Nightflyers (TV Series 2018) Poster

(2018)

User Reviews

Review this title
490 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
6/10
Not as bad as some people make it out to be, but not much better either. Requires you to suspend your disbelief significantly
Nekravol6 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
So the year is 2093 and apparently the Earth is dying and humanity is looking at extinction. We've started setting up colonies on the Moon but it's taking too long. An object of alien origin is then detected outside the Solar System and a colony ship departs to meet the aliens with the hopes of saving humanity.

So far so good. It is implied multiple times how important this is and how high the stakes are. But for some reason it seems like the crew of the ship has been randomly picked from some angry mob on the street. They are trapped in a tube floating through space where the only thing standing between them and a cold death is some few inches of steel. But instead of thinking things through and acting accordingly, they start throwing fits and going on witch hunts. Their behavior is entirely unprofessional and just doesn't make sense in the context of things.

Some backstory would have been nice as well. I get that they want to slowly reveal information about the characters in the process. However, the action starts immediately and without knowing anything about anyone, you don't really care what happens to them at all. World-building is non-existent.

I have quite a lot of gripes, like the psychic kid being a jerk to everyone because "society is bad to me", or the inconsistent gravity on the ship, which relates to the lack of any world-building, but I'll try to put these behind me for now.

As I said, it's not all bad. The visuals are good, the ship looks cool, and the story does hold an air of mystery and seems interesting enough. There are some redeeming qualities. But it requires you to overlook the flaws of the how and I can see how some people may find this hard to do. It's understandable.

One has to wonder though if SyFy canceled the absolutely stellar "The Expanse" in favor of this show. Perhaps they wanted a piece of the George R. R. Martin cake and axed their most successful series in a long time. If that's the case, then I'll tell them it was not worth it. At all.
351 out of 416 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
IQ Must Have Dropped By 2093
rhqb-6189515 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I'll start off by saying the show has a cool concept and despite its glaring flaws it is entertaining. It's weird, suspenseful and the visual effects are really good. If you like sci-fi and horror give it a shot. But I have to rant about some seriously deep flaws about what happens in the show. Flaws that make you want to bang your head against a wall because things that happen in the show would NEVER happen if this mission actually took place in reality. Let me set the scene. The mission is for the crew of the Nightflyer to make first contact with an alien race in hopes they can share technology that could save a dying earth (because what would a futuristic sci-fi show be without the setting of humans destroying the earth...). My point is this is obviously the most important moment in human history if successful. So what do they do? First of all, they bring a homicidal telepath on the ship. What could go wrong there? There is no ground control because who needs that on such an important mission. The ship nearly crashes the moment they try to leave earth due to a malfunction but instead of postponing to see what went wrong while still in reach of earths full technical resources they just ignore it and blast away anyway. I mean why fix the flat tire in the driveway when you can fix it on the highway... which brings me to my next point, maintenance on the ship is horrible! There is literally leaking flammable liquid pouring out all over the place and no one seems to give a flip. In fact it's so ordinary they just stand in it, go about their business and never give it a second thought. That's like having the makers of the Yugo build the space shuttle. Makes total sense to me. The showers on board are actually giant tubes that's completely immerse the person in water while the person in it breaths through a mask. Did I mention Hudini built the showers? That's right, there is no emergency release mechanism because who needs that if something goes wrong. Then there's the crew. Apparently not one of them trained for the mission. In fact I bet all they had to do to join this mission was have a pulse and put the round peg through the round hole. Congrats! You get to go on the most important space endeavor in human history. The sharpest of rusty dull knives in the box. You're telling me these people are earths finest? The elite of the elite out of what I'm sure is 15 billion people by that point? Come on. Oh then the telepath escapes but none of the 10,000 cameras on the ship can find him or sees who let him out. The captain of the ship never leaves his private room by the way. Literally no one on board has ever seen him in person. Standard operating procedure and no cause for concern there. Here's the best part, this is just the episode 1 recap. So if you're a technical sci-fi viewer that likes a bit of truth and realism in shows then you are going to hate Nightflyers. But if you have the ability to set that aside and just know that really stupid decisions will be made and that most things will not make sense when compared to realistic sci-fi shows then you might enjoy the show and find it entertaining.
182 out of 229 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
All over the place
marx-hendrik19 December 2018
The show starts okay and the general themes are interesting, but as it goes on it gets worse and worse. The crew makes no sense at all. People don't communicate with each other or act logically and of course everything goes wrong because of it. Later there is a lot of filler. Lots of logical inconsistencies where the show breaks rules it had established before. Sometimes characters tell others what happened wrong. This just seems like scenes were filmed out of order and messed up in editing or something. The way computers work of course makes no sense either, but I guess this is a minor gripe at this point.

So why still 6 stars? Because I think for all its flaws it was still extremely watchable. If only to get the solutions to the mysteries. I do not regret watching it, though I will not watch it ever again or a season 2 of it.
86 out of 110 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Was a "7" after episode 1, a "zero" after watching the series.
rsvp32115 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Everyone's either selfishly motivated or incompetent.

*No* likeable characters! *Terrible* c-list actors, directors, and script adaptation writers.

Mixed up plots, and irrational behavior.

Encountering an alien life form, and everyone, from the ship's Captain to crew, go for long personal walks, literally gone from their posts and no one questions them.

A bad guy badly wounded crawling towards his victim, and instead of the victim finishing him off with the electric saw in her hand or just walking away, she kills herself lol!

Not answered in the finale, but I hope the alien digests everyone as food. Unfortunately, this idiot crew is going to give it bad farts.
206 out of 309 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Recognizable - but don't trust the reviews
ozfunghi5 February 2019
It's not the most original story. It borrows heavily from Solaris, 2001, Star Trek, Sunshine, Strange Days, The Abyss... But the hate it gets is pretty ROFL worthy. I didn't understand why at first, until i understood that this series replaced the ultimately forgettable (yet seemingly more popular) "The Expanse". I love Sci-Fi, but honestly, all the reviews rating this below 5, you can just disregard them. IMDB should stop letting every opiniated crybaby write a review and figure out a way to filter out the petty fanboy drivel. It also seems a lot of these people did not watch the show, like they claimed to have, since they are bringing up issues, which are actually explained in the story. But as it stands, Nightflyers is rated a lot lower than shows many times worse, such as Killjoys, Dark Matter or Continuum and other cheesefests. This show is leagues better than those, yet gets rated a lot worse.

Back to the show. The setting works, eventhough it's not original (as stated above), characters and performances are better than most sci-fi series, there is enough mystery, to keep you interested without dragging it all out (like The Expanse). There are a few things that don't make sense, but ultimately don't detract from the experience, unless you have set your bar to the standard of the absolute best shows of the past few decades. If you let those things bother you, then you can stop watching about 95% of movies and shows all together.

It's a well made show, i enjoyed watching it, but does not break any new ground. If you liked the movies/shows i mentioned earlier, and wouldn't mind a "light-synthesis" version of those (content & storywise), then you might very well enjoy this.
91 out of 150 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
In space, no one can hear you be an idiot
heatsink987 December 2018
Chock full of dumb characters making dumb decisions, NIGHTFLYERS aims to go where no one has gone before...in making us want to pull our hair out.

The mission: an intrepid group of explorers has set out from Europa to rendezvous with an alien craft in space. You'd think a mission of this importance would require a crew of top-notch scientists and seasoned spacefarers. Not here. We get a crew of ding-dongs who wouldn't pass a psych eval. Add in a belligerent tool of a telepath whose sole job--wait for it--is to communicate in a friendly manner with the aliens, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Not long after launch, the mission goes sideways with weirdness. The captain knows all along why this is happening. Does he do anything about it? Say anything? Perform any corrective action? Nope. He pretends like he's ignorant instead of heading back to port because reasons. Oh, and the series opens with a murdery death scene far into the story that wipes out any worry for the characters shown because we know how they end up. Yay.
473 out of 603 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Strange, different and thrilling
saschamuelhausen15 February 2019
Strange mash up of horror, sci fi, psycho thriller and matrix kind of elements... some parts reminded me of event horizon... I liked the characters a lot
18 out of 26 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
Stupidity driven plot
steve_batten18 February 2019
Most of the characters do stupid things to drive the plot along. Similar to Prometheus or the other recent Alien movies, a crew that should never be allowed out without adult supervision!
62 out of 80 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Glad I didn't listen to these reviews
ben-harbak10 February 2019
You ever come across a show you're really enjoying, come onto IMDb to look up the cast and find it has a 6/10 average with a ton of 1/10, 4/10, etc reviews? That's what happened with Nightflyers. This show has a great mix of suspense, horror, mystery, and science fiction. The sound design is absolutely wonderful (I'd recommend watching with headphones for something different), and the performances are engaging and on point. I'm not exactly sure what most people were expecting (George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones in space or Asimov/Asher level hard sci-fi?), but this is a damned decent show. Perfect? Far from it. But it's an odd, multilayered and entertaining sci-fi show - far from deserving of these silly, pretentious 4/10 reviews.
264 out of 352 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Not the best but also no reason for all this bad reviews
Knightrider25 December 2018
I didnt post a review i years, but I feel like i have to, now. I stumbled upon this series, read the reviews like always, almost decided to skip it. I didnt have anything to do or watch and after long debate with myself I decided to give it a go.

Yes the show is not the best out there, the start of the first episode is really, i mean realy bad. I was expecting bad, but this is really bad. But after first 10 minutes the show is alright. Watched the second episode, I want to watch more.

The crew has some stupid decisions, some characters are terrible. There are some inconsistencies, but overall the show is alright. It is watchable and a good pastime.
41 out of 74 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
It's not what you expect from it.
garkousha13 December 2018
The costumes are nice, actors are ok, but it seems like the plot doesn't really go anywhere big. People talk here and there, creepy stuff happens with sudden loud sounds, nothing gets explained well or at all so you have to believe in their reality no questions asked. I know it's fiction and all but a very unrealistic one so it's very hard to believe. I'm sure Martin's book must be good, but this show isn't.
138 out of 192 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Viewed in the full season context, it's actually pretty cool . . .
victronix01-180-70711028 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I don't particularly like horror films, and so, watching episode by episode was frustrating to get through, even as the whole premise and the acting and the sences were well done. But the last episode finally broke away from that and delved into a lot of complex and fascinating and awe inspiring events that I wish could have been much more prevalent in the whole season. That final episode really made it for the series.

Good sci fi has depth to it, not just running from one crazy murderous scene to another, and although a lot of the relationships and exploration of the characters was done well, they were all just rushing from bloody scene to bloody scene, and we are stuck with a really likeable character choosing to slice open her own neck over our heads for the whole season.

BUT, ultimately, if a second season could build off of the nice complexity of the final episode, okay. Except, it seems like a done deal that no one is going to invest in another season when the reviews are as bad as they are. Too bad - excellent characters, premise, acting and visuals were wasted by rushing around with Amityville Horror for some reason -- it wasn't necessary and probably tanked what could have been an excellent series.
90 out of 127 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Pretty entertaining.
muchobliged30 December 2018
It's not fantastic, but not bad either. Nothing you haven't seen before, but mostely done pretty well. It get's a bit cheesy here and there and some characters were a bit annoying, but overall I found it very entertaining. After a couple of episodes it really gained momentum only to dissappoint at the underwhelming finale. I would recommend not taking this show all too seriously. If you're not expecting the next holy grail in the space horror genre and you're in for some entertainment, you might end up liking most of it. Or at least half of it.
18 out of 29 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
Event Horizon meets Prometheus, but not in a good way
BLAlley8 December 2018
It's difficult to understand how a show as exceptional as The Expanse can be cancelled and replaced with dumbed-down schlock such as this. From the start we're already against Humanity not only because we see the outcome but the writers went out of their way to clarify why Humanity does not deserve to survive. On top of that, they have clearly graduated from the School of Having Characters Act Stupidly to Create Conflict. Also, I'm all for stories taking their time, but when you're already doing so over an entire season I see no point in having scenes drag on with long stretches of nothing, particularly when those scenes have little to do with the plot.
151 out of 214 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Weird but entertaining
criztjan23 December 2018
Have to say don't know why every one keeps on bashing this series down... Okay we all have different tastes...

I kinda like this, it's weird and freaky, but it makes me want to see more, wanting to know how it ends

So just watch the first 2 episodes yourselves and make up your mind about it, you be surprised and like it like I do. You do need to keep up and not get side tracked as the series is quit le complex

Though makes you wonder what twisted mind George RR Martin has in writing the book haha
16 out of 26 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
It's disappointing
hadi_pk12 December 2018
Unfortunately it's a cool looking visual bad storytelling. there is no science involved and all the characters are too dumb and religiously emotional which can't be scientists in a million years. Imagine they going to space mission but all of them are too selfish to give away their stupid past and move forward. who on a right mind will send these messy depressed people to space ? It's all garbage excuses in each episode to move the story somehow but it doesn't working and it's very silly. There is no information or back story about the characters nor the Volcrons whom it should be all about. I gave it a 5 only because of the heavy production, CGI and cinematography. The plot and storyline is nothing but trash.
126 out of 184 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Solid sci-fi horror that ended too soon
Tweekums7 November 2021
This series opens aboard a spaceship; something has clearly gone very wrong. Dr Agatha Matheson floats into a room before the gravity is re-established; she tries to dispose of something but is suddenly attacked by a man, Rowan, wielding an axe! Following a struggle she manages to dispose of the item then kills herself. Following this prologue the action moves back to the start of the mission. Agatha and Rowan are part of a team led by Karl d'Branin which has boarded the ship 'Nightflyer' on a mission to make first contact with an alien species known as the Volcryn. The crew of the ship aren't too happy as the team includes Thale, a powerful and potentially dangerous telepath. As the series progresses dangers emerge and tensions increase dramatically, as does the madness.

Whenever a new space set sci-fi comes along I suspect it will either be clearly inspired by 'Star Trek' or 'Star Wars'; as soon as I'd started watching this my thoughts turned to 'Event Horizon'; this was clearly going to be a horror in space. Paranoia abounds; it starts with the fear of Thale but soon expands and nobody seems to be immune. There are some quite gory moments; if you can get past the prologue it shouldn't be too much of a problem though. The characters are interesting even if most of them aren't particularly likable; the cast does a solid job bringing them to life. Unfortunately the series was cancelled after a single season so the ending is more than a little frustrating. Overall I thought this was a good first season but as it is just a first season rather than a complete series I can't wholeheartedly recommend it... what there is is good but it needs a proper ending.

Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of sci-fi horror.
12 out of 19 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
2/10
The reason is obvious
Deep-Thought11 June 2021
I think I've figured out why the corporate pinheads who run Syfy cancelled "The Expanse" and green-lighted this show: Jealousy. They only like series where the characters are stupider than they are. It makes them feel smart. "Nightflyers" goes right up there with "Childhood's End" as an example of how NOT to run a sci-fi channel.
6 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Find out for yourself.
tricia-snyder7 December 2018
Think Solaris meets Event Horizon meets The Shining. I don't understand the critical hate for this show. I love it. To be sure, it's a thinking person's SciFi show. You can't tune out, you'll miss important nuances, and you aren't spoon fed. Even better. I always thought SciFi should be a thinking person's genre. Light Sabre fights are cool and all, but long, drawn out philosophical discussions with friends they do no make. Best of all, there is a very groovy 80's SciFi feel (owing to the source novella) but with all the modern day trappings I love.
142 out of 213 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
It is Sci-Fi show and I like it!
packrats-25 December 2018
I have read all of the negative reviews here and I don't agree. Could it be better-certainly. But, it is a Sci-Fi show and I will support it and watch every episode. There is a lot of good and some bad, but it is good enough for me to watch. If you are a fan of Sci-Fi, then you need tomsuppprt these efforts whether you like it or not. The reason why there are so few Science Fiction shows is because there are not enough viewers watching the few that show up. If you want more, then watch the shows and then you get the network to suppprt these shows. The Expanse was cancelled because there was not enough viewer support. I love the show and watched every episode, but I am one of the few that did. Support Science Fiction- good, bad, or ugly!!
41 out of 80 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
Getting worse and worse
mageh10 December 2018
I really wanted to like this show. It started not bad, but with each week it is getting worse. It simply became boring, messy, not clear what is going on there, and don't let me start on logic, science or whatever scyfy is there. No tension, no action, nothing. I hope it will improve somehow but it is just getting worse...
97 out of 142 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Sensational scifi
gcalia-9-93163110 February 2019
Like so many others here, I do not understand the low ratings. This show is scifi at its best. It's been written in the 80ies, so probably not appealing enough to the Millennials here. It has everything one wishes for, a mysterious alien entity, a great cast, a voyage in a spaceship, a matrix, VR, horror, suspense, mindcontrol, gore, moments of sadness, moments of fear, a great character building and the longer you watch, the better you understand the interconnected and interwoven storylines. Absolutely fantastic.

I've watched the whole season and hope for a continuation! It is intellectually demanding, but ut is a rare gem on tv. High quality production delivered. Full stop.
89 out of 135 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Mix of cliches, illogical characters and weird narrative. Interesting only for SciFi fans (light spoilers)
dhtoran8 February 2019
It's clearly not "Game of Thrones in space". Just three ideas:

1. Mix of cliches where you can find direct inspiration in Event Horizon, Matrix & Tron, Alien & Prometheus and many more; with virtual worlds, alien creatures, psychic and augmented humans, time travel (sort of), first encounters, people going mad (for no reason), crime and investigation, etc. All together where none of the themes really advance of concludes.

2. Characters behaving illogical and making too many stupid decisions. All of them. Every single character is too stupid at some point, of simple change drastically without reason.

3. Weird narrative where each episode is more or less a different plot that starts and concludes within the episode duration. But these small stories are so big, weird and mysterious that could have made it to a full movie. Then plot concludes and a new one, completely different starts. After 4 episodes, the characters have lived so many different traumas with so many plot turns, that is completely... weird.

So basically is a must watch for any hardcore fan of SciFi. But it will be forgotten soon.
4 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
4/10
Here's the problem with Nightflyers
stevelivesey6725 August 2022
9 writers. NINE. If you are wondering why all the characters are not developed, everything is plot driven and nothing is ever explained. The reason is 9 writers and obviously none of them had a clue what the others were doing.

It is all over the place!! The basic idea is ok and could have been developed into something quite spooky and worthwhile but Instead it just becomes 'bunch of wierdos stuck on a spaceship with stuff happening'........meh.
12 out of 14 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
6/10
Why won't any sci-fi focus on the aliens anymore?
jmillenbach-095267 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I keep running into the same issues. They start with an interesting premise, then get lost in the drama and relationships of the people nearby. It's like they're just trying to fill in the season with something, and then they finally give you the one thing you cared about for the finale (if that...often they'll just toss in new questions instead).

Some neat ideas, but also some trite and boring "drama". I wish I could pick a story line and just follow that. Even if it's like a single episode worth of video (might even be better).
4 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
An error has occured. Please try again.

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed