Pandora (TV Series 2019–2020) Poster

(2019–2020)

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3/10
Starfleet on a budget, a low, low budget
heatsink9817 July 2019
A young woman's family is killed by mysterious forces, which results in her traveling to study with an uncle(?) at the space academy while figuring out what happened back home.

This low budget space faring adventure comes in low and crashes on the runway. Dialog is rough. Production values for a story set hundreds of years in the future aren't at a level to make a believable series. Effects look incredibly cheap. Wardrobe looks passable and futuristic in some scenes, but in other scenes, it looks like the cast shot in whatever they were wearing when they arrived on set. Overall, the series is so rough around the edges that it's surprising CW picked it up for broadcast.
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3/10
Wanted to stop watching after a few minutes
fsogfan17 July 2019
I really wanted to like this show but after only a few minutes, I wanted to switch to something else. Cheap special effects, stiff acting, lousy script, poor production value...need I say more. It was torture forcing myself to watch the full episode but I wanted to be fair before I wrote this review. Would be surprised if this isn't cancelled after just a few episodes.
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3/10
Oh my....a new low for sci fi
bogus-bogus-one17 July 2019
It's got everything you don't want, cliche laden dialog, awkward character actors, cheesy set designs and plot holes you could steer an oil tanker through. I understand why people would sing on to this show. I mean, everybody has to work, right? What I don't understand is how anyone would have thought this was worth producing? Someone actually liked this enough to pay for it. Remember, this is not just a piece of crap, it's a very expensive piece of crap.
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1/10
Low budget does not have to be this bad.
diabase9 November 2020
I gave it a chance and the episodes only got worse. The acting is terrible, the storyline, contrived, the sets minimal. This is not science fiction; it is just a fantasy plot without a good script, and where the producer chose to call it Sci-Fi - Action just to get people to watch it more than five minutes. I have seen good low budget sci-fi and know it can be done. Low budget does not have to be this bad. There is no excuse for this.
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2/10
Low budget, wooden acting and unlikable characters who are trying too hard.
MrNeurosis17 July 2019
I know its not fair to judge entire series by just one episode but if this is the kind of acting and direction we going to get for rest of the season then i am probably done right now. I found it hard to finish the first episode. Pandora is dead on arrival.
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2/10
Two seasons?
ZinQ9 January 2021
Yet really good shows get cancelled all the time. TV companies are really unfair, and this should have never have been given a second season.
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5/10
Most of the Reviews Didn't Even Watch One Full Episode...Still They Aren't Entirely Wrong
Jiszmo5 June 2022
It is pretty annoying when almost every review I read didn't even last one episode, and the first episode was actually decent. Most of what they complain about is that they say it's cheap looking and bad acting.

It is sort of cheap looking, but better than most now days. I think the ships and futuristic stuff actually looks fairly good. It isn't shown enough though. I suppose it would be too expensive. So, in that regard it could be said to be cheap, I guess. Still, it is better looking than most other CW crap.

The acting is actually pretty good. I have found that when people don't actually have anything useful to say, in their reviews, they always complain about the acting. It is more a reflection of the deficiencies of the reviewer. It is sort of typical light hearted, teen fantasy, soap opera, type acting, with a little comedy thrown in. It's not bad. It's similar to The Librarians level of acting, having one of the actors even, from that series, and behind the scenes talent as well, from that show.

So, now for a real review:

The story started out well enough, and even seemed intriguing. There had been a space war between to factions, Earth's alliance had won. So the show is set in a sort of Military space college, except the students don't seem to be military at all. In fact, they act like they are in an episode of Porkys or Animal House. Well, not that bad. But they don't really seem to be doing school work very often, and definitely don't follow any rules or protocols. They mainly just hang out in a bar, and flirt. It's alright, but definitely not military, like the show tries to imply. I mean there is the son of the leader of the alien aliance that Earth had been at war with, as a student and buddy of the main characters. There are soldiers everywhere, and military leaders, as teachers. They have space ship flying lessons for the students. Yeah, idk. Bad writing. There is alot of that in this show, which is it's main fault.

The main plot seems sort of good. New aliens appear and attack. The main girl seems to be somehow related to the aliens. It's a big mystery that you are hoping will get solved. Keep hoping. Not quite done with season 1, but it is no where near being solved even a little. It just sort of stays in the background. As I say, the writing is very off.

It really feels like it was written by tween girls. That's the show's focus. The main actress, for one thing, is immediately important, by her DNA. She doesn't know it, but she sure acts like it. She constantly steals space ships from the school. No, she doesn't get in any trouble for that. She starts a diplomatic incident, by barging in on a diplomatic lecture, with protesters. Of course she is the leader, and the one who chases off the diplomat. (of a very unstable military alliance, I might add). No she doesn't get in trouble. But she does steal a space ship, and fly to the guy's planet, to invade it, save the slaves, and rescue her friend. No. Her stolen ship doesn't get detected by radar, entering a foreign, somewhat hostile planet. Yes her crew do kill alot of the slaves they were so worried about. Yes she is the hero, in every situation. Yes. There are no consequences whatsoever for all the ridiculous things she does. It truly is like it was written for 12 year old girls. The philosophy is that deep, and no deeper. The writing is the same. Now I realize how SJWs became that way. They watched like this, growing up.

It's not all bad though, if you can get past the often terrible writing. It is somewhat fun. I kind of like the chemistry between the different characters. It's sort of light hearted, with spurts of comedy. I think the special effects are tolerable. I even like the actors. The writing is so bad though, I'll keep forcing myself to watch it, till I can't take it anymore. For now I'll give it a 5, caus that entitled Mary Sue, without any consequences really pisses me off. Otherwise I might have given it a 7 or 8.
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5/10
Lower than expected Budget, simple fair, but, perhaps, give it a chance. Too soon to call.
ix-5825817 July 2019
I just watched the first episode of this. I seems this is a lower budget offering. If you're watching the fantasy show The Outpost, it's of similar budget, in writing, production value, acting, direction and effects, but, sci-fi instead of fantasy.

It feels like a made for TV show, similar to how the old Xena, Hercules productions were all relatively lower budget shows, though, they were still worth watching.

It's too soon to say if this can be another Xena or Hercules as far as popularity, since we seem to expect and require a LOT more sophistication in story telling, set pieces, and everything else these days when we get spoiled by big budget productions like GoT, The Walking Dead, Star Trek Discovery, etc.

It's probably 1/2 a notch below The Orville in production value, but, The Orville doesn't take itself seriously while this feels like it wants to be more than it is.

I'll continue to give this one a chance. The Swamp Thing has a bigger budget, and I'm watching that, though, I'm putting an effort into trying to like it. I dunno. The whole Flash, Supergirl, Arrowverse formula works really well, and I love those shows even though they're low budget, but, i suspect this is less than half the budget of those per episode.

Eh, We'll see.

Recommendation: I think it's too soon to make a call on this. There are, however, tons of shows that've had far greater popularity, better writing, more likable characters, and production value that've gotten the axe almost right off. if you find you really love this show, don't invest too much, because I expect they're depending on the low budget as one of the selling factors for renewal, but, that might maybe not be enough.

I say give this show a chance to grow and develop, but, don't get married to it. It's something to watch and there's far worse on TV that needs to go away, but, can't ever seem to die, as well as far better shows that've wound up on the chopping block far too soon.
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7/10
Potential. Definitely not a 1, definitely not a 10.
exarkun-676469 April 2020
Look. It's not great. But there's a lot of interesting elements here. Crazy low budget - so you have to move past that. I can't understand why they waste so much money on extras - when the money could go to special effects? I wish they'd really hit character beats more, and emphasize the growing drama of heroes and villains. At the end of the season, it's still hard to know who the lead Jax Zhou "is" and why we should care about her - which is a problem. It's an odd mishmash of serialized and episodic storytelling - but they don't seem to understand what that means. Too little given to the interesting elements - too much given to the things that are forgettable. That said, the building blocks are there. The dynamics that could be built upon are there. And the writers are obviously thinking of the right things when they're building the scripts, it just gets diluted and lost somewhere along the way. I'm a huge sci-fi fan, who longs for some good old fashioned content. Every show has a learning curve, so I'll absolutely be tuning in next season. Don't judge just based on the first episode - give it some time, and it'll start to grow on you.
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2/10
New record, 90 seconds in and I knew this was bull s#!t ...
gtenalokes17 July 2019
The budget is not a problem... The story is just weak, senseless, annoying, tiring, boring, unintelligent and predictable.

I literally got a heartache from watching this nonsense.

Guess what there's a cherry on top, The casting sucks..

But I'm sure I would have enjoyed this If I was 13 years old and stupid
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8/10
Keep watching...
jacqsmom-325-2618719 January 2021
This series starts off like 90210 meets star trek with mediocre acting. It does get better as the series progresses. My hubby and I decided to give it a try, having run out of good sci fi series to watch in the "year of the 'Rona" as my dear hubby calls it. The first couple episodes would probably turn people off, if they're used to high quality sci fi offerings, but the storyline is definitely worth sticking with it.
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6/10
Upgrading my review
sam-3256918 July 2019
Updating my review, as the quality of later episodes (including the music) has increased markedly, and I find the series good for light entertainment. Certainly there are a couple of up-and-coming actors in there who deserve a chance.

Old review for first episode (still valid):

I can usually put up with the shortcomings of a low budget series, even with a mundane plot, if the the music is compelling. Unfortunately, Pandora fails on this too, with disjointed, inappropriate incidental music that made me think I'd left another video playing somewhere. It got so bad it made me laugh, which is about the only good thing that came out of the episode for me.
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2/10
Horrible enough for me to come review it
EnergyLegs17 July 2019
Terrible writing, wooden acting. and .. the sub par special effects are the highlight of this dismal show. It's not even a 'it's so bad its good' watch, you could probably splice it into an episode of Power Rangers and not even notice. Avoid at all costs.
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3/10
Blah
taedirish30 October 2020
I hate to pile on with the other negative reviews but I have to agree, this series was BAD. The premise was old and predictable, I found no connection or liability in the characters, and the effects were on par with a made for TV movie. 5 minutes in and I was already regretting my decision to watch it. The best thing I can say about this show was that at least it was in English, so if that meets your criteria then watch it, otherwise I would skip it and save yourself the hassle.
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3/10
OMG, shaky cam...again...
bheadher10 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I thought they did away with the annoying shakycam years ago...but apparently someone didn't get the memo...

Unfortunately the shakycam is the only thing that hinted I wasn't watching a still picture...yes kiddies, it really is that bad, the common word I saw in most reviews being Boring!! Honestly, it has the feel of an old soap opera much of the time, while trying to look interesting...it fails on all accounts...
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3/10
When the main character makes you want to punch babies
borismk-3894218 July 2019
I really wanted to like this show, a nice futuristic sci fi that had lots of potential. Lots of people seem to think the lead actress being hot made it kinda tolerable, but to me she just seems like an entitled brat who gets mad at her uncle for not being an emotionally warm fuzzy teddy bear that caters to her every whim. I turned it off after less than 15 mins, the whole thing felt like it was written by a hormonal teenager
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1/10
Excitement turns in to disgust
blazkusnik18 July 2019
I always get excited when i come across a new sci fi show, since i adore a good sci fi and every new show is a chance for me to get what i so yearn for.

So i started watching the first episode and right off the bat I was hit by the horribly inappropriate and amateurish music. Did someone not tell whoever was in charge of music that they're not making a disney cartoon? But ok, while music is a very important part for immersion, I'll continue and give the show a chance.

Seconds later I'm hit with a double punch combination of bad acting and horrible writing. At this point I am all but decided that this isn't the show for me but i still gave it an extra 15 minutes just to be sure. Needless to say those 15 minues were painful and not only did the quality not improve from the initial impressions, it even went downhill.

Please don't waste a minute, let alone 15 on this. Instead rewatch one of the classic sci fi shows for the 10th+ time and enjoy yourselves.
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5/10
Hokey pokey sci-fi mixed with the mythology of pandora
gareth-754422 December 2020
Cgi & special effects are about par with other sci-fi shows, dialogue, characters & general storyline are pretty sub par, awful posh English accents, chuck in the usual silly soap opera garbage with the high school drama codswallop & you've got a pretty boring silly TV show, barely any characters are interesting or likeable, sets, clothes & doritos!!! all make it look like a cheap 80s TV show, really can't see who would be interested in this, ignore the idiot reviewers stating they know what sci-fi is, regardless of genre if the writing is good & the story & plot is handled well then it's worth watching,sadly this has none of those ingredients.
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6/10
Low budget, some dialogs seemed too forced, but I am in a bit of hopes how it could develope.
stefan-526-29613018 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Yes, it's low budget, but I am not a fan of fancy effects, if it's to cover a bad story or bad acting. After the first episode I have to say, it wasn't the best acting in some parts, but then, there were some parts that worked quite well with me. So I am actually waiting if the actors find their chemistry along the way, before I give up on this one. I felt at one time as if Bollywood drama had taken over when a scene of a dangerous moment for the main character was pulled into length, and I was thinking: Yeah, you saved her, but actually she was dead three seconds ago while the camera switched like a hundred times. Only thing that was missing that the camera zoomed into the actresses face while her doing the drama faces. Thank god that did not happen. There were other series out that actually lived on the low budget and had to make up by being special in a way. It won't be a Firefly but for now a positive 6 for some light I saw in the darkness of that tunnel somewhere at the far horizon.
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5/10
Dry and tasteless
sebgrat17 July 2019
My first complaint is the acting its subpar, it feels to me like a Teen Series at best you better watch far from superior shows like The expanse or Dark matter.

2 the story: it is very basic for a first episode, not memorable, and nothing that seems really good enought to want me to see a second episode.

3- the Chemistry between the characters is a big zero to me. it feels artificial, charisma of characters is just not there, they need someone like at least for a main character thats gonna pull up the rest of the cast and im not seeying it here.

its like one of my buddy says if a character "X" dies and u would care? if u say no what does that tell u about the character ?? he or she feels insignificant... well thats how i feel with these characters.

4- the special FX, they feel like an old scifi from the 90s series on a very low budget. If only they had made em alot better i would understand and think; oh they put all the money into FX and invested zero into story telling or charismatic actors but thats not even the case here.

i might force myself to watch a second episode but my expectation very low.
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10/10
Solid Sc-Fi with potential.
jaxzhou13 February 2020
It's refreshing to see a series that isn't a remake, reboot, sequel, reimagining - whatever. This show exists on its own - and is really solid. Sure, the budget hampers it a bit - but that never stopped the likes of Dark Shadows or early Doctor Who. They are setting up a very interesting world, filled with possibilities for growth and expansion. Hope we get to see this series go on for a long time.
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7/10
Interesting
rcolon-eonium10 November 2019
The last years almost any sci-fi show seem low cost but beyond this, the story is interesting and worth to have a chance.
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1/10
Crapola
artboyle17 July 2019
Poor special effects, bad writing, even worse acting. Why does this exist?
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1/10
Pure garbage
RandomTard22 October 2019
Oh my, not quite sure how to but this nicely enough. This series is horrible, no it's worse - this would of been horrible in the 1990's - now this just embarassing.

The acting is ridiculously bad. CGI is like it's from some old childrens program with the different coloured lasers for goodies and baddies. The writing is basicly just different bits stolen from random scifi series from the past and smushed together by a drunk ape. In the final episodes people just appear in places without any explanation how or why and things just fall completely out of control - it makes absolutely no sense what is happening.

And the absolute worst thing about this is: They are going to do a second season of this terrible trash!! I cannot believe it, who is watching this? Are they showing it to monkeys in a zoo?
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1/10
Just don't. . .
POIguy4 April 2020
I have watched Pandora for two episodes and it really is that bad. I had heard many bad things about this CW show but it looked kind of cool. It had a futuristic setting, advanced technology, interplanetary travel. This show was really ambitious. . . which makes it a shame it all looks terrible since it was made on a McDonald's dollar menu budget. While it looks better than another similar CW show The Outpost, it still looks stale and dull. The show hides much of its supposed futuristic elements since it doesn't have the budget for any of it. The sets themselves don't look too bad, but the action sequences and CGI are poorly done. The CGI aliens in episode 1 are very mediocre. The acting is also very sub-par. I could've went to a local high school and found better actors. I also did not like the story. It felt very derivative and not engaging at all. Just don't watch this. . . go watch a real sci-fi show.
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