Space Island One

...if you're really, really dull. Seriously, children enjoy flashy lights and whiz-bang sounds in outer space and really don't care if the little toy rockets driven by their little toy spacemen don't carry reaction mass. Adults prefer something that could actually happen; where the plot is actually driven by the characters; where those characters can be interesting without being caricatures or clowns.

This is a show for adults. Thus far I've seen the first five episodes, and it's the ONLY genuinely hard sci-fi space-based television show I recall ever having seen. EVER. Here you will find NO magic gravity and NO sound in space. There are NO particles-of-the-week, NO omnipotent aliens. If you don't exercise you'll experience bone loss. This is a solid 5.5 on the Moh's Scale of Scientific Hardness.

It's a total breath of recycled, carbon-scrubbed, artificially oxygenated fresh air.

This is a show that some may think a bit too dry. There are no cool graphics or sound effects. All there is is a good plot and characters with depth. It is not a show to just watch one of -- you will be confused.

One of the things that I like about it is that there are very few people and they are within a limited space. Not a lot of visitors or other distractions. Most of the show is how the group acts within itself and to some outside stimuli. It is definitely more of a character study than anything else.

If you are looking for flashy, this is not for you. If you want something that has substance, then it may be.

... And the sets were on par with early Dr Who rather than anything high-tech like Bab5 or Star Trek, but damn, I loved those people, and I was SO ready for Season 2. Which never happened. If there were a DVD I'd buy it in about a second.

The little robots, the "roams", and their creator the Scots mechanical genius Lyle Campbell were great comic relief; the pilot Shannon and the station commander Kathryn McTiernan were a wonderfully tense pairing, the simply competent Brit and her over-the-hill Yank second-in-command and pilot. "Harry" Escherbach and her foil in the lab, Paula Hernandez were another study in subtle contrasts.

The show was very much character-driven ... but the plots were not bad either. As I say, I've been looking for DVD for about 8 years now.

I like this a lot. There's a TV movie called Trapped in space 1995 which this show I think heavily copied, even orienting themselveson the way the actors in the movie looked, which was great idea because I love that movie even more than this show. This show is awesome because the script is well written, the actors are great actors because in the 90s you actually still had to have talent to be allowed on the screen, love the 90s graphics and style of the space station and the way people look. The show is a bit very strong on promoting feminism in several episodes and strong on promoting artificial intelligence and making masculinity look bad at times, therefore for this sexist and pro robot stance I'll give it 8 stars, other than that it's very good, only unfortunate thing is they had a low budget because they're Europeans, that gets through to the viewer just a little bit. If guys know of any other hidden treasures like this let me know thanks.

Sky tv are running Space Island One at 1am, but to their credit this is the second time the series has had a run since the summer. A thoughtful, well-written and highly plausible view of the near future, with the desire for exploration and discovery forced into an uneasy alliance with the mega-bucks which fund it through big business. Mostly station based, thus eschewing none too spectacular space walks, etc, but allowing character driven plots to explore the individuals and their claustrophobic but scientifically driven lives. At its best, excellent tv science fiction. Its not ray guns and aliens on the starboard bow sf and thus is likely to be doomed to appeal to a small audience, which is a shame. Good scripts and indoor sets, rounded characters and well acted--Judy Loe is superb-- make this a most enjoyable and thought provoking suggestion of the future.