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Outcasts: brief non-spoilery impressions
Feb. 7th, 2011 10:43 pmOK, I'll make the obvious bad pun to begin with; from the summary it basically sounded like "Lost ... In Space!"
Since I never watched Lost I couldn't tell you how they compare, but this was a passable start --generalised scene-setting and character introduction, some slightly awkward performances that may catch fire later on, and a number of questions about how this society functions and what happened in both its and Earth's past. (It's not clear how such a small population supports high tech such as Pensieve-type full-imaging brain scans, for example, nor conversely why orbital re-entry is such a dangerous business for a colony ship that survived five years high-speed space travel in which the tiniest dust particle meteor would presumably impact like an atom bomb.)
The externals of the planet itself didn't feel especially alien, even with the 'whiteouts', but I suppose that's expected -- it's not quite the BBC Quarry, but we're not in Avatar-level special effects budget territory here! Liam Cunningham as President Tate was the standout performance; Hermione Norris as Stella had a few interesting lines, Fleur and Cass didn't have much chance to get beyond the routine. I have a nasty suspicion that we're going to focus on a few core players, which can work in the right circumstances but isn't something that helps to paint the picture of a complex society (think the way the ships in various Treks seemed to be staffed solely by the bridge crew and the occasional redshirt extra). And yes, on a supposed colony planet I'd have expected to see more non-white faces and hear more non-British Isles accents. Sloppy unless an explanation is forthcoming.
A bit meh about this opener, I suppose; there wasn't anything really surprising about it that grabbed my attention, except a couple of mildly unexpected deaths that may or may not be all they seem. But then that's just the standard opener problem, so hopefully things will hot up as we go along.
Since I never watched Lost I couldn't tell you how they compare, but this was a passable start --generalised scene-setting and character introduction, some slightly awkward performances that may catch fire later on, and a number of questions about how this society functions and what happened in both its and Earth's past. (It's not clear how such a small population supports high tech such as Pensieve-type full-imaging brain scans, for example, nor conversely why orbital re-entry is such a dangerous business for a colony ship that survived five years high-speed space travel in which the tiniest dust particle meteor would presumably impact like an atom bomb.)
The externals of the planet itself didn't feel especially alien, even with the 'whiteouts', but I suppose that's expected -- it's not quite the BBC Quarry, but we're not in Avatar-level special effects budget territory here! Liam Cunningham as President Tate was the standout performance; Hermione Norris as Stella had a few interesting lines, Fleur and Cass didn't have much chance to get beyond the routine. I have a nasty suspicion that we're going to focus on a few core players, which can work in the right circumstances but isn't something that helps to paint the picture of a complex society (think the way the ships in various Treks seemed to be staffed solely by the bridge crew and the occasional redshirt extra). And yes, on a supposed colony planet I'd have expected to see more non-white faces and hear more non-British Isles accents. Sloppy unless an explanation is forthcoming.
A bit meh about this opener, I suppose; there wasn't anything really surprising about it that grabbed my attention, except a couple of mildly unexpected deaths that may or may not be all they seem. But then that's just the standard opener problem, so hopefully things will hot up as we go along.
