Initially, Syfy’s The Ark was a rough ride – not least because the premiere ended in disaster The sexual incident destroyed most of the spaceship it was on, as well as most of its passengers.
Its premise feels borrowed from countless other sci-fi stories. Its heroes seem to have emerged from a well-worn trope factory. And it’s tone is off Somehow, it’s like showrunners Dean Devlin ( Leverage) and Jonathan Glassner (Stargate SG-1) have yet to decide whether to immerse themselves in their brutal survival drama, or the harsh topics that enhance their credits. Ark
Bottom line What started off as a bumpy ride eventually smoothed out and became a fun ride.
Broadcast Date:
10 Wed Feb 1 PM (Syfy)
400
Cast:
Christie Burke, Richard Fleeshman, Reece Ritchie, Stacey Read, Ryan Adams 、Shalini Peiris , Pavle Jerinic, Christina Wolfe, Tiana Upcheva
400 Creator:
Dean Devlin
However, just as the crew began to adapt to the situation, so did the different elements of their series. The Ark may never be appreciated for its depth of themes, brave ideas, or nuanced character development. But in the fourth hour of the episode sent to critics (12-season of episodes), it found its own Exciting, unneeded fun at its best.
Kudos to The Ark for being very aware that its narrative is off the beaten track so it doesn’t waste time overdoing it Explanation. The details are as follows: 12 After many years, the Earth has become uninhabitable and humanity’s last hope lies in the colonization of other planets. What we’re watching is the first mission of its kind, involving 400 military personnel, scientists, engineers, and other handpicked artisans, to open up for other civilians A path to follow.
But when disaster strikes, the 400-ish survivors find themselves Pulled out of cryo-sleep a year early, they only need food and water for a few weeks to sustain them. Since the incident also wiped out all senior commanders, leadership fell to the ship’s three most senior officers: the charismatic Lieutenant Bryce (Richard Fleishman), the ambitious Lieutenant Lane (Ryth Ridge), ) and level-headed Lieutenant Garnett (Kristy Burke) — the latter stepping up to become the ship’s de facto captain, to the apparent displeasure of the other two.
In this panicked, desperate situation, the show’s protagonists range from haunting to unlikable at first. Lane’s dark murmurs about “survival of the fittest” paint him as something bordering on evil; so does Cat (Christina Wolfe), a self-absorbed influencer who The knee-jerk reaction to serious (and very necessary) water rations is to flout the rules by taking a relaxing shower. But characters ostensibly designed to win also feel miscalibrated. Science wunderkind Alicia (Stacey Read) fills the nerd stereotype by talking too much when she’s nervous, but The Ark overshot her mark, so she initially landed like Very well mannered and not overly funny eccentric.
Still, if The Ark is hard at first writing people to like, its saving grace is being good at Make up stories anyway, let’s root for their survival. In other words: you don’t need to love a fictional person to enjoy watching them come up with crazy or creative ways to escape their near-certain doom. At a time when too many TV projects bill themselves as 100 hour movies or whatever, Ark A refreshing balance of mystery and plot thrills throughout the season. It’s never short of plot: at one point, its crew are simultaneously trying to figure out what hit their ship and solving murders and Avoiding the asteroid field – all while working through grief, exhaustion, and mutual suspicion. Yet the weekly crisis structure of The Ark keeps the pace brisk and easy to watch.
Here and there, The Ark might bring to mind The Martian because it is interested in creative problem solving. (There’s even a goofy scientist, played by Ryan Adams, who figures out how to grow vegetables using human waste as fertilizer.) Or maybe there’s a little Battlestar Galactica on the island Its population and the relentlessness of these existential threats. But the show has no similar ambition to ponder human nature or comment on real-world events. Its priority is entertainment, which has its own benefits. Its lack of interest in being too smart, too deep, or too “realistic”—in other words, taking itself too seriously—allows it to throw out The realm of the eccentric and eccentric.
While the show’s occasional attempts to infuse sex and romance into its drama are still awkward (the creepiest moment is when Cat, the newly appointed resident mental health specialist, nearly shakes Frowning (as she tells Lane and Brice, “I’ll take you both alone, or both”), some humor and camaraderie start to shine through around the third episode. Time will tell if the actors are fully integrated into a cohesive whole, but I find that as the characters wind up with each other and their new roles in this makeshift society—especially Kabir (Shalini Peiris)—they feel more connected. The exhausted doctor who tends to warm to characters, and the principled head of security Felix (Pavle Jerinic).
By episode four, The Ark is clicking well enough to deliver its most daring outing yet. As the crew, one by one, develops a mysterious illness, everyone begins seeing eerie visions representing their darkest fears or dearest fantasies. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the series used the opportunity to drop an important, entertainingly ridiculous reveal, and hint at another. The gamble paid off: Not only did these visions deepen each of the major players in ways that were both entertaining and heartbreaking when we finally started caring about them, but the escalation had me cheering for their race to heal. By the end, I found myself gleefully yelling at the TV on a cliffhanger. Not bad for a series that had such a rocky start.
