn't be much (if any) more expensive than a CGI spaceship without one. I'm even willing to ignore the fact that the sets don't actually look they're built into a large ring.

But MNGIC? It is to laugh.

I think the rotating bits of the ship are the sleeping quarters.

The rest of the ship (where any interaction between 3 or more characters must take place) is zero-g. Afaik, there is no cheap or even convincing way to consistently produce zero-g shots except on a 'vomit-comet' aircraft (which is what Hollywood used for Apollo 13).

Magnetic nano clothing seems to be the only stretch being made so far. I can suspend disbelief for it since everything else (tech wise) seems excellent.

[sinanju]

I think the rotating bits of the ship are the sleeping quarters.

The rest of the ship (where any interaction between 3 or more characters must take place) is zero-g. Afaik, there is no cheap or even convincing way to consistently produce zero-g shots except on a 'vomit-comet' aircraft (which is what Hollywood used for Apollo 13).

Magnetic nano clothing seems to be the only stretch being made so far. I can suspend disbelief for it since everything else (tech wise) seems excellent.

I hadn't seen the show, so I was speaking hypothetically. I was thinking more of a complete ring rotating round the shaft of the ship--like Discovery in 2001. Then they could have "gravity" in all the occupied sections of the ship without anything as ridiculous as magic nanotech gravity clothes. The ship is CGI, after all, it would cost nothing to have designed it that way instead.

As for other stretches...well, the usual for tv/movie SF:

Vast open spaces in the ship when it ought to look a lot more like a submarine. Every cubic centimeter of space means more mass to push around and more volume to keep heated/cooled and properly aerated.

Huge picture windows. Less egregious than in most cases, given that Antares is clearly not designed to deal with reentry stresses, but still....

But otherwise, yeah, I'm satisfied with the "tech" of the show.

[Hyper-Man]

The problem with making all crew space a complete ring rotating round the shaft of the ship--like Discovery in 2001(: A Space Odyssey) is that it would require an effects shot every time 2 or more crew were in different parts of the curvature of the 'ring'.

2001 never showed more than 1 crew member in the ring at the same time unless they were in the same place (edited: or one was strapped down while the other was moving). It also required a life-size rotating set that moved when either character moved within.

[L. Marcus]

Nitpick: 2001 did show two people in two different places in the wheel at the same time, but always separated by the central hub.

[Hyper-Man]

Nitpick: 2001 did show two people in two different places in the wheel at the same time, but always separated by the central hub.

Oops..

In that case, it had to be an effects shot (each person filmed individually and later combined in the film processor).

[L. Marcus]

Yup. :)

[Nyrath]

2001 never showed more than 1 crew member in the ring at the same time unless they were in the same place. It also required a life-size rotating set that moved when either character moved within.

Ah but it did.

One person was sitting down, while the other was walking.

This means the sitting person was strapped into their chair, and had to act like they were NOT gradually hanging upside down in the air. :D

I'm sure this is why they only did this shot once.

[Ian Mackinder]

Here's the Wiki entry -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defying_Gravity_(TV_series)

I cannot help but note the reference to a libido-reducing device worn by every crewmember, called a HALOS. This seems to me to be an EXTREMELY obvious set-up for using a line like "His / Her HALOS (halo) slipped".

[Ranxerox]

Another episode of Defying Gravity came on last night. If you missed it you can watch on ABC's site. (http://beta.abc.go.com/watch)

To be honest, I'm pimping the show mainly because science fiction tv series with realistic science are as rare as chicken lips, and if we (science fiction fandom) does not support them when they come along they are likely to stay rare. So, even though I wish that DG's story was moving along quicker (had I been writing it, I would have started the series as the Antaris was coming into orbit around Venus), I plan to go on watching it.

[Tasha]

BTW it's also on Hulu http://www.hulu.com/defying-gravity

I am enjoying it. The Soap Opera stuff makes it interesting. It makes the show about people who happen to be in a space craft.

The "big secret" is somewhat interesting. It gives them something to do during sweeps.

I'll keep watching.

BTW I keep wincing when they insist that people explode in vacuum. I hate when shows don't do basic research...

Tasha

[Ranxerox]

Just watched episode 4 on my computer. I liked this episode a good deal. The ratio of action in space to action down on earth seems to have gotten better, and I like the fact that the main focus of the episode was solving a engineering problem.

Also I'm real happy that brought AJ back as part of the ground crew. He is probably my favorite character, and I would have been unhappy if he was written out of the series.

[Capt JT Kohonez]

BTW it's also on Hulu http://www.hulu.com/defying-gravity

I am enjoying it. The Soap Opera stuff makes it interesting. It makes the show about people who happen to be in a space craft.

The "big secret" is somewhat interesting. It gives them something to do during sweeps.

I'll keep watching.

BTW I keep wincing when they insist that people explode in vacuum. I hate when shows don't do basic research...

Tasha

I've watched a few episodes and although it does have soap operishness (is there such a word) it tends to follow the characters and their interaction w/o getting stupid. For one they've avoided the whole pointless random bed-hopping that happens on alot modern soaps AND the characters are concerned about other aspects of human interaction other than wanting to sleep with or get their latest enemy.

So far, me likey,

Not to mention the latin chick, Paula is soooo cute and tough.

[Clonus]

Another episode of Defying Gravity came on last night. If you missed it you can watch on ABC's site. (http://beta.abc.go.com/watch)

To be honest, I'm pimping the show mainly because science fiction tv series with realistic science are as rare as chicken lips, and if we (science fiction fandom) does not support them when they come along they are likely to stay rare.

Defying Gravity is an object lesson in _why_ series with relatively realistic science are rare. It really restricts your options.

[sinanju]

Defying Gravity is an object lesson in _why_ series with relatively realistic science are rare. It really restricts your options.

And it's only relatively realistic, at that.

The most recent episode had a character mention that the ship was 30 million kilometers from earth. Hmm. Lights travels (very approximately) 300,000 kilometers a second. The ship is 100 times that distance from the earth...

...but they're still having real-time conversations with Mission Control. Not even a token delay.

[Hyper-Man]

And it's only relatively realistic, at that.

The most recent episode had a character mention that the ship was 30 million kilometers from earth. Hmm. Lights travels (very approximately) 300,000 kilometers a second. The ship is 100 times that distance from the earth...

...but they're still having real-time conversations with Mission Control. Not even a token delay.

Yeah... kinda sad.
But I figured that bit of realism was going to be ignored.

[Clonus]

..

...but they're still having real-time conversations with Mission Control. Not even a token delay.

I forgave that until the operation scene because they could have just been skipping over the pauses.

[Sundog]

Slurping the pilot as we speak. Tell you what I think once I watch it.

[Ranxerox]

And it's only relatively realistic, at that.

The most recent episode had a character mention that the ship was 30 million kilometers from earth. Hmm. Lights travels (very approximately) 300,000 kilometers a second. The ship is 100 times that distance from the earth...

...but they're still having real-time conversations with Mission Control. Not even a token delay.

Ugh! I hadn't noticed that goof-up, but of course you are right -every message should have 200 second delay as it has to earth and the reply has to come back. Now everytime I see a real-time conversation between ground and the ship it is going to bother me. I'm liking the series more and more on its own terms as a drama, so this isn't a deal breaker for me. Still it is going to be annoying from now on.

Maybe if that get fan mail complaining about it, they will appropriate time delays in the second season - should there be a second season that is.


Defying Gravity is an object lesson in _why_ series with relatively realistic science are rare. It really restricts your options.

Yes, but restriction aren't always bad in art. Take haikus, for example; it is hard to imagine a more restrictive medium of poetry. That hasn't stopped people from writing countless haikus that ranged from the beautiful to the funny to the profound. In the world of TV many sitcoms have been done almost exclusively on single sets. This did not stop All In the Family, I Love Lucy and Roseanne from being very funny.

Potentially, a lot of drama could be had from having realistic delays in communications between the Antares and flight control. The increasingly long wait times for replies would psychologically reinforce the crews feeling of isolation and the flight control's feeling that they were slipping away. Also, the crew of the Antares might find themselves needing information from flight control on a RIGHT NOW basis and being unable or nearly unable to get it in time.

[Clonus]

Potentially, a lot of drama could be had from having realistic delays in communications between the Antares and flight control. The increasingly long wait times for replies would psychologically reinforce the crews feeling of isolation and the flight control's feeling that they were slipping away. Also, the crew of the Antares might find themselves needing information from flight control on a RIGHT NOW basis and being unable or nearly unable to get it in time.

Realistically they shouldn't need much or any information from Mission Control. In a tiny capsule between the Earth and the Moon, they could get use out of ground telescopes and mainframe computers, but in a gigantic spaceship wandering around the solar system they should have all the displays needed to show their own telemetry, their own computer to do their own calculations, and should be able to get a better look at what's going on around them than any Earth telescope. But that's a minor detail.

What I was really talking about was the reason why they had to stock the crew with mentally ill people who never would have made the cut and an Alien Space Bat to throw complications at them. A really realistic tour of the solar system simply wouldn't support a series longer than the original Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets.

[Ranxerox]

They don't need help determining there position or calculating trajectories, but they very conceivably could use engineering help. AJ Sharma was their on board engineer and he is not part of the crew anymore, and while the computer may have all the Antares' facts and schematics it probably can't always tell them what facts and schematics are relevant to the problem at hand. After all, it has only been tested in orbit which is ultimately very different than live in a six year mission. So, it's expert systems for troubleshooting at times are going to be worse than useless.

As for stocking the crew with mentally ill people, I think that the doctor should not be onboard period. The two Mars survivors placed their by the "Alien Space Bat" but I think only Donner (just noticed the reference to the tragic Donner Party, sometimes I'm real slow) doesn't belong. Ted has experience and when the ASB isn't messing with it his head is on pretty tight. All the rest I think are mentally healthy as astronauts in general. They just don't seem that way because we aren't seeing a NASA PR approved version of them, but instead are getting a candid look of them as the flawed human beings that they are.

[Nyrath]

What I was really talking about was the reason why they had to stock the crew with mentally ill people who never would have made the cut and an Alien Space Bat to throw complications at them.
That bothered me somewhat as well.
But I really got disgruntled when I realized that { spoilers }
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http://www.rot13.com/

[Sundog]

Well, I liked the first episode. Clearly the "Alien Space Bat" is what caused the heart murmurs, but it's not directly referenced. What I do like is the "Go, Space!" attitude of the Astronauts, especially when compared to the asshat mission controller.

Guess I'll slurp the rest of the series so far. Incidentally, anyone know when Burn Notice returns from hiatus?

[tkdguy]

Is the show on hiatus? It hasn't been showing the last two weeks.

[Sundog]

Is the show on hiatus? It hasn't been showing the last two weeks.

The US broadcaster has "rescheduled" the remainder of the series. CTV had a break, but should have shown a new episode yesterday according to their schedules broadcast times.

[phookz]

Rumor mill on the ABC forums is it is being cancelled. The claim is they are trying to find a time slot for it, hopefully that is the case. I thought it as a pretty cool show.

[Clonus]

Rumor mill on the ABC forums is it is being cancelled. The claim is they are trying to find a time slot for it, hopefully that is the case. I thought it as a pretty cool show.

ABC advertised the 8th episode as the "season finale". They'll stick the remaining episodes in when they have more time to fill. Meanwhile I'll just watch it on Space Channel.

[Ranxerox]

I've found this very frustrating. ABC has stopped showing it (not real surprising since they gave it a bad time slot and put virtually no effort into promoting it), but they are still having the having the CTV block internet viewing of it to US viewers. I'm so mad about this that I would boycott watching ABC over it, except Defying Gravity was the only ABC program that I was watching already.

If anyone has suggestions on how I can get around the internet block, I would appreciate them.

[Clonus]

Itunes sells 'em, but I don't know if there's a restriction on that in the United States.

[Hyper-Man]

I've found this very frustrating. ABC has stopped showing it (not real surprising since they gave it a bad time slot and put virtually no effort into promoting it), but they are still having the having the CTV block internet viewing of it to US viewers. I'm so mad about this that I would boycott watching ABC over it, except Defying Gravity was the only ABC program that I was watching already.

If anyone has suggestions on how I can get around the internet block, I would appreciate them.


one of the comments on the hulu site mentioned using a canadian proxy to get around the issue:


If you guys have firefox. Google for a canadian proxy. Go into the firefox options/network settings and add the proxy and the port. Now go to the canadian network site and watch. It's in flash and it'll load slow but at least you can watch the show.
MAKE SURE you remove the proxy when you're done. You don't want to accidentally log into something important while using their server.

http://www.spacecast.com/shows/defyinggravity.aspx

I haven't been able to get this to work either.
I might be missing something simple.

[tkdguy]

One of my friends was able to download the episode when they find out what the life form is, as well as their true mission.

Apparently, the crew members who haven't suffered any delusions, can't see the life form.

I did notice one glaring mistake the writers made, not in science, but in religion:

Paula Morales, who has been shown to be a devout Catholic, starts talking about the Rapture, which is not part of the Catholic faith.

[Clonus]

One of my friends was able to download the episode when they find out what the life form is, as well as their true mission.

Apparently, the crew members who haven't suffered any delusions, can't see the life form.


I have decided that it is a Lovecraftian horror that feeds on human misery and drives those around to insanity.

[Ranxerox]

Itunes sells 'em, but I don't know if there's a restriction on that in the United States.


one of the comments on the hulu site mentioned using a canadian proxy to get around the issue:


I haven't been able to get this to work either.
I might be missing something simple.

Thanks for the suggestions and repped. However, I could not get either one to work for me. Itunes only had up to episode 8 (if I was in Canada that might have been different), and I could not get the proxy thing to work for me. Maybe using a proxy would have worked better if I had tried one of the paid services instead of just free ones, but none of the sites that charged seemed to want to say up-front how much they charged. That always sets off alarm bells in my head, so I passed on them.

[Ian Mackinder]

OK, just had the pilot episode shown on FoxTel here in Australia.

Looks OK - I may not be in it for the long haul, but will watch at least a couple more episodes. This business about something major being kept from most of the crew (that, if known, may have caused them to reconsider their commitment to the mission) has piqued my interest. Just hope they start dropping real hints / clues very quickly - went through that #### with early 'Lost', and guess what, they "lost" me by the middle of Season 1.

[Sundog]

OK, just had the pilot episode shown on FoxTel here in Australia.

Looks OK - I may not be in it for the long haul, but will watch at least a couple more episodes. This business about something major being kept from most of the crew (that, if known, may have caused them to reconsider their commitment to the mission) has piqued my interest. Just hope they start dropping real hints / clues very quickly - went through that #### with early 'Lost', and guess what, they "lost" me by the middle of Season 1.

They don't string it out too long. The writers here appear to understand the need to relieve tensions occasionally.