Lost In Space
Episode 1 of Intergalactic Season 1 begins with a ravaged, post-apocalyptic look at London. Ironically, this is also a physical representation of the writing in this series. Two girls rush through abandoned, ravaged buildings. One a fugitive called Verona and the other part of law enforcement, an officer called Ash. Well, Ash arrests Verona and heads back to base. That base happens to be the Commonworld in the year 2143, and she’s greeted with open arms by the other men and women there. It turns out she’s captured a fugitive that’s been on the run for months. Ash’s celebrations are short-lived though when she’s suddenly grabbed by a bunch of officers and thrown into prison for theft of New Aurum. This is a category 1 crime and punishable with the harshest offence exile. Ash’s Mother happens to be a high ranking official called Rebecca and she shows up to greet her daughter. It turns out they have footage to confirm the theft but Ash is adamant it’s been fabricated and she didn’t do this. This falls on deaf ears though and she’s exiled off-planet. Among those on the ship happens to be Verona, the girl Ash captured early on in the episode. As this transport is blasted into space, the group arrive at the GCC Hemlock, which is the prison ship they’re due to stay aboard. There’s a variety of hardened girls in here, including one girl called Candy who checks notes meows like a cat. Okay then. Verona convinces the guards to let her go to the toilet, while Candy shows off a lizard tongue when she passes. Ash figures out there’s something going awry and tells the officer that she needs to watch Verona. For being a snitch, she receives a blast to the back for her troubles. Back down on Earth, Rebecca figures out that her daughter has been set up. Given she’s the Head of Galactic Security, she rallies the troops to apprehend Sergeant Wendell, who happens to be the traitor. He’s the one who has been using the veil. With this evidence, Rebecca tries to get her daughter to go free. As everything starts to go awry on the ship, Genevieve and Tula play-act her way into being freed from their cell. Honestly, these are the worst prison officers in the history of this galaxy. Anyway, the inmates take over the ship, shooting blindly and killing almost everyone onboard, including the pilot and one of the officers. Drew is the only prison guard still alive. Ash is also still alive. In fact, she stays long enough to hear her Mother on the radio admit that she’s trying to get her exonerated. It’s no good though, and the inmates fly off before that can happen. It turns out one of the inmates aboard is unaccounted for and it seems this was all part of a prisoner swap. This woman is called Emma Greaves. Apparently she slipped on without anyone knowing before take off. Well, Rebecca gives the order and tells her officers to head onboard and extract Ash and Emma; everyone else is expendable. Ash is eventually found and held up at gunpoint by the other fugitives. Verona of all people saves her though, claiming she’s the only one who can fly the ship for them. She’s forced into the cockpit and told to fly. With a gun to her head, Ash pleads with them not to do this. The inmates have activated the Alcubierre drive and that means many people will die if she complies with their wishes. Knowing the severity of this, Rebecca gives the order to destroy the Hemlock before they kill thousands. With the threat of her own death hanging over her, Ash decides to kill thousands of innocent lives to protect herself. The two ships closing in on them collide, erupting into a nasty fireball. The Hemlock flies away as everyone – including Ash – smile in relief.
The Episode Review
Good grief that was bad. Where do you start with this one? As a massive fan of all things sci-fi, Intergalactic doesn’t even enter the same galaxy as the heavy hitters of this genre. The story is rushed, with very little characterization for anyone and no rhyme or reason for what’s going on. The morality test at the end of this episode could have been a great moment for Ash’s character too. She could have outright declined to kill anyone, deciding to sacrifice her own life instead. Tula could have then forced her hand and pushed the lever, killing all those people. Instead, Ash does this and then has a weird relieved smile as they get away. On top of the story woes comes the acting which is hit or miss at best. There’s some really ill-timed jokes here and the editing is absolutely bizarre. The moments involving Rebecca walking up to her daughter while she’s in custody felt slow and laborious, awkwardly cutting scenes together without any real momentum. Given this is the year 2143 we’re given no exposition to explain who these different inmates are. What’s going on in the world? Are augmentations a normal occurrence? Why are they all different? Why is this prison ship only full of females? Is there a male prison somewhere else? Why are the prison guards so utterly incompetent? And are there no security checks before anyone gets aboard? Many people will jump ship at this point I’m sure, but given the low bar this show has set, it can only get better from here…right?
