‘The Ark:’ A Saga of Survival

Photo courtesy of Syfy Network

Last year I started watching “The Ark,” a TV show that was releasing one episode a week on the SyFy cable channel, which immediately throws the viewer into suspense as the crew of The Ark spaceship are abruptly woken up from cryo-sleep to find their craft falling apart.

The crew must get their ship repaired to survive a journey to a potentially habitable planet they were never supposed to be awake for.

Our protagonists discover that their ship’s leaders have all died in the incident that woke them up. Sharon Garnet, who soon becomes the acting captain, has to tell the remaining crew, “Everyone who was in charge of running this ship … are dead.”

The Ark is quickly running out of food and water. A decision needs to be made about what risks should be taken to improve the remaining crew’s chances of survival. But if those moves should backfire, it might take a coincidence of obscenely improbable magnitude to maintain even a remote chance of getting to their hoped-for destination.

The spaceship has left behind an ecologically devastated world and the desperation that was felt to leave Earth has created a corrupt crew-selection process that loaded it with individuals whose connections helped them get on board putting in a good word (even if they didn’t ask for it) or by deleting or falsifying data. Not everyone on The Ark is who they say they are. But to survive the crew will need to put aside the secrets they have kept from each other.

After about the fourth episode, the Syfy channel airing the series put up a paywall. So, until recently, I didn’t think I would be able to finish the series. Then I found it available at no charge on Kanopy, a streaming service available through the Multnomah County Library.

Now having finished the season, I would say the show is about the importance of collaboration in life, or in crisis, and not just being in it for yourself. For instance, one of the antagonists says, “What else would I do? It was me or them.” This is the idea I think this series aims to challenge.

The Ark has plenty of appeal to viewers, from potentially alien weapons, to radiant lust, and a mutiny, as well. Towards the end the series becomes about the wealthy visionaries who built the spacecraft, vying for control.

In sum, I rank The Ark along with the best of a teen sci-fi series, such as “The 100,” but not nearly as violent. If, like me, you haven’t outgrown the teen distopian era, The Ark is for you.

The Ark has been renewed for a second season and will be streamed on Peacock when it is released.