The Man Who Fell To Earth.

I like my sci-fi one of two ways:  Big, Loud and Intense or Interesting, Surprising and Respectful of the Genre.  Those capital letters are there because they mean something.  

I can forgive insane sci-fi physics and sounds travelling in a vacuum if the final product is fun to watch.  Star Wars is the obvious example.

I can forgive imperfect, minimal or simply non-existent effects if the story is serviced, acted and written well.  Orphan Black is this kind of sci-fi.

Some properties, like Star Trek or even Dune have one foot on either side of the fulcrum.

Enter a show that lives on the "Interesting, Surprising and Respectful of the Genre" side of the fulcrum.  I didn't even know about until it first aired.  I saw an article about "The Man Who Fell To Earth" and was intrigued enough to hunt it up.  If I had seen anything before that time about the show I must have dismissed it as being about the 1976 David Bowie film.  I had never seen it and nothing I had heard about it drew me to it.

By the end of the first episode of the new version of The Man Who Fell To Earth, that changed.  I hunted the movie up, too.

While you in no way actually need to see the Bowie film, it is a very interesting experience in and of itself.  It's a weird, often off-putting examination of what exposure to our society would do to a humanoid alien's psyche.  To describe it further is really tough as it feels something like a cross between an LSD trip and a prize winning student film.  Let's put it this way:  Actor Rip Torn (that's Agent Z from Men in Black, for context) and Bowie himself are seen full frontal and by the end of the movie that seems like the least weird thing that happened.  Yet, somehow for all its odd and disturbing, The Man Who Fell To Earth hangs together and ends up being Interesting, Surprising and Respectful of the Genre, even with the silver body suits.

What's neat about the tv series is that it's a sequel of sorts to that film without ever explicitly saying so or needing you to have seen the Bowie movie to be absolutely blown away by what they've done.

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the title character, Earth name "Faraday" who has come here to find his mentor, "Thomas Jerome Newton".  While Bill Nighy has been cast in the Newton role, it's not hard to imagine that the creators would have preferred the late David Bowie reprise the role.  Nighy sure plays him like you might imagine a Bowie-esque elderly alien.

This show revolves around Faraday's quest to bring cold fusion to us before we hit the environmental tipping point.  While the story isn't the most out of the box concept, Ejiofor's Faraday manages to be endearing, funny and heart wrenching.  "Imitate to integrate" is his go to move and it is a joy to watch.

Naomie Harris plays Justin Falls, a once promising scientist in the cold fusion field whose life has taken a hard left and finds herself swept up in Faraday's wake as he single mindedly pursues his goal.  Faraday's interactions with her and her family are astonishing, quirky and brilliantly done.  She is us, watching in fascination and horror as Faraday kicks over hornet's nests at every turn. 

It all hangs together as of three episodes into the 10 episode run.  I don't know if it's planned as an ongoing or one off series, but I'm in for however long they make 'em.

Interesting? Damn straight.

Surprising? Constantly.

Respectful of the Genre?  Definitely.  The cold fusion mcguffin looks, sounds, smells, tastes and feels legit.  They keep the effects minimal but bust 'em out with flare when they need 'em. 

It's simply the best sci-fi I have seen this year.