Outcasts is a 2011 British television serial science-fiction drama, portraying a group of pointless colonists who spend their time ignoring the fact they are probably the last humans left alive. They mostly miss the point that they need to concentrate on populating an alien planet, Carpathia, if they do not want to be extinct in a generation. Unfortunately, the Earth has met some strange fate requiring the complete evacuation of the British middle-classes sometime in the next ten to twenty years. Having made "hard choices" about not having children, the females form the local police force while the males become unemployed brutes with a gun fixation, occupying their time together at the local gym. Increasingly desperate for children and a future, the colony is willing to accept anyone who might have survived the five year journey to their world, no questions asked.
"President" Tate (Cunningham) and his harem of emotionally over- sensitive women, Stella (Norris), Cass (Mays) and Fleur (Manson), take charge while the only group of armed-men on the planet are too busy pumping iron and pouting in front of a mirror. An underused group of individuals, who never had any lives worth spit before coming to Carpathia, are given a second chance at being boring slackers far from their homeworld. Clustered in the toy-town of Forthaven on Carpathia, the new civilisation has so far managed to rise to the level of making its own beer and whining to themselves over very little. In "development" since 2007, it became apparent that the concept was so lame and done to death, that only the BBC could be cheap enough to pick up the series. The series enjoyed a very nice holiday at License Payers expense in South Africa in May 2010.
As the series progresses it will most likely shed viewers by the bucketload. By the end of the concluding show, it will probably have less viewers than BBC Parliament. Although there might conceivably be one or two high-points in the shows short run, it is unlikely to be renewed for a second season, with most of its participants pretending it never happened. It is expected that the phrase "disappointing" might be used a lot.
Although hopes were not high (having watched the promotional trailers), it was so dull that one of us unexpectedly fell asleep by the last 15 mins of the show. We agreed they we wouldn't get that hour back and would probably only watch the second episode if it was a choice between that and having their toenails pulled out.
Whereas most Pilots attempt to hook the audience and pique their interest, the BBC took the daring strategy of preaching at any audience foolish enough to watch it. Force-feeding the viewers politically correct, right-on entertainment that aped sensitivity and relationships, would have only worked if there were interesting bad guys that the viewers could sympathise with. Unfortunately, there aren't any, leaving only a vaguely Stalinist idea that all opposition equals mental illness.
However, the pilot showed no real plot or continuity with its own reality, the cast not even having a culture or unifying ideal that they might otherwise have brought with them into the inky infinity of outer space. There was no action, no real characters, and no engagement with the viewer. It would have been wiser to stick to just one plot-line for the pilot and build-up a lot of tension with the "end of the human race" motif. The most that could be said for the last transport from the Earth was that they clapped well.
The shows cunning inclusion of at least one American actor per episode is unlikely to fool anyone in the slightest as even the viewers of BBC America aren't that stupid. The American public had enough of overly- sensitive sci-fi shows about relationships and feelings like Defying Gravity, Flash Forward and The Event, long ago. The vogue for this brand of entertainment has, however, only just filtered through to the BBC dinner-parties, by way of overhearing the catering staff talk about how rubbish Flash Forward was during their working-class fag-breaks.
At the end of the day, being frightfully intellectual instead of action oriented is just dull, boring, and rubbish. Trying to maintain the logical impossibility of a science-fiction series without any real science-fiction might also be seen as a bit of a problem. Poor script, poor acting, and too many plot-lines are unlikely to help either.
The terms used to describe Outcasts by the BBC must have only been written by their spin-doctors and have no real baring to reality. To say that Outcasts is science-fiction is the same as equating the Sound of Music as an S&M porno, because of all the nuns, jackboots, and "the Captains" desire to maintain discipline among the ranks.
"President" Tate (Cunningham) and his harem of emotionally over- sensitive women, Stella (Norris), Cass (Mays) and Fleur (Manson), take charge while the only group of armed-men on the planet are too busy pumping iron and pouting in front of a mirror. An underused group of individuals, who never had any lives worth spit before coming to Carpathia, are given a second chance at being boring slackers far from their homeworld. Clustered in the toy-town of Forthaven on Carpathia, the new civilisation has so far managed to rise to the level of making its own beer and whining to themselves over very little. In "development" since 2007, it became apparent that the concept was so lame and done to death, that only the BBC could be cheap enough to pick up the series. The series enjoyed a very nice holiday at License Payers expense in South Africa in May 2010.
As the series progresses it will most likely shed viewers by the bucketload. By the end of the concluding show, it will probably have less viewers than BBC Parliament. Although there might conceivably be one or two high-points in the shows short run, it is unlikely to be renewed for a second season, with most of its participants pretending it never happened. It is expected that the phrase "disappointing" might be used a lot.
Although hopes were not high (having watched the promotional trailers), it was so dull that one of us unexpectedly fell asleep by the last 15 mins of the show. We agreed they we wouldn't get that hour back and would probably only watch the second episode if it was a choice between that and having their toenails pulled out.
Whereas most Pilots attempt to hook the audience and pique their interest, the BBC took the daring strategy of preaching at any audience foolish enough to watch it. Force-feeding the viewers politically correct, right-on entertainment that aped sensitivity and relationships, would have only worked if there were interesting bad guys that the viewers could sympathise with. Unfortunately, there aren't any, leaving only a vaguely Stalinist idea that all opposition equals mental illness.
However, the pilot showed no real plot or continuity with its own reality, the cast not even having a culture or unifying ideal that they might otherwise have brought with them into the inky infinity of outer space. There was no action, no real characters, and no engagement with the viewer. It would have been wiser to stick to just one plot-line for the pilot and build-up a lot of tension with the "end of the human race" motif. The most that could be said for the last transport from the Earth was that they clapped well.
The shows cunning inclusion of at least one American actor per episode is unlikely to fool anyone in the slightest as even the viewers of BBC America aren't that stupid. The American public had enough of overly- sensitive sci-fi shows about relationships and feelings like Defying Gravity, Flash Forward and The Event, long ago. The vogue for this brand of entertainment has, however, only just filtered through to the BBC dinner-parties, by way of overhearing the catering staff talk about how rubbish Flash Forward was during their working-class fag-breaks.
At the end of the day, being frightfully intellectual instead of action oriented is just dull, boring, and rubbish. Trying to maintain the logical impossibility of a science-fiction series without any real science-fiction might also be seen as a bit of a problem. Poor script, poor acting, and too many plot-lines are unlikely to help either.
The terms used to describe Outcasts by the BBC must have only been written by their spin-doctors and have no real baring to reality. To say that Outcasts is science-fiction is the same as equating the Sound of Music as an S&M porno, because of all the nuns, jackboots, and "the Captains" desire to maintain discipline among the ranks.