Fact is, if you watched ep1 and ep8 of The First, you'd have all the space travel there. The rest of it is backstory, flashbacks, and internal politics.
But I'm not dismissing it out of hand. Sean Penn, channeling Dustin Hoffman after a month in the shower with a fright wig, carries the lead part well. He has a daughter with addiction issues, and a wife who killed herself. Well, if it wasn't for private enterprise, NASA wouldn't have let him withing 25 lightyears of a 30-month space mission.
Natasha McElhone, the fit, latefortysomething face of private enterprise with a bad back and ridiculous trousers, tries bravely to convince us that exploring Mars is something the Earth of 2033 should be doing. The US President of 2033 is Nancy Reagan, I think.
Earth of 2033? Talk to your phone, lights, etc. all cars are driverless, and there are no poor people. Well, everybody I saw had huge houses, fancy cars, and ridiculous trousers. You know, my favourite shows have poor people in them. The First doesn't have any.
Very reminiscent of Kubrick's 2001, if Kubrick had bothered with backstory. Excellent in a technical sense - lightning refocusing and bokeh, stunning soundtrack (which is essentially just a suspended fourth for four hours), and when they get into orbit, the weightlessness simulation says, "Pah!" to anything before it.
Ah, but do I care? Not that much. Tom Hagerty (Sean Penn)'s daughter is a royal PITA - and she's the only character that isn't completely up her own A.
Watch it to catch up with what TV is doing with CGI and cutting-edge tech, but skip episodes 2-7 unless you are stuck in a spaceship for seven months.
But I'm not dismissing it out of hand. Sean Penn, channeling Dustin Hoffman after a month in the shower with a fright wig, carries the lead part well. He has a daughter with addiction issues, and a wife who killed herself. Well, if it wasn't for private enterprise, NASA wouldn't have let him withing 25 lightyears of a 30-month space mission.
Natasha McElhone, the fit, latefortysomething face of private enterprise with a bad back and ridiculous trousers, tries bravely to convince us that exploring Mars is something the Earth of 2033 should be doing. The US President of 2033 is Nancy Reagan, I think.
Earth of 2033? Talk to your phone, lights, etc. all cars are driverless, and there are no poor people. Well, everybody I saw had huge houses, fancy cars, and ridiculous trousers. You know, my favourite shows have poor people in them. The First doesn't have any.
Very reminiscent of Kubrick's 2001, if Kubrick had bothered with backstory. Excellent in a technical sense - lightning refocusing and bokeh, stunning soundtrack (which is essentially just a suspended fourth for four hours), and when they get into orbit, the weightlessness simulation says, "Pah!" to anything before it.
Ah, but do I care? Not that much. Tom Hagerty (Sean Penn)'s daughter is a royal PITA - and she's the only character that isn't completely up her own A.
Watch it to catch up with what TV is doing with CGI and cutting-edge tech, but skip episodes 2-7 unless you are stuck in a spaceship for seven months.