The Ark 1.9-1.12: Real Science Fiction

I binged the final four episodes of the first season of The Ark -- again, I was busy talking about the radio play of my alternate history story about The Beatles, "It's Real Life" -- and I'm glad I did, rather than watch those episodes on a weekly basis.  Especially for a narrative like The Ark, binging is the way to go.

And what kind of narrative is The Ark? It's classic science fiction, in the tradition of Hal Clement, and Analog Magazine (where my science fiction has been published more than a dozen times, so I'm a bit biased).  But the hallmark of that kind of science fiction, which The Ark does so well, is life-and-death problems arise which can be solved by the application of ingenious science.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

So in The Ark, that strange disease killing Bryce and Maddox can be cured by an anti-toxin in which the active ingredient is a spider's venom.  Except it doesn't work. The scientists in Ark 1 come to the rescue: they realize the venom quickly decays, so to get it into the system of the afflicted people, they need to be bitten by the spiders, which naturally injects their venom directly in Bryce's and Maddox's bodies.  That's what I call real science fiction.

Or realizing that what was thought to be water on Proxima B is actually methane, which explodes part of the planet when it's set in motion.   In this case, the only cure is getting out of the way of the debris from the planet, which Ark 1 only barely does, with the ship barely intact.  Science doesn't provide much of a fix, but at least an understanding of what has happened and why.

It used to be said about classic science fiction that it may be good with the science, but not with the human relationships in the story.  That was never really true in the first place, and The Ark does a pretty good job at this, in any case.  I guess my favorite couple is Bryce and Markovic, though outside of that relationship, Bryce is too quick to throw a punch.  But Markovic makes up for that with her savvy and her smile.

I was happy to see that The Ark has been renewed for a second season.  All the way out there in space, on the more advanced Ark 15 now, this story has a lot of life left to it, and I'm looking forward to watching it play out in the years ahead.

See also The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching ... 1.2: Why I'M Enjoying It ... 1.3: Asteroid and Comet ... 1.4: Hallucinations ... 1.5-1.6: More than One ... 1.7: "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" ... The Ark 1.8: "Follow Your Future Selves"

a second ship around Proxima Centauri B, too ...

The Ark 1.8: "Follow Your Future Selves"

Checking in with a review of The Ark 1.8.  If it seems that I'm posting this review a little later than usual, you may be right.   On the other hand, that may just be your perception.  Maybe, in reality -- whatever exactly that may be -- I actually posted this review a day or two ago.  It only seems to you that I'm posting this now, because we're traveling faster than than light, so what happened yesterday or the day before yesterday seems like it's happening now.

That makes sense, right?  Don't ask me, because if I'm traveling faster than light I probably wouldn't know.  Now, last time I checked, we here on Planet Earth are not traveling faster than light.  We're traveling at whatever speed it takes for our planet to circle around the sun, in what we call a year.

Is that clear now?  Of course not.  But I've got to give The Ark credit for presenting this enigma on the screen in a way that almost does make sense.  Alicia, genius that she is, has figured out how to retrofit Ark 1 with the faster-than-light drive that powered Ark 3.  This was developed in principle by Trust but actually put in motion by Trust's successor.   So Trust understands it, or least how to make sense of being on a ship that's moving faster than light, and he helps guide his wife and Alicia to get to a place on Ark 1 where the three catch up to their future selves, i.e., things seem normal on Ark 1, though the ship is apparently not closer to Proxima B.

His wife, by the way, is the jealous type.  Sooner or later she'll walk in on Trust when he's pursuing his proclivities, and who knows what might happen then.  With any luck, someone on the ship will increase its speed even faster -- analogous to exceeding Mach 10 like we saw in Top Gun: Maverick -- and that could shake the wife's confidence in what she thinks she's seeing.

Star Trek has portrayed faster-than-light travel ever since 1960s.  Creds to The Ark for portraying it in a way I haven't seen before.  About the closest might be John Stith's murder mystery on a ship traveling FTL in Redshift Rendezvous -- but, hey, that hasn't been as yet made into a movie or TV series as yet.  So to see it on a screen -- assuming you haven't seen this yet -- follow your future self and watch this episode of The Ark.

See also The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching ... 1.2: Why I'M Enjoying It ... 1.3: Asteroid and Comet ... 1.4: Hallucinations ... 1.5-1.6: More than One ... 1.7: "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)"

a second ship around Proxima Centauri B, too ...

The Ark 1.7: "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)"

The Ark 1.7 offered a dazzling array of concepts and developments, and was the best episode so far in this new series.  If I've said this before, that's an indication of how good The Ark has become.  Even if I hadn't said that, The Ark has moved into some fine science fictional territory.

[And there will be spoilers ahead ... ]

So, I said in my review last week that I thought that other Ark floating motionless out there in space was Ark 5, carrying William Trust, the creator of the Ark project, who had planned on going out to Proxima B in Ark 5.  And, though Trust plays a big role in episode 1.7 (see below), turns out that the motionless Ark is not 5 but 3.  I got the name but not the number right.  Reminds me of that Beatles song, "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)".

But how did that later Ark get to this place before Ark 1?  Here the series pulls out an old but still surprising science fiction chestnut:  Ark 5 had faster than light travel, developed by Trust's successor.  It, too, was disabled, most of its crew destroyed, by some kind of powerful, unexpected force.  Which turns out to be ... Ark 15.  Hey, once you can travel faster than light, you can travel faster and faster, right? That's logical, as Spock might say.

And as icing on the cake of this fine episode, here's the big role that William Trust plays: at the end of the episode, two of our favorite characters, thinking they have only seconds left to live, are about to kiss ... when a code that only William Trust could know is delivered just in time to save them.  Thanks Lane for bringing Trust out of suspended animation just in time.  You can always trust Dean Devlin to deliver an excellent episode.

See you back here next week with my review of what I hope is the season one (not series) finale.

See also The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching ... 1.2: Why I'M Enjoying It ... 1.3: Asteroid and Comet ... 1.4: Hallucinations ... 1.5-1.6: More than One

a second ship around Proxima Centauri B, too ...

The Ark 1.5-1.6: More than One

I thought I'd review episodes 1.5 (on last week) and 1.6 (on tonight) together, because their stories are closely connected, or, more closely connected than usual.

[Of course, spoilers ahead ... ]

There were two big reveals at the end of 1.5:  Baylor (well played by Miles Barrow, who was also good in The Peripheral,  another excellent, very different new science fiction series) is the killer, and he steps up to save The Ark but actually to protect William Trust.  A good character name, if you think about it.  What's his name?  Will Trust.  Obviously, a pivotal character, but will you trust him to do what's right for The Ark, or in the crew of The Ark's best interests?

Probably not.  And in episode 1.6, we find out, also at the end of the episode, that there's another Ark out there in deep space.  At least, it looks like an Ark.   And we see this after we learn that it was Trust's intention to get out to Proxima B on Ark 5.

So, is that starship Ark 5?  And, if it is, did it somehow go through a black hole or some time loop in space which sent it back in time, which is how first The Ark would encountered it tonight? Starships with humans encountering other starships that have travelled backward or forward in time with humans -- alive or dead, or sometimes starships of human construction but with no humans -- is not a new theme in interstellar starship stories.  Star Trek has had stories like that.  And, come to think of it, so did my 2001 novel, Borrowed Tides.

The Ark has now moved into an excellent science fictional niche of weekly different crises with an underlying foundation of a much bigger, more profound story, being revealed so far in just glimpses and intimations.  Works for me, and I'll see you back here soon.

See also The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching ... 1.2: Why I'M Enjoying It ... 1.3: Asteroid and Comet ... 1.4: Hallucinations

a second ship around Alpha Centauri, too

The Ark 1.4: Hallucinations

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Well, I guessed early on that the source of the hallucinations in The Ark 1.4 was the water from the comet -- the giveaway was in the everybody drinking up (or down) the new abundance of water drained from the comet -- but that guess didn't stop me from enjoying this rollickingly good episode.

In which we learned a bunch of things, in which most importantly not only is Garnet not the (or even a) killer, but she's a twin, which means the video that shows her slitting the guy's throat was not a deep space fake, it was a video of her twin sister.

Also, we learn about Garnet that she has some improved DNA which makes her especially fit to lead the ship, though that may not be exactly what the DNA was intended for.  We also learn about whom various other people on the crew have special affections for, and that both deepens these characters and gives us foundations to understand their future actions.

Strickland had a bigger role than usual, and that was welcome, as he's become one of my favorite characters.  Someone who's not bound to any code but his or her own is good for the ship, if that code seems logical and moral, which Strickland's apparently is.

But let's look at the very ending.  The Ark seems to make a habit of revealing very crucial and dangerous things in the very last scene, a time-honored but still very effective way of telling a story in a television series. This time the reveal is that the calamity that befell the ship might have been the result of an attack by a non-human intelligence out there in the depths of space.  So by this forth episode, the lethal danger facing the ship has ratcheted up from an asteroid to aliens -- though, come to think of it, the attack could have come from humans after all, maybe time-traveling humans from the future.

Whatever it is, bring it on.  I can't wait to see more, and I'll see you back here next week with my next review.

See also The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching ... 1.2: Why I'M Enjoying It ... 1.3: Asteroid and Comet

here's what happened to the first starship to Proxima Centauri

The Ark 1.3: Asteroid and Comet

Well, as I've been expecting and been told, The Ark keeps getter better and better with every episode.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

The main event in episode 1.3 is what to do about the next-to-no water left on the ship, usurped by an even more deadly danger, an asteroid hurtling towards the ship, which will reach and demolish the ship in hours.   The resolution of this dilemma upon dilemma is one sweet piece of science fiction at its best: Alicia sees the asteroid has a tail, which means it's a comet not an asteroid, which means it's made of water.  Which means that, if The Ark can fly a shuttle near the comet and match its speed -- increasing its speed is not so hard, given that the The Ark is in deep space with no atmospheric resistance -- The Ark can siphon off some of the comet's water, and refill The Ark's nearly empty tank.

Which it does, after some defiantly heroic maneuvers by Brice.  So, Coleridge's "water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink," is surmounted and countermanded by the ingenuity of the crew, now working mostly together.

But, of course, this is not the end of this fine episode.  Before the credits roll, we learn that Garnet has a violent streak.  We already know that she's not averse to using physical force to get her orders obeyed.  But now we learn that she can slit someone's neck if she sees herself in any physical danger. 

The overall message: not everyone is what they seem to be on this crew.  The people who survived the catastrophe are not only survivors, but have histories that we don't know about.  A welcome element in a new series.

See also The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching ... 1.2: Why I'M Enjoying It

here's what happened to the first starship to Proxima Centauri

The Ark 1.2: Why I'm Enjoying It

Checking in with a late review of The Ark 1.2, which was on the SyFy Channel last Wednesday.

And here's what I think: I know a lot of the character interactions are close to sophomoric.  But there's still something I like about this series.  Actually, at least two or even three things, and they're important.

1. There's a freshness about this series.   Although the acting is sometimes not the greatest (but see #3 below), the ambience is realistic.  Maybe that's because the situation is real -- an interstellar cryogenic voyage disrupted before the destination is reached, putting everyone in imminent danger.  Maybe it's because I don't think I've seen any of the actors before, so they seem like real people.  But I find myself believing what I'm seeing on the screen.

2. The imminent dangers may be all or mostly created by either some person or group attempting to sabotage the mission, or the incompetence of some of the crew.  Both of those sources of peril are also realistic, as well as being fun to watch.

3. And some of the acting is very good.  I'm thinking of Garnet (Christie Burke), thrust into the leadership, now reluctantly but effectively in charge.  Also, Brice (Richard Fleeshman) and even Medford (Ryan Adams) are putting in strong, i.e., believable, performances so far.

So count me in as a fan.  I'm glad The Ark is up on the air.  The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard debuts on Paramount Plus this Thursday.  I'll of course be watching and reviewing that too.  I don't expect The Ark to be anywhere near Picard.  But, hey, it's a good series so far.

See also The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching

here's what happened to the first starship to Proxima Centauri

The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching

So, The Ark debuted on the Syfy Channel last night to a typical chorus of baying critics who carped that the disaster in deep space movie was itself a disaster, and the series was as "imbecilic" as NBC's time travel series La Brea.  I did stop watching La Brea in the second season because it wasn't going anywhere. But at this point I have higher expectations for The Ark.

The set-up is excellent.  It's a hundred years in the future, and a human crew in cryonic sleep, a year away from their destination in deep space, is rudely awakened by an accident that likely isn't an accident.  The event kills all the top brass.  But fortunately a few people in the middle ranks survive, and are able to take charge of the ship and all those who are still alive and kicking.  The travelers have to deal with problems ranging from how to ration the food -- everyone was supposed to wake up much closer to the intended planet, but fortunately there are many fewer mouths to feed -- to a murderer being onboard.

Unsurprisingly, the acting is passable not great, but that's ok, it's still very early in the story and there's time for people to grow into their roles.  And I liked the ambience.  It felt comfortable, realistic, and even refreshing at times.  I also liked the timing and the placement of the story.  A hundred years from now is further enough in the future to be different from our time, but close enough to be recognizable.  And a year away from the ship's destination feels right for a story beginning to unfold over a 12-episode season.

My major regret about The Ark was that, after seeing one episode, I wanted to see more.  But that's what next weeks are for, and I'll be back here next week after I've watched the second episode, and tell you more.

the first starship to Proxima Centauri