Defying Gravity

Network: ABC
Episodes: 13 but five didn’t air (hour)
Seasons: One

TV show dates: August 2, 2009 — September 13, 2009
Series status: Cancelled

Performers include: Andrew Airlie, Christina Cox, Zahf Paroo, Ron Livingston, Laura Harris, Karen LeBlanc, William C. Vaughan, Malik Yoba, Paula Garces, Florentine Lahme, Eyal Podell, Dylan Taylor, Ty Olsson, Maxim Roy, Peter Howitt, and Lara Gilchrist.

TV show description:
In the not-too-distant future, eight astronauts from five countries (four women and four men) undertake a mysterious international space mission that covers billions of miles.

Years ago, Maddux Donner (Ron Livingston) and Ted Shaw (Malik Yoba) were once part of a mission to Mars. When a storm prevented their teammates from returning in time for the mission’s space module to be able to return home, Mission Commander Mike Goss (Andrew Airlie) on Earth gave the order to leave without them. Donner reluctantly agreed and sentenced the others to death on the Mars surface.

A decade later, Donner and Shaw are alternates on the Antares mission, a six-year journey to the other seven planets in the solar system. They get a second shot after the mission’s commander, Rollie Crane (Ty Olsson), and flight engineer, Ajay Sharma (Zahf Paroo), mysteriously develop heart murmurs and must be sent home. Neither is happy about the development. Rollie begrudgingly leaves behind his wife Jen (Christina Cox), a biologist who was once romantically involved with Shaw. Meanwhile, Ajay has a nervous breakdown and ruins his future prospects as an astronaut.

Despite their good fortune, things aren’t all rosey for Donner and Shaw. Donner has visions of his former girlfriend, ship’s geologist Zoe Barnes (Laura Harris), falling naked out of an airlock. Shaw learns from his wife, Mission Control scientist Eve (Karen LeBlanc), that there’s a lot more to this mission than they know.

The rest of the Antares crew includes sexy and aggressive pilot Nadia Schilling (Florentine Lahme); the alcoholic medical officer, Evram Mintz (Eyal Podell); Steve Wassenfelder (Dylan Taylor), a theoretical physicist who’s mostly interested in comics and porn; and Paula Morales (Paula Garces), a teacher who’s filming a documentary for her students on Earth.

Every aspect of the eight astronauts’ lives on the ship are being monitored and scrutinized back home by Goss and flight surgeon Claire Dereux (Maxim Roy). He’s leading the mysterious agenda and she stumbles upon the truth about the mission.

Flashbacks to the astronauts’ training days help to fill in their backgrounds and motivations. As the crew gets further and further into their mission, it becomes apparent to all of them that the mission is not what it seems. A series of strange events leaves them struggling to survive while the people of Earth watch their every move.