CGI doctored Franschoek

If you grew up in the seventies in the Boland in South Africa you may have thought it to be on a different planet. According to the BBC you where right. The flagship BBC sci-fi show, Outcasts was filmed in the Boland with some famous places, including Wemmershoek, standing in for a far off planet.

The basic premise of the show is very straightforward. 40 odd years in the future and the world is overpopulated. This leads to international tensions – sometimes with nuclear results. A worldwide volunteer organisation organisation sets up expeditionary settlements with ships filled with chosen settlers flying 5 to 10 years to habitable planets. The best and the brightest, that sort of thing – for the future of mankind.

One such outpost is Fort Haven, the main and only town on a planet called Carpathia. Strangely enough the vegetation and geography looked VERY familiar. That is because Carpathia is the Cape Boland and Fort Haven is Franschoek, (with the help of a CGI tweaking including a gigantic spaceship placed in the middle of the town).

The show was a bit of a hit-and-miss, doing some things right but some bits where just plain off. There are also all to obvious similarities with Galactica, the Emmy award winning US series.

Galactica, the first time around in the seventies, was an action serial. Week one the end of the world, week two pilots all have some fun adventures in a casino! The second time around it got serious – sci-fi used as a tool to allow for topics such as philosophy, morality and politics. So far it is the only series, which looked into and portrayed suicide bombing and its causes, by placing the protagonists in a situation where it seems their only logical opportunity to fight back! – Hence the critical acclaim for the drama.

There are a lot of character similarities and even a shared actor with Jamie Bamber, Galactica’s Lee Adama, also make an appearance.

Main Protagonists:
Politicians; President and Security chief. (Same as in Galactica but sexes are reversed)
Military; 2 Male and a female (Same as in Galactica)

Main Antagonists:
Human creation becoming a deadly enemy: ACs, genetically modified humans, as opposed to deadly robots in Galactica.
Traitor; Julius Berger instead of Galactica’s Gaius Baltar . ( Same as in Galactica they even have a shared Caesar’s name)
These two characters are superficially very similar. However Berger in Outcasts is a straight forward villain while James Callis acting in Galactica put layer on layer of vary human traits together to make one of the most interesting characters on television in decades. He did bad things but you still loved his character, flaws and all. You also never knew if you wouldn’t do exactly what he would do (would you sign an execution warrant if someone out a gun to your head?)

Topics are similar spiritual and philosophical questions connected to morality of survival and pressures on relationships in extreme conditions.
In short major elements felt like a watered down copy rather than something new and if we are going to be seeing a second series remains to be seen. This is a pity as the actors as a whole deserved a better vehicle.

If you live out there send me a mail if they are filming again?

Franschoek mountains

Wemmershoek dam