Apple TV+ | Release Date: November 1, 2019
7.0
USER SCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 96 Ratings
USER RATING DISTRIBUTION
Positive:
67
Mixed:
10
Negative:
19
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5
CitizenpeteApr 25, 2021
It started out promising and some episodes/scenes are really good, but what could have been an exciting sci-fi series in an alternate timeline is a soap opera with 21st century identity politics and a few scenes in outer space. If you likeIt started out promising and some episodes/scenes are really good, but what could have been an exciting sci-fi series in an alternate timeline is a soap opera with 21st century identity politics and a few scenes in outer space. If you like this kind of revisionism you will enjoy it and at most be bothered by the fact that the series is very slow and here and there technically inaccurate. Expand
6 of 6 users found this helpful60
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5
norseJul 30, 2022
Fantastic idea, great visuals and acting, but the writing really goes downhill in season 3.

Specifically, the writers go out of their way to emphasize unnecessary and unbelievable human drama, going so far as to spend a substantial
Fantastic idea, great visuals and acting, but the writing really goes downhill in season 3.

Specifically, the writers go out of their way to emphasize unnecessary and unbelievable human drama, going so far as to spend a substantial percentage of the season on laying the groundwork for why it's the fault of one specific character that a catastrophe occurs, including insertion of technically unreasonable conditions to be able to make that linkage. It's frustrating because the exact same plot could have been interesting and believable and way less cringeworthy if they had simply omitted the personal fault angle and gone with a random pressure wave as a trigger.
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1 of 1 users found this helpful10
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6
Shat00nFeb 24, 2021
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I enjoyed season 1 very much except for several small plot holes and whole Karen Baldwin segment. Season 2 after 3 episodes - not so much. Space sequences are cut to minimum and instead we are offered a lot of dramatic acting and not all of the actors can really pull it off (Especially Kinnaman). Had to skip scene where Kelly Karen and Ed have a fight, because it was an absolute cringefest. A lot of very obvious cliches like Aleida looking at her mini-synthesizer or Kelly finding Shane's toys. Plotholes are becoming bigger and bigger, like Ed deciding to send his alcoholic fat friend with mental problems to space. I don't think even space tourists with baggage like that would be qualified to fly. And while there is a real-life example of thing that is kind of similar (John Glenn on STS-95), I really don't think that it was a one-man decision.

I also doubt that "hey guys lets send guns to the moon to fight Soviets" can be decided by 5 people, where 3 are from NASA, and not military or intelligence. Overall if series continue in this direction and focus on some **** like Tracy-Gordo storyline or how Ed feels bad about things, I'm dropping it. "Alternative space exploration" was what sold this series for me, not "i have to work with my ex-wife, uh-hoh".
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2 of 3 users found this helpful21
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5
dennyc69Nov 19, 2019
I love it! What a glimpse at what could have been had we not been first to the moon.
2 of 4 users found this helpful22
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5
nhand42Aug 29, 2021
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Good premise but the writing lets it down. Spoilers ahead. The USA has a multi billion dollar moon base and to defend it they send what appears to be the most incompetent four soldiers they can find. In one scene the USA platoon sneaks up on two unarmed Russians; the USA have 100% control of the situation. One of the USA soldiers starts hyperventilating, panics like some junior rookie, and begins shooting unarmed Russians. Are these the best soldiers the USA could find? Did they intentionally seek out someone with no battle hardiness? Surely for something as important at the moon the USA could have found someone slightly more experienced. The whole situation makes zero sense. In another poorly written contrived scenario two space shuttles get into an armed standoff (already ridiculous). The USA flight commander has a plan where everybody lives but instead of discussing the plan with his crew, he misleads his crew into thinking he's going to commit a war crime. He puts his own crew into a tense situation where they're ready to shoot him dead. But he could have defused the whole thing by simply telling them his plan! Instead he gives them an ultimatum and pretends to commit the war crime, but instead performs his "super secret" plan, saving the day much to their amazement. Which moron wrote this scene? Because I groaned and had to leave the room in disgust. The situation isn't even remotely plausible. This is a veteran flight commander, a Mercury astronaut who was selected for his ability to maintain composure under difficult situations. We're meant to believe he would escalate the situation and risk the entire mission rather than communicate with his own crew? It's beyond stupid.

Other ridiculous contrived writing; a secret nuclear reactor that nobody on the base knew about; no perimeter security or regular patrols to detect intruders; soldiers who disobey direct orders from superiors; dysfunctional astronauts who fool around, do drugs, are alcoholics, in one case literally hallucinating and paranoid. Yet despite everyone including their superiors knowing they're a liability, they're given carte blanche to keep flying? No, that's not even remotely plaushible, the military will revoke your clearance for far less. All the characters are written two-dimensionally like its some Days Of Our Lives melodrama. It beggars belief. I've watched soap operas with more relatable characters. Most of the sub-plots don't have anything to do with NASA or space travel. You could transplant most of the plot and script to any teenage high-school TV show, because all the"tension" and "drama" essentially boils down to everyone sleeping around and cheating on their spouses. The plots should explore what is unique about the space race. Instead we're treated to genius-level writing such as Hot Wife Cheats on Husband with Girlfriends Son. Really? When writing that down I realised it sounds like something you'd find on a shady porn site, but it's an actual sub-plot in this farce of a show.

An alt-universe where the space-race never ended is a brilliant premise but all that potential was tossed aside for cheap titillation and banal writing. The writers were gifted an incredible idea and they didn't know what to do with it. Here's hoping the next season fails to launch.
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1 of 2 users found this helpful11
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