Up, Up and Away

Nasa goes to Mars in the Netflix series "Away" that I've been watching lately. I had subscribed to Netflix in the past but cancelled my subscription because of the rubbish that was being pedalled. However, my granddaughter was interested in watching certain content on the platform so I renewed my subscription. I like science fiction and so "Away" caught my eye.

Even though it's advertised as a Netflix original, there's nothing very original about the plot: five people on a three year Nasa mission to Mars. The leader is an American, naturally, played by Hillary Swank. The second in command is an Indian male and then a Russian male, a Chinese woman and a black African male. With the Hispanic audience in mind, the daughter of the leader's expedition is paired with a Hispanic boyfriend. 

In case we forget that Hollywood is run by the Jews, an unlikely Jew has been placed aboard the Mars-bound vessel. The black African, who claims to have been born in Africa and who looks and speaks like Sidney Poitier, has converted to Judaism after being adopted by a white English mother. We gather this when he has a linkup with his adoptive mother and she is shown with a Menorah, celebrating Hanukkah while the rest of the crew are celebrating Christmas. 

It's interesting that the black guy makes mention very early in the series about "My God", reminding us that religious Jews, knowing themselves to be God's Chosen People, feel they have a special claim on God. Seemingly they can't bear to conceive of a God whom they share with the rest of humanity and who would be referred to as simply "God". Additionally, the relentless Jewish-driven LGBT agenda is pushed to the fore via the Chinese woman who is involved in a relationship with another Chinese woman but they have not consummated their affair. It remains platonic, presumably so as to not cause too much offence to Chinese viewers.

The Russian cosmonaut in the series is played by Mark Ivanir who has an interesting and impressive resume. From IMDB:

Mark Ivanir has been working as a professional film and television actor in Los Angeles since 2001. His first major film role was in Steven Spielberg's 1993 Oscar winning epic Schindler's List. He rejoined with Spielberg twice, first for a cameo appearance in Terminal, then again for Tintin. A pivotal role in Robert De Niro's 2006 film, The Good Shepherd, landed Mark a role in Barry Levinson's What Just Happened, this time acting alongside De Niro. He has booked over 35 Guest Star and Guest Lead roles on television shows such as: 24, Monk, CSI NY, Law and Order, Fringe, CSI Miami, Nikita and many others.

Ivanir's road to Hollywood was circuitous at best. Born in the communist Ukraine (former USSR), he immigrated to Israel with his family in 1972. While serving in the Israeli Army he participated in the then clandestine mission to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. His military experience and expertise has been tapped for various TV and Film roles.

After completing his stint in the Military, Ivanir turned down several job offers from Israel's Secret Service, and gave up studying medicine to pursue a higher vocation-clowning. He completed two years in a Circus school, traveled throughout Europe performing on the streets, and ended up working in a Parisian Circus - Cirque Pawelles. After leaving the circus, Mark entered into formal theatrical training, studying at Israel's top acting school Nissan Nativ, later co-founding a theatre company made up of actors from the former USSR called Gesher Theatre.

Within two years, Gesher became Israel's top theatrical outfit and was hailed by the London Times as "one of the six best theatre companies in the world." Mark performed many different roles, translated and adapted eight plays for the company and performed everywhere from Lincoln Center to the National Theatre in London as well as major stages in Paris, Rome, and Berlin.

After being cast by Spielberg in Schindler's List, Ivanir moved to London to study with Philippe Gaulier and the actors of the Theater De Complicite. During this stint, he landed roles in The Man Who Cried (with Johnny Depp) and Secret Affair which encouraged him to relocate to Hollywood. Tapping his command of Russian, English, French, Arabic, German and Hebrew, Mark has been working consistently in major studio film and television projects in eclectic roles spanning from a Russian spy to an Israeli producer to a German elephant trainer. He lives in LA with his wife and two daughters.

Mark Ivanir is stereotypically Jewish-looking and, if he is playing the part of a Russian then he is clearly a Russian of Jewish descent, although no mention is made of this in the series thus far. So the people with 0.2% of the world's population have a 40% representation aboard the space craft!

The whole plot is formulaic and rather tedious, typical of the dross that Hollywood is turning out nowadays. For someone who doesn't believe humans walked on the Moon, taking NASA seriously is also a stumbling block. In the series, humans have established an above-ground base on there is seamless communication between that base and Earth. Not likely, ever, but don't get me started.

I quite like Hillary Swank as an actress but this science fiction pap is tough to stomach. All this going where no man or woman has gone before gets a little tiresome. I've watched all ten episodes and I notice that a second series in planned. It will be interesting to see how the Jewish religion continues to be portrayed in the series. So far the depiction has been very much from a Judeo-Christian angle, playing on its Old Testament roots, which is the way to go if you're wanting the goyim to warm to the religion. The reality is that, after Jesus, Judaism morphed into the far less goyim-friendly, Rabbinic-Talmudic form that exists to the present day.

The Hispanic character, played by Adam Irigoyen, is Catholic and even takes his girlfriend, played by Talitha Eliana Bateman, to midnight mass in one episode. Given the visceral antipathy that Jews feel toward the Catholic religion, one can only suppose that commercial interests (pandering to the Hispanic audience) have prompted a thus far sympathetic depiction of Catholicism. Nonetheless, it is our Jewish convert who is leading prayers aboard ship.