Pagendatud Online

I started watching this series and as it progressed it got better and better. The plot was very enthralling and kept me wanting to see more and more.The way the the story progresses with the 2 types of foes and how it all started was excellent. I was looking to see more of the turmoil between the two groups. After 3 episodes I was hooked well and truly. I was extremely disappointed that the series was terminated only after 8 episodes just at the point where a third element was added to the story line. I cannot understand why the TV stations start something and after a short time they decide to scrap it without any consultation to the many avid followers of the series. I do hope they reconsider and bring it back.

I don't normally write reviews but I was compelled to do so for this series in light of many of the general downbeat comments. I have to say that I am enjoying this show. Like anything new, I believe it is important to give it a chance and by the third episode I was finding it to be quite a good series, for what it is - light evening entertainment. It's filled with plot holes and the characterisation is a little light, but when you have an 8 episode series character development probably isn't going to be a major factor of a show, particularly in action dominated sci-fi. The concept is interesting, and hopefully more questions about what happened on earth and why there is no military presence in the colony will be answered over the series. The acting is good, as are the set pieces and most of the FX, particularly in episode 3. Script wise it is at times a little clunky but I think the actors have done a respectable job with what they have to work with.

A note now on all the "one star" reviews. Writing a negative review and brandishing one star ratings is unfortunately a way for people to excercise a little bit of the power that is lacking in their life. I do not believe this series is a one star show, but that is my opinion. I think people can state if they truly feel something is poor without resorting to some of the vindictive things being said here. No one deliberately sets out to make a bad show just to ruin your day. Many people have worked very hard on this series (and no I am not one of them or affiliated with anybody involved). Ultimately it is about entertainment, and if people do not like it, don't watch it. Why waste your time writing such horrid things. There are zillions of channels to choose from now. Often the comments people write online are things they would never dare say to someones face, and are a complete overeaction to what is in reality just a TV show. All that negative energy could be channelled into something much more constructive.

So, soldier on Outcasts. I for one am enjoying the ride, and grateful to the BBC for trying something new in sci-fi.

I read the previous review, and I totally disagree. Em Squared apparently hasn't got a clue about the sci-fi genre. He condemns the lack of "phasers" and the abundance of lens flare. My friend, you need to stop watching Star Trek, I believe that 20 times is enough... Now, in my opinion this series was a good one, the only down side to it might be the fact that it got canceled ahead of time. The story is decent, and so are the performances. It has that bit of drama which reminds you that you are not watching a continuous gun/"phaser"/light saber fight. All in all, I would definitely recommend it for all SG and BSG fans.

I really enjoyed this series and was rather surprised, and a little disappointed, to find out that the BBC has decided not to make a second series. It is particularly annoying when a series develops an unresolved theme and then is canceled, without the story coming to a full conclusion. You feel rather cheated! I noted (elsewhere) the comments of the writer - to the effect that the series took a while to develop its storyline. I tend to agree and feel that the decisions to firstly move it to a late night time slot (in the UK - not in Australia) and then to can it completely, were both premature and self-serving. I hope there is some consideration made to making another series, or at the very least a one-off episode to bring series one to a full conclusion.

OK, so I've read some negative comments from a lot of you guys but I think this series has so much potential. Just give it a chance!

I live in Cape town, the series was filmed about an hour away from where I live and I think they have made an amazing effort so far, it's only the 4th episode and I want more!

I agree that there is much more scum on TV at the moment that shouldn't be there, but seriously, I'd love to see where this series will go in the future. Characters are interesting and I honestly want to see what happened with the AC's. I think so far episode 4 has been the most intense, with action and suspense and all that goes alongside a good sci-fi.

"Trolling" is the word that springs to mind when I skim over the many 1- star reviews here - an impression only reinforced when I spot that the spelling and grammar of some such reviews is roughly befitting that of a sub-literate 8-year old. Still, it would be unfair and arrogant to dismiss every single person who dislikes Outcasts as one of these, so instead I'm just going to go straight to the review.

I'll be blunt: in its 4 episodes so far, Outcasts has become one of my favourite TV series ever. I've always been a fan of sci-fi series in general, but Outcasts is a rare example of a "hard" science fiction series - in other words, it's actually befitting of the title "science fiction", unlike Doctor Who or Stargate (not that there's anything wrong with those shows, either). Faster-than-light travel seems like it's out, there aren't any shiny purple laser guns, the possibility of aliens is only a vague one and time travel, to my knowledge, hasn't even been brought up. If you don't like this and prefer the more fantastical variant of sci-fi (sometimes called "science fantasy"), then Outcasts probably isn't for you. I suppose that's why so many people don't like it - they've been conditioned into wanting magical time travel with weird aliens and bright phaser beams by the media for a long, long time now. Depressing really.

In fact, the show Outcasts reminds me of most is not Star Trek or any other popular sci-fi, but Heroes - because, like Heroes, it's a slow - paced show with a focus is on the characters. The show doesn't disappoint in this regard - the characters are all interesting, and the relationships and dialogue between them is entertaining. More importantly, there is some genuine emotion involved as we learn more about the characters' pasts, and as they are developed. Where it differs from Heroes, though, is that it isn't padded out to the ends of the Earth. Honestly, I only realised just how needlessly padded out Heroes was after watching Outcasts - though I will grant that the latter doesn't have quite as many characters, and, well, they don't have superpowers.

Outcasts is also great at creating tension without resorting to one- dimensional card-carrying villains pointing guns at the heroes. Again, I've got no problems with the Daleks - in fact, I rather love them - but it is nice to see a show break from the mold every once in a while and do something original.

The special effects are probably the best I've seen in a TV series. That's a bold claim, but I stand by it - and you know why? It's because they are used in moderation. There's a few shots in the first episode of the space ship above Carpathia, and they all look beautiful. The "white- out" in episode 3 also looks great and believable - as do the effects marking its approach (the odd effect it has on the sunlight...) and the shot of it from space. That said, it lacks the interesting art direction of other, softer sci-fi shows - but that's to be expected, since it's much more down-to-Carpathia in general.

The plot in each episode is also compelling and well written - and I can't say much more about it without giving away major spoilers (I've already given away minor ones as it is). There isn't much in the way of an overarching story, however, which I am a little disappointed by - oh, there is a hook at the end of each episode, but nothing I'd call a "story arc". However, this is justifiable as it's a British series, and as such is typically short.

The acting is also very good, much of the time - particularly from Liam Cunningham, who plays the president, Tate. It seemed a bit flat at times in the opening episode, but it has improved and is properly convincing. On the other hand, this is one of those few areas where Outcasts CAN be directly compared to other sci-fi shows, since acting talent has nothing to do with setting or premise - and while the acting is great, it's no Patrick Stewart or David Tennant. Still, it's not very far behind.

One thing that can't be classified in those categories is the overriding theme of the show: humanity, starting again in a new environment they simply do not understand. What's more, they appear to have learnt nothing so far - a subtly depressing commentary on the human race, which may turn some people off. I wouldn't call it grim - "gritty" is slightly more apt, but I'd rather not apply either term to it after Warhammer 40,000 (which is both of those things, several times over). The best word for it is "bleak" - but there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel. Besides, the depressing overtones are confined to the background for the most part and don't saturate the show, which contains its fair share of light-hearted jokes.

I think I've covered everything, although it was quite late as I wrote this so forgive me if I missed anything.

Summary: Do you adore the crazy escapism that goes with things like Doctor Who? Stay away from this. Do you like down-to-Earth shows, where the muted science fiction is placed behind the characters and themes in terms of importance? Then this show is for you. Looking over the review, I see that Outcasts is actually for a rather niché market, in the end - I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the falling ratings and poor reception. Nonetheless, I must admit to being a little disappointed in my fellow Brits.

I'm going to swim against the tide, I'm afraid. I can't judge the whole series, because as I write this only 2 episodes have been shown. However, while I wouldn't put 'Outcasts' into the same class as 'Spooks,' I have enjoyed what I've seen so far. Yes, some of the dialogue has been a little heavy-going, but I write myself, and I know that it is a very difficult thing to do, so I wouldn't be perhaps as judgemental as others. I think the cinematography is stunning, as are the settings, and I have no major complaints about the acting. While the quality of it varies - with Hermione Norris several giant strides ahead of most of the others, which is usually the case in anything I've seen her in - I've seen an awful lot worse.

I personally like drama involving moral conundrums and the interplay between characters as they develop, and I have no problem with something that moves slowly; if you do, and those things spell 'dull' to you, then Outcasts is possibly not for you.

Reading other reviews, the one thing that surprises me is the widespread criticism of minute detail - this wouldn't be used, they wouldn't have done it like that, that couldn't have happened, it wouldn't look that way. Forgive me, but how does anyone know? It's set in the future, which none of us have seen, and it's fiction anyway. It puzzles me.

Anyway, there is enough in the story lines to follow to keep me watching ... if no-one else!

Outcasts shows a lot of promise for a great new Scifi show involving deep character relationships, a unique plot, interesting idea's and a fresh storyline that hasn't been done yet.

Each episode has it's own individual story, but still has a continuous main story throughout the episodes. Outcasts contains Scifi elements, but still appeals to people who aren't hardcore science fiction fans. It focuses on different types of relationships with the characters, dilemma's people can actually relate to, and also contains suspenseful drama.

The acting is very well done and after only a few episodes I found myself intrigued with the series and interested in what would happen next. The show has a lot of fantasy ideas, but still manages to be very believable. It contains many different elements and diverse characters, and makes you feel involved in their lives and feel for them.

The show is exciting and always leaves you wanting more.

After a friend of mine suggested I watch this, I decided to play catch-up on BBC iplayer a few weeks ago. The first 15 minutes of it and I thought "OMG - this is like an updated Blake's 7 I can't watch this!!" Recently the same friend complained I hadn't given it a chance and told me it was "getting good". So I gave it another go ... I thought "I'm gonna sit through this and REALLY try to like it".

Okay - the first episode was PAINFUL. The characters seemed boring, the kid that kept repeating his "tiger tiger" poem almost put me off watching ... but I struggled through. First episode felt very long. However I persevered and watched a second episode ... then a third ... then a fourth ...

It's actually turning out to be quite interesting in certain respects but doesn't have me completely hooked as yet.

I think the characters could be improved - they are currently REALLY difficult to warm to - they have no spark. They feel a bit like cardboard cut-outs at the moment, stilted and awkward - and certainly need a bit more depth.

Looking past the stilted characters are the predictable character relationships ... just a bit boring and uninspiring - again no SPARK.

The story is somewhat intriguing in parts but with the lack of charismatic characters or interesting dialogue it just makes it difficult to wade through.

The jury is still hung for me on this.

This show COULD be better, but needs a whole lot of fine-tuning if it ever wants to become a really good show.

Anyone who knocks this series because it 'isn't exciting enough' should realise that the audience who might get this series are not died-in-the-wool sci-fi fans. It is a series about normal, believable, 'now' people, undergoing a change in their lives that could happen to any of us based on one technological advance, space travel.

The fact that there are no space weapons, intense galactic star battles, aliens and similar shouldn't take away from the fact that this series managed on a relatively small budget to do somewhat what the newer battlestar galactica did, in that it made it about individual, believable humans, and more than that it made you think about what might happen in 'our'lifetime.

You may not like every character. You may not like the lack of star battles, but if this series does not get it's promised second series it will be a travesty. All the actors and actresses were up to the task, at least by the end of series one, and the basic storyline and potential for it to develop to great literature is all there.

Don't watch one, watch them all, and hope for more. Great show.

It was bad but the BBC have done worse. I posted a cut down version of the script in case you missed this episode.

Ship's Captain: Are there any human beings down there? Planet: Erm... what other English speakers were you expecting?

Middle Class Kid: Oh poetry, oh poetry, why must the other boys keep kicking me?

Angry Scottish Bird: You were stealing medical supplies Irish Druggie: Well if you didn't want a drug dealer on Carpathia why did you bring me along?

Cougar woman: With this device I can see your memories Irish Druggie: How does it work? Cougar woman: Well, with you it shows your memories in first person, but with me it shows them in the third person Irish Druggie: O...kay....

Angry Scottish Bird: This woman has been hit on the head. Hard. Take her to Holby City immediately.

Gun Totting Mad Man: Got to get away! Big Guy: It's not time Gun Totting Mad Man: Got to get away! Big Guy: It's not time Gun Totting Mad Man: Got to get away! Big Guy: Why? Gun Totting Mad Man: Dunno

Cougar woman: Fancy a shag? Irish Druggie: I haven't had my beer yet

Angry Scottish Bird: I'm shouting in your face! Big Guy: Why? Angry Scottish Bird: To show how tough I am Big Guy: That's not fair when all have is my hugely superior physique and rifle to protect me

Ship's Captain: We've traveled through space for 5 years and we're coming down President: Fix your shields first or you'll explode Ship's Captain: No time for that, we want to get down before the tea gets cold President: Well... don't say I didn't warn you!

Gun Totting Mad Man: I'm away and I'm taking my softie son with me Angry Scottish Bird: A MAN? Taking care of a CHILD? Wait till the Family Court hears about this!

Gun Totting Mad Man: You've been a naughty boy President: I have been a naughty boy but trust me, I'm a politician and the state knows best

President: Go after that crazy gun totting guy! Scruffy lower class person: Who, should I take? The big guy with the muscles and the gun? President: No, take the loud Scottish girl. She'll be handy.

Boring person 1: Hey, did you see that thing that just happened? Boring person 2: Yes I did Boring person 1: Well, let me just tell you about it anyway. Nothing makes events you've already witnessed more interesting than hearing about them in long segments of exposition. Wouldn't you agree? Boring person 2: Sorry, could you repeat that?

President: We decided to call this planet Carpathia. I can't remember the whole story but I think if they'd had more life boats... Ship's Captain: We don't have enough life boats! President: If only the planet namers had spoken to the ship designers...

Gun Totting Mad Man: Do you really think human beings can make a better life for our children? Angry Scottish Bird: Human beings? Gun Totting Mad Man: Yeah, you know... US Angry Scottish Bird: So why didn't you just say "WE"? Why can't we make a better life for our children?

*silence*

Gun Totting Mad Man: I know I'm the main character here but how about you just kill me now?

*Bang* *Explosion* *Poetry*

The End

Outcasts is a 2011 British television serial science-fiction drama, portraying a group of pointless colonists who spend their time ignoring the fact they are probably the last humans left alive. They mostly miss the point that they need to concentrate on populating an alien planet, Carpathia, if they do not want to be extinct in a generation. Unfortunately, the Earth has met some strange fate requiring the complete evacuation of the British middle-classes sometime in the next ten to twenty years. Having made "hard choices" about not having children, the females form the local police force while the males become unemployed brutes with a gun fixation, occupying their time together at the local gym. Increasingly desperate for children and a future, the colony is willing to accept anyone who might have survived the five year journey to their world, no questions asked.

"President" Tate (Cunningham) and his harem of emotionally over- sensitive women, Stella (Norris), Cass (Mays) and Fleur (Manson), take charge while the only group of armed-men on the planet are too busy pumping iron and pouting in front of a mirror. An underused group of individuals, who never had any lives worth spit before coming to Carpathia, are given a second chance at being boring slackers far from their homeworld. Clustered in the toy-town of Forthaven on Carpathia, the new civilisation has so far managed to rise to the level of making its own beer and whining to themselves over very little. In "development" since 2007, it became apparent that the concept was so lame and done to death, that only the BBC could be cheap enough to pick up the series. The series enjoyed a very nice holiday at License Payers expense in South Africa in May 2010.

As the series progresses it will most likely shed viewers by the bucketload. By the end of the concluding show, it will probably have less viewers than BBC Parliament. Although there might conceivably be one or two high-points in the shows short run, it is unlikely to be renewed for a second season, with most of its participants pretending it never happened. It is expected that the phrase "disappointing" might be used a lot.

Although hopes were not high (having watched the promotional trailers), it was so dull that one of us unexpectedly fell asleep by the last 15 mins of the show. We agreed they we wouldn't get that hour back and would probably only watch the second episode if it was a choice between that and having their toenails pulled out.

Whereas most Pilots attempt to hook the audience and pique their interest, the BBC took the daring strategy of preaching at any audience foolish enough to watch it. Force-feeding the viewers politically correct, right-on entertainment that aped sensitivity and relationships, would have only worked if there were interesting bad guys that the viewers could sympathise with. Unfortunately, there aren't any, leaving only a vaguely Stalinist idea that all opposition equals mental illness.

However, the pilot showed no real plot or continuity with its own reality, the cast not even having a culture or unifying ideal that they might otherwise have brought with them into the inky infinity of outer space. There was no action, no real characters, and no engagement with the viewer. It would have been wiser to stick to just one plot-line for the pilot and build-up a lot of tension with the "end of the human race" motif. The most that could be said for the last transport from the Earth was that they clapped well.

The shows cunning inclusion of at least one American actor per episode is unlikely to fool anyone in the slightest as even the viewers of BBC America aren't that stupid. The American public had enough of overly- sensitive sci-fi shows about relationships and feelings like Defying Gravity, Flash Forward and The Event, long ago. The vogue for this brand of entertainment has, however, only just filtered through to the BBC dinner-parties, by way of overhearing the catering staff talk about how rubbish Flash Forward was during their working-class fag-breaks.

At the end of the day, being frightfully intellectual instead of action oriented is just dull, boring, and rubbish. Trying to maintain the logical impossibility of a science-fiction series without any real science-fiction might also be seen as a bit of a problem. Poor script, poor acting, and too many plot-lines are unlikely to help either.

The terms used to describe Outcasts by the BBC must have only been written by their spin-doctors and have no real baring to reality. To say that Outcasts is science-fiction is the same as equating the Sound of Music as an S&M porno, because of all the nuns, jackboots, and "the Captains" desire to maintain discipline among the ranks.

A bit of a shame that this series is being ripped to shreds when it is actually quite interesting - it has some good scifi elements for example aliens and genetically engineered humans. The story that links all these things together is actually pretty good.

Sure it is not the same as the fast paced series like Battlestar Galactica however it is its own show that is taking its time in revealing all its secrets.

What I think the haters do not like is the fact the actors.....act. When they do it well they are very good however when they do it bad they are very very bad - the main baddie is very very bad.

Sometimes I think it is weird watching British TV shows as we are so used to the way Americans act - it takes a few episodes and it will probably not be for folk that want to see explosions in space but if you stick in there it really is a wee gem.

This show won't be for everyone, as you can see the reviews are either good or bad with very little middle range. Instead of giving you a hard- sci-fi show like BSG, BBC has gone with a reboot of humanity, showing what happens when people from the old world are set up on a new planet, able to create a Utopian society, but struggling with old world opinions and in some cases old world actions such as subterfuge and scheming. The arrival of new people to the planet shows how the old settlers who have learned to live in relative harmony are returned to all the pains and struggles of earth, and yet in every episode you can see as people try to overcome their old habits in turn for good.

If you're looking for something new that is still planting its main story plots and creating characters, you should at least give this a try. If you're looking for a British BSG, you should go elsewhere.

Well Outcasts has finished its first season and the odds of there being a second season are small. It started of slow, with to much story and with some cringe worthy dialogue. It has grown though and I think that by the end it had the making of a decent second season. People forget that the first season of ST:TNG was pretty awful and it grew into an extremely good series. These things take time and with the way the BBC is funded it is able to do so. Unfortunately I doubt the BBC will though. Fingers crossed I am wrong though.

The production values are quite good considering as is the special effects. The actors have grown into their character and I think the direction is good. My biggest problem is with some of the writing, I can understand what the writer was doing but some of the characters are just two dimensional and the dialogue and character conflicts don't help a lot of the time (a problem I also with New BST as well). I think the series would have been better received if there had been epic space battles and dog fights but the writer has been brave to try and go down a different route and in the end it just works. This is proper SF and should be applauded for it.

I do think 10 minutes could have been losted from most of the episodes and that would have helped with the pacing. Overall the series wasn't as bad as many have said and there could be much more. I also hate the fact that they have finished the series on a cliff hanger and hope that even if they don't do a second series they do a two hour special to finish it off.

I'm a lifelong sf fan. Note the sf, not syfy. So it's with a measure of regret that I call Felgercarb on any sf series, as I must on Outcasts. The ridiculous and often preachy writing in Outcasts seems to be the product of some angry feminist crossed with the politically correct bolviation of an EU bureaucrat, spliced onto every imaginable bad-science TV sf cliché (everything from plot-driven storms to starships that can never land as they're designed to).

And speaking of BSG, how wise BSG's Jamie Bamber was to smartly exit this turkey. Good on you Jamie, you made the most of your cartoonish bad guy character, making him the most interesting one in the whole series thus far and I hope you at least got a month's rent off the bozos producing this. Who knew the moral universe was cartoon black and white until we landed on the planet Carpathia.

The ancient Greeks had a term, aidos, which referred to a person's learned ability to admire that which is admirable. The wannabe sf writers of this series clearly have zero aidos as they copycat other stories, and thus they extrude the type of TV sf cliché which gives the genre such an undeserved bad name. Forget the soaring sf heights of Gene Wolfe or the clever twists of Philip K. Dick, these scribblers can't even ape JMS's Babylon 5 without missing the point (as I will demonstrate).

Let's begin with the series premise, which is a straight ripoff of the superior Earth 2 (1992). Except E2 had better actors and interesting characters, ideas and plot. Their dialogue was engaging, whereas consider the laugh-out-loud preachings of aptly-named series wallflower "Fleur," as in a supposedly tense confrontation between mortal enemies, where she channels STNG's counsellor Deanna Troy: "It was still wrong and you have every reason to feel angry...so please just let the hostages go." For all its histrionic attempts to create an atmosphere of menace or faux emotion, after four episodes Outcasts fails to elicit anything but an urge to use the fast forward.

I mentioned Babylon 5. Consider JMS's smart and deliberate use of spirituality and religion motifs, both human and alien, to produce complex characters in B5. Their spiritual motivations drove the entire story arc, and what sf fan didn't get sucked in by the details of Minbari faith, Vorlon spiritual tinkering, Narn prophecy or even Sheridan in quiet contemplation with a group of earth monks in Babylon 5's bowels. As JMS said, religion has *always* been a motivator of humanity, for better or worse. That's a lesson the writers of BSG (2003) also put to great use for both Cylons and humans. Alas in Outcasts, spirituality/religion is reduced to motivating a single cartoon hate-figure, a boring American-style Bible-thumper character with the most clichéd and base political motives and an unhealthy appetite for sweet young thangs, just to make sure you really, really hate him. He even gets an American accent and no redeeming qualities, just in case you missed the point. So are we going to see interesting use of spirituality or mysticism in this series, a la B5 or BSG? Don't think so.

Everything in the first four episodes - all the pablum I could endure - is derivative TV sf. Being derivative is not fatal in a series - LOST was derivative but quite creative in its recycling of ideas. But Outcasts is utterly juvenile in its use of nothing-but recycled ideas. This is a sure sign this series is going nowhere because the writers themselves don't have a clue, repeatedly demonstrating their shallow knowledge of human nature through the cartoon characters they bring to the story. Brideshead Revisited this ain't. Think instead Primeval, that other UK sf TV sausage which has been running the same cardboard characters formula in each episode going on four years. The other insufferable UK sf this is reminiscent of is last year's water-logged "The Deep," complete with long speeches to faces on monitors. It's sf for, and written by, the Ritalin generation.

In short, if you want to waste your time finding out this series is going nowhere because the author's minds have been, well, nowhere, then be my guest. If on the other hand you're an sf fan with a wish to spend your leisure more productively, break out your E-reader and put on some PK Dick or Gene Wolfe, or fire up some Babylon 5, BSG Reimagined, or Earth 2 reruns.

Everyone is being a tad harsh on this program, there is far worse tripe out there on TV. Seriously, go watch some of it. Or don't actually...

Anyways, whilst I felt this was a competent sci-fi drama with dazzlingly high production values including a rather sumptuous and lovely planet as well as thorough sets for the "Fort Haven", I do feel this is a lot of wasted potential.

Despite a promising premise, the last of Earth's survivors (Fleeing Earth following an unexplained cataclysm) forced to live out on a new world and re-build society and survive the planets harsh hazards, it mostly falls flat. Part of this comes from a bad sense of what to do with the concept...instead of watching the first wave of settlers start to build a settlement and the struggles for power and resources that entails, we come too late, they have a whole town going with electricity, law and order and even a gun ban. It's like we've missed the really good parts, you know, the compelling struggle, fighting and survival.

This further carries into the waste of the first episodes one truly compelling and intriguing character: Mitchell Hoban(Played by an excellent Jamie Bamber), a revolutionary with psychopathic tendencies who wishes to break away from bureaucracy and establish a new settlement free of government. Instead of letting him carry out his coup, establishing a new settlement and providing some much needed conflict for the series, he's killed off. In the first episode. And with his death, the series main point of interest is gone and I can't see it becoming compelling enough to pull in viewers for the rest of it's run.

It's a shame because on paper, a story about pioneering colonists who are torn over politics and resources, struggling to survive on a remote world with a good cast and high production values does indeed seem ripe for viewing. But the potential is wasted, sacrificed for safe tidy plots and a fear of going truly dark and interesting.

Not bad but not memorable or compelling past the first episodes decision to kill it's one genuinely interesting character. Shame. In the hands of someone better, it could have been an absolute classic.

So many stereotypes. So many clichés. So little thought. So badly written. Do these overpaid writers/producers/directors EVER watch any TV? I re-watched the Martian Chronicles on DVD recently. It was made in 1980. It's a little dated, the sets and special effects are ropey to say the least. But even that is far far superior to the garbage that is Outcasts. Not to mention the recent Sci-Fi masterpieces like Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. But someone already made the point, this really isn't sci-fi. It's a woefully written drama in the vein of casualty that just happens to be set on another planet. I really really wish I could opt out of the licence fee when I see it being wasted by people who don't have a clue.

This is plain awful, from the start (can't say to the finish because I only managed to force myself for the first 3 episodes). Everyone in the show makes bad efforts in acting, only one to get the "barely passing" grade is "Fleur" and MAYBE Jamie Bamber who seems to try and deliver on a bad script in the first episode.

This is mainly the work of the people casting the actors since they manage to give everyone roles they can't handle or are unfit of.

The script is so boring and unbelievable that you get no feeling or attachment to any of the characters or their story. There is no apparent plot-line and there is no exiting mix of characters, no nerds, no hard muscles guys, no it's-awesome-to-be-here guy, no one has any goals, everyone just acts like they are depressed and waiting to get a coffin measurement.

I was positively surprised seeing a Sci-Fi show from the UK ) with such a high production en par with Stargate Universe.

The show is slow at times but the title Outcasts surely fits very well after watching the first 2 episodes.

There are plenty of plot holes and bad dialogue but the high production with nice visuals make more than up for it.

I kept wondering where they filmed it while watching so I looked it up and was surprised it was filmed in South Africa.

As far as the plot goes: It opens up with a spaceship trying to contact humans while orbiting around an alien planet. We learn that people evacuated from earth and went to Carpathia, a planet not unlike the earth. There's a few thousand human settlers on Carpathia now and they do not get along with each other. There's essentially 2 factions: The people around the elected president and the more savage AC's (supposedly clones?). The show has a big environmental and utopian undertone questioning whether the settlers would repeat their mistakes they made on Earth.

I never liked Dr Who with it's slapstick ADD approach and aliens designed by Kindergartens' drawing class, so this show is very welcome.

Whilst seeing it as drama alone I would probably give it 2/10 but intermixed with Sci-Fi I give it 7.5/10 and am looking forward to episode 3:)

Interesting sounding plot...so badly executed it will go down in history as one of the most unintentionally funny shows ever. I'm reviewing this after having seen four episodes now, and the Beeb placing this in a new slot. BBC2, Sundays, 10.35PM.

Lets start with the plot. Earth is doomed, we've got to evacuate, find a planet, restart life, yada-yada, etc. Sounds good, if a tad clichéd. But... Evidently, someone on the writing team couldn't figure out *why*Earth was doomed. Or, got drunk the night before the plot and script was meant to be handed in, and improvised. As such, we are left with vague references to nuclear holocausts and climate change. There are also other plot features which are completely unexplained, leaving the audience completely perplexed as to what someone has just said. With the new plot that humans have been to the planet before, it appears things are finally getting interesting...but since poor reviews have caused the show to be moved to a new (obscure) slot, I doubt anyone will ever know how it ends.

The characters are annoying. Fleur in particular, spouting off (as someone has previously mentioned) hypocritical nonsense at every opportunity. For example, in the pilot (in an action that resulted in the death of the only likable character in the show) "Oh yes, killing is bad, we can live in a world without it. Oh, you seem to disagree with me" *BLAM* (To the deceased's son) "Uhm...your daddy had to..uhm...leave. Yes, thats it! Leave! No, I'm not kidnapping you..." None of the remaining characters have any redeeming features. You really do pray that something will result in their demise. Accidental weapon discharge. Falling space debris. Nuclear-powered murderous space hamsters, anything, so long as it gets rid of them.

SFX - the CGI isn't that bad. I've seen worse in multi-million dollar films. The guns though... Since we've only seen 2 guns fired, both (bright orange) Glocks, I assume that the rest are airsoft guns. The L85s/SA80s bare a striking resemblance to an ICS L85 I own, only sprayed white (perhaps the Beeb couldn't get around the replica gun laws, eh? ;) ) "Violence - is wrong. Unless someone has a valid argument against you, in which case, go ahead, slot 'em. Or, if they *might* be thinking something" - seems to be the whole script writers idea.

It was an interesting idea. But badly planned, written, directed and produced. By episode 4, despite the fact the most interesting character is dead - we finally seem to be getting to a good plot (humans have been here before!). But - this is 4 episodes in! 4, tedious, long episodes with characters you've wanted to see dead since the end of the pilot. I'm giving this 3/10. If it had been given to a better writing and production team, it may have been better. Alas, we're stuck with this.

I just watched the first two episodes on playback. you're all spot on. It really is utter tripe. I agree that there was a certain schadenfreude to be had from laughing AT it, well in episode one anyway. By episode two the joke had run dry and I was just bored. I mean where do you start with this tripe?

The actors are terrible. Even the good ones. In fairness how do you act clumsy and bungling lines of dialogue like "Your baby is very ill.. and if it doesn't get better soon... it's going to die" The rest is just meaningless techno drivel and insulting exposition.

On top of the incompetent script writer, the director is obviously inept too. He seems to have given them all the same subtext note before each scene "Remember you have a migraine and its pissing you off, action!" oh except for Hermione Norris who had an extra instruction of "Hermione you can smell burning s**t, action!" and Liam Cunningham who had the note "Liam you just really would rather be sleeping, you are so tired and bored oh and don't forget the migraine, action!"

I laughed out loud in the scene with the president (of what? the whole planet? or that bunker?) he is just stood in a corridor with his arms folded, and some faceless other character giving him a hard time, and he says "Look I haven't got time for these questions, okay!".. err you're just stood in an empty corridor staring at a wall, mate... Again the constant stream of feckless moments like this are not the actors fault. This is shoddy directing pure and simple. If you have a character saying he's busy, then you make him look busy!! Jesus! It's not brain surgery!!

other than two old timers looking very much like they have realised they are damaging their reputations every minute this c**p on screen, the rest of the 'younger' cast are just bottom of the barrel Hollyoaks and Holby City quality actors who are just happy to have a job on telly. They don't have the slightest idea how to deliver a performance for a genre piece like this.

The biggest problem of all though and the one that will bury this show is

THERE ISN'T A SINGLE LIKABLE CHARACTER... NOT ONE!

You literal despise every one of them and want them to die, know its worse, you DON'T CARE whether they live or die or not!

This is a rookie mistake for drama. Every good writer and director knows you need to root for at least one of the characters.

Where are the standards at the BBC now? is there anyone working there who has any experience in delivering quality drama? or is it just university graduates with a masters in accounting and media? you could weep to think about the salary of the person who commissioned this amateur hour mess

in the first 2 episodes they established quite clearly that if this is what remains of humans at this point in evolution, they all deserve to die.

the majority of the heroes are revealed to be murderers, Mengele-style monsters, sociopaths, psychopaths, and generally stupid...like box of hair dumb.

i spent 15 bucks for the right to witness an abortion that happened four years ago; the lack of a second season is no mystery to me. beyond the requisite plot holes, i cannot imagine that many people were able to connect emotionally with these characters. human frailties are one thing, but the only characters i have seen worth my investing any interest have been killed off in the same episode in which they first appear.

they tricked me with the guy who played Apollo in the Battlestar Galactica reboot in the pilot-- that one is on me! this has taught me that before purchasing ANY products from the sci-fi team at BBC/ITV/CBC i need to check the cast list here, to determine whether or not the actor(s) i am most interested in as a sign of relative quality have been used as a cameo in the furtherance of a Bait-and-Switch.

sad.

President of small colony of few surviving humans on friendly planet has most people employed cleaning weapons and spying each other. Wife keeps spying papers about her husband in their apartment for the husband to see. Violent husband kills his loving wife about nothing. Gunless security people shout at violent guy with gun instead of deescalating and have someone shot in the process. Security guy walks too relaxed behind violent husband and almost falls from a cliff on a wide wide path. Security people almost gets shot by shouting at violent husband again. Violent husband gets shot by extremely clever security people. People from another spacecraft arriving at planet start fixing temperature protection after five years of apparently doing nothing. On entry into the atmosphere huge spacecraft burns anyways - even after fixing things for almost a day.

It's actually quite remarkable, when you think about it, how homogenised writing for the BBC has become. One would expect different writers to have very different approaches to their work, and even if that wasn't that case, you'd expect them to mess around with their own work a bit and pull a few surprises on their audience.

The BBC must value totally imagination-free scripts then, to have allowed the production and vaunted release of Outcasts as it has. Other reviews have compared it to BSG unfavourably, but that does it the injustice of assuming it is actually science fiction. What Outcasts is, as far as I can make out from the first episode, is a BBC family drama incidentally set on an alien planet. One has to wonder at the spectacular idiocy of the producer who assumed this would work even after the damp squib of "Survivors" or the polished-but-shallow offering, The Deep. The only way you could tell the difference between those shows was often what background

You can tell it's following stock drama format because it has the same relentlessly cliché characters; the overbearing female toughie, the nice-but-dim assistant heavy type, the rough male psychopath, the supercilious government official, the "OXO mum" holding it together... I could go on. Once in a while you'd hope a writer for one of these shows would be wise enough to read his criticisms and do something about the totally flat level of innovation in UK television drama.

Science fiction should be the place to turn these things on their head especially, because by definition the audience is removed from any reality similar to theirs. Why can't we as an audience have a female lead who isn't constantly being strong and masculine, as if to prove some utterly denuded point that she can hack it with the boys? Why can't we have a character who can lead without routinely getting drunk on his own power, or a male character who is motivated by more than sex or money? No doubt our lead female character will automatically be the voice of reason by the end of the series.

You can only assume that the writers don't know they are writing to a template the audience already knows off by heart, and if that's true then it's really time for the BBC to pack it in and use the money to buy US shows we can actually watch.