Pandora

I know its not fair to judge entire series by just one episode but if this is the kind of acting and direction we going to get for rest of the season then i am probably done right now. I found it hard to finish the first episode. Pandora is dead on arrival.

A young woman's family is killed by mysterious forces, which results in her traveling to study with an uncle(?) at the space academy while figuring out what happened back home.

This low budget space faring adventure comes in low and crashes on the runway. Dialog is rough. Production values for a story set hundreds of years in the future aren't at a level to make a believable series. Effects look incredibly cheap. Wardrobe looks passable and futuristic in some scenes, but in other scenes, it looks like the cast shot in whatever they were wearing when they arrived on set. Overall, the series is so rough around the edges that it's surprising CW picked it up for broadcast.

It's got everything you don't want, cliche laden dialog, awkward character actors, cheesy set designs and plot holes you could steer an oil tanker through. I understand why people would sing on to this show. I mean, everybody has to work, right? What I don't understand is how anyone would have thought this was worth producing? Someone actually liked this enough to pay for it. Remember, this is not just a piece of crap, it's a very expensive piece of crap.

I just watched the first episode of this. I seems this is a lower budget offering. If you're watching the fantasy show The Outpost, it's of similar budget, in writing, production value, acting, direction and effects, but, sci-fi instead of fantasy.

It feels like a made for TV show, similar to how the old Xena, Hercules productions were all relatively lower budget shows, though, they were still worth watching.

It's too soon to say if this can be another Xena or Hercules as far as popularity, since we seem to expect and require a LOT more sophistication in story telling, set pieces, and everything else these days when we get spoiled by big budget productions like GoT, The Walking Dead, Star Trek Discovery, etc.

It's probably 1/2 a notch below The Orville in production value, but, The Orville doesn't take itself seriously while this feels like it wants to be more than it is.

I'll continue to give this one a chance. The Swamp Thing has a bigger budget, and I'm watching that, though, I'm putting an effort into trying to like it. I dunno. The whole Flash, Supergirl, Arrowverse formula works really well, and I love those shows even though they're low budget, but, i suspect this is less than half the budget of those per episode.

Eh, We'll see.

Recommendation: I think it's too soon to make a call on this. There are, however, tons of shows that've had far greater popularity, better writing, more likable characters, and production value that've gotten the axe almost right off. if you find you really love this show, don't invest too much, because I expect they're depending on the low budget as one of the selling factors for renewal, but, that might maybe not be enough.

I say give this show a chance to grow and develop, but, don't get married to it. It's something to watch and there's far worse on TV that needs to go away, but, can't ever seem to die, as well as far better shows that've wound up on the chopping block far too soon.

I really wanted to like this show but after only a few minutes, I wanted to switch to something else. Cheap special effects, stiff acting, lousy script, poor production value...need I say more. It was torture forcing myself to watch the full episode but I wanted to be fair before I wrote this review. Would be surprised if this isn't cancelled after just a few episodes.