I.S.S. (2024)

There are times when this drama quite effectively illustrates the claustrophobic nature of life aboard the International Space station that is jointly manned by American and Russian scientists. The arrival of "Foster" (Ariana DeBose) brings the tally to three from each nation but very shortly afterwards it's apparent that things on Earth are no-good. What look like volcanic eruptions are occurring all over the place followed by complete radio silence. Well, almost complete. The Americans are given an order that they must assume their counterparts have been given too. What now ensues is a really mediocre sci-fi thriller that tries far too hard to manufacture tension from a misfiring cast and some serious over-scripting. DeBose does enough I suppose, but Chris Messina is his usual wooden self (even if there is a scene that just made me think of that famous line from Brian Blessed). The visual effects do enough but the characterisations are shallow and the plausibility of the entire scenario is dubious. Essentially two warring tribes cohabiting the same space-borne igloo. The denouement doesn't really make a great deal of sense, but I suppose it does ask us to test the relative merits of human nature and decency against the demands of national loyalty - especially when the benefits of either are ambiguous at best. It's not terrible, but I've seen better episodes of "Space 1999".