Space odyssey
STARRY NEW DRAMA FOLLOWS THE CREW OF A FOUR-YEAR MISSION TO MARS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ASTRONAUTS AND THOSE LEFT BEHIND
SPACE travel and Sean Penn – what more could you possibly want from a drama? This glossy, cinematic new American series will hook you in from the off. With the feel of a big budget space movie, with life and death situations, it makes for tense viewing.
It starts with Academy Award winner Sean Penn, as former mission commander Tom Hagerty, looking pretty grumpy at home with his dog.
This is set in the near future, so you’ll notice details about the technology, with everything in his house completely remote. He tells his TV screen to switch on – it does.
And it turns out that practically everyone in America is watching the imminent launch of the first manned mission to Mars. The Providence crew are suited up and waiting in the rocket, while their families gather in the grandstand for front row seats.
Aerospace magnate Laz Ingram, played by Natascha McElhone, has been planning this mission for months and does some interviews as the tension mounts. The crew will spend two-and-a-half years in orbit, with around 18 months on Mars.
We’re not exactly sure at first what the history is with Hagerty and the space crew, but there is history, and Hagerty wants to speak to them before they set off.
“Go make some history,” he tells them. It’s easy to speak to astronauts from your living room in the near future.
Following the astronauts, their families and the ground team on Earth, this is an exciting and emotional opening episode that will leave you desperate for more.