Outcasts

Outcasts is a British SF show broadcast by The BBC in 2011, produced in collaboration with South African and German partners.

The series is about a group of colonists attempting to survive on a planet called "Carpathia", after Earth got nuked in World War III, which apparently was caused by a major confrontation between the USA and China over Taiwan. The hardness of the SF steadily decreases over the series. The initial tension develops from disputes among the humans about the best way of surviving and organising, with the majority of the colonists, led by President Tate, wanting to set up a stable community, and the military Expeditionaries, led by Mitchell Hoban, wanting to strike out further into unknown territory. But there are even more serious tensions between the standard-issue humans and the "Advanced Cultivars", genetically-engineered humans created to have a greater chance of surviving hostile environments. And there is also the question of whether the planet really is uninhabited by sentient life.

While the show has attracted some fans, it received some strongly negative responses from other SF fan commentators, and generally hostile reactions from the mainstream press reviewers. From the sixth episode on, it was moved from its original weekday primetime slot to a desultory Sunday late-evening slot, suggesting that the BBC had pretty much given up on it. A second season looks unlikely was not commissioned.

Tropes used in Outcasts include:
  • Action Girl: Fleur, who shows no hesitation in shooting people or chasing down suspects.
  • Action Mom: Josie Hunter definitely qualifies.
    • Stella's capable of being one, as we see in episode 5, but she's really more of the cerebral sort.
  • The Atoner: Cass.
  • Benevolent Boss: Tate tries to be this. He doesn't quite succeed. Stella more or less hits it, though, as long as you don't cross her.
  • Bio Augmentation: Of both the physical and mental kind.
  • Bratty Teenage Daughter: Lily, right down to the sulking and stealing for attention.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: Tipper, a self-described child prodigy. He's apparently the only one on Carpathia who can solve complex math formulae and equations.
  • Came Back Wrong: Josie Hunter, in episode 6, with a side of Cloning Blues.
  • Canine Companion: Pak's dog ( whatever it was).
  • Colony Drop: Possibly what's about to happen 2 seconds after the final credits roll, as a massive landing craft blindly heads straight for Forthaven.
    • More likely it was a troopship carrying an occupation force.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: PAS officers wear blue, XP's wear white/brown. You can tell Berger is evil because he tends to wear pinks and purples.
  • Cozy Catastrophe
  • Cowboy Cop: Cass, frequently. Although his lapses from the rulebook are often motivated by believing in the innocence of someone who his bosses think needs to be locked up.
    • Jack is bordering on a dangerous example of this. His ordering the assassination of Rudy just may be his Moral Event Horizon.
      • He does all right in the end, though, when he stops Berger, using his power as interim president.
  • Curse Cut Short: From the pilot-

Tipper: I'm the voice of liberty.
Cass: Well, I'm the voice of f-
Stella: Deep brain visualization, have you heard of it, Tipper?

    This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.