Recommended Sci Fi TV: Science fiction and fantasy shows from the past couple of years or so that we believe are worth checking out.
What Is It?
The Man Who Fell to Earth acts as a sequel to the 1976 film of the same name, taking place nearly forty years after the events of that film which followed an alien coming to Earth to utilize the resources of our planet to help his own. In the series, an alien taking the name of Faraday comes to present-day Earth hoping to complete the mission of his predecessor who took the name Thomas Newton. Faraday contacts former physicist Justin Hall looking for her help in completing Newton’s efforts to create a powerful energy source that would make it possible to transport water back to their home planet where it is desperately needed. But there were reasons that Newton never completed his mission and now Faraday is running into the same obstacles.
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris, Clarke Peters, Bill Nighy, Jimmi Simpson, Kate Mulgrew
Created By: Jenny Lumet, Alex Kurtzman (based on the book by Walter Tevis
Bottom Line: This is a thoughtful series with some interesting concepts and characters and a spot-on cast and it respects its source material while telling a good science fiction story in its one season.
Why Is It Worth Watching?
There are far too many reboots, revivals, and remakes out there these days trying to capitalize on the name recognition of a known property, all the while proving that the entertainment industry has lost its ability to capitalize on new concepts and original ideas. But there are a few movies and TV shows worth revisiting showing that revivals can work from time to time. The Man Who Fell to Earth is a cult sci fi classic which had David Bowie in the lead role, and I only vaguely remembered watching it years back on cable in the ’80s. I seemed to recall that it was a retro-70s sci fi film that could really get kind of freaky at times, and when I recently rewatched the movie, it lived up to pretty much exactly to how I remembered it.
It might seem like an odd selection for a reboot/revival seeing as it never counted as a huge hit, but apparently Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumett believed it had some potential to attract a modern-day audience or they were just huge fans and really wanted to revisit the property. Kurtzman has become notorious of late among sci fi fans for his work on the Star Trek TV shows which has involved large amounts of action and special effects and which have diverged from the spirit of the franchise’s past. And yet The Man Who Fell to Earth is an intelligent and thoughtful series with interesting sci fi concepts and a story that respects the original film while also finding the potential to carry it into an ongoing tale. He and Lumet contributed to the writing of all the episodes and the show hearkens back much more to his work on Fringe with little of the excesses we have seen from the recent Trek entries. The Man Who Fell to Earth does drag at times and it might have delivered a tighter story with a couple of less episodes, but for the most part it is engaging throughout and delivers an excellent example of sci fi TV.
Of course, the cast is key to that with Chiwetel Ejiofor delivering an Emmy-deserving performance as Faraday. He provides a nuanced and engaging portrayal of an alien who has little understanding of Earth and its people but who slowly adapts and learns how to deal with his surroundings. Naomie Harris offers a good counterbalance to Ejiofor’s Faraday, but it would have been nice if they gave her more to do than just object to everything going on all the time (count that as a nitpick, though). Bill Nighy does an excellent job of stepping into Bowie’s shoes as the elderly Thomas Newton, I just wish he had more screen time. And the entire cast–including Westworld‘s Jimmi Simpson and Star Trek: Voyager‘s Kate Mulgrew–steps up in this production to help take this show to the next level, and I believe it will eventually become a cult classic on its own.
Sadly, The Man Who Fell to Earth was cancelled by Showtime after only one season. The network did not do a good job of promoting it and apparently the property did not have enough nostalgia value to draw an audience on its own. But it did wrap up its storylines so as not to leave the audience on a cliffhanger. There was definitely more story to explore, but the one season ends on a satisfying note and is definitely worth checking out. It is available for streaming on Showtime’s website and app and will likely have encore runs on the cable channel as well.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
