I'm actually enjoying this show, enough to defend it against all these negative comments.

Not for what the show is, but for what it _isn't_.

Because I'm seriously burned-out on these modern super-über-melodrama shows where everyone seems to think the best course of action is the one that actively sabotages their own goals, but it's always someone else's fault, because... um... random emotional outbursts with no justifiable reason = good writing? It's... irritating.

This show has the vibe that it's _trying_ to be one of those types of shows, but it's so low-budget that it just doesn't reach that level of “what’s wrong with you” insanity.

Granted, I could build that set in my garage, the special effects are... about standard for a SyFy TV movie, and yes, the characters are two-dimensional cardboard stereotypes, but at least they’re _reasonable_! Maybe a little too reasonable at times, like they’ve been drinking the kool-aid, or the writer doesn’t have the life-experience to know how someone might (or should) react under those circumstances; sometimes I get the feeling they back down from a potential altercation just to move to the next scene, but still.

If they slowed down the pacing, stopped throwing every sci-fi cliché they can at it and researched the science behind those clichés, then it wouldn't be too far off from the old Star Treks, which weren't much more than a higher-budget college theater production anyways.

So for what it is, I'm enjoying it.
Just get ready to throw some popcorn.

SyFy has become synonymous with cheesy shows with terrible acting and bad plots that get canceled almost as fast as they got aired - so getting invested in any SyFy show almost always ends in disappointment. This show is no different. The trailer is more entertaining than the show. Basically they are the "science fiction" version of the CW.

Just look at their show history, especially for the past 7 years, almost every show is a one-season show that gets canceled.


I think this is one of the biggest problems with just four companies owning every single form of entertainment we watch and every cable channel out there - the small networks like SyFy just become a dumping ground for garbage shows rather than an incubator for interesting entertainment that they once were when they were independent. Once NBC got their hands on SyFy it became another NBC niche network garbage dump.

There have been a few notable exceptions, and the only reason SyFy ever had any real clout: the Stargate franchise and Battlestar Galactica. They have one truly outstanding show, The Expanse, that of course got canceled after season 3 and had to be picked up by Amazon to really unleash its full potential of being outstanding science fiction. The vast majority of the shows that stick around, including their current gem Resident Alien, start to get super cheesy by the third season - look no further than Eureka or Warehouse 13 to see how cute shows turn into some of the dumbest stuff on TV after season 3.

The Ark is one of those B grade sci fi propositions pitched at teens and early twenty something's.

As might be predicted, its comes with its own woke baggage, this time in the form of female empowerment. The female lead "steps up". There's not even the remotest consideration of sharing the leadership of the group with her male counterparts. In spite of the fact they are all wet behind the ears and need all the mutual support, they can get.

So putting this unrealistic nonsense aside, is this series any good? Well, no, not really. Its pretty bland fare, more a space soap opera than anything else, with a survivalist component.

Think Lost in Space (the 50's edition nor the terrible remake) minus the humour, novelty and excitement and there you have it.

Acting is alright and sets are decent but well, that's really not enough.

In summary, a not terribly engaging, survivalist, space space opera.