

The ship’s crew know only that they were sent to find a new home for humanity following what was assumed to be the imminent destruction of the Earth in nuclear war. The other thing muddying the waters is that we’re not really sure exactly what purpose Ascension is ultimately serving. This is partly because of the aforementioned vintage style - explicable, perhaps, by the ship’s isolation and lack of infusions of cultural novelty - but it’s also partly because the scenes that take place on Ascension are interspersed with episodes from here on Earth where bureaucratic forces struggle for control over the project.
#Best moments in ascension tv show series
It’s difficult not to feel as though one is watching the events on Ascension through a series of flashbacks, though. Ascension launched in 1963, and it’s been in flight for over 50 years, which means that what’s taking place on the ship is taking place in the present.

As a result, it’s (perhaps appropriately) difficult to figure out exactly which way is up.įor one, there’s an issue of time. Opening the show with the mysterious murder of a young woman allows the show to play with the range of pleasures associated with the detective story or the film noir, but framing such an investigation within the claustrophobic environment of a tin can that’s been hurtling through space for half a century puts quite a spin on the old formulas. However, Ascension has more going for it than many of its peers, most of which (like ABC’s Pan Am) wound up being canceled before they even really got started. Yes, this is a sci-fi show set in outer space that doubles as yet another vehicle for the Atomic Age nostalgia that was reinvigorated by AMC’s Mad Men success. What ensues is a murder investigation that, as it unfolds, reveals a web of romantic and political intrigue bubbling just under the surface of the ship’s quaint retro veneer. The star ship Ascension is over half-way into its 100-year mission, and the small self-sustaining community has never experienced an episode of violence quite like this one before. The plot consists of a series of mysteries, each one smaller and more precariously balanced than the next.Īt its opening, we are given to believe that this is a show about a murder aboard a small spacecraft on a multigenerational mission to terraform a planet orbiting the star Proxima Centauri.

Ascension is a six part miniseries that originally aired on SyFy and has recently migrated to video streaming services and DVD release.
