It should probably be no surprise that Defying Gravity [ABC, Sundays, 9 /8C, then 10/9C] has a large cast of characters that are connected in intricate and intricate ways that go way beyond the superficial. It was, after all, created by former Grey’s Anatomy producer, James Parriott. It should also come as no surprise that there seems to be a seemingly supernatural mystery that plays apart – after all the show’s other executive producer, Michael Edelstein comes to the series from Desperate Housewives, a series narrated by a ghost. Set the series forty years into the future and add in Lost-like complexities of character and situation and the result is what premieres this evening.
The Lost connection comes from the eight astronauts [four men, four women] who crew the Antares on a six-year mission to study the other seven planets in the solar system. They are the select few chosen from a pool of over a thousand potential candidates for each position. But there are some oddities unfolding: the mission commander and flight engineer are replaced under exceedingly mysterious medical circumstances; the team’s theoretical physicist failed the very first test the candidates were given; three or four people [the mission commander, the ex-mission commander, the Mission Control commander and at least one top scientist] have knowledge that no one else does.
The ship’s crew is international in nature and that is reflected in the cast: Ron Livingston [Office Space, Sex and the City] is flight engineer Maddux Donner [who has interesting dreams, and was forced to abandon two crew members on a Mars mission]; Laura Harris [Dead Like Me, Odyssey 5] is ship’s geologist Zoe Barnes [who hears something no one else does]; Malik Yoba is Antares commander Ted Shaw [married, but now in command of a crew that includes an ex-girlfriend]; Christina Cox [Blood Ties, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven] plays biologist Jen Crane [commander Shaw’s ex]; Florentine Lahme [Impact], is pilot Nadia Schilling [very forthright, usually gets what she wants]; Paula Garces [The Shield] as pilot/scientist/documentarian Paula Morales; Eyal Podell [24] is ship psychiatrist and medical officer Evram Mintz[also an alcoholic], and Dylan Taylor [House Party, Aliens in America] is theoretical physicist Steve Wassenfelder [who failed that first test and has a stash of porn]. That’s three Canadians, a German, an Israeli, a South American and two Americans – and that’s just the actual flight crew!
The team at Mission Control features Andrew Airlie [Reaper] as commander Mike Goss, a control freak who is handcuffed by the mysterious force that made crew changes at the last possible minute; Karen LeBlanc [ReGenesis] as scientist Eve Shaw, wife of Ted and one of the few who know The Secret; Zahf Paroo [Battlestar Galactica] as Ajay Sharma, original flight engineer of the Antares, and Maxim Roy [ReGenesis] is flight surgeon Claire Deveaux. Ty Olsson [Battlestar Galactica] guests as grounded mission commander Rollie Crane.
Defying Gravity is beautiful to look at. A lot of work went into getting the science to be as accurate as it could be. While Parriott says the series was inspired by the BBC documentary, Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, the series is built around ways in which the various characters – on the ground and in the Antares – are connected, and how the underlying mystery affects them all. The question is whether the series will last long enough to take us through the entire six-year mission – and whether all the characters will make it through with us.
Of necessity, the pilot [the first half of the two-hour premiere] is a bit jagged. There are a lot of characters to introduce and a lot of science – and weirdness – to set up. The prime players, Donner, Barnes and Goss get a larger percentage of the screen time, but things even out, and the pace picks up once we’re past the first hour [which is actually pretty interesting because of the way things are set up]. Sure, the mystery seems a bit out of place at first, but it gives the proceedings an even greater sense of urgency.
The Antares is pretty spacious as space craft go, but it’s still pretty much a tin can in space and the finite space should make character interaction especially interesting. Where do you go to be alone? You can’t just grab an EVA suit and go for a walk. And while the ship is pretty for a space craft, it’s not a very large space in which to stick eight people for a six-year mission. I expect Dr. Mintz to be a very busy guy.
From what I’ve seen, there’s enough substance – and intrigue – for me to recommend Defying Gravity as a show that takes its influences and inspirations and is working them into what could be something worth watching over the long haul. It’s not brilliant, but it’s good enough that it’s easy to see how it might get there. And it’s not another detective /lawyer/doctor show…
Final Grade: B