johnhsmith-00056

The story has a good premise, but it's not really fleshed out. It felt halfway written. The actresses look bored and the interactions didn't sound or feel natural. It was like watching a drama exercise in acting school. The subject of euthanasia is certainly a dramatic one - so where is the raw passion here?

And to add to that drama school feel, having Tilda Swinton playing both the main character and her daughter didn't really work. You can tell it's obviously her.

I don't really mind the usual political jibes in a film, it probably fit with their characters. But here that comes across as preachy and staged.

This is one of those shows where the nostalgic memories are better than the actual product.

Back in the 70s we were younger and more naive. We didn't really question the premise of every alien looking human and speaking English (yes, that was the case on Star Trek also, but they at least created the "universal translator" as their excuse). We didn't even think about the variable speed of the moon - traveling so fast that it would encounter another solar system every week, yet would seemingly hang around every new planet for a few days at a time. We didn't think the random blinking lights looked ridiculous, or wonder why a command center on such a major installation would use cheap plastic chairs. With a larger budget it would have been amazing.

Still, it's heart was in the right place, and the episodes were imaginative. The pre-CGI special effects have a certain charm, as do the 1970s telescoping antennas, big plastic control buttons, and polyester uniforms.

This movie is DARK. And I don't mean dark mood, or film noire, but I mean there was no good lighting used during the indoor shots it's all in shadows and half the time I couldn't see what was going on. Maybe they did that on purpose because they didn't use a real set.

Most of the film takes place in some kind of inpatient treatment center for women with mental health issues (sure is a strange coincidence that all the women there are young and sexy). The plot also doesn't make sense about why the mermaid is there instead of being studied by professionals.

The beginning and the ending of the film are the strongest parts, you could skip the middle without missing a lot.