Line #5 Series/DefyingGravity


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3	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Defying_Gravity_1589.png]]
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5	''Defying Gravity'' is a ScienceFiction TV show from 2009 set in 2052. In 2042 the US sent five astronauts to Mars including Maddux Donner and Ted Shaw. [[DarkAndTroubledPast Only three of the astronauts came back.]] Now, 10 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 5 years before the mission. And it seems not ''just'' the astronauts came back from Mars...
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7	As far as science goes, it tries and mostly succeeds at being a hard science fiction, but the instant and crystal clear two way communication with Earth even as they get to Venus is a big drag on that.
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9	Notable in that it was co-developed by ABC, Creator/TheBBC, CTV and [=ProSieben=], meaning its country of origin is [[InternationalCoproduction The USA/Canada/The UK/Germany]].
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11	Has nothing to do with the ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' song.
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14	!!This show has examples of the following tropes:
15	* AbortionFalloutDrama: Zoe has a one-night stand with Maddux and gets pregnant. Jen puts her in contact with a dealer, who supplies Zoe with a pill for a chemical termination (abortion is illegal in the States at this point, even though Jen believes that it's only a matter of time before the law is overturned). The pill ends up nearly killing Zoe, and she's rushed to the hospital for a hysterectomy (meaning no more kids, ever). Despite this, she remains in the space program and ends up on the ''Antares'' mission. On the ship, though, she starts hearing a baby cry, eventually revealed to be a [[spoiler:hallucination created by the Beta object in one of the holds]]. The ultimate end for all this is finally revealed in the season finale (also the end of the show), where Zoe starts having full-blown hallucinations about [[spoiler:Gamma]] being her baby, causing her to risk her life bringing it back to the ship and Maddux refusing to leave her behind after finally putting the pieces together.
16	* ArtificialGravity: The ship uses two forms; on the main deck it's magnetic materials in their blood and clothes, but in the crew quarters it's caused by rotating arms creating centrifugal force.
17	* BadassIsraeli: Evram is a former IDF combat medic
18	* TheBet: Whether or not any of the guys will be able to get it up while on HALO libido suppressors. [[spoiler: Ajay is able to manage it after one look at Nadia in her underwear.]]
19	%%* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Beta in spades.
20	%%* BollywoodNerd: Ajay.
21	* CaptainErsatz: Jen and Ted in pseudo-''Franchise/StarTrek'' Vulcan costumes on Halloween.
22	* CelebrityEndorsement: The candy commercial was going to be this, until the astronauts started hallucinating.
23	* ClingyMacguffin: The baseball for Donner, who gives it up twice only for it to come back to him. [[spoiler: He eventually chucks it out the airlock]]
24	* CrapsackWorld: Further seasons would have expanded to show that the Earth had become this. In the first season, this is mostly shown by having the major criticism of the Antares mission being that it's a waste of tax dollars that could be used to fix various world crises.
25	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Wass.
26	* DrowningMySorrows: Zoe on Halloween. Also Evram, the ship's doctor, has an alcohol problem.
27	%%* DuelingShows: With Virtuality.
28	%%* FakeVideoCameraView
29	%%* {{Fanservice}}: Loaded.
30	* FictionalCounterpart: To an extent, the ISO to NASA and the ESA.
31	%%* {{Flashback}}: So far used in every episode, usually to 5 years ago.
32	* FlashbackEcho: See above; events in the present parallel those in the past.
33	* GlobalWarming:
34	** In 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.
35	** They do mention later that Canaveral is underwater. Although it's still launching probes to Venus apparently.
36	* GoryDiscretionShot: Done when [[spoiler: Paula loses her thumb]]. Blood droplets fly all over and have to be vacuumed up, though.
37	* GottaCatchThemAll: The hidden purpose of the mission, to [[spoiler: unite the Beta object with objects Alpha, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta.]]
38	%%* {{Hallucinations}}: And how!
39	%%* HalloweenEpisode: "Fear"
40	%%* HandsOnApproach: Donner teaching Zoe how to throw darts in episode 11.
41	* HappilyMarried: Jen and Rollie and Ted and Eve are married couples.
42	* HeroicBSOD: Evram has occasional PTSD flashbacks to his inability to save a Palestinian schoolgirl who was killed in an airstrike [[spoiler: that he called in]] when he was a combat medic.
43	* HollywoodEconomics: In order for the space program to get ten billion in funding ForScience, the Antares crew is supposed to do a candy commercial from space. There's no indication of RidiculousFutureInflation, so how could it possibly be worth that much?
44	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Rollie says this regarding him not telling Jen about Beta.
45	%%* InSpaceEveryoneCanSeeYourFace
46	* ItsAllAboutMe: Donner's reaction to [[spoiler: Zoe leaving after being cut from the program]], even after being told the real reason multiple times and even agreeing that he wouldn't stay in that situation either. He ''still'' tries to make it all about ''his'' failures and his "rule".
47	* JerkAss: Goss, both in general and in the backstory. [[spoiler: He suppressed footage and made it look like a transmission failed to hide the fact that he, and not Ted and Donner, panicked on the Mars mission]]
48	* LatexSpaceSuit : The EV suits. The actual suit for moving around on Venus is still a ''Michelin Man'' design, though.
49	* LawOfInverseFertility: Done to Zoe and Donner, the latter of whom [[ButICantBePregnant thought his vasectomy was still working.]]
50	* LongDistanceRelationship: 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.
51	** Claire and Evram and Ted and Eve seem to be able to deal relatively well with this, but both Rollie and Jen start to go a little crazy without each other
52	* MyGreatestFailure: The Palestinian girl for Evram, leaving the astronauts on Mars for Donner and Ted, the abortion for Zoe.
53	%%* {{Narrator}}: Donner.
54	%%* NewAgeRetroHippie: Zoe's mother.
55	* OddFriendship: "Odd" does not even begin to describe the relationship between Wass and Paula.
56	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: {{Averted}}, as Paula is an ''extremely'' devout Catholic, Ajay is a Hindu, and Ted was raised Buddhist. Zoe's mother also has various New Age-y beliefs, which her daughter thinks are nonsense.
57	** Paula becomes an even more explicit aversion as the story goes along: [[spoiler: she believes Beta is the messenger of God.]]
58	* PowersThatBe: "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.
59	* RecycledInSpace: The show was promoted as 'Series/GreysAnatomy 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 [[spoiler: especially when it resulted in an unplanned pregnancy and traumatic abortion]].
60	* SpySpeak: "[=H2IK=]" translates into "Hell if I know." Donner is able to use it in order to signal Ajay to help him out with a piece of science he doesn't know; later on Ajay is able to communicate that he doesn't know what the problem is with Antares to Donner without Goss realizing it.
61	%%* TheStoic: Donner and Shaw post-Mars.
62	* SubspaceAnsible: 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.
63	* SurvivalMantra: "Six sick slick slim sycamore saplings."
64	%%* TarotMotifs
65	* TrainingFromHell: Done in "Love, Honor, Obey" (especially using ElectricTorture) to get the candidates to follow orders without asking lots of questions or when they disagree.
66	%%* {{UST}}: Zoe and Donner.
67	* VomitIndiscretionShot: When Paula suddenly gets sick during a briefing, we get a shot of her puke flying across the room due to the zero-g.
68	%%* ZeroGSpot: Done with the Cranes in the pilot.

Context Series / DefyingGravity