The Ark is a perfect throwback to an era when science fiction didn’t have to be so serious
Over the last few years, space epics have dominated streaming and the small screen. Shows like The vastness, For all humanityAnd Foundation have won awards, sparked deep conversations, and turned sci-fi fans from skeptics. Building on the legacy of previous series like the critically acclaimed 2004 reboot of Battlestar GalacticaThese space operas prove that science fiction can also be prestige television.
But science fiction can also be trash (for free), and if that’s what you’re looking for, The Ark delivers. Unlike the recent string of dramatic space operas, the Syfy show brings the camp, the humor and the hokeyness. Currently in its second season, The Ark fills a void in the current landscape of silver screen science fiction, harking back to a time when the genre wasn’t afraid to laugh at itself.
In a story as old as Star Trek, The Ark follows a ship carrying human refugees from a future uninhabitable Earth who unexpectedly awaken in flight and must work together to reach their destination: planet Proxima b. Everyone in the core crew fits perfectly into a sci-fi archetype: there’s the level-headed, no-nonsense captain, Sharon Garnet; the right-hand woman, Lt. Spencer Lane; the wisecracking pilot, Lt. James Brice; the geeky girl, Alicia Nevins; the guy who knows how to grow food in space, Angus Medford; the overworked doctor, Sanjivni Kabir; the head of security who’s a secret softie, Felix Strickland; and the savant engineer with something to hide, Eva Markovic. Together, they solve many horrific malfunctions on the ship, uncover secrets about what happened to humanity during the crew’s suspended stasis, and discover that they’re not the only ones who escaped into space.
The Ark‘s showrunners, Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner, are no strangers to science fiction. Devlin wrote and produced Stargateand Glassner created Stargate SG-1 besides writing for Star Trek: Voyager And The Outer BordersSo it’s no surprise that The Ark uses every sci-fi trope in the book. But it feels fresh in the way it modernizes the sensibilities of the past (the cast is diverse, with queer characters whose queerness is just a fact, not a storyline) and in how unafraid it is to be lighthearted. It’s throwback fun, and it all works; instead of feeling stale, the series is familiar and comforting. In a 2023 Syfy Wire InterviewDevlin confirms: “If you love real classic science fiction, the kind of stuff that Jonathan and I fell in love with, our show is a love letter to those kinds of shows.” The ArkYou know exactly what to expect, and that’s part of the appeal.
Part of the show’s success is that it sticks to a tried-and-true formula: Each episode begins with a cliché sci-fi problem for the crew to solve. (Oh no! Everyone on the ship is hallucinating! Oh no, someone’s stuck in the airlock!) Our heroes solve the mystery and find a solution in the last five minutes of the episode. (The crew accidentally drank contaminated water! Tech-savvy Alicia opened the airlock doors!) And then, in the final 30 seconds, a new mystery is introduced, ending the episode on a cliffhanger. (A new ship just shot into the sky!) The Ark always leaves viewers hungry for more.
The show does occasionally veer into “so bad it’s good” territory. The theme music is comically cheerful. The acting is anywhere from okay to hilariously bad. And some plot points literally made me laugh out loud — a big reveal in season 1 is that a major character has a disease called “Klampkins.” But mostly, the show is Goodjust a different kind of good than its more self-aware cousins.
The Ark is fundamentally optimistic in a way that many contemporary sci-fi epics aren’t. The point of this show is human connection, not necessarily deep, existential exploration. And it does that very well, particularly in Season 2. In Episode 4, “The Other You,” the crew of Ark-1 encounters an alternate reality in which viewers meet multiple versions of the main characters. “Parallel universe” episodes in science fiction are usually fertile ground for exploring heavy themes, but not for The Ark. The writers play the alternate-reality scenario for laughs (despite a heartbreaking performance from Christie Burke, who plays Captain Garnet), and the episode is a fun adventure, not a self-destructive crisis. Will the alternate universe ever come up again? Probably not, and that’s okay! In the 2023 Syfy Wire interview, Glassner speaks to the show’s optimism: “What’s the point of fighting for your life if your life isn’t fun or good anyway? I think that’s kind of the attitude that our characters have.”
The Ark‘s magical combination of a great formula, lightness and hokeyness keeps bringing people back. The first season reached 6.5 million viewerssuggesting that while the show’s critically acclaimed counterparts can certainly draw in audiences, sci-fi fans are also hungry for a show that’s just a silly time. If you’re looking for a new sci-fi show with intricate world-building that challenges your point of view, The Ark it isn’t. But if you want a series that is delightfully devoid of big surprises and that will make you laugh and scream at the screen, The Ark could just become your new favorite series.
The Ark is now streaming on Peacock.