Sci-Fi Ascension (SyFY)

[astonwest]

Did anyone else catch this three-part series on SyFy?

Spoiler

Really enjoyed this one through the first 2.5 episodes...love the plot twists (especially the overall twist regarding the ship itself), not as much of a fan about SyFy trying to boost ratings through the extensive amounts of sex and nudity they used.

The only trouble I had was with the ending. It almost seemed like they were trying to go out of their way to build suspense for a potential future series run of this show, instead of trying to close things out with the third episode ending.

Where in the world did the kid drop the XO off at (and how do they explain his disappearance)? Did Stokes get killed by the conspiracy-theorist plant? How does the on-site boss's death get explained away without the TG group sending in someone else and attempting to shut down the program again?

 

[Kevin]

Did anyone else catch this three-part series on SyFy?

I did and I am not sure if it was a series that SyFy did not order any more episodes of or if it was intended to be a mini-series from the start. It was presented as a three part mini-series but the opening credits of each two-hour show included full separate credits for two episodes per two-hour show. To clarify that, the credits for the first two-hour show listed episode 1 credits & title and episode 2 credits & title and then the second two-hour show listed episodes 3 & 4 credits & titles while the third two-hour show listed episodes 5 & 6 credits & titles.

I actually really like the first part (episodes 1 & 2) as they packed a lot of action into it. The second part (episodes 3 & 4) weren't bad but I was disappointed with how the third part (episodes 5 & 6) ended. It was a bit like watching The Matrix movies... 1st one = Great! 2nd one = Not bad. 3rd one = Oh, come on?!.

There was indeed a good amount of sex & nudity for a SyFy show. At one point one of the characters even says that sex is the true power on the ship. With the number of stations that NBC Universal owns I actually wonder a bit if the show was originally meant for one of their pay channels instead.

 

[astonwest]

To clarify that, the credits for the first two-hour show listed episode 1 credits & title and episode 2 credits & title and then the second two-hour show listed episodes 3 & 4 credits & titles while the third two-hour show listed episodes 5 & 6 credits & titles.

Yeah, I noticed the thing about separate episode credits within each night's broadcast. Too bad they couldn't have had a true season to play with.

I actually really like the first part (episodes 1 & 2) as they packed a lot of action into it. The second part (episodes 3 & 4) weren't bad but I was disappointed with how the third part (episodes 5 & 6) ended. It was a bit like watching The Matrix movies... 1st one = Great! 2nd one = Not bad. 3rd one = Oh, come on?!.

I wholeheartedly agree with 5/6. To me, 3/4 were enjoyable...probably not as enjoyable as 1/2, but pretty close.

There was indeed a good amount of sex & nudity for a SyFy show. At one point one of the characters even says that sex is the true power on the ship. With the number of stations that NBC Universal owns I actually wonder a bit if the show was originally meant for one of their pay channels instead.

That's something I never considered, but it's quite possible. Not sure I would have been all that thrilled to have to pay for that, myself...but maybe that's why it ended up on SyFy and why it ended when it did.

 

[Kevin]

Forgot to mention... I did reach out to Tricia Helfer about the status of the show going forward and she responded! Unfortunately no additional info' was available.

https://twitter.com/x/status/545635376446971904

 

[oorang]

I was more excited about it before the explained what was really going on at the end of the first episode.

 

[Kevin]

I was more excited about it before the explained what was really going on at the end of the first episode.

I had mixed feelings about that. One on hand I thought it would've been cool if the ship was indeed on its voyage and out in deep space somewhere but... there were too many little things that were bugging me if the ship really was in space.

For example, even if the ship was launched in the 1960's, the technology at the time from other nations and even private organizations would have been alerted to a launch of something that size. Then there was life aboard the ship itself. The design of the ship as presented is a traditional rocket shaped ship with no central rotating ring or other moving section that would could be used to induce some type of artificial gravity to prevent things from just floating around. So then how exactly was everybody & everything on the ship firmly in place including water in a pool? No attempt was even made to explain that one.

Then there is the bit when the Captain, after the murder of the girl, said to the XO that a message has been sent to Earth. If they were 50 years away from Earth, what type of communications was going on using 1960's era tech? Later on the guy who was accused of the murder said it had been years since there was any type of communications with Earth.

Finally there are those little hand-held tablet like devices that they were using to watch videos on. OK, even if the initial crew aboard were the most brilliant scientists & engineers of their time, did they also have the manufacturing tools on the ship that would be needed to create the transistors & other electronics needed for watching videos from mini-tapes on a small screen device like them?

So, yeah, on one hand I was a bit disappointed at the big reveal but at the same time I was a little happy because then so many things made sense.

 

[Kevin]

And it's been confirmed, SyFy has chosen to not order Ascension as a series. The producers have the option to shop it around to other outlets but with some of the cast already being picked up for other projects I doubt if we'll be seeing anything else.

 

[astonwest]

Not really a surprise, but still sad nonetheless...

 

[Kevin]

Ascension is on Netflix now for anybody who missed it when it aired. No word about whether the producers were able to find any interest in anybody else picking the series.