Transcript
Netflix have just released a sci-fi show called Another Life. I was looking forward to this one, so here’s my first reaction after the first two episodes.
Another life is a 10-episode science fiction series. It’s set on a near-future earth, that apart from a few futuristic technologies, isn’t much different from our own world. A mysterious alien artefact appears in the sky and lands.
Katee Sackoff, Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, plays Niko a very skilled spaceship commander who is sent on a mission to find the aliens that sent the object, and uncover what they want.
Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the first two episodes. The tone of the show is largely down to earth and serious, but with, perhaps, some overly heightened conflict, but I’ll talk more about that later. It feels similar to shows like Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Universe. The casting of Katee Sackoff was clearly no accident. They’re appealing to that gritty realistic science fiction. And yet, the show doesn’t quite feel like either of those other shows. It has its own feeling.
The show seems to switch between three different modes: white knuckle suspense, mystery and wonder, and character introspection. Those are all ingredients I enjoy.
The beginning of the first episode felt a little bit rushed. I would have liked if the show hD sat in that moment of mystery and wonder a little longer. I actually got more of a sense of wonder from the trailer, which included voiceovers from news broadcasts, talking about how an alien object had appeared in the sky.
Then we jump ahead 6 months.
Niko has a husband and a daughter. Her husband is a scientist with the job of studying the artefact. Niko has a very hard choice to make. Does she stay home with her family, or go on the 6 month mission, leaving them behind? Well, we know what she chooses, because otherwise, there’d be no story. This show does a good job of portraying the sacrifice that people make when they have to leave their families for long periods of time to perform acts of services, such as serving in the military. But it’s not just their sacrifice. The family they leave behind are also making a huge sacrifice. This is dramitised very effectively.
This is another moment where I felt the beginning was a little rushed. One minute the thing is landing, and then we’re in space on the mission. I wanted more context. I wanted them to study the artefact a bit more first. Apparently we’re heading to the planet where we think the object was created? How did we determine where it came from? What do we know about the object, and the potential threat it represents? I was feeling a little lost without this context.
Now I understand, in the real world, the mere existence of an alien object like this would be considered a threat, simply because it is not understood. But in a story, you really need to cement the stakes. Even just a line about how they’ve determined a massive power source inside the object, or something like that. The characters all act as if the entire human race is at risk, and I’m willing to buy that, I’d just have liked a little more clarification of the situation to help me invest in the importance of this mission.
Let’s talk cast. The show is kinda drip-feeding the characters to us. We get to know them a few at a time. They’ll all get their turn in the spotlight.
Niko is a no nonsense commander. She carries a lot of weight, which she takes seriously, but she doesn’t waste time being all angsty about it. She misses her family like crazy, but it doesn’t interfere with her work.
Her first officer, Yerxa, used to be the captain of this ship, but both Niko and the generals agree that he may not be up to a mission of this magnitude. Niko calls him a hothead. This leads to some awkwardness amongst the crew. Niko calls this out and acknowledges how uncomfortable it feels, but encourages them to accept things and get on with the job.
The conflict between them comes to a head when they find the ship is off course and they have to decide how to deal with it.
This ties into the theme. There’s a big theme in the first 2 episodes of risk. What risks should you take? And what ones should you avoid? Is it better to reach their destination quickly? Or take it slow and steady? There are so many tensions here. They all have loved ones they want to get back to, but at the same time, if they fail in their mission, the whole human race could be at risk. Niko and Yerxa clash over these decisions, and it comes to mutiny. And then after that’s resolved, things get really serious.
This is where realism starts to become a little bit strained. While the drama is exciting, I can’t help but think that people in this situation would be more professional than this. But something happens at the end of the first episode which makes me wonder if perhaps, Yerxa is under some kind of alien influence. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes.
I think some of the conflict also comes from the fact that most of the crew are in their 20s, and Niko is older. One of the characters calls out herself, that 20 somethings are generally more willing to take risks, whereas older people are inclined to play it safer, especially if they have families. PErsonally, I think many of the crewmembers still have a little growing and maturing to do.
One of my favourite characters so far is William, a holographic interface for the ship’s artificial intelligence. He’s very likable, and fiercely loyal to his captain. He adds an ironic humanising touch.
On the subject of holograms, They use holographic communication on this show, and I have to say they’ve done it much better than Star Trek Discovery did. Even with canon issues aside, the holographic communication technology on Discovery just didn’t make logical sense, but on this show, they’ve thought it through a little. They’ve thought, there must be a projector, and a camera somewhere. Parts of the body the camera can’t see are not rendered. So if the person on the other end is sitting down behind a table, you see a torso and head floating in front of you.
The holograms are lifelike, not translucent. A very occasional glitch makes it clear that they are holograms. But I think these glitches are not in the projection technology, no reason for that, but in the communication. They’re having real-time video chat over interstellar distances. IT makes sense the signal will glitch a little.
While all of this is happening out in space, Niko’s husband is trying to find a way to communicate with the artefact, while raising his daughter alone and dealing with all the feelings that come from the long-term distance between him and his wife.
One other issue I noticed with the show is the way the exposition was handled early in episode 1. Exposition is hard to get across in a story. There were a couple of time that a little like “As you know Bob” conversations. This is not uncommon on TV, but I really noticed it here. Not a big thing. It probably just stuck out to me because I’m a writer.
Their spaceship, The Salvare, looks pretty cool. It’s got a bit of a hard-sci-fi look to it. A big ring around the outside and various modules in side. They’ve got artificial gravity and a landing craft.
Another life is hitting the right buttons for me so far. Niko is a protagonist I can relate to, because she’s a parent, she’d married, and she’s close to my age. I love stories about space exploration, heading out into the unknown. I’m very eager to learn more about these aliens. And while the drama seems little heightened for my believability so far, it leads to some great action.
I think this show has the potential to be as good as Stargate Universe. It’s not quite there yet, but I’m very much looking forward to watching more.
Another Life is available on Netflix. It has an Australian rating of MA for strong themes, and strong blood and gore, although I haven’t encountered any gore yet. It also has a fair bit of swearing in it.
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