The Ark is a new sci fi show that is just non stop thrills and character moments with a colony ship that has lost its commanders and now has specialists trying to keep the Ark on course! The series is created by Dean Devlin, who wrote and produced Independence Day (1996). He also executive produced the fantasy show, The Outpost with Jonathan Glassner, who was also executive producer of Stargate SG-1. Devlin writes and directs the pilot episode. The show starts with a red, impact warning alert, a pan down to the sleeper pod of a woman, Alicia Nevins (Stacey Read).
Then, the rest of the Hibernation Area is seen filled with rows of sleeper pods. We saw the hibernation pods of 2001: A Space Odyssey like white, wrapped up corpses. Some debris crashes on the sleeper pod of a woman, this is Lt. Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke), the actress is known for the horror mini-series, The Haunting of Bly Manor. This causes her to waken with a gasp, Garnet stumbles out, and activates her grey compression suit. The Ark is a long, cylindrical ship has two rotating wheels around its mid-section.
She races over to see the ship status which reads "Hull Breach"! Garnet activates the Reanimation Sequence for the rest of the sleeper pods. She moves to the pod of Lt. Spencer Lane (Reece Ritchie) previously played Zed in The Outpost. Lane is told about the breach and to help evacuate the bay. A large girder smashes on a sleeper pod. One crew member, Baylor Trent (Miles Barrow), calls out for Susan and rushes over to try to help her. Garnet is trying to unlock a door’s keypad. She is brushed aside by Felix Strickland (Pavle Jerinic).
The Outpost featured Jerinic as Marvin. Garnet calls for everyone to get into the other room. She puts on her helmet and tells the others to do the same. Baylor is still struggling to pull the debris, but Garnet tries to pull him away. She shoves a helmet on him. A shudder nearly throws all of the crew off their boots. Fragments of the ship snap off, striking the ship, and arrest the spinning of a wheels. This of course causes the Hibernation Area to go into zero-g, the boots of Garnet and Trent start to float off the deck!
Garnet manages to pull Trent away. The pacing of all of the astronaut incidents is like Gravity (2013). The others are tossed about in the corridor. Garnet floats into the room and slams down a lever, this seals the door, as the pods are crumpled in the destruction! Strickland keeps trying to enter a code into another door keypad. Garnet sees out of the door’s panel, part of the ship being torn apart. Strickland finally manages to open the other door and crewmembers are thrown into the hall. This is a great physical effect.
Garnet struggles and finally gets over to a screen to frantically type in commands. She finds the Wheel is blocked, then enters the release of the Wheel, it slams away the debris. Then, Garnet sees Restart, the Wheel turns, and gravity is restored. The crew members fall to the ground! She hits the Restart to activate the life support system. The oxygen level is restored, lights turn on, and Garnet takes off her helmet to breathe. The others follow her. By accident or circumstance, Garnet has saved all of their lives.
Later, she walks with Lane to see the commanding officers. Lane doesn’t want to waken Captain Lester. They see that the cyro bay is missing! Did someone sabotage the bay or was it an accident? At the Med Bay 12, two members are walking on treadmills, one of them is Cat Brandice (Christina Wolfe) who says the ship was hit by an asteroid. Julia Pennyworth was played by Wolfe on the Batwoman series. Dr. Sanjivni Kabir (Shalini Peiris) wants them not to spread rumors. Peiris had a cameo as a soldier in Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021).
An awkward, young man with glasses, Angus Medord (Ryan Adams), checks in. Dr. Kabir wants him to take off his compression suit. He falls and find his legs don’t work well from atrophy. Garnet looks for Lt. James Brice (Richard Fleeshman). The actor starred as Ken in series adapting Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. He is in an ice bath, she wants to assign him to centcom and calls her captain. He pulls himself out, naked, and Cat smiles.
THE ARK -- “Everyone Wanted to Be on This Ship” -- CHRISTINE BURKE -- Photo: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY
Lt. Garnet want to know the status of the ship. She tells Brice that Captain Mayweather is dead. Helmets are taken to Eva Markovic (Tiana Upcheva) by Jasper Dades (Chris Lesak), since she needs to refill the helmets. He calls her comrade and she says she’s Serbian. Upcheva was the charming Warlita in The Outpost. Lesak was in the comedy series, The Goes Wrong Show. She moves Harris Beckner (Dominik Cicak) to the supply room. The actor was in the thriller mini-series, The Ipcress File (2022).
She broke laws to get him on the team and, kisses him. A ship wide announcement calls for all personnel on the mess hall on C deck. Angus, sits next to Alicia Nevins, on the waste management team, she is hyper-talkative. Nevins recognizes him since he grew crops in the Mojave Desert. Garnet updates them that they were asleep for five years to reach Proxima B. Lance explains that there is no record of the ship's accident. Navigation has been restored. Brice says there is a four weeks water supply.
Cat says they were to wake up two weeks before landing and brings up food. Garnet says there is six weeks of food. She tells everyone that the entire High command and everyone else in Pod Bay 1 is dead. Garnet says the three are the highest ranking officers. She says that she has most working knowledge of the ship. Also Garnet forgot to mention that she had saved all of their lives. There was a food supply was intended for 400 people and there are 150 survivors. They were chosen because they are the most gifted in their fields.
Garnet says their mission to colonize a planet is “To save mankind, to save our families back home.” An inspiring speech, but the crew is silent. They hold a service for all of the dead. Jasper walks up to Trent and mentions Commander Ingram.Trent tells him that Ingram saved his life. Brice notes to Garnet that she was too impulsive. Garnet responds saying the crew deserve an “honest command.” Eva eyes Harris. Garnet walks to a corridor and Angus catches up, he has something to show her.
THE ARK -- “Everyone Wanted to Be on This Ship” -- Photo: Aleksandar Letic/Ark TV Holdings, Inc./SYFY
A cube of food is shown to Jasper which contains 500 calories and water ration. Jasper jokes with a mess hall worker who says they get one box twice a day. Nevins’ babbling chases off a crew member at her table. She says, “A few of us could stand to lose a few pounds” which offends Dr. Kabir. Nevins tries to apologize, but the doctor says she lost her appetite.
A dome, Angus tells Garnet that he had controlled the inventory, he opens a cargo of something “he wasn’t supposed to bring”, soil, that he can make into a “super soil.” Garnet mentions that a probe was sent and there was soil, he needs the cargo to be moved. Cat goes to a closed off area to shower. She is met Felix says he can grow crops, he brought agricultural LEDs, he has brought hope. Cat is about to shower, Strickland stops her, and she tries to seduce him dropping her towel. She says she just need a short rinse. He grabs her wrists and gives her the towel. Nevins is working on the sewer system and angry at the crates being brought in. They are being brought from Storage Hold 3.
Nevins goes to the hold and sees Angus who is planting the soil. She is impressed by Angus building a “bio filter farm” and offers to help, and he needs fertilizer. A recorded message from Trent's family four years ago is watched by him. He is surprised by Lane and notes the loss of communication. Are they the last survivors of Earth? A Battlestar Galactica scenario? Trent says Commander Ingram chose him to be on the mission. Lane says to Trent, “The Ark program is searching the universe for a home.” The lights go out and it is explained that the power outage is from re-routing to the storage unit.
Garnet says, “Light it up!” The LEDs are activated and Lane is angry at not being consulted. The crops require water and Lane says “it belongs to everyone on the ship.” She apologizes and says he shouldn’t have made their conversation public. In a conference room is medical staff head, Dr. Sanjivni Kabir, head of security, Felix Strickland, and Eva Markovic is in charge of maintenance engineering. Garnet says it is a representative body until they reach the planet. Garnet says everything is a risk, “We’re on a damaged ship.” The Ark features this group of leaders who guide the ship through oxygen leaks.
Five Compression Suits out of Five!
#TheArk, #EveryoneWantedToBeOnThisShip, #ChristieBurke, #RichardFlesshman #ReeceRitchie, #StaceyRead, #RyanAdams, #ShaliniPeiris, #TianaUpcheva, #DominikCicak, #MilesBarrow, #ChrisLesak
No comments:
Post a Comment