The SyFy network debuted the Dean Devlin created television series The Ark (2023- ) in February. The 12-episode first season of this science fiction series aired its the last episode of its inaugural season on Wednesday, April 19th. This review looks more favorably on the experience of this first season than other venues.
The premise of the show begins with a crew from Earth, 100 years in the future, that had been in extended sleep aboard their spaceship called Ark One. Before arriving at their destination, a planet called Proxima b, the ship experiences a catastrophic event that inflicts damage on their ship and death for the leadership of the craft.
Offering a storytelling sensibility lighter and more comedic than one might expect, the feeling one receives when addressing the ongoing of single-episode crises with an interpersonal flavor that lands somewhere between Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and Eureka (2006-2012), the first seven episodes of the season focuses on survival of the Ark One vessel and its crew. Lt. Sharon Garnet, Lt. Spencer Lane and Lt. James Bryce, as portrayed by Christie Burke, Reece Ritchie and Richard Fleeshman respectively, take command of the vessel.
Establishing norms for how to conduct a mission to get to Proxima b while having years of unplanned, awakened travel had not been the original plan for the Ark One. It was in discovering that another spacecraft existed that plans needed to be made to engage the crew of Ark One needed to shift focus. Waste management engineer Alicia Nevins, youth horticulturalist Angus Medford, head of security Felix Strickland, medical doctor Sanjivni Kabir, social media star and “TV relationship specialist” Cat Brandice and head of maintenance, engineering and construction, Eva Markovic, are all pressed into duty. Nevins, Medford, Strickland, Kabir, Brandice and Markovic were portrayed by Stacey Read, Ryan Adams, Pavle Jerinic, Shalini Peiris, Christina Wolfe and Tiana Upcheva, respectively.
The storytelling went in a different direction by the season’s midpoint with the introduction of Arc Three and Arc Fifteen. These additional crafts brought tales of the planet Earth previously unknown to the audience, which included the introduction of characters including Kelly Fowler, William Trust, Helena Trust and Evelyn Maddox, as portrayed by Samantha Glassner, Paul Leonard Murray, Mercedes De La Cruz and Jelena Stupljanin, respectively.
Many questions for the opening season of The Ark were addressed, thus leaving a direction for next season that was less of a cliffhanger than with other shows reviewed here recently. I am hopeful for what will be the second season of The Ark, which in part helps lead me to my opening season rating of 3.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five stars.
Matt – Saturday, April 22, 2023