In a nutshell Ascension for better or worse is another attempt by ghhhaaa Syfy to replicate Battlestar Galactica for better that actually manages to get why Battlestar Galactica was good. It has compelling characters and an engaging plot and setting to put them in to bounce off each other.
And fails because it tries to hard to stick to the model.
Specifically Battlestar Galactica was piloted as a miniseries to test the water. But while the BSG miniseries is more or less satisfying on its own, it ends in place that's open yet complete, Ascension doesn't leaving almost every major subplot incomplete.
Which is a shame because other than it's probably the best high concept stuff I've seen in a long time.
So there is a big twist in the middle of the series that turned a lot of people off. But for me it was the good type of twist. The sort of twist that not only shocks opens story opportunities for other less obvious stuff to happen.
So here we go. In the 1960's the United States government commission a ship for intersteller travel knowing that it would be an intergenerational journey buuuuut not really. Instead the ship is fabricated with its occupants being unaware that it is all a highly elaborate experiment in controlled human evolution and sociology.
That's a really interesting place to take it and before we event that far we get exposed to a lot of interesting characters. Gault the executive officer of the ship who moved up the ranks from the less affluent lower decks is a guy who its hard not to like.
Revelations about Christa upend everything about the story yet its also clear she's more than just a minimaguffin.
Denniger and who am I kidding Six, Make a machiavellian couple who despite being kind of slimy are probably the most competent people when it comes to running the day to day operations of the ship.
Mostly I'm bummed that the most obvious thing that could happen that I think would probably make a good series in and of itself didn't and was close to happening in the finally that I could taste it.
The facade is revealed and all of these people have to adjust to life outside the jar.
Well The 4400 is close enough.
Man that show was so good.
No comments:
Post a Comment