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I've been watching an interstellar "soap opera". This is not a "space opera". Space operas can be great science fiction. No... the show I've been watching is science fiction, and it's set in space like a "space opera," but it's a "soap". By that I mean it's focused on melodramatic human relationships with lightweight romance, backstabbing for social power, and --yes-- evil twins (actually an evil "clone" but even that was done first by daytime soap operas). It's also, like most soap operas, dependent on a bottom-of-the-barrel, cut-rate cast. Uniquely, many of these cheap cast members have Serbian accents (significant production was done in Serbia).

Have I built it up too much? Does it sound just wonderful? Heh. Honestly, like any soap opera, it can be compelling, and this one is loaded with plot twists. I'm watching, and I keep going back. But I'm not recommending it. It's called "The Ark". The 50% rating it has on rottentomatoes is about right.

Like any pop culture product with a link to astronomy in it, I look for useful connections to real science. When a Star Trek (TNG) episode mentions a plague on a planet orbiting Cor Caroli (the bright star just below the handle of the Big Dipper, which is --somewhat bizarrely-- named after King Charles of Britain), I can use that to start a conversation. And in "The Ark", there are a few of these little baubles of real science. For example, the "ark" ship is bound for "Proxima B" and though they have not yet said "Proxima Centauri", it's strongly implied. Another episode mentioned a different ark possibly on its way to Ross 128 B, which is real --a recently discovered planet orbiting the faint star Ross 128, which is visually near the star "Zavijava" in Virgo. And finally to my point, they displayed a pointless, but amusing, star map in a recent episode, as attached below. You can make out very basic renderings of some familiar constellations, and some classic navigation stars are displayed including Hamal, Diphda, Fomalhaut, and Altair. Do you recognize the constellation Capricornus down on the lower right? The connecting lines may make it unrecognizable. I believe these unusual constellation patterns are due originally to artist/cartoonist H.A. Rey and his book published in the early 1950s. If that's right, this is the first time I've seen them in pop culture.

"The Ark" is really quite childish on science and math unfortunately --which may be intentional for its target audience. In a recent episode, a nerdy male character worked a math problem in his head, and his maybe-girlfriend swooned. The math problem? What is 60 multiplied by 30. Ooooooh... what a genius he is! And of course, since it's "the ark", it also has a DNA archive, including one sample for "the butterfly". The butterfly?? What child watching this is not aware that there are thousands of species of butterfly?! But hey, the ark has one. Monarch butterfly? Swallowtail butterfly?? No. It's THE butterfly. :)

Frank Reed

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