S01.E01: Pilot

[shapeshifter]

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In this series premiere, When a MIT grad student discovers an asteroid is set to collide with Earth in 186 days, he joins forces with a tech billionaire and the U.S. government to try and stop it.

Almost through the first episode, and so far it's better'n the average bear of a summer scifi show.

[willco]

This wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed it & the hour went by quickly. As long as it doesn't devolve into Under the Dome levels of stupid, I'm in.

[Tallis]

Watched and enjoyed - love disaster movies, especially asteroid ones, so this was right up my street. Santiago Cabrera's a wonderful bonus.

So, is other hot-guy-who-isn't-Santiago-Cabrera the one ordering the deaths of anyone who knows the truth? And if so, how come he hasn't offed the grad student yet. He would seem a rather larger threat than the guy who already works at the Pentagon, has presumably signed all sorts of non disclosure things and doesn't currently know about the asteroid anyway.

[shapeshifter]

20 minutes ago, Tallis said:

Watched and enjoyed - love disaster movies, especially asteroid ones, so this was right up my street. Santiago Cabrera's a wonderful bonus.

So, is other hot-guy-who-isn't-Santiago-Cabrera the one ordering the deaths of anyone who knows the truth? And if so, how come he hasn't offed the grad student yet. He would seem a rather larger threat than the guy who already works at the Pentagon, has presumably signed all sorts of non disclosure things and doesn't currently know about the asteroid anyway.

Well, it's still early. I like that they might've anticipated your question by stating that Liam is a nobody/anyone. It will be a tad too trite if Liam's lover gets held hostage by the baddies so they can control him—even if only for one episode.
And you will hear me groaning through your computer/tablet speakers if they do a triangle of Liam, his Love-at-first-sight, and the reporter girl, because I really like the heartwarming display of the 4 loves: Eros, agape, phileo & storge that they got going—much like the ol' Roswell pilot (if anyone here is old enough to have seen it and it's mood-making music—which is now too expensive for shows that are hoped to get commercially streamed, released as DVDs, etc.).
But I am okay with a triangle with the Pentagon guy, the spin lady, and the Elon Musk-type guy.

The "other hot-guy-who-isn't-Santiago-Cabrera" is played by Ian Anthony Dale, who I predicted in the anticipation thread would be shirtless somewhere between episodes 3 and 5, but I guess since this is a summer show, they showed him shirtless in the preview for next week.

Anyway, @Tallis, I too am a sucker for "disaster movies, especially asteroid ones" (also environmental disasters), so they'd have to go way over Under the Dome levels of disbelief for me to bale. It would either be plot-unnecessary gratuitous violence or annoying love triangle that would make me remove this from my weekly list of shows.

[missbonnie]

48 minutes ago, Tallis said:

Santiago Cabrera's a wonderful bonus.

 

He always is! He's the reason I decided to dvr it, I'm glad to know it was worth it. 

[Driad]

I enjoyed this and will watch next week. But how do I turn off my "not the location they say it is" switch? Either that was not Cambridge, or Liam has a bicycle creating machine in his pocket, because he left bicycles twice without locking them.

[leslieo54]

4 hours ago, Driad said:

how do I turn off my "not the location they say it is" switch? Either that was not Cambridge, or Liam has a bicycle creating machine in his pocket, because he left bicycles twice without locking them

Haha - coincidentally, when Liam was riding up and leaving his bike on Professor Kidnapped's lawn is when I said 'That's totally Toronto'. Although bikes would be stolen there, too... 

Had to look it up immediately, but I was right - the houses/neighborhoods are pretty distinctive. 

I definitely enjoyed this, and the eye candy is a bonus. Go, Team Salvation! 

[DoubleUTeeEff]

I'm in for now. I have to say whenever they were discussing saving 160 people or everybody, I was thinking why not both? Put resources into building an ark or two AND in diverting the asteroid or at least having it hit somewhere that would cause less damage. Plus, America isn't the only country on the planet so you would think there would be other people and governments invested in helping. Of course, it's the pilot so it remains to be seen if any other country knows about it and if America is too dumb not to tell anyone else.

I'm interested in what the conspiracy aspect will turn out to be. I hope the professor is not forgotten. I felt really bad for that one guy getting shot just because Grace asked him to show her the satellite pictures. Also, I'm not sure why tech guy Tanz wants her as his "inside man/woman." She has clearance but doesn't really seem to have much power or know much. She just tells the public what someone tells her to. Her only avenue to getting information seems to be through her boyfriend, who is currently lying and withholding info.

[2727]

7 hours ago, leslieo54 said:

I definitely enjoyed this, and the eye candy is a bonus

All the characters were appealing/interesting in various ways and the story is fun. I've been burned before with genre shows that devolved into nonsense, but if worse comes to worst I stop watching. Nobody gets hurt.

[MissLucas]

The eye candy is definitely strong in this one. Maybe that's why it particularly bothered me that average looking guy who must have a high level clearance working at the Pentagon was killed for simply looking at the wrong footage - yet emo MIT student is still alive despite being a much higher risk for whoever is pulling the strings.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I'm just here for the eye candy and scrumptious ❤️??❤️Santiago Cabrera❤️??❤️

[DHDancer]

Don't know any of the actors in this and didn't find much "eye candy" to be honest (subjective opinion of course).  I couldn't watch this all the way through.  I'm so sick of the young things saving the world and that whole hooking up/bedding made me groan.  And when we got Tanz, so obviously modelled on Mr Space X, I just rolled my eyes.  Life Boat eh?  Touches of Titan AE?  Truly I found nothing new or compelling about this.  I only watched it because Phil Platt (Bad Astronomy) was a tech advisor and I was pleased to see Neil deGrasse Tyson in the first few minutes but everything went down from there IMO.

Edited July 13, 2017 by DHDancer

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, DHDancer said:

…Phil Platt (Bad Astronomy) was a tech advisor and I was pleased to see Neil deGrasse Tyson in the first few minutes but everything went down from there IMO.

Thanks for sharing about Phil Platt's involvement. I hadn't heard/read about it. 

I was wondering if the Neil deGrasse Tyson scene was originally done for this show, or if it was spliced in from something else. Also, is he going to reappear from time to time in the series, or was this a one-off?

[Souris]

I checked this out simply because I wanted to see Santiago Cabrera on my TV. It was entertaining and fun enough that I will keep watching. Though I was rather disappointed by all scenes that didn't include Santiago.

I think it's possible that the professor and satellite tech guy weren't killed but were kidnapped to keep the info from spreading. I say this because we didn't see any bodies or actual gunshots. Possibly the professor could have been brought into helping the government. I think Liam wasn't killed/disappeared because after he lost the guy in the dark SUV, he was connected to Darius -- who would have been far too suspicious if something had happened to him and has the resources and fame to make a stink.

[kieyra]

I watched it because it's dead season other than downloading U.K. crime dramas on the sly.

It got me a little more than I expected it to, but I can also see it going very cliche very fast. They've already set up two love triangles (the kid and his new GF and the reporter (?) at the ball, and Elon Musk plus the press secretary and her obviously evil boyfriend). 

Pretending other countries don't have astronomy is silly, so I don't see how the US keeps it a "secret" for long. I suppose they did some hand waving and pretended they're looking where no one else is, but I'm guessing that rock gets more obvious every day.  On the other hand, they'll *have* to keep it a secret and keep running the conspiracy/murder plots, because otherwise they have to show the result of humanity finding out we're all doomed, which I assume would a complete breakdown of civilization. 

Trying to decide if it bugs me they couldn't give the female love interest at the Pentagon a slightly more substantive (government/security) role with a little more agency. 

Edited July 14, 2017 by kieyra

[Llywela]

Got my hands on this episode at last and enjoyed it - I'm not looking for much from this show, all it has to give me is eye candy and entertainment and so far it is providing both. As it goes on I might start to ask more searching questions, but for now I'm engaged by the characters and their respective circumstances, enough that I'm willing to suspend my disbelief and take the scenario at face value.

3 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Thanks for sharing about Phil Platt's involvement. I hadn't heard/read about it.

He's written a piece about his involvement in the show, I found it linked on twitter - worth digging out...actually, lemme see if I can find it again. Here it is. Worth a read!

2 hours ago, Souris said:

I think it's possible that the professor and satellite tech guy weren't killed but were kidnapped to keep the info from spreading. I say this because we didn't see any bodies or actual gunshots. Possibly the professor could have been brought into helping the government. I think Liam wasn't killed/disappeared because after he lost the guy in the dark SUV, he was connected to Darius -- who would have been far too suspicious if something had happened to him and has the resources and fame to make a stink.

We did see/hear a gunshot after satellite tech guy ventured down to the basement - of course, the rule of telly is that if you don't see a body, they aren't necessarily dead, but the implication was loud and clear. I agree, though, that Darius is too public a figure to disappear in the same way, and sticking close to him affords Liam a certain amount of protection. Surprised he wasn't followed back to Boston and nabbed there, mind, but maybe they figured he would be in close communication with Darius, who would notice and kick up a stink? Or maybe there's more going on than has been revealed yet - we don't know who is behind the disappearances, after all. Is it Harris? Or are there more parties involved than we've seen so far? This was only the initial set-up, after all.

How many of the 186 days passed during this episode? I counted at least three.

[thuganomics85]

Fun enough premiere for summer schlock.  Granted, I was all for Ian Anthony Dale in another show involving something from space coming towards Earth, because it reminded me of the good times when he was the best thing about that hilarious bad show, The Event, years ago.  What I would give for them to borrow Zeljok Ivanek from the Madame Secretary set for a bit, and have Ian and him relives those golden days here! (seriously, that show was so stupid, but those two were awesome together.)

Anyway, basically there is an astroid hurling towards Earth and will destroy the shit out of us in 186 days.  Harris/Ian Anthony Dale claims the government has a contingency in place, but that clearly seems to be an exaggeration.  Also, he and the government may or may not be killing people who find out too much.  Meanwhile, Santiago Cabrera is here as a charming, British Elon Musk, who things Harris is full of shit, and has his own plan that involves building lifeboats to send survivors into space.  Checks out.  And, naturally, it has roped in some kind of young, attractive M.I.T. guy, who has to contend with leaving behind his equally young and hot girlfriend writer (not just any writer, a sci-fi writer!  Come on, Darius, that alone gets her as spot in the sweet space lifeboat!), in order to help save the world.  Also, there is some nosey reporter hanging around, although they really should check her credentials, because I'm not sure she's even graduated from high school yet.

Oh, and Jennifer Finnegan is here as the Pentagon's press secretary, who is having a thing with Harris, but is also making eyes with Darius.  Hey, after putting up with Barry on Tyrant, any guy would be an improvement (granted, her character wasn't exactly a shining example of intelligent or maturity on that show either.)

As long as the show doesn't end with them deciding to erect a dome over the world....

[Princess Lucky]

This was way better than I thought it would be. Which is not saying much, because my expectations were pretty low, but still. It kept my interest. I agree with all the eye candy comments, Ian Anthony Dale and Santiago Cabrera on the same show? On the same dumb, fun, sci-fi show, no less? I'm all in.

By the way, this is kind of The Core as a tv show, right? Again, I'm all in.

I was pleasantly surprised when Jennifer Finnigan's character didn't get mad at Ian Anthony Dale for not telling her. I was waiting for the classic nagging girlfriend, "why didn't you tell me?" and "how could you keep this from me?" but we got "how long have you been carrying this?" which tells us she understands respects his position and the importance of classified information. Nice touch.

I started off liking Tanz, but his plan was to save a bunch of people? I like how selfish that is (character-wise it makes sense that he'd focus on saving himself as opposed to the planet) but the point is to stop the destruction of the Earth. He was acting like he had a plan to stop that, but in reality he had a contingency plan in case the Earth was actually destroyed. Hardly what I'd call "salvation". I say let humanity die, by the way. It's one thing to have a 2012 scenario (the film) where the planet still exists, and the plan is literally to repopulate the Earth. But saving a bunch of people so they can orbit, what, Mars? And then what? Thankfully they fixed that by having him work on the "save the Earth" project, which makes way more sense.

The MIT student is in love with this girl he had sex with once? Well okay then. I will give the show the benefit of the doubt and assume that's meant to show us he's immature and vulnerable and he'll fall prey to that 17-year-old reporter and compromise the plan in, say, episode 6.

Overall, a solid premiere. But I can't offer a full opinion before I see how the week-to-week storylines will play out. Will it just be people crunching numbers? While the government kills other people? That's going to get old fast. I hope the plan is a little more exciting. Failing that, at least we have shirtless Ian Anthony Dale to look forward to (thanks for that tidbit, by the way, I missed the promo).

Edited July 14, 2017 by Princess Lucky
I actually typed "immatture" and it was quoted and I'm ashamed.

[Llywela]

6 minutes ago, Princess Lucky said:

I started off liking Tanz, but his plan was to save a bunch of people? I like how selfish that is (character-wise it makes sense that he'd focus on saving himself as opposed to the planet) but the point is to stop the destruction of the Earth. He was acting like he had a plan to stop that, but in reality he had a contingency plan in case the Earth was actually destroyed. Hardly what I'd call "salvation". I say let humanity die, by the way. It's one thing to have a 2012 scenario (the film) where the planet still exists, and the plan is literally to repopulate the Earth. But saving a bunch of people so they can orbit, what, Mars? And then what? Thankfully they fixed that by having him work on the "save the Earth" project, which makes way more sense.

It is a fairly selfish reaction - but it's also a logical one, as the immediate, off-the-cuff response from this character as introduced in this episode. It has been established that he has been thinking about and making plans to mitigate the possible extinction of mankind on Earth for some time, although he has been thinking nuclear holocaust or pandemic in the far future, rather than asteroid impact in the next 6 months, and the colony ship to Mars is something he's already working on, so that's naturally where his mind goes in the first instance. He sees that the government has a plan that he knows won't work because the technology to make it work doesn't exist yet, and in that scenario it makes sense to me that the initial response isn't, "of course I can invent the technology to make it work", but rather, "If the world can't be saved because the technology to save it doesn't exist, then this project I'm already working on can at least save some, or at least buy the chosen few a little more time, and give the species a fighting chance of continuing." Basically, if there's no hope of saving everyone, then the best you can do is save as many as possible (choosing, presumably, those with the necessary skills to stand at least a chance of making a colony work). It's a logical rather than an emotional thought process, which tells us a lot about the character and how he thinks. Going from there to 'attempt to save the entire world where the govenment must surely fail' is a pretty massive leap even for a guy with a high opinion of his own genius, so I like that he didn't make that step by himself, but was pushed into it by someone who doesn't have his clear scientific grasp of the sheer enormity of the task but does have the emotional drive to push past those logistical barriers and lay down the challenge to at least try to find a way of making it work.

Quote

The MIT student is in love with this girl he had sex with once? Well okay then. I will give the show the benefit of the doubt and assume that's meant to show us he's immatture and vulnerable and he'll fall prey to that 17-year-old reporter and compromise the plan in, say, episode 6.

Haha yeah, talk about a whirlwind romance - but again, that tells us something about the personality of the character. That he falls headlong and believes himself in love with this girl after one whirlwind night...well, combine that with his absolute devotion to his research tells us a lot about who he is. I can believe that this nerdy, research-obsessed young man has kept himself so buried in his work that he really hasn't dated much, if ever, so that when he meets and clicks with this girl so well, he is completely bowled over by the experience. But I also think that his emotional response to Jillian is heightened by his knowledge of the asteroid - if that hadn't happened, he'd have carried on going to class and working at the lab as normal, and they've presumably have started dating like a normal couple, and the l-word wouldn't have come into play anything like so soon. But because that first night ended with his discovery of this enormous end-of-the-world scenario, all his emotional responses are magnified accordingly. At least, that's my reading of it.

[Raja]

The jig is up. President Morgan Freeman needs to address the world right now, even if the Robert Duval option is a no go.

[Princess Lucky]

4 hours ago, Llywela said:

I can believe that this nerdy, research-obsessed young man has kept himself so buried in his work that he really hasn't dated much, if ever, so that when he meets and clicks with this girl so well, he is completely bowled over by the experience. But I also think that his emotional response to Jillian is heightened by his knowledge of the asteroid - if that hadn't happened, he'd have carried on going to class and working at the lab as normal, and they've presumably have started dating like a normal couple, and the l-word wouldn't have come into play anything like so soon. But because that first night ended with his discovery of this enormous end-of-the-world scenario, all his emotional responses are magnified accordingly. At least, that's my reading of it.

I mean, I would agree, but he was flirting like a pro, with two cute women, in the span of like two days, plus he totally got laid, so he's either more experienced than we thought, or a total natural (granted, one of the women was purposefully hitting on him, but still). I do agree with his emotional response, though. That was one of the ways (along with Jennifer Finnigan's reactions to her daughter's graduation) the show chose to demonstrate the emotional turmoil of the characters in this particular scenario.

And re: Tanz, I agree with and appreciate your comment in terms of his personality and how fitting that was. Still, it seems kind of silly to say "I need all the government's resources to expedite this wild plan I was going to complete in like 20 years, just to save like 500 people" as opposed to "I need all the government's resources to try and stop this looming disaster". Mars isn't colonized or terraformed. I still don't understand what he meant by having to orbit, what? Mars? An empty, non-habitable planet? For what? The view? How long would the vessels be able to sustain their passengers? That said, I'm looking at this from the philosophical perspective of "just let humanity go exctinct, the universe won't miss us" so my view is a little skewed, heh.

[2727]

I had to look up Santiago Cabrera ... with all the references to his good looks, I assumed he must be the Liam character. Heh. A lid for every pot indeed.

[Llywela]

2 hours ago, Princess Lucky said:

I mean, I would agree, but he was flirting like a pro, with two cute women, in the span of like two days, plus he totally got laid, so he's either more experienced than we thought, or a total natural (granted, one of the women was purposefully hitting on him, but still). I do agree with his emotional response, though. That was one of the ways (along with Jennifer Finnigan's reactions to her daughter's graduation) the show chose to demonstrate the emotional turmoil of the characters in this particular scenario.

You make a good point. So maybe while he's used to flirting and dating, what he isn't used to is meeting someone he clicks with so strongly, who is both interested in what he does and herself does something that interests him - I can see how that would be a turn on for him. And then the whole end of the world thing takes that sensation and magnifies it, because it makes everything so immediate and pressing. Yeah, the emotional journeys are tracking for me so far.

 

2 hours ago, 2727 said:

I had to look up Santiago Cabrera ... with all the references to his good looks, I assumed he must be the Liam character. Heh. A lid for every pot indeed.

Hehe, Liam is cute but way too young for me. I've enjoyed Santiago's work (and looks) ever since Heroes and Merlin, way back when!

[Kirsty]

This was tremendously stupid. I was kind of divided between enjoying the nonsense and rolling my eyes at it. What was your pick for most ridiculous thing in the pilot? Mine is the speed at which everyone checked Liam's data before calling the Pentagon! I've spent longer checking a shopping list. Also, what was the point of the holographic projection? It must be to help slow viewers understand the concept of the show. Or maybe it's just supposed to look cool and scientific. Santiago Cabrera's character is meant to be a genius so I don't think he needed a dodgy holo-visual in order to get the picture.

I agree that the eye candy is good what with the cute MIT student and Cabrera playing Iron Man or whatever. It's too bad his character has Tony Stark's ego, though. It's unattractive.

Unfortunately there were a lot of scenes of uninteresting relationships.

Harris/Grace? No one cares. Also, if you work at the Pentagon and your boss is the Deputy Secretary of Defense, of course he's going to keep things from you! Get a grip.

Liam/Sci-fi writer? They just met. Brunette Rachel McAdams doesn't really have a character so far, though I can tell she likes Liam because she didn't sprint in the opposite direction when he told her first that he wants to spend all his time with her, and then that he's in love with her, lol. (Maybe she'll ghost him in the next episode.) Can you imagine if a female character did that after one night?

Grace/Daughter? Snore.

Grace/Santiago Stark? I want to care. It's the only one I'm slightly interested in. It would help if he didn't love himself so much and if they had more chemistry. But I mean, props for dressing them in black tie costumes for a random Ball in the first episode! What a ridic show.

Staying with costumes, could Iron Man's pants have been any tighter when he was on stage at the start? And both the white skirt and the white dress Jennifer Finnigan wore were unflattering.

I'll probably watch the next one. :D

Edited July 14, 2017 by Kirsty

[wilnil]

21 hours ago, kieyra said:

Pretending other countries don't have astronomy is silly, so I don't see how the US keeps it a "secret" for long.

We don't really know yet what the situation is with other countries, though it's definitely implausible that only NASA and one MIT program picked up on this. The international situation could be anything, from the major powers all agreeing to keep the secret to prevent global panic, to every country that discovers the asteroid deciding to stay mum or only share the info with key allies.

[kieyra]

8 minutes ago, wilnil said:

We don't really know yet what the situation is with other countries, though it's definitely implausible that only NASA and one MIT program picked up on this. The international situation could be anything, from the major powers all agreeing to keep the secret to prevent global panic, to every country that discovers the asteroid deciding to stay mum or only share the info with key allies.

I was only going by steely lying pentagon boyfriend dude acting like the weight of the entire secret rested on his shoulders. And the missing professor. 

I suppose I'm also skeptical because of the terrifying powers of the internet and crowd-sourcing at this point; even something like enough amateurs getting together and figuring it out once weird rumors start leaking. 

(I understand that this isn't a show you want to apply a tremendous amount of common sense to, though. It's July.) 

Did anyone see Melancholia? Movie spoiler 

Spoiler

It caused me to assume the prof had actually killed himself, something that happened when an astronomer (I think an astronomer) figured out the truth in that planet-killer film.

[CooperTV]

In this wonderful Salvation world of fake Elon Musk and half-assed CIA national security reasons assassinations China doesn't exist and Russia's only interested in Ukraine. So of course the fate of the entire world and the space program are suddenly in the hands of... some MIT rando who likes to ask for life advice from the Love of His Life, the girl he met twenty minutes ago (naturally), a concerned PR lady and some 20-something bloggers??

It wasn't obnoxious as I thought it would be, though, with amount of potential teen angst it could deliver in the future (two love triangles are set up already? JFC). It was terribly mediocre, with little value to anything, including the acting. It looks like a National Geographic documentary/dramatization about evil asteroids.

[Llywela]

I'm going to point out to those asking about the rest of the world that we don't know how the rest of the world is responding to the asteroid because we haven't been told yet. We can't assume that no one else has noticed, we only know what the core group of characters knows, and they haven't asked that question yet - too busy being overwhelmed by the situation in the first instance. Except for Harris, who no doubt does know more but isn't talking about it. This was only the first episode, the initial set-up - I have no doubt that future episodes will address the fact that other nations also have their eyes on the skies, and will be acting independently of the American government's response.

Whatever. I liked it. I don't need this to be the Best Show Ever - I'm not looking for my One True Show here. I'm here for bubblegum summer entertainment, and found it, which is actually not bad for a pilot episode. We'll see how the rest of it goes.

[Princess Lucky]

12 hours ago, Llywela said:

Hehe, Liam is cute but way too young for me. I've enjoyed Santiago's work (and looks) ever since Heroes and Merlin, way back when!

Preach. Liam is a cute boy, but the older gentlemen are my personal choice of eye candy on this show. I totally agree, I've always loved Santiago, he was the main reason I even wanted to watch this. And to those who are letting Ian Anthony Dale's boring role fool you into thinking there's not much to ogle, the upcoming shirtlessness should fix that. That man is stunning.

11 hours ago, Kirsty said:

What was your pick for most ridiculous thing in the pilot? Mine is the speed at which everyone checked Liam's data before calling the Pentagon! I've spent longer checking a shopping list.

Right? Dennis Boutsikaris (what a waste, by the way! I hope he was just kidnapped and he can pop back, otherwise why get him for a one-minute role?) literally looked at the data for 3 seconds and he instantly knew. Aren't those super-complex calculations? Didn't he say one tiny error could invalidate the result?

My vote for most ridiculous thing is probably the casting for that junior reporter. And maybe the fact the young dude escaped government assassins on a bicycle? And they never found him again? Even though he was out and about afterwards, including an event where multiple government officials were in attendance? Way to be efficient, goons!

1 hour ago, CooperTV said:

 It looks like a National Geographic documentary/dramatization about evil asteroids.

Haha, in my book, that's a compliment (and pretty much exactly what I was expecting from this show). I live for that stuff.

Edited July 15, 2017 by Princess Lucky

[CooperTV]

49 minutes ago, Princess Lucky said:

Haha, in my book, that's a compliment (and pretty much exactly what I was expecting from this show). I live for that stuff.

I'd say that that series about alien life-form arriving on Earth and merging with human DNA or something like that (the alien goo was a plot device to explain the evolutionary processes, of course) at least had some pretty cinematography in the reenactment parts. Salvation is lacking on this front so far.

[kieyra]

2 hours ago, Llywela said:

I'm going to point out to those asking about the rest of the world that we don't know how the rest of the world is responding to the asteroid because we haven't been told yet. We can't assume that no one else has noticed, we only know what the core group of characters knows, and they haven't asked that question yet - too busy being overwhelmed by the situation in the first instance. Except for Harris, who no doubt does know more but isn't talking about it. This was only the first episode, the initial set-up - I have no doubt that future episodes will address the fact that other nations also have their eyes on the skies, and will be acting independently of the American government's response.

I suppose my point is that if other governments and/or other bright young astronomers and students know, everyone effectively knows because 2017 and Internet. So there's no reason for Harris to keep Elon Musk and their mutual girlfriend in the dark, except that the plot needs an antagonist.

Now, I could easily it see it being a thing where it starts out as being debunked as a paranoia/conspiracy theory thing ... until more and more scientists confirm the data. Can't disappear ALL the astronomers.

[Arynm]

5 hours ago, Princess Lucky said:

Right? Dennis Boutsikaris (what a waste, by the way! I hope he was just kidnapped and he can pop back, otherwise why get him for a one-minute role?) literally looked at the data for 3 seconds and he instantly knew. Aren't those super-complex calculations? Didn't he say one tiny error could invalidate the result?

The data was red! Obviously they all could tell right away that a huge rock was hurtling towards us. I mean really. I knew the guy who looked up the picture of the explosion was dead man walking.

I am going to need some small meteorites to hit major landmarks soon, I need my disaster porn. Too cerebral and I might lose interest. I'm in for the season and have stocked up on my Ensure, just in case.

[Free]

On ‎7‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 3:46 AM, CooperTV said:

In this wonderful Salvation world of fake Elon Musk and half-assed CIA national security reasons assassinations China doesn't exist and Russia's only interested in Ukraine. So of course the fate of the entire world and the space program are suddenly in the hands of... some MIT rando who likes to ask for life advice from the Love of His Life, the girl he met twenty minutes ago (naturally), a concerned PR lady and some 20-something bloggers??

It wasn't obnoxious as I thought it would be, though, with amount of potential teen angst it could deliver in the future (two love triangles are set up already? JFC). It was terribly mediocre, with little value to anything, including the acting. It looks like a National Geographic documentary/dramatization about evil asteroids.

I'm going to need the show to pick up asap because having the pilot be an exposition dump where the characters are literally running around spouting exposition is already annoying.

[laserlady]

My vote for the most unbelievable part of this episode was all of the other parents behind Pentagon Mom smiling really broadly and looking incredibly interested in yet another boring high school graduation speech. 

Okay, not really.  The part that really made me roll my eyes the most was when the MIT guy's data somehow got magically converted from numerical information to a 3D projection of the solar system through some kind of technical wizardry that makes no sense.  But adults looking like they were actually interested in a high school graduation speech came a close second.

It was fun enough to keep me watching for now, though.  (Although honestly, I'd really rather watch a show about 160 people escaping a destroyed Earth and starting a colony on Mars than yet another government conspiracy show.)

Edited July 26, 2017 by laserlady

[kazb0t]

On 7/25/2017 at 9:54 PM, laserlady said:

My vote for the most unbelievable part of this episode was all of the other parents behind Pentagon Mom smiling really broadly and looking incredibly interested in yet another boring high school graduation speech. 

Okay, not really.  The part that really made me roll my eyes the most was when the MIT guy's data somehow got magically converted from numerical information to a 3D projection of the solar system through some kind of technical wizardry that makes no sense.  But adults looking like they were actually interested in a high school graduation speech came a close second.

It was fun enough to keep me watching for now, though.  (Although honestly, I'd really rather watch a show about 160 people escaping a destroyed Earth and starting a colony on Mars than yet another government conspiracy show.)

I think the most unbelievable part is Tanz stating that they can repopulate the human race with just 160 people. Where the hell did the show get THAT number? I called bullshit as soon as they said it and looked it up -- you need at least 4000+ humans to even remotely make it viable. 

EDIT: Okay, I found the article for where they got the 160 number: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1936-magic-number-for-space-pioneers-calculated/

Mind you, it was a estimate made in 2002. And that was the minimum number specifically for space exploration to sustain for maybe 10 generations/200 years -- aka they would still expect to eventually come back to a planet Earth one day. Not to live in space forever. Otherwise they would eventially run into that same ol' inbreeding dilemma. 

Edited July 27, 2017 by kazb0t

[mythoughtis]

Rudiculus item:  Grace and Liam just wandering into Tanz's home without knocking or an announcement from security downstairs. The man had a bodyguard when Liam jumped on the elevator with him,  

[AAEBoiler]

On 7/13/2017 at 6:41 PM, DHDancer said:

 I only watched it because Phil Platt (Bad Astronomy) was a tech advisor and I was pleased to see Neil deGrasse Tyson in the first few minutes

Finally getting around to watch this. I work for NASA and my two office mates are heavily involved in planetary defense research so I was skeptical about how they were going to portray the science. But, they did a pretty good job ... and now I know why. On the other hand, I highly doubt that such a rocket test explosion could be covered up ... especially at Wallops Island! As a summer fill in this has promise as long as (someone else upthread mentioned) it stays away from the silliness of "Under the Dome" and "Zoo", the reigning king of stoopid.

[Nessie]

On 10/6/2017 at 0:03 PM, AAEBoiler said:

Finally getting around to watch this. I work for NASA and my two office mates are heavily involved in planetary defense research so I was skeptical about how they were going to portray the science. But, they did a pretty good job ... and now I know why. On the other hand, I highly doubt that such a rocket test explosion could be covered up ... especially at Wallops Island! As a summer fill in this has promise as long as (someone else upthread mentioned) it stays away from the silliness of "Under the Dome" and "Zoo", the reigning king of stoopid.

Agreed.  I live in SE Virginia, and my son and some friends go to watch every launch at Wallops Island...they have a good spot a few miles away they always go to.  One of my co-workers can watch launches from her house.  Every launch is covered on the local news.  There is NO WAY an explosion could be covered up - too many civilians would have witnessed it.

[wayne67]

On 7/29/2017 at 1:28 PM, mythoughtis said:

Rudiculus item:  Grace and Liam just wandering into Tanz's home without knocking or an announcement from security downstairs. The man had a bodyguard when Liam jumped on the elevator with him,  

Yeah I told my house mate after we watched it "I know that's supposed to be a sweet moment everyone coming together at the end but doesn't the Treehouse of Magical inspiration have even basic level security like a lock?"

It doesn't seem as stupid as Zoo or Under the Dome, so I'm willing to give it a few episodes to see how it shakes out. 

I think there's much more drama to be mined out of the life boat scenario than the try to save the planet aspect. If the US government and potentially every other developed nation is working on the stop the asteroid plan, then tech genius and MIT boy can spend their time working on the escape pod plan.

What would be funny and a subversion of the typical cliches would be Techie and MIT go to all the effort to select 160 to 1600 people to colonise Mars and build all the rockets for that and it turns out to be completely unnecessary because the other world governments find something else to knock the comet off course. 

Then the last scene can be of the ships blasting off while the comet is destroyed or redirected and season 2 could be adventures in space, genius edition. (I may be weird.)

[Miles]

There is a lot of dumb in this one.

First point where I rolled my eyes: Nobody on a stage with lights shining at him will be able to see somebody in the audience, let alone that he doesn't have shoes on.

You just found an asteriod but have a holo simulation ready, complete with earth on fire animation? Sure.

You wouldn't destroy an asteroid with nukes. You couldn't. Best you could hope for would be to detonate nukes next to it and thus change it's trajectory enough to miss earth. So all that debris talk was stupid.

That probe having enough gravitational pull to impact the trajectory of the asteroid in any meaningfull way? Ludicrous. If they can get something there in time, anchoring solar sails might be an option, but not something that just circles it.