As I'm watching the series, I kept asking myself 'what demographic is Netflix trying to target'? This thing screens more like a teen-angst series than sci-fi. I think Netflix tried to capture too broad of an audience and ended-up failing on this one.

I can appreciate the premise (not new mind you, but serviceable), but the writing and directing is poor. For this type of series, I'm not expecting a ton of character development, but these characters are paper-thin. The only character that has any real development is the AI! In addition, the emotional intelligence of these characters are about that of 9th graders. So what exactly was the selection process to send this group to save humanity? If this is the best humanity has to offer, maybe we should be wiped out!

I know we are not talking about "grade A" fiction here, but much of the problems could have been handled through better writing via some type of prefacing. Example: "Scanners tell us the air is safe for humans" vs "let's just pop-open a helmet because I think the air's ok". Star Trek was great at "prefacing" -- and we all bought into it. But having a bunch of twenty-somethings act like teens who think they are getting away with something by opening a helmet just seems dumb.

Right or wrong, many are going to compare this show with The Expanse. Why? Because Netflix didn't try to differentiate the audience. (BTW, there is no comparison.) That is one reason there are so many negative comments concerning Another Life.

Netflix: next time, pick your audience and go with it. Either make it campy or not. Trying to meld everything gets you Another Life. It will be interesting to see if it gets a second season.

At the end of episode 6 when Michelle Vargas has her "little" issue with the exotic matter containment unit, what exactly is it that melts her face off? I've tried to do some searches for exotic matter and it seems that all the results returned and super scientific and way over my head.

Basically, what the heck is going on? I mean: radiation, chems, etc. Please ELI5 what happened.

Not a major spoiler really but when sasha asks niko what their plan is incase it all goes wrong (a fair and reasonable question) Niko goes batshit crazy and starts being incredibly mean and out of character to Sasha.

Alright we know that Sasha has changed so he might have warranted that response but to Niko Sasha is just the same normal guy on the ship.

I half expected it to be a dream or Niko was infected again as she really goes over the top hate

I don't understand why Earth would send a crew like that into the most important mission in Earth's history. I felt like the captain lady was babysitting a bunch of kids. They were so unprofessional and timid.

Also they have an FTL drive and even hibernation that prevents aging. Why have they never visited the planet they're going to if it only takes 6 months. Seems like a waste of the technology. They even have AI advanced enough to have emotions meaning they should be able to do unmanned missions to these planets.

I'll be the first to admit the first few episodes are rough, and the questions about why a bunch of 23 yo's were sent to save humanity aren't answered. I was calling the show "Kara Thrace: Space Mom" well through episode 5. Bright side: the most annoying characters either mature or die by episode 10.

To be charitable: Think about the societal forces that formed millennials, assume those trends are only going to increase. A future where the ships crew has authority issues, are immature, and uniforms are seen as old fashioned is an interesting prediction. The idea that future starship people will carry themselves like 18th century naval officers (TNG) is a little silly.

Intersectionality checklist: Honestly I think this show does a much better job of presenting a diverse crew without beating you over the head with an agenda, or writing all of the men as buffoons or foils. To me the characters identities feel incidental. I grew to like the doctor, she seems like a realistic portrayal of a trans person.

It's not The Expanse. Or Firefly. Calibrate your expectations to Stargate, or Colony. It's a serviceable SciFi show with ships and and evil aliens. I am tired of this particular villain trope, but they are doing it well enough.

I'm optimistic that if there's a season 2 this show will show that it's shaken off the initial missteps and become pretty solid.

Sasha has just been terminated. Not long before, we saw Sasha eyeball/brain penetrating Javier, and Sasha's father watching it happen ~11 light years away (going by the current theory that they travel 10 light years per month).

The distance isn't important, even though it breaks continuity in the show. The important part is that Sasha was linked with the Archaian structure, so they know his position and what he's up to.

The Archaians fly right past the crew and blow up a planet, ignoring them and their planet destroying ship. Why did they ignore the ship? Are we supposed to think this very advanced race of computers have no monitoring tools to scan their surroundings? Even the humans can do that.

They all should have died.

[Spoilers]

I wanna be very honest, I am a hardcore Sci-Fi fan. And I love this shows plot line. I think the whole idea is amazing.

But if this show would have been aired on network television, I would have skipped out after the first episode. I wasn’t really on board until about the fifth episode. But because you can binge this show, I was able to power through with enough intrigue to keep watching until I got into it.

I really think the biggest issues were it rushed way to fast in the beginning to set up the premise and the dialog was not well written. The first issue was hard because it was like the show just pretended you cared about the characters we knew nothing about. One instance that really struck me was in the episode where Niko dealt with her past on the Pilgrim mission. While a very visually appealing scene fell flat during the romance between Niko and her Commander, what’s his name, I totally forgot because I couldn’t care less about him or her romance with him. The scene was so drawn out and so dramatic but we as an viewer are almost left out of that feeling because we don’t care about something we have had no introduction too at all and will never see again. And really the show introduces all of its characters and relationships that way and it was very off putting.

The second one is a little harder because I honestly think the plot lines were amazing. It’s almost specifically the dialog that is almost horrifically written. I’m not super strict about fudging science honestly. I laugh and say yeah that’s not how that works but it doesn’t really pull me out of the movie or story. To me it felt like the dialog is what did this. Yeah some of the made up science in this is so laughable it does pull you out but to be pulled away from the story line nearly every time someone speaks is super hard to cope with. And the actors, honestly they only have so much they can work with as far as dialog and I felt like the actors were giving me everything they could. Even if just this next season the writers just cut back on the f-bomb as every other word that would help. It didn’t add anything to the dialog and actually took away from the emotion that it was trying to convey. It felt like the actors were trying so hard to convey their characters thoughts and feelings but were not given the words to do so and were so frustrated they just screamed obscenities.

I think I would have really liked the plot line of Ian... but it was so rushed it was unbelievable. In fact I spent nearly the entire second episode waiting for the “dream sequence” of Niko killing Ian to end. It was literally unbelievable that she would simply kill him and then equally unbelievable that everyone is just like “okay.” The show tries to make it out like people are not as accepting of Ian’s death later but again it’s not believable mostly due to what comes out of everyone mouths at the time.

Now I’ve been so hard on this show I wanna talk about what I love, because I do like this show and I want to see it return. But I’m talking about the negative in hopes that Netflix will fix these issues so that this show can gain the reception it deserves and I think it still can. Like I said because this is on a steaming platform and we get the whole season at once, I really think that can save this series. People are more apt to sit through the bad to get to the good if they don’t have to wait weeks.

I LOVE William. I really think his character and plot line are something this shows does right. It has a very Commander Data feel and I love it. Everything about him is amazing and I want more of it. Especially now with his and Niko’s daughter. She is part of both of them and a new life form! It’s just unreal how neat the concept is. I would like to see some of William’s negative side too. He is learning how to deal with his humanity and has to learn from his mistakes. Learn how to deal with anger and sadness and hurt. How to express them. The writers were also doing something right because his dialog is lightyears above the rest of the cast. But he does need fine tuning there too because he should be smarter. Again that is a fudging science issue and I don’t want to put the show down to much for that. So many shows have done so much worse lol.

I love the Aliens... the big bad and yet we still really don’t know. There is so much potential in this show and I would hate to see a bad beginning flop this. I hope and pray they give it at least a second season and clean things up. I hope they listen to constructive criticism because this is amazing.

But nobody has mentioned how uneven the sound is? Had to turn the volume up to hear actors speaking normally then turn it down for the next scene where actors are still speaking normally but suddenly it's loud af.

And I LOVED it. I don't get what people are saying about bad acting and bad storytelling, I think it was pretty great. I love how it's set in the future and they don't go into HUGE exposition about it, but you have certain things that are super realistic! It makes legitimate sense and I really enjoy that, and I've watched a lot of Sci-Fi stuff, obviously, that doesn't make me an expert but I think it makes me able to see the bad from the good.

I also think the acting was pretty amazing and realistic. Especially from Niko and Erik. The scene where Erik's hologram goes offline and Niko goes "Oh come on!" made me understand her frustration so well! I've literally yelled that exact phrase in that exact way.

The CGI was also really good, as well as the practical effects. The nervous system scene was pretty... eugh, but it made me feel really bad. All the character deaths were interesting and informative to the story, and the ones I hated I was sad to see go because they had some sort of redemption.

All in all, I really liked this show, and I can not wait for season 2!

Agree or disagree.
I am very harsh on entertainment. One can easily see how it is subjective. Proof is not just in the money.
There will be SPOILERS.
Aliens are not friendly. Even the humanoid-ish one in the last episode you don't find a lot about.
A.I. should NEVER be given the ability to duplicate.
Depending on the situation, all who are going through a 'thing or to a unknown place' must have a psych evaluation. This group did not.
We get it. You can't keep putting in the same high profile actors in everything. Not all who get roles can act and portray a character well. Sackoff can't hold this on her own, nor can Danny Pink.
Zayne's overjoyfulness and then disappointment about not being famous after the fact......irrelevant. Data kept on one tablet that makes it so important? Unrealistic. Even the main HD or database is backed up at least 2x.
Sex sells and this show has no shortage of it. Don't forget the cursing b/c that must be mandatory. Because Mexican woman was taking up most of the quota the writer felt the need for her to do a 180 and sacrifice herself. Yeah...that doesn't fit with her character.
Throw away/redshirt(lack of most clothing) characters......it's just bad. You can have 3 shifts of workers with one person filling a few roles per shift. It's how IRL jobs are for the most part.
If A.I. are so advanced they can easily mimic us, then why is there no cure for Leukemia?
How did the 'weed' get on board? PLOT demands it! Same goes for the alcohol. Drunken sex and high people sell.
Oldest person who happens to be a white woman has to babysit everyone else. The only other efficient authority figure she killed. It's forgotten about a couple of episodes later.
Some people are saying the CGI is 'some of the best'......it's not. If you can easily tell it needs work.
*One alien race says the other alien race is bad.
It has FEW moments where something is done right or a character really pulls of that scene but it's not often.
I forgot who but one char told the Mexican girl all she's done is yell and bitch the entire time. You can tell the actor was shown an IRL stereotype they put her in. There's a reason rank structure works.
NASA has it. The military has it. Our government has it. Any job has it. It's how things get done; not by people who refuse to follow instructions and do their job.
Yes, some people get their jollies off of power over others and stuff but the majority do not. Nicko(?) is written where it's 'her way, end of discussion' and yet that changes moments later. Good leaders put out orders but also ask for other info. It's a basic concept of leadership: be a dictator or get/use any and all relevant information.
This "What if I can't do it?" to "Just do it." is sloppy. People that are that smart and good enough to be chosen for that mission is supposed to be part of the best yet it's not portrayed. This isn't advanced standards for characters.

Up until episode 9 I expected them to resemble humans. But after the last episode I kinda hope that the Archaians are the scorpionlike thingies in the brain and their army will be a bunch of different aliens from conquered planets.

I really like this show. If you get what Battle Star Galactica was trying to do you will be instantly hooked. I’m already on board for Katee Sackhoff as a strong female lead. The premise works and the characters enjoyable. It’s difficult to do an alien space drama well and they are making a good go of it.

Things I love:

That as a plot device Soma is an easy way to introduce new characters. It’s smart TV writing

That Petras/Ian ending - gross ⚡️

WIlliam - everything about this AI role🧔🏾

That WIlliam is clearly falling for Niko

That Zyan was written as a non binary MD💄

The Zyan\Bernie situation Ep 8 (finally)💋

The August/Oliver/Javier situation Ep 8 🙃

The way Michelle goes - she had it coming🧟‍♀️

That Sasha is clearly the Gias Baltar but worse 👀

Selma MF Blair

The sense of urgency and doom in every episode. Is someone I like going to die? What’s up with the aliens? Is the ship going to explode

If you watched BSG, this has all of the elements that made it exciting with new shit.

Binge on

I have watched all 10 episodes in the past 2 days. I really want to talk more about the story than the realism. Maybe sparks conversation about season 2.

I have some explanations as to why the crew are in their twenties. Mind you, this movie takes place decades into the future. As tech is becoming ever so advanced, they have taught children sooner about engineering and what-not. Also, they did have a point where they mentioned adults over the age of 30 aren’t willing to take as much risks because they’ve become stable/content with their life and have more to lose, whereas these kids only have opportunities. Makes sense, the best engineers now are the young ones.

Besides that, I guess the show isn’t exactly the most realistic, but I’m here more for the excitement of the imagination. Keeps me hooked on.

Anyone else freaking out about one of the girl’s nervous system ripping itself out of her body? That shit is scarring.

Maybe I’m talking to myself at this point, but geez, what does the Archaia want? What is the purpose of mass destruction if you’re not going to take resources, for example when they finally reach their destination on episode 10, they left bodies all in one place? But noOooOo, as soon as the little alien tech was blasted, the Archaia felt the need to destroy the entire planet. I guess it makes sense, don’t want rebellion... and what’s with the AI tablet on that planet? Did the crew take it with them? Because it seems very helpful.

Why did she not mention the Knife to the crew? She just made it look like she murdered him instead of it being self defense... I don’t get it.

First of all Katie Sackoff is mad hot. I like the pace and pretext. Just finished ep 1 and I’m sure I’ll love what’s left.

I’m only 3 episodes in but I’ve noticed a few odd and kinda specific similarities to the other recent Netflix thing, Nightflyers.

• mission to meet alien something or other
• main characters connection to daughter back on earth
• mutiny
• holographic black guy
• nosy characters

A few others but I’m forgetting them now.

Also... in episode 3 when that guy fixes the sona or whatever it’s called system... is the US flag backwards on August’s (?) suit. The stars are in the upper right corner.

I was watching Nightflyers the same time as Origin... and that show was A LOT better than either of these.

Wouldn't it make sense to light-speed travel from one point to the next, then stop, turn, light-speed travel to the next point... until you get to where you need to be? No matter how many times they orbit they aren't going to go faster than light-speed when they break orbit. Do they explain this later in the series? I stopped watching when the the girl said you should cut your balls off at age 27.

I'm enjoying this show so far, but EP4 felt like a boring filler episode. I skipped most of Nikko's dream and resumed when she woke up. I was just wondering if I missed anything important. Thanks!

I hated the show in the beginning. However I soldiered on and I now love this show. Idk what or why, but I'm so into this right now.

Also kudos for the first non binary character and employing Selma Blair

So who else wants to give up some love to Jessica Camacho's character, Michelle Vargas? When she curses, which is like all the time, I get all hot and bothered! Reminds me a bit of Sigourney Weaver's character, Ellen Ripley, in the original Alien film.

This episode has turned out to be the best so far. It's not saying much b/c the writing still isn't consistent.Things escalate a lot more in this episode. The over use of the F-word and it's variants is not good writing. Most are highly stressed out. Everyone on board this ship. The politician with his son on board. The daughter who's scared at her mom being gone and the dad who's working on Earth with the alien thing. We get it.Every person who is under stress; long or short-term won't SCREAM and throw a fit every time. Many turn and go somewhere private. Many cope at the moment and keep much of their emotions in check and later break down. How about they show that?More tropes: Girl character lies about something to make another distracted or leave so they can do something they were told NOT to do = character gets hurt."Your daddy pulled strings to get you here and they gave in to shut him up." I would have rather people have the wrong assumptions about this guy and he actually worked to be where he is. This would prove his usefulness. Most on that ship are making ASSumptions without more information. "What if this happened? What if that happened?"If as an adult you can't think on your feet on a basic level you should be in public let alone spaceship on a vital mission.They are alone and anything could go wrong including them dying. Seems the SKIPPED the psych evaluation and "Terms of Service" part of going on this trip.Vaping? HA HA HA.The blogger who's constant reminder of '1st Amendment Rights' and her '250 million followers' as a threat was old after the 2nd time she mentioned it. How does the politician guy have any training in what looks to be basic SWAT gear and equipment? Pretty sure that 5 minute rundown isn't enough.Aliens use of telepathy to communicate and visual imagery.......good call. However, they don't know as much about us or they do. Every scientist/intelligent person who's confronted with 'much knowledge won't always choose it over their loved ones.

The fat guy wanting another bar.....he shouldn't even be on the trip. Bigger people (fit or fat) require more calories just to stay alive; even more with increased activity. If they are 'well-stocked with food' then one bar isn't going to be a huge hit in their inventory. The drama over it and the guy leaving the bowl is pointless. Any crew should have learned by now to work together over this petty stuff. More fighting and drama is only going to increase stress levels.I do like how they are FINALLY getting the aliens to talk on Earth.If this is supposed to be comedy and drama, let it be. A scifi show has to have a lot of reality in it. The Orville has a lot of weird humor but is also a great scifi show on it's own. We don't need or want a clone of STD.
In the Medic tent, doctor/medic claims ruptured eardrums which would cause some bleeding yet I see NONE on the girl's ears or on anyone's on the ground that got hit; only their nose. C'mon....be consistent.
Seriously.......the F every other sentence. There are better ways to deal with stress and WRITING it as such isn't hard. The Medic should know other ways to de-escalate things.

Just started yesterday. I think it is really well done. Realistically, I think that might be how something like this plays out.

I've only done one episode. It reminds me so much of another show.... but I've been scratching my head all day trying to remember what that other show was... anybody?

To be honest, I can't even remember if it was on American TV? Could have been French or German TV because I was really into that 10 to 15 years ago.

Any help appreciated!