Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This series may seem to be a simple drama IN SPACE, it has much deeper philosophical intentions, that are played out in the unaired episodes quite amazingly. Unfortunately the only way to view them is through piracy, and otherwise the show does not stack up given its limited run- time before cancellation. It is well worth watching though, if only to see how powerful a series it was. I recently played it for a friend who was on the edge of his seat with excitement for each episode, not because it was thrilling but because it was enlightening.It is ultimately disquieting when reading other reviews and comments when one realizes, most people couldn't see the deeper nature of this show, and through their ignorance made the network cancel an entirely worthwhile experience.

Well, NASA seems to have learned from the Armageddon disaster because - thankfully - their name is never mentioned.What bothers me most about this show is the "Sunshine" factor. This has to be the most unprofessional space crew ever put on film. Additionally the ship they travel on, is a piece of junk that has been solely designed to injure its crew members and provide obstacles to overcome.The crew has two emotionally scarred senior officers, a psychiatrist(!) who suffers from war flash backs, two females with procreation issues and a little Latina girl that suffers from hallucinations (well all the crew members suffer from hallucinations from time to time). Then there is a German sexual predator and geek who is a coward. Well, unlike the Icarus IIs crew not ALL of them are suicidal, so they have a leg up there.Since the writers refuse to teach us anything about space travel and fail to come up with a conclusive concept for actually achieving a mission to Venus, the plots mainly revolve around the crews inability to perform any basic task they are given (eg. moving benign containers from A to B, recording a commercial etc etc..) Most orders from ground control are flat out disobeyed without any consequences at all. Ground controls only purpose is to cover up all their failings and dish out lies to the press.Somehow I get the feeling that this mission is doomed, I wonder why?There is also some mystery involved that is hinted at in the first two episodes, but has been pretty much forgotten about mid season. Also I really don't care anymore.I could tell you more bout the awful pacing, the boring flashbacks, the soap opera dialog, the lame music (very similar to Sunshine actually), but others already have.I only stumbled upon this show, because it was kind of recommended as a realistic show about near term space travel on the "Incomparable" radio show. Well, thanks a lot.Instead try the BBC pseudo-documentary "Voyage to the planets". I enjoyed that a lot more and they come up with some real concepts instead of complete garbage.

Well at first I enjoyed it, now I see all the comments praising it : people say : "we don't care about realism" because it is a SF show. Note that in literature, mimesis is fundamental for science-fiction: SF needs realism otherwise it's either horror or marvelous (Todorov). All in all, the actors are well-chosen but their acting is fine but the plot isn't moving. Even LOST did better with action in their first season. I enjoyed one commentary saying, (A) we don't care about realism and (B) the issue about the Hispanic: if you reject realism, how can you praise it to defend the Hispanic girl when it comes to explain her presence on board. This show is bad, anyone with experience in science-fiction realizes it ! Read BOOKS for God's sake, at least they're far more imaginative ! I'm reading Anderson's Planet of no Return, about astronauts on a similar mission and it's far more interesting : here there is ONE alien and in ONE episode the only thing you learn is : one of the women cannot see it ! WAOUH! First they rip the theme of the fractal from Threshold (2005), second they can't even cope with their red-line (the so-called mission). This series is good if you watch the pilot but then it becomes naive and cheesy with the scenes at the bar almost always used as comic relief but in fact you watch people at the minimum of their intellectual potential and recurrent slapstick... To put it otherwise, the more scenes in the bar there are the more boring it gets and the characters look stupid for astronauts who studied many years, as well as loathsome because the only thing they like to talk about is SEX: nothing EVER happens except in ONE episode called ''And Eve Ate'' but it took the idea from Threshold and modified it at the BSG 2003 sauce. And if someone does not agree with that, please go on forums and ask for better shows so you can take my words : this show is NOT worth a shot if you want SF... This is a soap pseudo- comedic drama where nothing EVER happens... Try Poul Anderson or Martin Caïdin for once, and come back talk to me before getting angry in front of your screen if you didn't like this review. Peace up.

What made the show a failure is exactly what made it worth watching. The character development was complex, but many viewers are tired of shallow characters going through the same motions in new shows and plots.The show had a lot of flashbacks. While this is annoying on most shows with the way it was done on Defying Gravity it seemed to continuously add character depth. I myself watching the first few episodes was Waiting for it to get going. What should be considered is that this is what would make a show worth watching long term. This is the very thing that gave the show somewhere to go unlike many shows that have worn out their plot before the first season is over.I thought the development of the interpersonal relationships between the astronauts and their support team on earth was very well done. While I admit this took quite a few shows to establish it ultimately gave you a group of richly developed characters you cared about. These were believable characters who had sacrificed everything to be in the space program and to be selected. The characters were developed as dedicated professional astronauts that were tough enough to make it through the selection process while still being fallible humans. There was no glossing over them to make them perfect role models. There was none of the childish outbreaks I noticed on another show. Rather than people vying for attention on camera I thought the show did quite well coming much closer to what you would expect among real astronauts.Defying gravity held to it's name. There were moments when you had to love the characters for overcoming unbelievable sorrow and personal pain or weakness. The worst part about the show, is that it was canceled when it was just reaching a point where it could have been an epic landmark for science fiction on Television offering real depth and character development. The flashbacks were there to show you the relationships, and how they developed over the course of years leading up to the mission during training. They re-enforced concepts in real life such as the ground staff being an emotional lifeline as well as a technical lifeline as people who had spent years training with each other and working together.So many space shows have been about politics, military, and war. This show lacked laser battles, cursing, violence, or shooting aliens, it was about the wonder of discovery, it addressed real issues such as having to keep incidents secret and away from the press (right or wrong it's real life).So many shows were about the final frontier and facing the enemy in battle, but this show was more about a real life space program. Not the end of the world, not an epic space battle, but the reality of space flight oddities and how people react together (with the bit about alien life forms thrown in to add mystery and awe).Not everything was perfect in character choices or development. There were a few items I'm sure the NASA P.R. staff noticing how close it was to real life took issue with. At the same time that made it just messy enough to give it conflict.If theater is the willing suspension of disbelief I think Defying Gravity as a space jaunt came closer to present day believability in matching a space mission than anything else to date while still being interesting. It did so with real life issues, without killing people, stranding people improbably, or blowing up planets. The believable space setting was there but unlike most space shows deep character development and interaction was the value of the show, without the cheap tricks used in much sci-fi to keep you on the edge of your seat watching even when you aren't interested.The story itself was worthwhile, the acting was believable if you had a feel for the characters, and the quality of the presentation was good enough to make it worthy mainstream space science fiction. I only hope they pick it back up and finish the story somehow rather than wait a decade or two for someone else to pick up the idea and re-work the story (which is realistically a goldmine).Intelligent television will become popular again and with the cheap plot devices and tricks the science fiction TV genre uses to annoy viewers winning audiences back would be as easy as breathing with any commitment.If you are with a network reading this consider one more thing: If you want to know which shows are really impressing people stop demanding they watch it the very minute you air the show people have busy lives, pay attention to how many watch it, and how many buy it. People buy shows that are well done enough to watch repeatedly which Defying Gravity is. You keep viewers by worrying about what they want, instead of how you think you can keep them on the edge of their seat under your control. Years from now you might care a bit less about a few ratings points, and more about what projects you were attached to.