Outcasts

After a friend of mine suggested I watch this, I decided to play catch-up on BBC iplayer a few weeks ago. The first 15 minutes of it and I thought "OMG - this is like an updated Blake's 7 I can't watch this!!" Recently the same friend complained I hadn't given it a chance and told me it was "getting good". So I gave it another go ... I thought "I'm gonna sit through this and REALLY try to like it".

Okay - the first episode was PAINFUL. The characters seemed boring, the kid that kept repeating his "tiger tiger" poem almost put me off watching ... but I struggled through. First episode felt very long. However I persevered and watched a second episode ... then a third ... then a fourth ...

It's actually turning out to be quite interesting in certain respects but doesn't have me completely hooked as yet.

I think the characters could be improved - they are currently REALLY difficult to warm to - they have no spark. They feel a bit like cardboard cut-outs at the moment, stilted and awkward - and certainly need a bit more depth.

Looking past the stilted characters are the predictable character relationships ... just a bit boring and uninspiring - again no SPARK.

The story is somewhat intriguing in parts but with the lack of charismatic characters or interesting dialogue it just makes it difficult to wade through.

The jury is still hung for me on this.

This show COULD be better, but needs a whole lot of fine-tuning if it ever wants to become a really good show.

I don't normally write reviews but I was compelled to do so for this series in light of many of the general downbeat comments. I have to say that I am enjoying this show. Like anything new, I believe it is important to give it a chance and by the third episode I was finding it to be quite a good series, for what it is - light evening entertainment. It's filled with plot holes and the characterisation is a little light, but when you have an 8 episode series character development probably isn't going to be a major factor of a show, particularly in action dominated sci-fi. The concept is interesting, and hopefully more questions about what happened on earth and why there is no military presence in the colony will be answered over the series. The acting is good, as are the set pieces and most of the FX, particularly in episode 3. Script wise it is at times a little clunky but I think the actors have done a respectable job with what they have to work with.

A note now on all the "one star" reviews. Writing a negative review and brandishing one star ratings is unfortunately a way for people to excercise a little bit of the power that is lacking in their life. I do not believe this series is a one star show, but that is my opinion. I think people can state if they truly feel something is poor without resorting to some of the vindictive things being said here. No one deliberately sets out to make a bad show just to ruin your day. Many people have worked very hard on this series (and no I am not one of them or affiliated with anybody involved). Ultimately it is about entertainment, and if people do not like it, don't watch it. Why waste your time writing such horrid things. There are zillions of channels to choose from now. Often the comments people write online are things they would never dare say to someones face, and are a complete overeaction to what is in reality just a TV show. All that negative energy could be channelled into something much more constructive.

So, soldier on Outcasts. I for one am enjoying the ride, and grateful to the BBC for trying something new in sci-fi.

I really enjoyed this series and was rather surprised, and a little disappointed, to find out that the BBC has decided not to make a second series. It is particularly annoying when a series develops an unresolved theme and then is canceled, without the story coming to a full conclusion. You feel rather cheated! I noted (elsewhere) the comments of the writer - to the effect that the series took a while to develop its storyline. I tend to agree and feel that the decisions to firstly move it to a late night time slot (in the UK - not in Australia) and then to can it completely, were both premature and self-serving. I hope there is some consideration made to making another series, or at the very least a one-off episode to bring series one to a full conclusion.

I started watching this series and as it progressed it got better and better. The plot was very enthralling and kept me wanting to see more and more.The way the the story progresses with the 2 types of foes and how it all started was excellent. I was looking to see more of the turmoil between the two groups. After 3 episodes I was hooked well and truly. I was extremely disappointed that the series was terminated only after 8 episodes just at the point where a third element was added to the story line. I cannot understand why the TV stations start something and after a short time they decide to scrap it without any consultation to the many avid followers of the series. I do hope they reconsider and bring it back.

Well Outcasts has finished its first season and the odds of there being a second season are small. It started of slow, with to much story and with some cringe worthy dialogue. It has grown though and I think that by the end it had the making of a decent second season. People forget that the first season of ST:TNG was pretty awful and it grew into an extremely good series. These things take time and with the way the BBC is funded it is able to do so. Unfortunately I doubt the BBC will though. Fingers crossed I am wrong though.

The production values are quite good considering as is the special effects. The actors have grown into their character and I think the direction is good. My biggest problem is with some of the writing, I can understand what the writer was doing but some of the characters are just two dimensional and the dialogue and character conflicts don't help a lot of the time (a problem I also with New BST as well). I think the series would have been better received if there had been epic space battles and dog fights but the writer has been brave to try and go down a different route and in the end it just works. This is proper SF and should be applauded for it.

I do think 10 minutes could have been losted from most of the episodes and that would have helped with the pacing. Overall the series wasn't as bad as many have said and there could be much more. I also hate the fact that they have finished the series on a cliff hanger and hope that even if they don't do a second series they do a two hour special to finish it off.