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S01.E01: Re-Entry


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Astronaut Molly Woods tries to reconnect with her husband, John, and son, Ethan, after returning from a 13-month solo mission in outer space. Molly’s mystifying experiences in space lead to events that will ultimately change the course of human history.

 

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Geesh. And why would you make Goran Visnijic look like THAT? If it were on NBC, I'd venture they got a two-for-1 coupon to Supercuts and sent him and Dermot Mulroney.

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I hate to say it, but I've come to the conclusion that Halle Berry is either:

 

a) a terrible actress who got lucky Mira Sorvino-style with Monster's Ball and that TV movie she did

b) a good actress who cannot pick a good role to save her career

 

In either case, she's become a mark of anti-quality in pretty much everything she's done.

Edited by Misanthrope
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That's right @Tippi! And to add to that sentiment... Of course when you say don't watch, I now have to @Tara Ariana. Reverse psychology, nice. Except you really meant it. :)

Edited by Valny
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I'm looking forward to the AI more than the mysterious pregnancy. Unless she's giving birth to an AI. Much like the old movie "Demon Seed" where Julie Christie gets pregnant by a computer, with her consent. 

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The promos I've seen go about five different directions - mysterious space pregnancy, expected government or corporate (same diff) conspiracy, robots are human/humans are robots, saving an alien race...well, I guess it's only four different directions.

It's three too many directions for me.

I liked "Almost Human"...why don't they bring that back?

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Is it too soon to take bets on the throwdown which already seems inevitable between the creepy AI child and the scary space alien baby? My money's on the destructive mecha-moppet. Unless it's a lizard baby.

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Is Hiroyuki Sanada the number one choice for Japanese scientist and/or shadowy corporation member roles in sci-fi? For a moment I thought Helix was back to haunt me.

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We have Cylons and magic alien babies.  I think I will give this show a few more episodes because it is fun.

 

Ethan is suitably creepy as he should be.  And everyone's question of the day is,  How would you shut down your kid if he got a little out of control?  Show your work

 

My advice to Molly is to take your alien fetus and get out while the getting is good but then we really wouldn't have a show....plus I am pretty sure EvilCorp would follow her so I guess my plan wouldn't really work.  

 

Cylons everyone!  Cylons!  Won't we ever learn?  Oh God I hope not.  

 

Oh and my finger will get you pregnant.    God if that was possible lesbians wouldn't need men at all.  

Edited by maraleia
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I really like the look of this.

 

I want Leo’s night light! Talk about cool. Loved it.

 

Besides Leo freaking out at the park, the creepiest scene had to be when the ship lost power, Molly goes to fix it and sees her dead husband on the other side through the window. So dead husband on the ship was some weird alien hallucination that appeared to have hypnotized her to get her to let him into her section of the ship?

 

Nitpick – If they still needed to do medical and psychiatric tests on Molly, I find it hard to believe they’d allow her to go home and be with her family until all tests were complete with satisfactory results.

 

Halle, Goran and Pierce have zero chemistry, but it works with this storyline of her just returning to Earth after being away from them for a year and all the weirdness that’s now starting to happen with her return.

 

I thought it was a very strong premiere. I’m intrigued by what happened to Molly (and the astronaut that showed up at the end) in space and how what happened to them ties into the Yoko guy and John’s project. I’ll definitely be back next week.

Edited by Enero
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I liked it. Enough sci-fi and mysteries to keep me interested. Lots of tropes checked: strong women characters, duplicitous businesses, idealistic dad, creepy kid, dead former love interest, missing astonaut returning, and Hitake from Helix! 

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That was pretty bad.  And I'm not just talking about the hokey weightless special effects.

 

Is Steven Spielberg trying to forcefeed the kidbot from 'A.I.' on us once again -- because that movie kinda sucked ?  And the fact it is the creepy kid from Looper isn't helping.

 

They would never send anyone on a 13 month solo mission -- intentionally.  One key principle to space travel is system redundancy -- and that includes the humans onboard.

 

Why wouldn't Molly fire up the comms and ask what the hell is going on before opening that door ?  Did she not even wonder why this dude that looked like her dead ex-husband/ex-boyfriend/whatever could barely speak, but could spell HELP ME backwards in the condensation on the door (or was that also a figment of her imagination) ?

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I hate to say it, but I've come to the conclusion that Halle Berry is either:

 

a) a terrible actress who got lucky Mira Sorvino-style with Monster's Ball and that TV movie she did

b) a good actress who cannot pick a good role to save her career

 

In either case, she's become a mark of anti-quality in pretty much everything she's done.

 

I'm inclined to say a). I think Berry has been the worse thing in a good movie, which I'm not sure that Sorvino has been.

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I liked "Almost Human"...why don't they bring that back?

 

 

That is not going to happen, ever. But since you mentioned Almost Human, I think Extant goes deeper (and much better) in the whole "what is human" question, in a level Almost Human probably wanted to achieve but never managed to really discuss. On the other hand Almost Human had awesome chemistry between the two leads, while Halle and Goran have very blah chemistry (so far) - and I used to think Goran  could have chemistry with a rotten door. Maybe it is on purpose, but I doubt it.

 

Ethan is creeeepy, John is obsessed, Molly is kinda of lost there. But we'll see. The characters were reaally good on paper, the supporting ones even more.

 

But do you know what really drives me nuts about this show? The color palette. The pastels.

Edited by Raachel2008
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I had no idea the guy from Helix would be in this show.  I was surprised he had such huge calf muscles.

 

The husband was kind of annoying this episode.  He definitely should have a kill switch for the robots, it's weird that he didn't really listen to his wife about what happened.

 

The ghost/alien of her ex gave me the creeps, so that's one good thing about the pilot.

 

The clunky exposition from the husband about the ex and the resurrected astronaut made me laugh.  They just had to end the show with "everyone...everyone".  What a suspenseful cliffhanger!

 

 

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But do you know what really drives me nuts about this show? The color palette. The pastels.

 

This! By the end of the show I concluded that they spent most of their budget on the CGI/Special Effects, so there wasn't much left  for some diversity in the color palette. Plus I think they're trying to capture that whole futuristic look too.

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Halle was kind of a dud on Letterman last night, too. The biggest takeaway from the interview is that the baby mystery drags out to Episode 12.

Could somebody just send me a text?

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I liked it. Enough sci-fi and mysteries to keep me interested. Lots of tropes checked: strong women characters, duplicitous businesses, idealistic dad, creepy kid, dead former love interest, missing astonaut returning, and Hitake from Helix!

Pretty much, but what got me was that Halle's character reminded me of myself as a wife, mom, and single person.
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So, Original Revenge Sensei is underwriting the husband's creepy childbot experiments? All right, I'm just going to say it: Molly, you in danger, girl!

I don't like the idea of Agent Ron Butterfield being all Fritz Weaver-y and evil.

(I still haven't forgiven Almost Human for making the not-quite-human dude be the black guy. Wow, progressive!)

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It was an alright premiere ep. Although I did fall asleep for about 15 minutes about midway through, but then again, once I get in the stretched out mode on my couch, I'm usually a goner for anything I may be watching. I've seen the trailer,so I know I missed a part where Molly is running after her son in the park...and what... they find a dead bird and she thinks he killed it on purpose? And some balloon guy gives her a message? I know I missed that chunk of the ep.

 

Ethan is suitably creepy as he should be.

 

  I do love me a creepy kid in tv/movies. The creepier the better.

 

I want to know what's up with the NotDead guy that came back and gave Molly the ominous messages...and looks like he will throughout the series.

 

ETA-  was it me or did it seem like Halle was wearing the same outfit throughout the ep?  I kept seeing beige on her.

Edited by Valny
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The problem for me was never forgetting I was watching Halle Berry.  Halle Berry is so pretty, Halle Berry is doing a great job of acting scared, Halle Berry should have asked the dead husband why she was seeing him after all this time… I can't forget for one second I'm watching Halle Berry pretend to be an astronaut.

 

Otherwise, I didn't mind this show and will give it one more episode to see if it's worth watching all summer.

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Why was Yasumoto in long term storage ?  Or was that some sort of glorified spa treatment ?  Hopefully he only seems like he's immortal (because he's already immortal in 'Helix').

 

Has the show established what year it is supposed to be ?  Aside from funky holographic displays, neat toys, a walking-talking kidbot and state of the art garbage disposal out in the yard (seriously ?) it didn't feel very futuristic.  If they start introducing Peter Pan mythology and the frakking Blue Fairy to Ethan, I'm out - because it didn't work in 'A.I.'.

 

Where was the Seraphim location -- another planet ?? Another star system ??  Because the solar flare that has now affected the Seraphim Station -- twice -- doesn't seem to affect any other space installations.

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Otto, I think I read somewhere that it's supposed to be set in 2030.

The actress who plays the therapist, isn't she Jamie's sister Lisa from Mad About You? Love her!

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The android kid acted like a real(spoiled) kid when he threw a tantrum over the ice cream.

I'm just so happy to see Goran again. He is the reason I am watching this. The guy from Helix is bonus yum!

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The actress who plays the therapist, isn't she Jamie's sister Lisa from Mad About You? Love her!

I liked the therapist.  She looked like a real person and her face moved, which is so nice to see, but Berry's didn't.  No lines, no creasing, nothing. 

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Hm.

I generally try to steer clear of TV, but sci-fi is my exception.  Provided it is palatable.

Geek nitpicks:

1. Astronauts not behaving like the high-caliber, psychologically uber-stable, super-scientists they are supposed to be.  You don't put second-tier humans into space.  You can't afford to when entrusting them with bazillion dollar projects.

As such, if weird alien contact scenarios unfold, they wouldn't freak out and do irrational things, such as failing to establish quarantine protocols, communication protocols, and every other relevant protocol which has been thought up by several years worth of expert think-tank hours and rehearsed by months of ground training, -little things like asking: "Who are you?" "How did you get on board?" "Pardon me while I check in with ground control before I give you admittance to the cabin.  Sorry.  We might have to wait a day or two."

And certainly, they don't engage in infantile attempts to keep secrets, tamper with official mission records and pretend everything is normal when clearly there is an interesting phenomenon at work.  If you suspect your psychological hygiene is compromised, you bloody-well report it ASAP.  People who are inclined to act like secretive, startled 8 year-olds rather than top-notch adult scientists don't make it past the pysch review board and get into space.  It just doesn't happen.

2. A light fixture which gives off enough waste heat energy to burn your hand?  On a spaceship?  In the *future* when we already have efficient cold lighting solutions today?  Really?  How can a writer who allows little things like that to pass be expected to make good calls on things which are actually complicated?

3. A crew of one?  There are reasons that is unlikely.  Another poster pointed out that redundancy is important in space.

4. They let her back into the populace without first passing a thorough and supervised medical exam?  That's actually insane.

5. Finding funding for the development of scary good AI through unconventional techniques is hard?  Because of moral issues among investors?  Because the public sector might be freaked out?  Sheesh.  They should get in touch with those psychopathic black budget guys; you know; the ones with all the $$$ and above-the-law impunity, (who probably strong-armed their way into your project before it was even conceived)?  Heck, I find it implausible that there wouldn't be a dozen or more compartmentalized projects trying to achieve the same thing through a variety of different methods with any number of creepy alphabet soup agencies.

Like most sci-fi, this story takes place in a universe imagined through the lens of naive writers who haven't figured out that the world is a great deal more interesting and complex than the average two-dimensional Utopian day dream populated by two-dimensional child-people incapable of recognizing objective reality even when it pokes them in the eye.

So. . , sorry.  I'm not altogether enthusiastic about tuning in to see how it all turns out; whatever solutions, twists and turns the plot offers will assuredly be the product of ignorance, inexperience and immature thinking.
 

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I'm a sci-fi fan, so I have a pretty good suspension of disbelief. The sociopathic AI and the alien pregnancy, no problem with those.  The thing that took me out of it was the size of the space station.  There is no way that there would be a solo mission on a station of that size.  (Notwithstanding the above arguments that there would not be a solo mission like that, period.)  If it had been half the size, it would have been more believable.

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Going into this, I only knew that it had Halle Berry, so when Hiroyuki Sanada showed up, I wasn't sure if I was happy or not.  On one hand, he's awesome.  On the other hand, it automatically brought me back to Helix, which isn't a good thing.  I swear, if he ends up being an alien, who is somehow Halle's father...

 

Overall though, it was fine for a pilot.  Some slow moments, lame exposition, and plenty of preposterous stuff, but I found some of it compelling, the production values are good, and some good acting.  It probably helps that I'm grading it on a summer network curve, so comparing this to, say, Under the Dome, and it makes the show look even better.

 

I know Halle is going to be the big selling point, and I thought she was mainly good, although she and Goran Visnjic have almost no chemistry.  Robot son was perfectly creepy.  Camryn Manheim was awesome, of course.  Fun seeing Michael O'Neill too.  No matter who Grace Gummer plays, I always think of her as Meryl Streep's daughter.  Was that Annie Wersching as the board member that was giving John a hard time?  I wonder if she'll be back.

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Wouldn't the cameras have taken footage of her standing there waiting expectantly (haw) for the illicit space encounter to be erased?

She claimed she thought she was backing it up and accidentally hit delete--which would be a great alibi/excuse if they weren't apparently covertly filming her at other times, including (possibly/likely) on the mission.

Right before she decided to interact with the Window Condensation Writer, she clipped something on her shirt near her shoulder and turned it on--which I assumed would record everything (and then get erased), but what we saw was the wrong view if that was the camera.

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For me I don't nitpick over some things, but do nitpick over others. 

 

I liked Extant  because normally when I watch TV I look at the clock all the time and wonder when the fuck the show will be over.  Last night I looked at the clock and couldn't believe it was 9:50, I thought, "SHIT it's almost over, I want more!" 

 

The think I liked about this show was what I didn't like in Almost Human; I felt that with this show, someone sat down and thought about what type of world this would be, I liked the details, the nightlight, the trash being taken out, how she was able to get the news on her mirror.  Those things really made me interested.  Another thing was the little boy (who I thought was real at first).  The way the child looked made me think, "yes he could be their son."  So many times on TV when producers and directors create shows with people of different races married to each other, they don't seem to get the looks right, not just the skin colors, but the features; I thought they were on the money with the little boy. 

 

Then I watched the season premiere of The Bridge and was bored in ten minutes, so I turned it off.

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I wasn't going to give this series any attention until I found out that Sergio Harford, a fellow Bermudian, was in the series. So naturally I checked it out (and hope this helps his career blossom as well).

 

However, I couldn't get into the episode, perhaps the build ups were too off-pace for my liking. And, although early on we can see that we're in a near futuristic setting, I think we could have used a little narration to explain what has changed since present day (unless I missed it later in the episode).

 

That said, Camryn Manheim, she's looking good of late.

 

As a sci-fan fan, I too had a 'huh' moment at the reveal that the astronaut was on a solo mission on a space station of that size, for that period of time.

Edited by Tryangle
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As a sci-fan fan, I too had a 'huh' moment at the reveal that the astronaut was on a solo mission on a space station of that size, for that period of time.

Maybe it's training for a century-long mission in which only one person would be "awake" at a time while the others were in an age-retarding stasis state? IDK, you'd still think there'd be two awake at a time--or maybe studies had shown they'd likely get on each others' nerves and one would kill the other?

Better idea: It was to study whether AI could serve as an adequate substitute for human companionship during long space flights.

Edited by shapeshifter
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Well, Halle the Pretend Astronaut and B.E.N. seemed to be getting along just fine.

 

That was Annie Wersching, and I'm sure she'll be around to give "John Woods" (... Seriously?) a hard time.

 

I didn't really buy that the garbage vaporizer / transporter or whatever it was still had to be outside -- that was so clearly arranged so that Haunted Harmon and Halle the Pretend Astronaut could meet in the shadows.

 

Also: I fully expect a reveal that "John Woods" is himself an AI, and that's why (a) he has that name; and (b) Goran-droid and Halle have zero chemistry.

 

Was Sanada's character being reanimated, or was he getting out of cryosleep after visiting their future alien overlords on their home planet?

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In space, no one can hear you get knocked up.

 

This looks kind of terrible from the promos, so naturally I want to see it.

It's hilarious that having an alien baby wasn't "enough" for this show.  They had to saddle her with a robot kid too?

 

Because you know... if you have an idea (to explore some idea of "motherhood") why not kick the idea to death before letting it go?

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First of all : Booooriiiing. The shower scene and 'space touching' didn't elevate this to any level of interesting. Every character is sort of dull.

 

Second : Why the B-plot of robot child? That's just creepy and so non-compatible to the alien pregnancy story. 

Of course, they can be tied together when creepy robot boy becomes jealous of hybrid baby - but what are the odds of an astronaut who goes on solo 1-year missions being married to the one guy who creates robot boy toys? 

 

..And who could bond with a robot boy toy who never grows, can't really eat, needs battery changes, etc, etc, etc.? Did they start with a  robot infant and progress  from there? In Spielberg's A.I. the robot boy was used as a replacement of an actual boy of the same age who was sick or dying. Adopting a 'child' who is already 6 or 8 years old is a different matter. 

 

It is also not a good sign when they cast actors who are already typecast as shady or evil. 

This just feels like a long, slow march towards Meh. 

Edited by shrewd.buddha
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They're juggling so many balls I suppose it will be a triumph if they don't actually drop them?

 

Seriously I think there are so many continuing elements it's hard to judge much of anything. I will point out they can't make hubby hot and smoldering because he's got to play a potential Mad Scientist which doesn't work well if nobody, inexplicably, fails to notice they're nuts. Remember James Franco's character in Rise of the Planet of the Apes?

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I watched last night in the hopes that it would be great. Then I remembered Terra Nova and my expectations dropped dramatically. As others stated before I'm beginning to wonder if Halle Berry just really isn't as good an actor as an Oscar winner should be.  And there was too much suspension of belief regarding the space mission.  The best part for me as the last five minutes when the supposed dead guy showed up.

 

Right now it just feels like too many different shows at once.  A show following the impregnation could be interesting. Certainly a show about the AI son and Humanix (sp?) would be interesting. Conspiracy with dead/not dead former astronaut would be good. But all these different "mysteries" in one show makes it less cohesive for me.

 

All that said I'm willing to give it another couple episodes.

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This show totally reminds me of my years immersed in The Sims 2.  Hell, the whole storyline is totally one I love writing (yes, I wrote stories using sims 2, go ahead and giggle, it's silly I know).

 

Seriously, it has robots being integrated into the human population (servos in the game), aliens impregnating people against their will (abductions in the game), AND Halle Berry's hair do is totally a base game hair style (which is worn by an alien character!).

 

I think that's why I'm giving it a good chance.  It reminds me of the good ole days of writing sims stories about alien abductions, government conspiracies, and the advancement of servo's rights.

 

Just one question.

They still have SHOE LACES in the future?  They went out of their way to show us all the quasi-futuristic things (including that funky trash dealie) but they still tie their shoes?  WHAT?

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I was so much more interested in the world this show takes place in than the premise itself.  Is that wrong of me?

 

Also, is anyone else hypnotized by Halle Berry's bangs?

 

Also, from the shows Tara listed that Spielberg has his named attached to, she forgot:

 

Tiny Toon Adventures

 

Animaniacs

 

Pinky and the Brain (before Elmyra joined)

 

Freakazoid.  Late, lamented Freakazoid.

 

Those were fantastic shows!  He must have done something right.

Edited by bmoore4026
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