Out OF world THIS
‘Nightflyers’ crew encounters space horrors in adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s novella
For those of us — OK, most of us — waiting impatiently for the final season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” Syfy offers an intriguing, albeit flawed, distraction — an adaptation of famed author George R.R. Martin’s 1980 novella “Nightflyers,” about a space crew trying to contact a powerful alien race and encountering horrors closer to home.
The story was first adapted into a mostly forgotten 1987 film that starred Catherine Mary Stewart and abbreviated or eliminated much of the story.
This 10-episode adaptation fleshes out the characters and hews more closely to Martin’s vision. (Martin is credited as an executive producer.) It does share one thing in common with “Game of Thrones”: It’s gory and grisly, with characters losing blood, limbs, their heads, in all sorts of ghastly ways.
Eoin Macken (“The Night Shift”) heads the ensemble cast as Karl O’Branin, an astrophysicist haunted by the death of his young daughter. He’s determined to make contact with the aliens known as the Volcryn, convinced they are the key to Earth’s salvation, and he assembles a team of specialists.
Dr. Agatha Matheson (Gretchen Mol, “Boardwalk Empire) shares a history with Karl. She’s the custodian of an L7 — the designation for a telepath, this one known as Thale (Sam Strike, “Mindhunter”). Thale enjoys playing vicious mind games with anyone who gets into his space.
Melantha (Jodie TurnerSmith, “The Last Ship”) is the first genetically altered human being engineered for long space voyages. She’s strong, but physical might would seem useless against what they face.
Lommie (Maya Eshet) has had her body modified so she can connect to the ship’s computers. Rowan (Angus Sampson, “Insidious”) is the ship’s xenobiologist and not someone to be messed with. Capt. Roy Eris (David Ajala, “Supergirl”) never leaves his command deck and only appears to the crew as a hologram. What most of his crew don’t know is that he eavesdrops on everything going on in the ship.
The mission is almost immediately a disaster. Karl is haunted by visions of his dead daughter. The crew finds their memories are being used against them. Suspicion falls on Thale.
“If you corner him, your crew will walk into a bloodbath,” Agatha warns.
Among the unfortunate “Red Shirts” — and there are many — the most prom- inent is Murphy (Phillip Rhys), who loathes telepaths for good reasons and suffers all kinds of horrifying abuse.
“Nightflyers,” like YouTube Premium’s “Origin,” features a wholly impractical spaceship design, one that is expansive and minimalist, with long corridors and plenty of convenient places for something to hide.
What starts intriguingly turns sillier the deeper you go. This is Martin before he found the measure of his voice.
As someone said — or someone should say — you can put a spacesuit on a turkey, and it’s still a turkey.