Discussion
On the whole I thought it was really good. Frustrating end if that was indeed the ending, though I understand a second season is possible.
Critics reviews seem to have been mixed but there were a number of factors propelling above the usual sci-fi fare I thought.
Spoilers for the show (which has now been shown on UK TV)
First of all the society. I usually read sci-fi as much as for the depiction of a future society based on the technology to hand as anything else. Ascension based on an early sixties society, evolved for the purposes of long term space flight, was very interesting.
Secondly the science. I liked that there was an element of plausibility pre and post revelation.
Realistically the only way we are going to the stars is as depicted, in a generation ship. The presence of gravity is queried but this could be simulated by accelerating for the first half of the journey and decelerating the next. To be able to achieve constant 0.1g acceleration would be a key requirement of such a journey in any case otherwise it would take far too long. So there would be "gravity" of sorts but it would be far weaker. Of course you then need an energy source dense enough to achieve this. But we are still working from some element of "plausibility" just one that would require further technological development from now (not 1960) and vast resources dedicated to the project.
Post revelation. If you are going to run a genetics experiment a sealed environment would seem to be a great place to start.
Critics reviews seem to have been mixed but there were a number of factors propelling above the usual sci-fi fare I thought.
Spoilers for the show (which has now been shown on UK TV)
First of all the society. I usually read sci-fi as much as for the depiction of a future society based on the technology to hand as anything else. Ascension based on an early sixties society, evolved for the purposes of long term space flight, was very interesting.
Secondly the science. I liked that there was an element of plausibility pre and post revelation.
Realistically the only way we are going to the stars is as depicted, in a generation ship. The presence of gravity is queried but this could be simulated by accelerating for the first half of the journey and decelerating the next. To be able to achieve constant 0.1g acceleration would be a key requirement of such a journey in any case otherwise it would take far too long. So there would be "gravity" of sorts but it would be far weaker. Of course you then need an energy source dense enough to achieve this. But we are still working from some element of "plausibility" just one that would require further technological development from now (not 1960) and vast resources dedicated to the project.
Post revelation. If you are going to run a genetics experiment a sealed environment would seem to be a great place to start.
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