Another Life (Netflix Sci Fi Show/Possible nod to Waking Titan/Clickbaity title maybe?)

So I started watching the new Netflix sci fi that came out today and one of the main characters, who seems to be a high ranking official of some capacity pulling the strings, is referred to as Dubois and she even has a similar style to WT’s Sophie Dubois.

I dunno if Dubois is a reference to a scientist or whatnot that they’re both referencing or if it’s a nice little nod to NMS, or it’s just pure coincidence but it was enough for me to want to share that here :slight_smile:

I’m only three episodes in, so far so good. Has commited some serious Sci fi faux pas in the first episode that has me raging internally, just silly people making silly decisions that people in their position would never make just to make it more relatable or dramatic but there’s more good than bad. Kinda reminds me of Stargate Universe meets Arrival/Contact.

I think what makes the connection stand out more is she’s like a combination of two WT characters. Sadly google has no images ofv the character I can find since the show is fresh out but here’s a description of her character

General Blair Dubois, General of United States Interstellar Command, in charge of United States’ response to the Artifact.

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…unless they are American…:laughing:

…which they are…

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That’s one of my problems with it so far. It seems the Americans are the only country researching the anomaly and they have literally four scientists working on the team, In what reality would that happen?!? I get its a TV show and budgetary constraints so I’m gonna let it slide but still, can’t help but find it somewhat comical. Also dubois threatens the scientists every five minutes that shell get other people to replace them if they can’t science fast enough. Okay dubois, you go be an idiot, wouldn’t it make sense to bring additional people on board to work alongside with the researchers and their data instead of just outright replacing them completely. Uuugh.

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It’s next on my list after the trailer poppoed up yesterday, still busy with the seconds season of Dark.
Though what you write doesn’t sound too encouraging. Sounds like classical tv problems that have less to do with budget and most to do with lazy writing, which tends to make shows completely unwatchable after a season or two (or 8, in one notorious recent example, but after having had 4 seasons headstart…)

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Shows written in the US have been subpar ever since the big Hollywood writers strike. Most good writers did not return. That was the year reality TV took over. There was nothing else to fill the time slots with. The few well written shows we have had since then have all been cut short. This is why I mostly watch old movies and series that I have purchased and added to my collection.
Sadly, most good stories are now online only and with limited internet, I have to wait for a physical release to watch them.

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Unfortunately, too many people watch cheap-to-make reality and quiz shows so advertisers support those shows.

I found the first episode pretty intense. As for series length, it appears that Netflix likes to limit shows to 3 seasons. If viewership is not high enough, they die sooner.

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Started to watch the first episode, canned it after 16 minutes. I’m sick and tired of “Earth sends a ship of completely unprofessional and psychologically immature doofuses to that really important thing so we can have more character drama”. This plus the completely ridiculous contrievance of why they have to make a detour immediately reveals this thing as “soap opera in space”, not science fiction. And I don’t like soap opera.

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I am 2 episodes in and I have to concur: for the top U.S. minds working on the artifact, they are surprisingly bad decision makers. The cliché regular character types are all there with only a few surprises (like a supportive father that’s not a villain nor buffoon.)

The exploration aspect and the general unknown about the aliens will keep me watching. So far, I would give it a B.

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Finished it yesterday. It’s watchable, as in you can’t take your eyes off a trainwreck.
It’s cut and paste writing. Everything that happens, everything that should be interesting, is just redone scenes from sci fi movies, and maybe a series also.
The crew is still going through high school emotions and reactions. The captain has made questionable decisions that resulted in the death of half the crew on her last ship. The AI has more emotional problems than K-2SO in Rogue One.
Crew members die often, but not to worry! They can just pull someone else out of suspended animation (called Soma) and keep going.
The writing and plotting: I recognized stollen plot lines and scenes from Aliens, Contact, Star Trek TOS, Her, Star Trek Voyager, 2001, and many more. Maybe even some Dr Who.
And there is an average of 1 1/2 sex scenes per episode. Straight sex, gay sex, AI sex, possible 3 way. Just be thankful they haven’t had any animals on board yet.
In the first episode a death occurs. The crew keeps saying the person killed the other person. But when we see that scene it is clearly a case of self defense and the death could have been just an unfortunate result of where the attack took place. But apparently there are no cameras onboard this vessel so the incident can’t be reviewed so no one really knows what happened.
As I said, it is watchable, just don’t expect too much from it.

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