IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head
(Meaning: My Warped, Personal Opinions and Musings)
From the Author:
Salutations.
I am JaiChai.
And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.
I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!
For my returning online friends, "It's always great to see you again!"
Another Life (2019 TV series)
ANOTHER LIFE is an American science fiction drama web television series created by Aaron Martin that premiered on Netflix on July 25, 2019.
ANOTHER LIFE follows the story of an astronaut and a space crew, who are on a mission to investigate the origins of an alien artifact that mysteriously appeared on Earth.
As the crew attempts to search for alien intelligence, they face inexplicable horrors that might signal the end of their mission.
Why I just Binge-Watched ALL 10 episodes of "ANOTHER LIFE's" First Season!
Here's a short list of the things that kept me glued to my big screen:
The Ship "Salvare" -
Etymology:
From the Late Latin salvāre, present active infinitive of salvō (“I save”), from Latin salvus. Source
The Salvare incorporates all the technology that we would expect in a modern day (or near future) space ship.
It serves as both a "First Contact" vehicle and if necessary, as "Humanity's Lifeboat".
The ship itself is the embodiment of its AI (William) and is reminiscent of the AI/ships depicted in Iain M. Banks Science Fiction series "The Culture Novels".
Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author of Science Fiction; producing several award-winning Sci-Fi novels during his lifetime.
To me, he is like a Scottish version of Ray Bradbury.
Every novel I've read by Iain M. Banks made me think deeply about how technology affects our views of life as humans; especially in the context of coexistence with other interstellar species.
I highly recommend reading any of his books.
It's time well spent. Period.
The AI "William" -
William, played by actor Samuel Anderson, is a holographic interface of a sentient AI onboard The Salvare.
In the same vein as AI in another favorite Netflix series of mine called "Black Mirror", William tends to behave more "Human" than the organic humans around him.
I instantly identified with William's struggle with all the cognitive dissonance that is the human existence.
Spoiler Alert:
As an example of human behavior, in ANOTHER LIFE, William experiences the misery of unrequited love and in human-appropriate terms, responds accordingly .
Imagine That?
The Enigmatic Alien Race -
In Another Life, you never really know what the visiting alien race is really up to.
Are they malicious? Are they benevolent? No one knows.
Because of that (i.e., the uncertainty of the Alien's intentions and more importantly, their ultimate endgame), the government steps in and royally f*cks things up - as usual.
One thing is for sure, they are far more technologically advanced than humans; displaying capabilities of augmented reality that easily can be mistaken as real life, instead of artificially rendered reality.
And last, but definitely not least...
The Captain -
Captain Niko Breckinridge, played by Katee Sackhoff, is an astronaut who commands The Salvare crew on their mission to explore the genesis of an alien artifact.
What do I think of "Captain Niko"?
[Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my face!]
In a word: "Hot!"
She's super-fit, possesses genius level intelligence, and never hesitates to make the hard decisions.
Captain Brekinridge is like Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton, "Terminator"), Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez, "Avatar"), and Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green, "Star Trek Discovery") all rolled up into one.
What more could a guy ask for?
I give Netflix's ANOTHER LIFE a hardy thumbs-up!
By JaiChai
May you and yours be well and love life today.
Namaste (I recognize the divine in you, my friend.)
Really Appreciate You Stopping By.
Truly hope to see you again!
About the Author
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, longtime girlfriend and three dogs.