It's not everyday that a writer attracts the attention of Hollywood, let alone one of the biggest names in the film business. But, that's the case with Mickey Fisher, a man who won a writing contest and now is billed as the creator of a good sci-fi TV series on CBS. Not only that, Fisher's work attracted Steven Spielberg and Halle Berry to his writing. Spielberg was so impressed that he got Fisher's idea made into a TV series called 'Extant' that stars Halle Berry. It's a pretty amazing accomplishment, given that this is Fisher's first attempt at Hollywood.
'Extant' isn't the ultimate series that we've seen nor is it the best sci-fi show to come out, but it definitely stands on its own with some of the best. And with a surprisingly excellent visual style and amazing special effects, along with some very strong performances by everyone involved, 'Extant' could evolve into one of the great shows we remember and watch over and over if done well. And luckily for us, CBS has given 'Extant' a second season, which will air this year.
'Extant' centers on a woman named Molly Woods (Halle Berry), who lives on Earth in the near future. For the past thirteen months, Molly has been aboard a space station called Seraphim, orbiting Earth alone. Once she is back from her thirteen month stint in space by herself, she realizes she's pregnant. But how can that be, since she was alone in space? That's the basic plot point for 'Extant', but it has many layers, some of which you'll recognize as why Spielberg was so interested in this project. Molly does not want to cause trouble at home with her husband John (Goran Visnjuc) and son Ethan (Pierce Gagnon) with this strange and odd news.
Ethan in fact is not human, but rather an artificial intelligence robot created by John, similar to the Spielberg film 'A.I.'. Molly ties to figure out through a variety of characters what just is wrong with her, and what exactly is inside her. Without giving too much information away, the child inside of Molly may or may not be human, as a former astronaut who went through something similar tries to inform her. But there are many more layers at work here. Instead of concentrating on the whole action and science-fiction part of the story, 'Extant' examines, fairly well I might add, the dynamic between humans and the growing artificial intelligence within machines and robots.
The series dives into not just the technology of these A.I.'s, but the what our culture thinks of them and acts around them. The show itself looks incredible and looks to have a decent sized budget. Everything looks top notch and never silly or corny, which is rare for most sci-fi shows. And the use of future technology is perfectly integrated here and never hits us over the head with its absurdness, like we've seen many times before.
Halle Berry gives her all here and stays on point with her character through each episode. It's great to see an Oscar winner do this type of show and really commit to it. Everyone else in the series turns in excellent performances, though the young Pierce Gagnon (the young kid in 'Looper') is on his way to being one the greats. His performance of a life-like robot is even better than Hayley Joel Osment from 'A.I.', as Gagnon plays the character human for the most part, but gives us tons of little moments where we can see that his insides are metal and wires. 'Extant' has had a great first season run. One that answered some questions throughout the show, but also posed tons of others for future seasons. This well-acted and beautiful looking series is definitely worth checking out.
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