Pandora

I hate to pile on with the other negative reviews but I have to agree, this series was BAD. The premise was old and predictable, I found no connection or liability in the characters, and the effects were on par with a made for TV movie. 5 minutes in and I was already regretting my decision to watch it. The best thing I can say about this show was that at least it was in English, so if that meets your criteria then watch it, otherwise I would skip it and save yourself the hassle.

I just watched the first episode of this. I seems this is a lower budget offering. If you're watching the fantasy show The Outpost, it's of similar budget, in writing, production value, acting, direction and effects, but, sci-fi instead of fantasy.

It feels like a made for TV show, similar to how the old Xena, Hercules productions were all relatively lower budget shows, though, they were still worth watching.

It's too soon to say if this can be another Xena or Hercules as far as popularity, since we seem to expect and require a LOT more sophistication in story telling, set pieces, and everything else these days when we get spoiled by big budget productions like GoT, The Walking Dead, Star Trek Discovery, etc.

It's probably 1/2 a notch below The Orville in production value, but, The Orville doesn't take itself seriously while this feels like it wants to be more than it is.

I'll continue to give this one a chance. The Swamp Thing has a bigger budget, and I'm watching that, though, I'm putting an effort into trying to like it. I dunno. The whole Flash, Supergirl, Arrowverse formula works really well, and I love those shows even though they're low budget, but, i suspect this is less than half the budget of those per episode.

Eh, We'll see.

Recommendation: I think it's too soon to make a call on this. There are, however, tons of shows that've had far greater popularity, better writing, more likable characters, and production value that've gotten the axe almost right off. if you find you really love this show, don't invest too much, because I expect they're depending on the low budget as one of the selling factors for renewal, but, that might maybe not be enough.

I say give this show a chance to grow and develop, but, don't get married to it. It's something to watch and there's far worse on TV that needs to go away, but, can't ever seem to die, as well as far better shows that've wound up on the chopping block far too soon.

It is pretty annoying when almost every review I read didn't even last one episode, and the first episode was actually decent. Most of what they complain about is that they say it's cheap looking and bad acting.

It is sort of cheap looking, but better than most now days. I think the ships and futuristic stuff actually looks fairly good. It isn't shown enough though. I suppose it would be too expensive. So, in that regard it could be said to be cheap, I guess. Still, it is better looking than most other CW crap.

The acting is actually pretty good. I have found that when people don't actually have anything useful to say, in their reviews, they always complain about the acting. It is more a reflection of the deficiencies of the reviewer. It is sort of typical light hearted, teen fantasy, soap opera, type acting, with a little comedy thrown in. It's not bad. It's similar to The Librarians level of acting, having one of the actors even, from that series, and behind the scenes talent as well, from that show.

So, now for a real review:

The story started out well enough, and even seemed intriguing. There had been a space war between to factions, Earth's alliance had won. So the show is set in a sort of Military space college, except the students don't seem to be military at all. In fact, they act like they are in an episode of Porkys or Animal House. Well, not that bad. But they don't really seem to be doing school work very often, and definitely don't follow any rules or protocols. They mainly just hang out in a bar, and flirt. It's alright, but definitely not military, like the show tries to imply. I mean there is the son of the leader of the alien aliance that Earth had been at war with, as a student and buddy of the main characters. There are soldiers everywhere, and military leaders, as teachers. They have space ship flying lessons for the students. Yeah, idk. Bad writing. There is alot of that in this show, which is it's main fault.

The main plot seems sort of good. New aliens appear and attack. The main girl seems to be somehow related to the aliens. It's a big mystery that you are hoping will get solved. Keep hoping. Not quite done with season 1, but it is no where near being solved even a little. It just sort of stays in the background. As I say, the writing is very off.

It really feels like it was written by tween girls. That's the show's focus. The main actress, for one thing, is immediately important, by her DNA. She doesn't know it, but she sure acts like it. She constantly steals space ships from the school. No, she doesn't get in any trouble for that. She starts a diplomatic incident, by barging in on a diplomatic lecture, with protesters. Of course she is the leader, and the one who chases off the diplomat. (of a very unstable military alliance, I might add). No she doesn't get in trouble. But she does steal a space ship, and fly to the guy's planet, to invade it, save the slaves, and rescue her friend. No. Her stolen ship doesn't get detected by radar, entering a foreign, somewhat hostile planet. Yes her crew do kill alot of the slaves they were so worried about. Yes she is the hero, in every situation. Yes. There are no consequences whatsoever for all the ridiculous things she does. It truly is like it was written for 12 year old girls. The philosophy is that deep, and no deeper. The writing is the same. Now I realize how SJWs became that way. They watched like this, growing up.

It's not all bad though, if you can get past the often terrible writing. It is somewhat fun. I kind of like the chemistry between the different characters. It's sort of light hearted, with spurts of comedy. I think the special effects are tolerable. I even like the actors. The writing is so bad though, I'll keep forcing myself to watch it, till I can't take it anymore. For now I'll give it a 5, caus that entitled Mary Sue, without any consequences really pisses me off. Otherwise I might have given it a 7 or 8.

My first complaint is the acting its subpar, it feels to me like a Teen Series at best you better watch far from superior shows like The expanse or Dark matter.

2 the story: it is very basic for a first episode, not memorable, and nothing that seems really good enought to want me to see a second episode.

3- the Chemistry between the characters is a big zero to me. it feels artificial, charisma of characters is just not there, they need someone like at least for a main character thats gonna pull up the rest of the cast and im not seeying it here.

its like one of my buddy says if a character "X" dies and u would care? if u say no what does that tell u about the character ?? he or she feels insignificant... well thats how i feel with these characters.

4- the special FX, they feel like an old scifi from the 90s series on a very low budget. If only they had made em alot better i would understand and think; oh they put all the money into FX and invested zero into story telling or charismatic actors but thats not even the case here.

i might force myself to watch a second episode but my expectation very low.

A young woman's family is killed by mysterious forces, which results in her traveling to study with an uncle(?) at the space academy while figuring out what happened back home.

This low budget space faring adventure comes in low and crashes on the runway. Dialog is rough. Production values for a story set hundreds of years in the future aren't at a level to make a believable series. Effects look incredibly cheap. Wardrobe looks passable and futuristic in some scenes, but in other scenes, it looks like the cast shot in whatever they were wearing when they arrived on set. Overall, the series is so rough around the edges that it's surprising CW picked it up for broadcast.