Capt JT Kohonez Posted August 28, 2009 Report Share Posted August 28, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted August 28, 2009 Report Share Posted August 28, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series Another episode of Defying Gravity came on last night. If you missed it you can watch on ABC's site. 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinanju Posted August 29, 2009 Report Share Posted August 29, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted August 29, 2009 Report Share Posted August 29, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted August 29, 2009 Report Share Posted August 29, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series .. ...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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted August 30, 2009 Report Share Posted August 30, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series Slurping the pilot as we speak. Tell you what I think once I watch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted August 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted August 30, 2009 Report Share Posted August 30, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted August 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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 } gur Nyvra Fcnpr Ong jnf gur znva ernfba gur perj jnf zragnyyl vyy. Naq gung gur cbjref gung or ng Zvffvba Pbageby ner fb fhozvffvir gb gur nyvra gung gurl nterrq gb guvf fybj zbgvba genva jerpx. http://www.rot13.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 2, 2009 Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series Is the show on hiatus? It hasn't been showing the last two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted October 2, 2009 Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phookz Posted October 2, 2009 Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 2, 2009 Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series Rumor mill on the ABC forums is it is being cancelled. The claim is they are trying to find a time slot for it' date=' hopefully that is the case. I thought it as a pretty cool show.[/quote'] 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted October 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series Itunes sells 'em, but I don't know if there's a restriction on that in the United States. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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)' date=' 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 [i']Defying Gravity[/i] 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 5, 2009 Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted October 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series Itunes sells 'em' date=' but I don't know if there's a restriction on that in the United States.[/quote'] 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted October 6, 2009 Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted October 7, 2009 Report Share Posted October 7, 2009 Re: Defying Gravity TV Series 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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