Defying Gravity

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Defying Gravity was a Science Fiction TV show set in 2052. In 2042 the US sent five astronauts to Mars including Maddux Donner and Ted Shaw. Only three of the astronauts came back. Now, ten years later, a mission is being mounted to go visit most (all?) of the planets in the solar system. We meet the people going on the mission just before the launch, and we follow them, and the ground control crew, while the mission is underway. The story of how the crew was chosen and trained is told in flashbacks to five years before the mission. And it seems not just the astronauts came back from Mars...

As far as science goes, it tries and mostly succeeds at being on the hard end of the scale, but the instant and crystal clear two-way communication with Earth even as they get to Venus is a big drag on that.

Notable in that it was co-developed by ABC, The BBC, CTV and ProSieben, meaning its country of origin is The USA/Canada/The UK/Germany.

Has nothing to do with the song from Wicked.


Tropes used in Defying Gravity include:
  • Artificial Gravity: The ship uses two forms; on the main deck it's magnetic Phlebotinum in their blood and clothes, but in the crew quarters it's caused by rotating arms creating centrifugal force.
  • Bad Dreams: In episode 7 ("Fear"), most of the cast. Not actually dreams, but hallucinations, which serve the same effect of showing other sides to a bunch of fairly stoic characters.
  • The Bet: whether or not any of the guys will be able to get it up while on HALO libido suppressors.
  • Captain Ersatz: Jen and Ted in pseudo-Star Trek Vulcan costumes on Halloween.
  • Celebrity Endorsement: The candy commercial was going to be this, until the astronauts started hallucinating.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Wass
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Zoe on Halloween. Also Evram, the ship's doctor, has an alcohol problem.
  • Dueling Shows: With the mostly-unproduced Virtuality.
  • Fake Video Camera View
  • Fan Service: Loaded.
  • Fictional Counterpart: To an extent, the ISO to NASA and the ESA.
  • Flash Back: So far used in every episode, usually to 5 years ago.
  • Flashback Echo: See above; events in the present parallel those in the past.
  • Foe Yay: Paula and Wass
  • Fridge Brilliance: Why do we have FTL communication in an otherwise fairly hard Sci-Fi show? The Alpha and Beta objects when they're first detected communicate using some sort of FTL radio, their communication is picked up by radio telescope scientist types, and there's clearly no communication lag. From studying the communication and the Beta object FTL telecomms is born.
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Zoe doesn't, but gets punished with a hysterectomy anyway. Not to mention the phantom baby crying Beta makes her hear all the time now. Classy.
  • Hollywood Global Warming : On Episode 5, "Rubicon," characters remember when the Great Barrier Reef "used to be underwater," and regret that it is no longer underwater because of global warming. Problem: If there is global warming, ice caps melt and ocean levels RISE. The only way the ocean levels would have dropped enough to expose the Reef would be for the Earth to be in an ice age with extensive glaciation.
    • They do mention later that Canaveral is underwater. Although it's still launching probes to Venus apparently.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: Done when Paula loses her thumb. Blood droplets fly all over and have to be vacuumed up, though.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: The hidden purpose of the mission, to unite the Beta object with objects Alpha, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta
  • Hallucinations: And how!
  • Halloween Episode: "Fear"
  • Hands-On Approach: Donner teaching Zoe how to throw darts in episode 11.
  • Happily Married: Jen and Rollie and Ted and Eve are married couples.
  • Hollywood Economics: In order for the space program to get ten billion in funding For Science!, the Antares crew is supposed to do a candy commercial from space. There's no indication of Ridiculous Future Inflation, so how could it possibly be worth that much?
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Rollie says this regarding him not telling Jen about Beta.
  • In Space Everyone Can See Your Face
  • Latex Space Suit : The EV suits. The actual suit for moving around on Venus is still a Michelin Man design, though.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility: done to Zoe and Donner, the latter of whom thought his vasectomy was still working.
  • Long-Distance Relationship: The Antares mission splits up three couples - Jen and Rollie, Ted and Eve, and Evram and Claire. Unfortunately for their spouses back on earth, Jen and Ted used to be a couple, and will now be spending six years together in close quarters.
  • Narrator: Donner
  • New Age Retro Hippie: Zoe's mother
  • Powers That Be: "Beta," whatever that is, appears to be subtly manipulating the space program, and decides who gets to go on the mission and who doesn't.
  • Recycled in Space: The show was promoted as 'Grey's Anatomy in space'. The show's creator figured that scared off sci-fi fans. It certainly was inaccurate; very little sex actually happens, and the issue is dealt with a lot more seriously.
  • Screwed by the Network: ABC knew they were going to buy the show. The creators knew they were going to buy the show. They still waited until three weeks before the launch, and barely advertised it. To quote the creator;

ABC, I think, in their own way, were trying to kill it.

  • Spy Speak: "H2IK" translates into "hell if I know."
  • The Stoic: Donner and Shaw post-Mars.
  • Subspace Ansible: The only explanation for why the people on the Antares would still be able to speak with Earth instantaneously. It feels out of place in a series that's trying to be relatively realistic.
  • Survival Mantra: "six sick slick slim sycamore saplings"
  • Tarot Motifs
  • Training from Hell: done in "Love, Honor, Obey" (especially using Electric Torture) to get the candidates to follow orders without asking lots of questions or when they disagree.
  • UST: Zoe and Donner
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: when Paula suddenly gets sick during a briefing, we get a shot of her puke flying across the room due to the zero-g.
  • What Could Have Been: It apparently fell victim to ABC internal politics, but it had been planned out for 5 seasons, sketched out in an interview with the showrunner. Among other things, Goss would side with them and be less of a dick after discovering a conspiracy on Earth whose objective was to have the ship collect the objects, then blow them and it up so the objects wouldn't disrupt the power structure.
  • Zero-G Spot: Done with the Cranes in the pilot.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Defying_Gravity?oldid=1981112"