Battlestar Galactica + Jericho = BBC’s Outcasts

The BBC ’s Outcasts looks a lot like Battlestar Galactica , at first coup d’oeil : You ’ve got the gritty action , the tense drumming soundtrack , and Jamie Bamber looking foul and flustered . But once you take in a bit of it , Outcasts is actually a routine more like the late , lamented Jericho : The slow , role - drive account of a community of interests trying to survive in the wilderness .

The good news is , it ’s ofttimes sparkly and cagy — as in the cartridge holder featured above . The spoiled news program is , it ’s very , very dumb . The first two sequence have transmit in the U.K. , and our first impression are below . small spoilers ahead …

So in that cartridge clip , the sexy nous of security , Stella , interrogate a defendant using the mind investigation ( and her smooth voice ) to get inside his head . And then after , she ’s give a bad daytime , for various reasons , and she runs into the defendant in the bar — so she decides to take him home so she can get inside his pant as well . Rank , as they say , has its privileges . The show is full of surprising little moments like this , and it leave you feeling like anything could happen , which is gracious .

We ’ll no doubt be running more reporting when Outcasts come to BBC America , but it ’s worth sharing our early persuasion now .

In Outcasts , the human wash has had to abandon the shattered shipwreck of the Earth , and a fistful of subsister are making do on the new planet Carpathia . ( We eventually memorize Carpathia is named after one of the ships that rescue the subsister of the Titanic . ) The settlement is rule with an iron fist by Tate , who ’s a former scientist turn politician . John Orley Allen Tate faces a figure of terror to his authority — and you also get the signified that he could be confront some stark threats to the dependency ’s overall survival . Unlike the recent remakes of Day of the Triffids or The Survivors , this show never quite loses its sense of importunity but also never devolves into silly melodrama . The character always feel real and reasonably well - drawn , and they all have a real point of view .

You unquestionably get the feeling this show has the makings of an addictive political dramatic event , in which the scientific discipline - fictional threats on the new satellite serve much the same use as the Cylons did in the early seasons of Battlestar Galactica . Just like the townsfolk of Jericho , the people of Carpathia have to keep a mingy grip on civilisation and on the mechanisms of survival . And questions about just how far people should go to guarantee the continuation of the human airstream are just as important as various game points .

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The uncollectible news is , this show is painfully deadening . Both of the first two episodes are 60 mo long , and you get the distinct impression the show ’s Godhead only had enough story for a stock 42 - hour episode . This is one show that you might actually need BBC America to delete for commercial-grade break .

At one point , two characters are standing around tattle about a group of hoi polloi who have a grudge against the colony ’s leadership . One of the case ask , “ What do they need ? ” And the second grapheme solution , “ I know what I ’d want . ” And watching this scene , I know for sure that the next line of work would be “ revenge . ” But the 2d character pauses , looks at the tv camera , looks at the other character , thinks cautiously , and then pronounce , “ Revenge . ” If you ’re used to shows where mass rattle off dialogue like they ’re on the clock , the slowness can be a bit agonizing .

But if you may forgive the sometimes glacial pacing — and a few stray moments where melodrama does creep in a bit — this show is a somewhat entertaining addition to the canyon of post - apocalyptic survival dramatic play . Here ’s trust the show can overcome earlydisappointing ratingsand get some staying might , so it catch a chance to find its feet .

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