I’ve always said that I’m not much of a fan of anything resembling hard Science Fiction.
I know, I know: casual readers might be a bit confused, asking themselves what the difference between SciFi and hard SciFi could possibly be and even if it truly matters. Rest assured it isn’t always a question easily answered, and I’ve even seen it bantered about by fans to some mild controversy. Generally speaking, I’ve always thought that Science Fiction typically focuses more on characters enclosed within circumstances or settings that really only use them to spin a yarn; by contrast, hard SciFi might take an up-close-and-personal approach to investigating the actual limits of science albeit with fictional packaging. Hard SciFi grabs on and holds those ideas – engineering, physics, medicine, etc. – and pushes the story to the limit by fathoming the potential of them, leaving characters to serve as little more than springboards to the intellectual discussion.
(Like I said, it ain’t always an easy question to answer!)
Now, there can be a great deal of crossover between hard and soft – as there can be with almost any genres – but I think it kinda/sorta goes without saying that casual audience members aren’t all that interested in the ideas; rather, typical folks want to get to know these characters, what makes them strong or weak, and why they’ve been thrown together into this narrative adventure. When the average Joe or Jill just wants to come home after a hard day’s work, have a meal, and plunk themselves in front of the television, the last thing they really want to do is have to think about some immeasurable concepts. Of course, I’m not casting any judgments here – there is no right or wrong – and it’s fair to suggest that complex ideas don’t always make for a easy thirty, sixty, or one hundred and twenty minute experience.
This might be why a program like ReGenesis rarely gets a lot of discussion in most corners of the Information Superhighway. Its first episode, titled “Baby Bomb,” premiered in Canada on October 24, 2004; and the series ran for four seasons (through 2008). A quick look at the show’s IMDB.com profile suggests that it was both highly rated critically – presently showing a 7.9 out of 10.0 average on the site’s quality index – as well as artistically, garnering an incredible 9 award wins against a mind-boggling 49 nominations. I’d heard of it from several readers – even come across it several times in my reading – but I’d never seen a single episode … and that’s now been righted as I took in its inaugural adventure just this past evening.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the episode’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Geneticist David Sandstrom is the chief scientist at the prestigious virology/microbiology NORBAC laboratory which is a joint enterprise between the USA, Canada, and Mexico and is responsible for countering bioterrorism. David’s nightmare day begins when his daughter arrives unexpectedly and catches him having sex with Twyla. Whilst trying to reconcile her, he receives a call from NORBAC about an Ebola outbreak that seems to be heading south along Highway 17 on its way to Toronto, killing everyone in its path! If this wasn’t enough, on his way to NORBAC, he is intercepted by a teenager who claims to be the son of an internationally renowned geneticist and a clone. The day goes from bad to worse as the death toll continues to rise, his daughter refuses to go home, and the teenager turns into a stalker! David and his team struggle to determine how cowpox can suddenly become as virulent as Ebola but not contain any of the Ebola DNA. Eventually, David has a brilliant idea and uses the analogy of ‘Grate Aural Sects’ and ‘Great Oral Sex’ to explain the new hybrid disease, and the race is on to prove it!”
Erm … wow. Am I right?
One of the crowing rules an old college professor of my misspent youth was that if you can’t describe a plot in one or two sentences faithfully to the central premise, then you’ve overthought everything … from the set-up, through its character interactions, and the inevitably delivery. While I’m certainly not throwing stones at anyone at or with IMDB.com for believing that summary is absolutely necessary, I can assure you that – having seen “Baby Bomb” – there is an awful lot going on … perhaps far too much, in fact.
I know, I know: casual readers might be a bit confused, asking themselves what the difference between SciFi and hard SciFi could possibly be and even if it truly matters. Rest assured it isn’t always a question easily answered, and I’ve even seen it bantered about by fans to some mild controversy. Generally speaking, I’ve always thought that Science Fiction typically focuses more on characters enclosed within circumstances or settings that really only use them to spin a yarn; by contrast, hard SciFi might take an up-close-and-personal approach to investigating the actual limits of science albeit with fictional packaging. Hard SciFi grabs on and holds those ideas – engineering, physics, medicine, etc. – and pushes the story to the limit by fathoming the potential of them, leaving characters to serve as little more than springboards to the intellectual discussion.
(Like I said, it ain’t always an easy question to answer!)
Now, there can be a great deal of crossover between hard and soft – as there can be with almost any genres – but I think it kinda/sorta goes without saying that casual audience members aren’t all that interested in the ideas; rather, typical folks want to get to know these characters, what makes them strong or weak, and why they’ve been thrown together into this narrative adventure. When the average Joe or Jill just wants to come home after a hard day’s work, have a meal, and plunk themselves in front of the television, the last thing they really want to do is have to think about some immeasurable concepts. Of course, I’m not casting any judgments here – there is no right or wrong – and it’s fair to suggest that complex ideas don’t always make for a easy thirty, sixty, or one hundred and twenty minute experience.
This might be why a program like ReGenesis rarely gets a lot of discussion in most corners of the Information Superhighway. Its first episode, titled “Baby Bomb,” premiered in Canada on October 24, 2004; and the series ran for four seasons (through 2008). A quick look at the show’s IMDB.com profile suggests that it was both highly rated critically – presently showing a 7.9 out of 10.0 average on the site’s quality index – as well as artistically, garnering an incredible 9 award wins against a mind-boggling 49 nominations. I’d heard of it from several readers – even come across it several times in my reading – but I’d never seen a single episode … and that’s now been righted as I took in its inaugural adventure just this past evening.
(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and/or characters. If you’re the type of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I’d encourage you to skip down to the last few paragraphs for the final assessment. If, however, you’re accepting of a few modest hints at ‘things to come,’ then read on …)
From the episode’s IMDB.com page citation:
“Geneticist David Sandstrom is the chief scientist at the prestigious virology/microbiology NORBAC laboratory which is a joint enterprise between the USA, Canada, and Mexico and is responsible for countering bioterrorism. David’s nightmare day begins when his daughter arrives unexpectedly and catches him having sex with Twyla. Whilst trying to reconcile her, he receives a call from NORBAC about an Ebola outbreak that seems to be heading south along Highway 17 on its way to Toronto, killing everyone in its path! If this wasn’t enough, on his way to NORBAC, he is intercepted by a teenager who claims to be the son of an internationally renowned geneticist and a clone. The day goes from bad to worse as the death toll continues to rise, his daughter refuses to go home, and the teenager turns into a stalker! David and his team struggle to determine how cowpox can suddenly become as virulent as Ebola but not contain any of the Ebola DNA. Eventually, David has a brilliant idea and uses the analogy of ‘Grate Aural Sects’ and ‘Great Oral Sex’ to explain the new hybrid disease, and the race is on to prove it!”
Erm … wow. Am I right?
One of the crowing rules an old college professor of my misspent youth was that if you can’t describe a plot in one or two sentences faithfully to the central premise, then you’ve overthought everything … from the set-up, through its character interactions, and the inevitably delivery. While I’m certainly not throwing stones at anyone at or with IMDB.com for believing that summary is absolutely necessary, I can assure you that – having seen “Baby Bomb” – there is an awful lot going on … perhaps far too much, in fact.
Despite being hailed as one of the finest Science Fiction programs in the history of television, Star Trek: The Next Generation has its detractors who have argued occasionally that they felt “lost in the weeds” with some of the series’ meatier ideas. While everything understands what time travel is, they might feel a bit disassociated from having to sit through speeches about how many chronitons it takes to, say, screw in a lightbulb. Notions of both ‘time’ and ‘anti-time’ might seem fundamental to screenwriters who conceived them, but these ideas don’t always translate neatly into character and/or plot arcs. And the number of times Geordi LaForge had to wax on in technobabble about what subspace frequencies were doing to the ship’s inertial dampeners likely kept a percentage of channel-flippers from every seeking out and exploring the show ever again.
Without getting to deeply into storytelling mechanics, I’m still unashamed to admit that there were a few sequences within “Baby Bomb” that just honestly escaped me. (As I’ve already confessed above, I’m not always a deep thinker when it comes to my entertainment choices.) Dr. David Sandstrom (as played by Peter Outerbridge) might be a certified genius, but so much of what he tried to explain when he was amongst his coworkers and peers was well beyond my grasp. Oh, I appreciated the occasional analogy – those always help cut super-science up into palatable morsels – and yet the only time I truly grasped where he was going with anything was when he was back at home slumming the science up for his teenage daughter Lilith (the ‘late’ Ellen Page who now goes by Elliot).
Boy, did I feel like the simpleton!
To the show’s credit, scribes Avrum Jacobson and Jason Sherman populated their SciFi procedural with characters who seem like they could be authentic. They imbue a few of them with enough basic human traits – as Asperger sufferer, a Muslim who seems to be on the receiving end of some government harassment, etc. – and I find myself wanting to believe they’re on the right side of history here. The problem is that there is far, far, far too much science for this lame brain for any of it to be all that relatable. I get why we’re all in a rush to figure it out, but when all you offer up are a group of brainiacs sitting about a table spouting inexplicable theories as the foundation of your drama?
Ugh.
Of course, this is only some casual observations on a reasonably long-running show’s pilot episode, so it all could change. I realize that the realism the cast and crew were striving to represent might have caused those who assembled this to heighten the drama without focusing in any conceivable measure on humanity; this could all be righted in the follow-up installment as the pilot concludes with a young mother stepping with her infant child seemingly into harm’s reach. I’ll forgive a bit of clumsiness if that’s the case; and yet if I were a casual channel surfer who discovered this in real broadcast time I’m not entirely certain I would’ve tuned in next week.
How’s that for honesty, folks?
ReGenesis was produced by Shaftesbury Films and a whole host of other participants. (For a complete list, check out the series’ citation on IMDB.com.) The show is presently available for streaming on a variety of platforms, including Amazon Prime (where I’m watching it as a subscriber). As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I thought that the sights-and-sounds were pretty exceptional, all things considered. As for the special features? As I’m viewing this via streaming, there are no special features under consideration.
Mildly recommended.
Alas, ReGenesis might not turn out to be my cup o’ tea if “Baby Bomb” is any indication. While it’s an interesting first hour, it’s also a bit sloppy with no real balance between the ideas and the characters, requiring a viewer to follow exceedingly closely in order to truly comprehend what’s happening scientifically. Since most folks don’t tune in to evening programming to be re-educated – much less tackle a degree in virology – I’m surprised that this one was on as long as it was … but that also bodes well for the fact that it must’ve built an audience. I’m hoping the next chapter makes a bit more sense.
-- EZ
Without getting to deeply into storytelling mechanics, I’m still unashamed to admit that there were a few sequences within “Baby Bomb” that just honestly escaped me. (As I’ve already confessed above, I’m not always a deep thinker when it comes to my entertainment choices.) Dr. David Sandstrom (as played by Peter Outerbridge) might be a certified genius, but so much of what he tried to explain when he was amongst his coworkers and peers was well beyond my grasp. Oh, I appreciated the occasional analogy – those always help cut super-science up into palatable morsels – and yet the only time I truly grasped where he was going with anything was when he was back at home slumming the science up for his teenage daughter Lilith (the ‘late’ Ellen Page who now goes by Elliot).
Boy, did I feel like the simpleton!
To the show’s credit, scribes Avrum Jacobson and Jason Sherman populated their SciFi procedural with characters who seem like they could be authentic. They imbue a few of them with enough basic human traits – as Asperger sufferer, a Muslim who seems to be on the receiving end of some government harassment, etc. – and I find myself wanting to believe they’re on the right side of history here. The problem is that there is far, far, far too much science for this lame brain for any of it to be all that relatable. I get why we’re all in a rush to figure it out, but when all you offer up are a group of brainiacs sitting about a table spouting inexplicable theories as the foundation of your drama?
Ugh.
Of course, this is only some casual observations on a reasonably long-running show’s pilot episode, so it all could change. I realize that the realism the cast and crew were striving to represent might have caused those who assembled this to heighten the drama without focusing in any conceivable measure on humanity; this could all be righted in the follow-up installment as the pilot concludes with a young mother stepping with her infant child seemingly into harm’s reach. I’ll forgive a bit of clumsiness if that’s the case; and yet if I were a casual channel surfer who discovered this in real broadcast time I’m not entirely certain I would’ve tuned in next week.
How’s that for honesty, folks?
ReGenesis was produced by Shaftesbury Films and a whole host of other participants. (For a complete list, check out the series’ citation on IMDB.com.) The show is presently available for streaming on a variety of platforms, including Amazon Prime (where I’m watching it as a subscriber). As for the technical specifications? While I’m no trained video expert, I thought that the sights-and-sounds were pretty exceptional, all things considered. As for the special features? As I’m viewing this via streaming, there are no special features under consideration.
Mildly recommended.
Alas, ReGenesis might not turn out to be my cup o’ tea if “Baby Bomb” is any indication. While it’s an interesting first hour, it’s also a bit sloppy with no real balance between the ideas and the characters, requiring a viewer to follow exceedingly closely in order to truly comprehend what’s happening scientifically. Since most folks don’t tune in to evening programming to be re-educated – much less tackle a degree in virology – I’m surprised that this one was on as long as it was … but that also bodes well for the fact that it must’ve built an audience. I’m hoping the next chapter makes a bit more sense.
-- EZ
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