Space, the final frontier
Hilary Swank, of course, is terrific as the much challenged Commander Emma Green.
There was a moment, around the middle of last year, when we had all watched Tiger King at least once, then again to make sure that, yes, it really did all happen, and that it was time to scroll around the rest of what Netflix had, hoping to come across something of similar entertainment value.
But nothing, not even the Nic Cage-asJoe-Exotic movie that is in production, could ever be as entertaining as watching Tiger King for the first time.
The show I hit on for my next potential binge was a sci-fi series about an astronaut (Katee Sackhoff), commanding a ship full of disparate individuals who all seemed to have their own axes to grind. The show was called Another Life ,andI have not, in years of staring at bad TV, seen anything quite like it.
Absolutely nothing about Another Life – the plots, the characters, the props, the costumes – made any sense. Why did an alien ship show up right above the house two astronauts lived in? Why is the only
source of news a gossip columnist and ‘‘media influencer’’? Why does every woman on the ship strip down to her bra and undies every 10 minutes or so?
And who the hell hired the teenager with the high-maintenance hysteria to be the ‘‘communications officer’’?
Needless to say, I loved every minute of Another Life that I could understand through the tears of laughter.
But, news that Netflix had dropped another show, also starring a big-name star playing an astronaut in charge of yadda yadda, didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. So-bad-they’re-good gems like Another Life are rarer than unicorn poo.
So Away – starring Hilary Swank as the leader of Earth’s first mission to Mars – had to be actually good, just to have a chance to keep me watching.
And, it turns out, Away isn’t too shabby. No, it’s not going to win any prizes for scientific authenticity, but at least, unlike Another Life, these astronauts aren’t banging away with labelled crescent spanners at what are obviously dials salvaged from an old oven the props buyer found at the tip.
Swank, of course, is terrific as the much challenged Commander Emma Green, who must deal with a recalcitrant and multinational crew while balancing the emotional demands of having a husband at home who is newly confined to a wheelchair and a daughter who is hitting adolescence in pretty much the same way a stock car hits a wall.
Away divides its time between space, which is pretty spectacular once you allow for the TV-sized budget, and the more Earth-bound family dramas, which are at least played with some earnestness and commitment.
Away isn’t great, but it’s not bad. Naturally, it’s been cancelled after one season. Season two of Another Life will turn up later this year. True story.