While the competition between digital broadcast platforms is getting hotter day by day, Apple TV, which hosts modern masterpieces of science fiction and thriller genres, appeared before its viewers with Star City, a perfect production that will fill the gap of its flagship series. The platform, which shapes the industry with high-quality productions such as Silo, Severance and Pluribus, each of which creates its own fan base, has become a haven for enthusiasts of the genre.
However, for such large and difficult-to-produce series, there may be long gaps, sometimes up to years, between new season approvals and broadcast dates. Filling the gap that would be created especially after giant projects such as For All Mankind and Silo, which were nearing the end of their screen life, was of critical importance for the future strategies of the platform. As the first and biggest step of this strategy, Apple TV decided to expand the For All Mankind universe, which started in 2019 and offers an alternative history line.
The Other Side of the Coin: The Space Race Is Telling From Behind the Iron Curtain Star City, the platform’s first major science fiction spin-off attempt, completely changes the center of the narrative while remaining faithful to the space theme, which is the main focus of its predecessor. This time, we experience the iconic space race, which we watched with great excitement in the first seasons of the original series, through the eyes of the Soviet Union, that is, from behind the Iron Curtain.
From award-winning creators Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi and Ronald D. Moore, this eight-episode alternate history series delves into the heart of the Soviet space program. The story examines the lives of cosmonauts, engineers and the intelligence officers who infiltrated them, starting from that critical breaking moment when the USSR rewrote history by sending the first man to the Moon. The production, which is about the lives sacrificed and the enormous risks taken to move humanity forward, promises the audience not only a space adventure but also a political thriller full of paranoia.
Full Marks from Critics: Perfect Start in Rotten Tomatoes Scores The first professional reviews published before the series’ global premiere on May 29 show that Apple TV’s big gamble has paid off. Star City, which opened with a perfect success rate of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the most prestigious evaluation platforms in the cinema and television world, managed to fascinate critics. Of course, although there is a possibility that this perfect score may change as new comments are added, the first feedbacks are considered the most concrete evidence that the platform does not compromise on quality for the sake of expansion.
Leading writers in the industry cannot praise the intense claustrophobic atmosphere presented by the series and the psychological tension created by the oppressive regime on the characters. Human Psychology Under Pressure and a Slow Burning Espionage Story The main point that television critics agreed on was the intense authoritarianism and uninterrupted sense of tension felt by the production. While Ben Rosenstock, one of the writers of The AV Club, emphasizes that the period and geography in which the series is set have tremendous potential for storytelling, Nick Schager of The Daily Beast states that a very powerful drama is created from the moral risks that the people of the Eastern Bloc take while trying to innovate under an oppressive regime.
Ryan Britt, who reviewed the series for Inverse, expressed his admiration for the political layers of the production and made the following remarkable comment: “I say this as a compliment; sometimes you completely forget that the series is about space travel or an alternate timeline. At its best, the production becomes a great slow-burn espionage drama that deals with the sense of optimism under extreme pressure.” Star City, which met with the audience with its first two episodes on Friday, May 29, seems determined to dominate the summer screen with new episodes to be released every week.
Source: Collider
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