EPISODE REVIEW: Defying Gravity: “Kiss” (Episode 13)
I’m a sucker for goodbyes. The way things end are, for me, a lot more important than the way they begin, if only because, so often in life, we don’t really notice when things begin. You meet a girl at a party, and you’ve got no way of knowing you’ll end up marrying her; you buy a car with no idea that keeping the damn piece of crap running will cost so much money that you stupidly let your health insurance lapse, and then something goes wrong with you, personally; you have no way of knowing that annoying guy in the room across the hall in the dorm will end up being your best friend decades later, and so on. These things slip by unnoticed, and it’s only in hindsight that they have any real significance.
The actual goodbyes themselves I’m less particular about. They’re generally not all that good. Seinfeld ended badly, so did Northern Exposure, so did Cheers, so did Frasier. Yes, the M*A*S*H* finale moved me, but the show had long-overstayed its welcome by that point, the same is true of the Star Trek: TNG finale. The Babylon 5 finale moved me, eventually, but to my shame I had years and years of growing up to do before I finally got to the point where I ‘got’ it.
Curiously, the goodbyes that have the mean the most to me are the ones you hoped wouldn’t happen, the de facto finales where you’re forced to say goodbye to people you weren’t really done with yet. The premature finales of SG1 and Atlantis pissed me off because, clearly, we hadn’t reached the end of the road yet. The abrupt cancellation of Firefly affected me in ways that Serenity was never able to really make up for. The last episode of Crusade (By my count) is the one where the ship visits B5, and Max mentions that “Babylon 5 is one of those things that just goes on too long.” The last episode of The Monkees - the Frodus Plant episode - is strangely haunting, and when I found out, years later, that there was a Monkees movie, that just made matters worse: That final scene of them in a water tank, being driven away from the camera, pounding on the glass, trying to get out…well…suffice to say I never really got closure.
So it goes without saying that this has been a really rough year for me: Not only did Galactica totally crap out, but we lost Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chonicles, Dollhouse is doomed, we lost Kings, the best SF show since Firefly. And on top of that, we’ve lost Defying Gravity, a show I’d really grown to love.
Yes, I’m aware the show had problems. Pretty much nothing happened in nearly half of the episodes, it moved at an almost Mosfilm pace at times, it was overly PC and New Agey, it conflicted with my own values at times, and while I still don’t know what the hell was going on with Nadia, pretty much everything tied to that subplot was particularly icksome*. There were plenty of problems, I’m fully aware of that, and I’m fully aware that the show would have *eventually* let me down like Galactica did, probably in some similarly self-righteous and fundamentally silly fashion. Trust me, I get it: This is not my first barbecue.
None of which matters, really, because sometimes the spooky-yet-hot goth girl that you’ve been sneaking looks at for years comes up to you on the last day of high school, kisses you square on the lips, and then leaves and you never see her again, and you spend the next quarter century wondering what it would have been like, not so much because you want to trade what you have now - which is great - nor because you have some goofy romantic daydream assumptions of how things would have gone with her, but rather because you feel like maybe you missed something you could only have gotten through being destroyed by her.
As my band (“Republibot 3.0 and the Republibot 3.0 Orchestra, Featuring Republibot 3.0”) occasionally sings, “I’d still love to have been destroyed by you/For a year or two.”
All of which is my long-winded obituary for Defying Gravity. Forgive me for rambling on. It’s not all bad, after all: As unintentional final episodes go, this was a pretty good one:
PLAY BY PLAY
In 2043: The Chinese launch a probe to Venus, which evidently crashlands near the Gamma site. Some
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Sun, 11/15/2009 - 19:11
#1
Nadia
I read in a blog this week, E online? the writer had contacted James P and according to him Nadia was a hermaphrodite who had corrective surgery to end up female. This explains the aggressive masculine way Nadia approaches, or fails to approach, intimacy.
According to the powers that be the beings were never to be resolved fully but Donner and Zoe were to have a child (thanks to re-engineered bodies by way of the beings).
Oh yeah Eve and R were to join the ship at Mars via a supply ship as
eve was to pick up the Alpha object. (they weren't sure how to deal with the previous astronauts that would have been worked on later.
Peg leg would spill the beans, but Trevor would keep a lid on it. Goss was to find out surprises even he didn't know and well, it would have been a great show, but we all knew that.
Sun, 11/15/2009 - 09:39
#3
Looks like I got the answer to this...
Novmeber 14th online issue of the LA Times has a great article on the financial model used and why DG may have been ultimately cancelled...
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-fox14-2009nov14,0,811595.story
Emiliano Calemzuk, president of News Corp.'s Fox Television Studios discusses the business model of selling 13 full episodes internationally first before trying to distribute to network television. Without much financial involvement or creative input, ABC had little interest in promoting DG. Lack of promotion doomed the series in a summer run where other cable shows see significant success starting in the summer.
Too bad for DG that it had to be the rabbit that died during the experiment.
Fri, 11/06/2009 - 10:42
#4
What I would really like to
What I would really like to know now is what the real reason is behind ABC's decision to stop showing the episodes (poor ratings during the summer season doesn't cut it- all ratings are crap for summer launch shows). Maybe you can dig this tidbit up?
Thanks for responding.
Fri, 11/06/2009 - 09:51
#5
Thank you, Jim S!
Thanks for the kind words!
A few comments on your comments:
1) Nadia - yes. She'd evidently have become male in the second season. I can't imagine what kind of psychological effect that'd have on Donner.
2) ISO vs ISA - you're right. It's a repeated typo on my part. I never even noticed it. Yikes!
3) Wass always felt less anchored and defined than the other characters. That does't mean he wasn't well acted, just that he felt a little bit like they didn't know what to do with him, beyond comedy relief. I'd be interested to know what his ultimate 'point' was in the show.
4) That's kind of fascinating, I had no idea. Interesting production model.
5) re: the financing: Ok, now that's pretty amazingly cool. Thank you for that! I've been wondering about the international financing on this, but I've not been able to find out anything about it. Thank you!
6) Jen - that still feels a bit vague to me. I read it in the Parriott article, too, but he's fuzzy about Wass and Jen in some regards, you know?
7) The Ascans on earth - I didn't see that coming, but it makes sense.
Thanks again for posting, thank you VERY much for the financing info, and we do hope you'll stick around and/or visit us again!
Fri, 11/06/2009 - 08:48
#6
Good review of "Kiss". I
Good review of "Kiss". I have added republibot to my list of favorites. A few things to chew on. Potential SPOILER ALERT:
1. Nadia was born a hermaphrodite and was made a female at the age of 8. This comes from James Parriott during the cliqueclack.com interview. Her hallucination is obviously seeing herself as a man had the operation gone the other way.
2. ISO. International Space Organization. I have seen ISA mentioned numerous times here and frantically watched episodes again to see if I missed something. :)
3. James Parriott stated that Wass didn't have any hallucinations because he simply hadn't written any for him. Wass' original character was closer to a person with Aspergers syndrome, but was changed when actor Dylan Taylor was cast. The guy is funny. I loved his "Fractal rap" he did in his hab.
4. The show was shot over 13 episodes in favor of doing a pilot episode to amortize the cost of set productions. Pilot episodes cost approximately five million. This realistically could be repeated if funding can be found for a future of the series. I emailed Keith McDuffie at cliqueclack.com and he got the feeling from Parriott that the show was indeed over. His wife (Mrs. Parriott) still has hopes of a resurrection. DVD release is set for January 2010. Interestingly enough, Fox Home Entertainment lists on the box, "The complete first season" and not "the complete series".
5. Andrew Airlie blogged regarding DG and linked to a good interview on how it was funded internationally before being shopped to ABC. www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/james_parriott.shtml (Andrew Airlie- Mike Goss http://northbo.blogspot.com/). This type of funding in these times appear to be the future of television as it becomes less likely the networks can afford to buy twelve pilots to pick one show that might make it.
6. Jen's guilt related deal is her inability to handle being alone. Her increased crabbiness is due to her being away from Rollie. Rufus plays a critical part in her dealing with her guilt in season two. If a season two ever exists. Her inability to see the objects might also be resolved if she can get over being alone (the only crew member who CAN'T see the objects).
7. Parriott reveals that the asscans on earth (Ajay, Arnel, and Claire) will eventually team up with Trevor to help reveal the true objective of the mission. ISO and the Bertran Corp have not revealed everything (even Goss is left out of the loop).
OK, enough from me at this time. Again, thanks for covering the series. It was an awesome ride, and if there is a line to get in to get back on it, count me in!
Jim_S
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 16:55
#7
Yeah, it's fascinating!
DG fan, thanks for checking in, and thanks for the kind words! I very much appreciate it! We're going to do a full article on that post on...uhm....(Checking callendar)...November 18th. Thanks for pointing it out, and please do stick around. You never know what else we've got around here that you might like.
Wed, 11/04/2009 - 13:52
#8
What would have happened...
Hi Republiblot 3.0,
First of, thanks for all your posts on Defying Gravity.
I came across this interview, perhaps you know about it already, but in case of, here it is:
http://www.cliqueclack.com/tv/2009/10/29/how-defying-gravity-would-have-...
Hope you find it interesting.
Rgds.
Tue, 11/03/2009 - 12:02
#9
"The Dead Guy?"
Hi, Moyaroo, welcome to the site, and thanks for posting.
I'm confused about this: >>Nadia and the dead guy is obviously why she has trouble with relationships other than ones that are doomed to nowhere << What dead guy is that? I'm missing something...
Anyway, yeah, sad to see it go out unfinished by that, but the producer has been kind enough to answer some quetions about where it was going, if this wasn't 'the big finish', at least it did feel like the closing of a chapter.
I think I disagree about Babylon 5 - the First Ones were causing untold suffering among the younger races, and had forgotten what their original point was anyway. But that wasn't the end of the show, that was 7 episodes in to the 4th season, there were another 37 episodes after that (Admittedly about 15 of 'em in a row were pretty lame....)
We'll have more information about DG up as it appears, though obviously there isn't too much more to go, I've got at least one more article in the pipeline that'll run in November.
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 22:46
#10
Defying Gravity RIP
Kiss was at least a good way to end the series. We did not get the answers but we did not get left with a lot of dropped threads. DId Jen see the baby, I am pretty sure she did. Why she couldn't see the other is a mystery but one I can live with. At least they got the Gamma object and the changes being made to them seemingly helped Zoe to survive. There is obviously some kind of symbiosis going on and we would eventually see everyone pairing with something (all but one that is)
I feel better about the series ending this way than I did Bablyon 5 getting rid of the shadows and other first ones (this galaxy isn't big enough for all of us you guys have to go). Yes, the series was slow, but it was always honest to itself.
Nadia and the dead guy is obviously why she has trouble with relationships other than ones that are doomed to nowhere (the real explanation for the fascination with Donner)
Tue, 10/27/2009 - 06:08
#11
We Could Write It
As I mentioned in the comments to the review of "Venus" - the truly penultimate episode - we could pen whatever fan fic builds on our ideas of how DG should go on.
Humans love stories, we love them so much we make our stories more important than reality. We love to hear/read/see them and we love to create them. When we experience a well-crafted story, we are impressed by the storyteller for being able to make such "magic." And, sometimes, we think, "Aww, I could never do that."
The good news is that attitude is BS. The proof is very simple to provide: Look objectively at your life. Just review the facts as best as you can recall them. Now, take an objective look at the stories you have been telling yourself about how your life has gone.
See? We are all very good storytellers - we tell stories that are convincing to us, so much so that what we believe about our lives and how we fit into the world most of the time has very little to do with objective reality.
On top of this, most of the ideas we get for our stories come from the stories we have been told by others: Gods exist/don't exist, government solves/creates problems, free enterprise is uplifting/oppressive to humanity, Anthropogenic Global Warming is real/a total scam. This shows that not only are we very good at creating stories, we are also very good at taking ideas from other stories we've experienced and using them as the seeds and fertilizer (hellooo Dr. Freud) of our own stories.
What this means for us, dear fans of "Defying Gravity," is that we can develop our own stories for "what happens next" with our favorite fictional solar system tour crew and the people on Earth who love them. (Zoe survives. It wasn't Gamma per se, that opened up Paula's memories, it was the whole situation and the nudges from Evram and Wass.)
I would be very happy to play the role of aggregator of such stories, if someone would be so kind as to show me where to go on the 'nets to set up a free site to post them.
Please contact me at
***fountain###head$$$rei%%%@^^^live.com
Obviously, remove the ***###$$$%%%^^^
(and I bet some of you have already started creating stories about a business with the word "fountainhead" in it's title ;) )
*****
More good news: From the clips of "V" available on Hulu, there is going to be another show that looks at the idea of over-attributing worthiness of worship/awe to someone/something just because they are mysteriously more apparently powerful than you are.
I bring this up because one of the recurring motifs in the DG script was that people were believing the Objects to be the cause of everything unexpected/unexplained. As I mentioned wrt Paula remembering what really happened to her dog, Hector Morales (I guess I'm the only one who thinks that's funny), it didn't need to be the Gamma object that helped her remember; things people deliberately try to forget can be brought back through perfectly normal circumstances, and even more so when people you care about and trust are encouraging you to remember. (Of course, as we learned with the "repressed memories " scams of the 90's, such memories can be created ex nihilo as well, which carries on from our discussion that all of us are very good storytellers.)
PS IMDb claims to have contact info for "James D. Perriott Productions" but you gotta sign up for their "free" trial to get to it. I'm still mulling over the idea, because any other time I've signed up for a "free" trial, it's cost me.
Mon, 10/26/2009 - 09:20
#12
I'd love to interview the producer/creator/writers of the show
If anyone can give me any contact information for anyone connected with this show, please email me here [email protected] The information you give me will be confidential, but I'd love to interview the folks connected with the show, or at the very least have some general ideas as to where it was going.
If James D. Parriott or anyone connected with the show is reading this - unlikely, but sometimes we get lucky - please contact us!
Buckmon, I've only really seen that happen in some form twice - when "The Sentinels" was cancelled back in 1986, they released a fairly crappy paperback novel series that continued the story, though its cannonicity is unclear, it was allegedly based on scripts that were written for the seires that never came off. Also, after "Andromeda" ended, Robert Hewett Wolfe published a one-act play telling about how he'd intended the series to end prior to his getting fired off of it. So the odds are low of it happening, but I'm sure there's enough fan support to justify at least one novel. Hell, I'll even volunteer to write it myself and save Mr. Parriott the time, if he'll tell me what was going on.
Good observations about Trevor's wedding ring - I hadn't noticed that.
At present, my theory is that Nadia was born a hermaphrodite, and that was corrected surgically as a small child, but she knows about it, and it's haunted her, and is afraid she might be turning in to a dude. Irrational fear, if you will.
And you're welcome for the coverage. I was happy to do it. I genuinely enjoyed the show, so it was a pleasure to cover it, I just hope I did it justice.
Mon, 10/26/2009 - 09:01
#13
Can't Believe it's Gone!!
Thanks so much for the continuing coverage of the show. Even when it was slow and it seemed like there wasn't a lot happening, there was...we just didn't always know how the dots were going to be connected.
That's one of the things I'm going to miss. You've mentioned some of the questions I have, but I'm also wondering if we would have learned more about the significance of Claire sleeping with Trevor (whose wedding ring was visible when he rolled over...) or where Wass's model that used up the straws and dental floss was going to fit in. Would Claire have been instrumental in getting Trevor to be quiet about the true mission? Would Wass have been chanelling something important to their ultimate success? And well, yeah--was Nadia once male??? Did she have a twin brother who died????
I have to say I wish the writers would put out a book series to get them all through the end of the mission!
Sun, 10/25/2009 - 19:16
#14
Damn. I guess you're right.
Ok, I'll roll over on that. Certainly when Zoe saw it, I thought Jen could too, but clearly Jen couldn't see it when it was back on the ship, so I figured I must have misheard the earlier line.
Sun, 10/25/2009 - 17:35
#15
Jen saw it!!!
Jen sees it ad specifically says
"Oh Zoe! Its amazing"
this is after Gamma floats up to Zoe's arms
and right before Zoe lets slip the "our baby"
Sun, 10/25/2009 - 16:41
#16
Jen saw...what?
I'm not sure if Jen actually saw Gamma or not. Definitely she couldn't see it with her own eyes, so why would she be able to see it through a monitor? I'm not convinced she *did* see it through the monitor, I think it was just a little fumbly in the editing at that point, making it seem as though she did.
I presume that if the series had continued, Arnell would tell Trevor (The reporter) all about what was really going in, but I don't think Trevor would blab it. We've repeatedly seen that he's a good man, and in fact he got stuck with this 'exile' job because he's a good man, so I think given what's at stake, he'd agree to help them cover up the story in exchange for exclusive, unhindered coverage and cooperation once all is done and said.
I also think the story *would* break, but not through him, rendering all that rather annoyingly moot. Probably it'd break through Rollie's arrest, and the investigation and buy-off would reveal corruption and cover ups at the ISA, the faked Venus landing, etc.
Sun, 10/25/2009 - 16:33
#17
I am a little pissed
Man after seeing this last episode I am really pissed they canceled this show. The suits at ABC will be the first put against the wall when the revolution comes.
Now we know why it had to be Donner as the Lander pilot, he learned from Mars and was not going to leave Zoe. The testing thing now begs the question if they would have waited would they have made it on the Mars mission. There were just to many religious references for the show not to be going in a mystical direction if they would have continued it.
I am glad that AJ exploded at peg leg the guy needed to be out in his place and now it looks like he was going to spill the beans to the brit reporter. I will now wonder why Jen could see gamma on the monitor and not in person.
All in all this was an excellent episode and if the rest of the episode were this well written it could have become a classic.
Sun, 10/25/2009 - 15:36
#18
Jen saw Gamma
When Zoe was holding Gamma
Jen was able to see it through the monitor
but when they put it in the container she couldn't see it.
Maybe she might have been able to see Beta if it had been on Earth
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That's interesting stuff.
I've also heard it said that the network actually already had much of its fall schedule planned out, and couldn't really move it, so they really only had a fairly narrow block they could stick it in. They're still maintaining that they'll run the unaired episodes in the summer.