Radio telescopy detects a signal from many light years away. Something slams into the Earth and sprouts a huge crystal tower looking thing. A ship is prepped to trace back the signal to make contact with the aliens who sent it. Interpersonal conflict begins. It's finally far enough into the first episode that I can crack open my bottle of Coca Cola. Welcome to Another Life, a Netflix exclusive. And no, it doesn't slow down afterwards.
Seriously, this us not the show for people who get anxiety attacks from watching TV shows. There is always something going on and it gets pretty intense at times. In some ways, although Another Life is hard science fiction, it feels more like Science Horror. I know that doesn't make sense, but watch the thing and see if you don't believe me.
Ya know, it's kind of weird. Another Life is certainly not Event Horizon. There is no space fold, no lost ship, no Latin phrasing, no trip to Hell... You get the idea. The thing is, Another Life and Event Horizon share a similar atmosphere. There's always something going on. It's almost always bad. Our heroes are working their tails off to avoid wherever it is, but we're still pretty sure it's going to get worse and not better. There doesn't seem to be a way out but we still want there to be. And things aren't always what they seem.
With the good comes the not so good. Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation (especially the first two seasons) will be all too familiar with the we're-all-going-to-die storylines that a lot of these episodes embody. What the producers of Another Life got right that Gene Roddenberry did not is that there is still a lot of tension between characters. And I'll give Another Life this as well: There is no holodeck. We don't see Moriarty escaping to conquer the Enterprise here. I'll take that.
The star of the show, of course, is Katee Sackhoff. Any actress who can play a part well enough to make me accept a female Starbuck is worth watching. I was not disappointed. As Captain Niko Breckenridge, Sackhoff has a tough task: She has to keep a bunch of twenty-something punk kids on task while things continuously go wrong. It doesn't help that she took over the ship from another captain that those same young adults had served under. You can cut the drama here with the knife.
Of course, a lot of that has to do with the youth of the characters. They get into the same type of drama we all did at that age, only they've got more reason to freak out. Life on the Salvare is constantly in flux and most of what happens is not necessarily good. That's okay though. Safe and sane is boring. I'd rather see them all flipping their lids when something crazy happens. And seriously, life in space can sometimes be crazier than your ex-girlfriend on a full moon.
Something I really like is that the writers of the show didn't forget about those left behind. Granted, we were going to see some of what was happening on Earth because of the alien artifact there, but tying in spouses and children is a master stroke. It is also sometimes heart-breaking. I think this works particularly well right now, because there is a lot of sympathy for military families. The crew of the Salvare is not military per se, but they are damn sure deployed and in harm's way so the situation is similar.
I also like the fact that the characters are human and act in human ways while suffering the consequences of doing so. There was a moment in the show where I found myself striking my forehead with the heel of my hand like it was 1985 again. I got why the character did the thing and I was pretty sure I knew what came next. I was right, for the most part. Being Another Life it was a bit worse than what I thought it would be. That's okay. I like the realism here. When things make sense it makes me happy, even when what happens makes me sad. That makes sense, right?
I also like the enigmatic nature of the aliens. Nobody knows who they are or what they want. There is no established way to communicate with them at first. I like that. Listen, I'm as big a Star Trek fan as you're ever likely to meet, but not every alien in the galaxy is going to speak English. It just doesn't work that way. And it takes awhile. That makes sense too. It seems likely to a nerd like me that aliens are not likely to think like humans. Their languages are therefore not going to be instantly translated into any human language. I like that. Even with prime numbers and the Fibonacci Sequence, all we're doing is showing that we can do simple math. Two humans who are both educated in math but don't have a language in common can't talk. Why would a human instantly know how to talk to an alien?
It mystifies me that this thing receives so much hate from Rotten Tomatoes. I don't get it. Yes, as I said previously, it has a horror type feel to it, but SO WHAT? It works. This thing is a cross between and alien invasion story and early space exploration crossed with a touch of political intrigue. I don't get the hate. Is it perfect? No. Is anything human made perfect? No. It's good. It's entertaining. It holds the attention. It keeps things moving.
All in all, I'm glad I watched it. I'm looking forward to Season Two. I damn well better get a Season Two. I need a Season Two because reasons, and it's not just because I have a thing for Katee Sackhoff. Well, maybe that's part of it but that's not all of it. Netflix just needs to shut up and show me the series. Seriously.
Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Alien Whatevers
Another LifeNetflix, 2019
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