Sci-Fi Extant

Alien Soup

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Title: Extant

Genre: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Drama

First aired: 2014-07-09

Creator: Mickey Fisher

Cast: Halle Berry, Pierce Gagnon, Grace Gummer, Tyler Hilton, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Overview: An astronaut returns home from a year long solo mission in space. She tries to reconnect with her husband and son in their everyday life. Her experiences in space and home lead to events that ultimately will change the course of human history.
Extant

 
Extant is a new limited-series airing on CBS starting June 9, 2014.

After spending a year in space, where she lived and conducted strange experiments, astronaut Molly Watts (Halle Berry) tries to resume a normal life with her family consisting of her husband, John, a gifted scientist, and Ethan, their son, a boy like no other. He is not their biological son as Molly is infertile. Ethan was designed by his father as the first prototype of a future line of "Humanichs", "human robots". But the return of Molly will have dramatic consequences for the entire planet and the fate of mankind

The series is produced by Amblin Television with Steven Spielberg at the lead.

 
Wow, okay, in all the advertising, I'd never seen that their son was a robot. Here it's all been:
"You were alone on the space station for 13 months, you came back pregnant."
 
Wow, okay, in all the advertising, I'd never seen that their son was a robot. Here it's all been:
"You were alone on the space station for 13 months, you came back pregnant."
Most of the advertising here in the US was the same way; it's only been recent that they switched the campaign to emphasis her family after she returns versus the actual space event itself.

I'm not sure what to make of it all. It seems to be a cross between A.I., which Spielberg directed & produced with Kubrick's blessing, and several horror movies from the '60/'70s (man goes into space but doesn't come back alone). I missed the US premiere last night but it repeats tonight on CBS as 10:00PM so I'll be recording that one.

Did is start in Australia last night also or is the premiere date different?
 
I've never heard of this before but I see it is available on Amazon Prime in the UK so I might give it a view. It sounds like a mix of AI and The Astronaut's Wife
 
Has potential depending on where they go with it. There was a scene showing the father putting a recharge device in the son's {the android} back. A little too much soap opera for my taste but there are enough creative concepts to make the show a winner. Personally I love any good AI series and I liked the other new AI series 'Intelligence' but someone here said it was cancelled.
 
So I watched Extant last night.

In short, I enjoyed it, and will be watching it again next week.

In long:
It's a fairly generic sci-fi series with a number of, honestly, not particularly inspired key storylines.
You have the two that were advertised:
13 month solo mission in space so how did Halle Berry get pregnant? (Particularly since she couldn't get pregnant as it was.)
Creepy child robot is creepy, when will he go on a killing spree and take over the human race? (Particularly since he actively has no off switch.)
And the storyline that wasn't advertised:
What is going on with the stereotypical Japanese super businessman's stereotypical megacorporation? (Particularly since they've got a hand in everything from space travel to robotics.)

There's a lot of cool sci-fi things going on, like sci-fi garbage cans, there's a lot of product placement going on, we have touchscreen mirrors and 3D screenless holograms but sure, everyone uses Microsoft Surface Pros, and there's a lot of just plain dumb stuff like, "How dare you ask if my robot army has a kill switch in case they go psycho? Does your daughter have a kill switch in case she goes psycho?" and "Oh sure, you were knocked up by the alien ghost of your ex lover, makes sense."

But the acting is good, the effects are good and it's totally worth watching.
 
OOPs, Sorry about the double post
Nothing a little thread merging can't fix. :D

I am kind of surprised it made it to a second season as I didn't think it did too well the first season. I suspect that with Halle Berry attached to the project that CBS is determined to make it work.
 
Nothing a little thread merging can't fix. :D

I am kind of surprised it made it to a second season as I didn't think it did too well the first season. I suspect that with Halle Berry attached to the project that CBS is determined to make it work.

The first season was moving too slowly in direction so I stopped watching it until the season was over and then watched it through and was hooked. Now I look foward to every episode {on tonight Wed. 8/26}. It seems to have evolved into an epic sci-fi show - Advanced AI and an alien invasion - who could ask for more? Yes, more, more, more! Are they ending it this season?

From CBS:

"On "The Other Side," long-forgotten memories surface as Molly succumbs to the virus. Also, Julie is confronted with hard choices and the Hybrids seek revenge."

"There's a fight brewing—and the stakes, Earth's existence—are unparalleled, only onExtant."
 
It seems to have evolved into an epic sci-fi show - Advanced AI and an alien invasion - who could ask for more?
Now you've got me curious. :P When I get home I'll have to check if Netflix or FiOS has it available for streaming. I watched the first couple of episodes and think I stopped about the time she started seeing her dead husband/lover.
 
And the other night was the finale - And the verdict?

Slam, bam thank you mam!!! - Once again the sci-fi pros have proven good sci-fi is better than sex. And we have seen another sci-fi epic make history.

I too had stoped watching this early in the first season - The total story seemed to not know where it was going. So when the first season ended I watched it from beginning to end and I was hooked - In season two I waited eagerly each week for the next episode. Well they weaved several srory lines together - and they did it well - The ending was a classic and of course they left a crack in the door for the possibility of another season -- not a bad ending but just enough of a touch of ambiguity to allow for a re-boot and another season. Created by Mickey Fisher and executive produced by Steven Spielberg they have both earned another feather in their caps.

By all means watch it through from beginning to end - and if you have to pay to get the full series I know you will get you monies worth - A series that Humans, aliens, and androids will all agree is a classic for the ages!!!

EXTANT_IN_THE_FUTURE_PREMIERE_HI_RES_573787_640x360.jpg


162549169.jpg

Is Steven Spielberg part alien - Is that why he produces great science fiction?

images
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extant-53f0527746ec6.jpg
 
Finally binge watched season two...meh.
I understand why it ended and why it wasn't that popular.
The technology was just at par but the plot and story are just more of the same felgercarb we see in every other show on TV these days.
The moment I saw 'it' I knew who the bad guy was.
 

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