S01.E10: Hello

[paulvdb]

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When the Salvare finally reaches its destination, Niko and her crew are staggered by what awaits them on the surface.

Premiere date: July 25, 2019

[DoctorAtomic]

Did anyone make it to the end? 

[thenj]

I did and I‘m not really sure how to feel about it. I did like the dead alien.

[DoctorAtomic]

I assume the news lady has an implant. 

I have no idea what they were thinking destroying the artifact though. That was colossally stupid. I don't know if I'd put good odds on them getting back to earth. 

[Happywatcher]

On 8/4/2019 at 5:49 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

Did anyone make it to the end? 

I did. Felt like I wasted some TV hours that would have been better spent watching something good.

The bad part is that this could have been great. Turn down the 'petulant children' part of the crew by about 50%, think through some of the plot points a little more. The hologram idea was well done, the lead is skilled and a well loved actress in scifi, the special effects were well done. 

Edited August 12, 2019 by Happywatcher

[shrewd.buddha]

We finished over the weekend. 
It was not truly bad - but could have been a lot better. 

I expected a dangling ending, given that Netflix gives shows at least two seasons. But I doubt the Salvare will be allowed to make it back to Earth. How would they ever justify sending the same crew back out into space? 

Was this the episode where AI William did his magic on the alien brain spider? Isn't AI William non-corporeal? Why did they need to open the glass box? 

The idea that the Akarie (sp?) aliens just want destruction for the sake of destruction is weak. Almost any other angle would make more sense. Such as -- the aliens mine a planet's resources to the point of destruction. 
Why is it that every sci-fi show seems to think they need weapons capable of destroying a planet? Maybe the special effects needed to destroy a tiny ball from a distance is cheaper. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by shrewd.buddha

[shrewd.buddha]

I had not realized that "Another Life" had been reviewed by Rotten Tomatoes.
.. Not good results - only 6% at this point. 
(Tho I think RT's thumb's up or thumb's down rating system average isn't the best.)

From what I've seen online, it seems as if Netflix sort of dumped this out without a lot of fanfare or support. Guess they were not too thrilled with how the series turned out, either. 

[DoctorAtomic]

5 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

Such as -- they aliens mine a planet's resources to the point of destruction. 

I kind of assumed that was their angle. They are so advanced and conquered over 300 planets. I don't get why they didn't colonize any of them though. 

[shrewd.buddha]

The Salvare crew went from making first contact with an alien intelligence to learning there are over 300 inhabitable planets. Too bad they cannot communicate any of this information back to Earth .. because they are so busy with the sex and the cleaning and the meal planning to fix the communications systems.

Niko would have benefited from spending a lot more time with the multi-language "explaining" machine in the alien cave.  

The Achaia ships that showed up looked the same as the Artifact ship on Earth. Are they all ships and Artifacts? Do they use the Artifacts/ships to control  planets by remote control? 
When Niko destroyed the Artifact, did that signal to the Achaias that the planet had the means to fight back and therefore needed to be destroyed? 
... so many questions ..  but I'm not sure I care if they get answered .. 

[DoctorAtomic]

3 hours ago, shrewd.buddha said:

Are they all ships and Artifacts? 

That's what I thought. The reporter went in and talked to them and they installed the thing in her brain. Same thing with the diplomat guy. 

[shrewd.buddha]

Has anyone discovered the reason the series is named 'Another Life'? 

[iMonrey]

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I assume the news lady has an implant. 

Yes, and the military (?) knows that. They showed Erik her brain scan with the implant.

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Too bad they cannot communicate any of this information back to Earth .. because they are so busy with the sex and the cleaning and the meal planning to fix the communications systems.

Honestly. And now August is pregnant? After they made a point of telling us they were all sterilized. WTF. 

I guess this wasn't the worst show in the world, but wow. Talk about damning with faint praise.

[Msample]

I got thru all ten episodes, made possible by frequent use of fast forward thru any scenes with the daughter, the sex scenes, and the interactions with Niko and William towards the end once they veered into the "robot gets feelings" plot. 

They really should rename this show - assuming it makes it to Season 2, which is a big if - ANOTHER TROPE. Let's count:

- aforementioned robot gets emotions

- crew cast to check as many boxes as possible in as small as cast as possible - hetero, homo, androgynous, fiery Latina, Hurley, asshole entitled kid of a power figure . I am surprised nobody else mentioned it, I got a strong Kailey from Firefly vibe from August. 

- Niko was a bit more nuanced, but the commander with lingering PTSD is another 

- nosey annoying reporter ( that said Selma Blair really sunk her teeth into the role and was fun to watch ) . 

- crew gets drugged and acts on their "true" feelings . It was like Star Trek meets a bad CW show. 

There are few things to recommend - Sackhoff makes the most of some marginal writing . The plot device of being able to wake up replacement crew members keeps you guessing somewhat on who will live or die at any moment. 

[iMonrey]

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Has anyone discovered the reason the series is named 'Another Life'? 

Because you will want another life after wasting 10 hours of this one on this show.

[DoctorAtomic]

10 hours ago, Msample said:

Niko was a bit more nuanced, but the commander with lingering PTSD is another

You can still do a lot with that though and they could have done more. I did like the backstory to this too.

10 hours ago, Msample said:

There are few things to recommend - Sackhoff makes the most of some marginal writing . The plot device of being able to wake up replacement crew members keeps you guessing somewhat on who will live or die at any moment. 

You can essentially clean house for a second season though. Niko already killed one crew member. She can wipe out the remaining crew and start over.

[PsychoDrone]

Wow, that was horrible.  I finished it, but with much fast-forwarding to get through the ridiculous parts, which were many.  The characters were horrible, with the doctor and latina, with saloon hair, being photo finish for worst.  Sterile/not sterile strictly for drama sake.  The earth side story was ridiculous, with the lack of security around artifact being top of the list.  What plausible reason would there be for the little girl and nanny to be at the site?  Same goes for blogger.

Achaia motivation makes no sense.  I guess that's what season 2 would flesh out. Really shouldn't be one.  Niko says, "Let's head home." Next their ship blows up since superior Achaia would immediately remove that nuisance so as not to screw up its plans. Regardless, don't see this being renewed.

[rab01]

I made it through all 10 episodes and I'm not entirely sure how.  There were huge plot holes, huge continuity problems, unclear motivations, dialogue that doesn't match the direction of the scenes, etc.

I liked the performances - the actors really worked hard (so hard) to sell the emotions they were supposed to be feeling - and the effects weren't terrible but the makers of this show don't deserve another chance.

I'm not so sure the Akaye are actually evil - there's no way to tell yet.  It's entirely possible that the race saying they're terrible were lying.  For example, if they are that evil why did their puppet on the spaceship work so hard to keep a planet-killer weapon from reaching a world they had already decimated (not their own homeworld)?  I wouldn't be shocked if their plan was for Season 2 to show that the Akaye are actually scared by humanity and want to domesticate humans before they become too dangerous for the rest of the universe - i.e., anatagonists but no Eeeeevil ones 

[DoctorAtomic]

That doesn't explain how the world with the talking AI was filled with skeletons though. If you're colonizing over 300 worlds and literally wiping out a planet that defied you, I'm not sure what to call it. They're also using advanced tech to essentially possess people.

What Niko should do is get the comms working, send a report, and investigate all the other worlds, or as many as possible. The Akaya didn't know Niko was there until their artifact was destroyed, so if they aren't idiots (drama there), then they should be able to sneak around and learn more.

Or send another ship to assist.

[iMonrey]

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Or send another ship to assist.

Oh, but the Salvare was the only ship capable of the mission. Which . . . huh? Earth has only one space ship capable of reaching the alien planet? Also, if earth was already capable of exploring that far out to space why hadn't they discovered any alien life until now? 

Really . . . none of this made any sense.

[DoctorAtomic]

Oh right I forgot. I complained about that.

[MissLucas]

I would like to thank all of you who made it through the whole season. I gave up after ep 2 but reading the threads for all 10 episodes was funny and entertaining (probably more so than watching this). Thank you for your efforts!

[Ottis]

After the turd of an episode that was ep 7, I decided to skip 8 and 9 and go straight to the big finale. Which felt like a very dark Star Trek: TNG ep. Like, what would happen if Picard's drive to protect the underdog species actually was the wrong decision.

As I had in eps 4,5,6 and 7, I fast forwarded through anything on Earth. Didn't seem to miss much, and had the comically enjoyable experience of seeing the reporter turn into a "V"-like propaganda minister at the end.

I said this after ep 6 (the best of the series, IMO): Katie deserves better.  She can play anything, and what she has been given is a character who is wildly inconsistent. Niko and Cas are a good team. And I have liked the AI guy throughout (at least until the emotions stuff, which I admit I skipped over). As well as the way the ship is shot and the feel of the show in space. On land, it isn't nearly as good. Any land ... earth, asteroids, other planets, etc.

Getting pregnant? Gak. Who loves who? Gak. Secretly possessed bad guy? Gak. 

A big plot weakness IMO was taking the mini-City On the Edge of Forever AI on the planet at its word. Maybe I missed something in the eps I skipped, but aside from a silent sentinel and a bunch of bones with no explanation of how they got there, I'm not sure we should believe the perspective of any one source. This show would be way better, and much more layered, if each race we encountered had a past and also had an agenda, and we need to see the big picture before we can decide who is the bad guy.

Another Life has potential. I'm not sure that those who are creating it can identify and capitalize on that potential. 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Ottis

[DoctorAtomic]

The only thing about the bones on the planet was that they showed a skull with the mechanical bug in it that the diplomat had and the guy in the shuttle was being attacked by one of them because they showed his eyes, again, like the diplomat. 

So I think they were being fair there. The AI may not have been a reliable narrator - this species may not have been the victims they claimed, and that's fine. But the point of the Aish being into conquest was borne out. 

[Ottis]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

The AI may not have been a reliable narrator - this species may not have been the victims they claimed, and that's fine. But the point of the Aish being into conquest was borne out. 

Sort of? What we know is that a species uses bugs in brains to control members of other species. How many members (is it one or two for a specific need, or more or all?) and why they do so (is it nefarious, are they desperate, do they have a purpose beyond conquest?) is unknown. Destroying that planet is definitely shady, but if they could do that that quickly all along, why wait until now? One read could be conquest and they keep a species/planet alive until all usable life is gone, or until there is any sign of rebellion.  But there could be another rationale. If this show had one that was clever and plausible, I would be excited. If this is really just "V" reborn, meh.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Ottis

[DoctorAtomic]

My main guess would be the Aish would be strip mining the planets for resources. They only explored a sliver of the planet before Starbuck got it blowed up.