ABC's "Defying Gravity"

You know I really want to like this show.  ABC has a new show on Sunday nights titled "Defying Gravity."  The show stars Ron Livingston (aka Peter Gibbons in Office Space but also stared in Band of Brothers).  I've been a fan of Ron since I first saw Office Space and since a good friend of mine told me how much Ron reminds him of me in Band of Brothers. I enjoyed his last effort on the small screen "Standoff" but FOX wasn't quite as into it as I was...WHAT ELSE IS NEW?!  The show revolves around a mission to explore the solar system and the group of astronauts on said mission and stars one of my favorite actors. Again I want to like this show.

(MAJOR SPOILER ACTION BELOW)

Alright so the premise of the show is that we are in the future somewhere around 2050ish or so humans have apparently visited Mars at least once that we know of but there doesn't seem to be any sign that there was a permanent presence.  Society's attitudes around sex seem to have become even more conservative and there are implications that Roe v. Wade has been overturned in addition paper money seems to have (FINALLY!) been replaced by smart debit cards.  As the show opens we are being introduced to the crew that will eventually spend a 6 year voyage traveling to many of the planets in the solar system most often mentioned is Venus as well as conducting experiments along the way. We quickly learn that for medical reasons two members will be replaced by their alternates.  Those alternates are known for having been responsible for leaving two astronauts behind on the surface of Mars. Here's where it starts to fall apart folks.

The Mars Mission - We see a sequence where Ron Livingston's Character (Donner) is forced to make the decision to launch the Mars lander back to orbit while two astronauts are trapped in a dust storm. Really? What the heck kind of a mission are you running here?  What is this 1969 why wasn't there a permanent hab? Also why is it so urgent that you launch? You didn't build the lander to survive the dust storm? We can build rovers that survive them now? The sequence falls apart for me and I don't get the fake urgency that results in the "tragedy."

The Rescue of A.J. -  One of the crew members that is told they have been scrubbed from the mission is and Indian guy A.J. who takes his work as primary engineer very seriously and eventually finds his way to an air lock and manages to access it, open it, and get an EVA suit on all before Mission Control is the wiser. Hu ooookay. Then Donner manages to launch in the supply vehicle (which first of all was supposed to be going to a space station) from Vandenberg in enough time to then pull up in the capsule, convince A.J. that really his now meaningless life is worth living and save the day.  Ooookay where is Mission Control? Because they claim that the supply capsule will launch from Vandenberg (I guess cheesy reference for space geeks like us I mean it was a shuttle site at one time so it's not THAT implausible in 2054) which means that Donner has to get all his stuff together, and if the ISO is anything like NASA today get on a plane and fly from Mission Control to the launch site, launch into the exact orbit of Antares (the exploration craft) and then pilot the capsule. Pretty sure I haven't seen anything like that EVER happen in 8 hours and from the clip they show the rocket used is similar to what we're doing today so that means similar processing times, procedures, etc.

Nanofibers/Artificial Gravity Cop-out - Okay here's where the train REALLY comes off the rails, they claim that their clothes have nanofibers that some how keep them anchored to the deck and if they take their clothes off then oh look Zero Gee floating naked people (which we are already into like 15 minutes into the show...ugh). Problem is they don't even really try to make this work or look good.  They take things out of the fridge and they don't float, they walk around in clothes that aren't flight suits and they don't float, equipment objects, etc. that by the rules should all float of course don't.  Perhaps the most insane example of this is that Donner brings a baseball with him and is always tossing it around and you can just tell that they aren't even trying. Then we have Paula getting Zero Gee sick almost as an attempt I guess to say no really they are in Zero Gee. But here is my question though on all the exterior shots we see big giant spinning arms with pods on the end what the heck are those doing if not generating gravity? Why even have them spin...HELLO!?  The whole sickness thing also brings me to the next bit of coo-coo in this show...the "halos."  We can invest in creating anti-sex patches and not in creating some cure to Zero Gee sickness I would think that might be kinda important during a 6 year mission in Zero Gee (which current medical science doesn't even being to support as possible but hey.)

Halos - Okay so we wouldn't want anyone "hooking-up" in space now would we? Of course not that would be horrible for crew moral and a whole host of other pshyco-babble reasons so solution to this problem enter the "halo."  The halo is essentially an anti-sex patch that apparently this upside down culture in a few years will necessitate that shuts down male and female sex drives. Yeah I don't think the craziness of this really needs to much explanation especially in light of the fact that they managed to develop this patch and not the anti-Zero Gee sickness patch good to see that humanities priorities won't have changed in another 45 years.

Donner's Rescue of Zoey - So there's another emergency sequence where they are doing the checkouts on an EVA suit for use on Venus and Doner decides to tether Zoey to the airlock because he's been having dreams about her floating off into space, okay I mean hey seems prudent anyway right? Why not. So everything seems to be going fine and then they decide to decompress the airlock and the hatch blows open unexpectedly and Zoey floats way off into space at the end of the tether where we learn that her suit has a big leak and is rapidly decompressing. Alright so Donner to the rescue again he suits up and goes into the airlock. And here comes the train wreck folks he starts MANUALLY pulling her in...UM...HELLO!? Is there seriously not a winch on that tether?! Okay I'll grant you maybe there isn't but why the heck was she on a 3 mile long tether in the first place?  Anyone who has even bothered to watch a real EVA knows that there are different types and lengths of tethers.  This scene bothered me a lot.  Then of course there is the whole thing with her splitting to plug the leak but hey.

Mission Timeline/Science - Also the timeline of this mission is bizarre Earth is still plainly visible and it's like day 2 of the mission and you are already checking out the suits for an EVA that is probably months away? Oookay. Also the whole thing with what's her name working on the embryo's and stuff I mean what the heck have you been using your space station that you apparently still have for during the last 45 years?!  I mean I guess I can understand the rationale that perhaps this is the only neutral place you can do this kinda research if abortion is outlawed, etc.

HAL is that you? - Okay and then there is the whole "something is out there with them" angle.  Ugh. Really?! I don't know I'm not all that interested in this plot because it is so predictable and it is so what you do when you are making a space movie or show. I'm pretty sick of it frankly and whether it is some alien presence or misbehaving AI it kinda seems like they are ripping off the whole HAL/2001 vibe with malfunctioning equipment, etc.  Also why not just tell the crew?  I mean 6 years they aren't going to figure SOMETHING out? I dunno like I said I'm so not really into this aspect of the show.

Alright it's obvious I could go on and on but I think I've made my point. A number of years back there were rumors that James Cameron was going to make a mini-series out of the award wining series of novels about Mars (Red, Green, and Blue Mars) by Kim Stanley Robinson.  Unfortunately despite my desperately wanting it to that never happened.  I'd just like to see someone someday out there do a hard science fiction show about a mission like this without it having to be about aliens and sex in zero gravity. I suppose that is very clearly to much to ask if we look at the long history of this genre. 

So now I am face with the decision of whether to abandon the show or to stick with it and Ron Livingston.  I may hang on until other shows come back in the fall and there's something else to watch.