thomcat's review against another edition
4.0
Some great artwork and characters lead this retelling of the Breakaway story and new events before and after. Some of the plot was a little convoluted - a full world military coup? - but the rest works really well. Gives a good explanation for the cache of Hawks found on the moon later in the series. Recommended!
pastathief's review
2.0
This graphic novel is split into roughly two parts. The first part closely follows the pilot of the classic science fiction television show (with a few dubious additions). The second part claims to examine what life is like in the wake of the disappearance of the moon from Earth's Orbit.
Part one worked for me, for the most part. I wasn't excited about the additions made (I'm not one to require a story to stick precisely to the original, but I do tend to want changes / additions to have imparted some value to the work, and I'm not sure that these do.), but overall I enjoyed reading it. The art style matches the visual style of the show quite well as well, for the most part. If I have one major complaint, it's that the text is absolutely rife with spelling errors. I'm not sure why they didn't have an editor on board for this project, but it really could have used one. I know that seems like a minor nitpick, but it continually drew me out of my immersion in the story.
The groundwork laid for the second part in the earlier chunk (mostly through the aforementioned additions) didn't leave me hoping for much out of the latter section, and even so, I was disappointed. It hits the ground stumbling and proceeds to fall flat on its face. The spelling errors do decrease (although they don't disappear), but otherwise, all semblance of intelligent science fiction, effective plotting, and well-written dialogue disappears. The story is fragmented at best and told in tiny vignettes centering around the few newly-introduced characters, many of whom are related to the members of Moon Base Alpha (in that way that strains your belief in the story at times). The dialogue becomes increasingly strained, and includes such completely natural lines as somebody being shown a fleet of space vessels and exclaiming, "Specifications!", which gives their companions an excuse to infodump statistics about the space ships at some length. And then, ultimately, most of these revelations, vignettes, and sub-plots come to no particular significance at all. Perhaps this series is playing a long game, but I wound up the story feeling like I'd utterly wasted my time, slogging through a bunch of painful reading that amounted to nothing.
Add to that an art style that, while it occasionally produces a "neat" scene, sacrifices all practicality and engagement (the use of shadow, posing, and clothing often makes it actively hard to tell who is whom, and some of the characters are unrecognizable frame to frame as being the same person save for bits of their clothing or accessories such as pets). The only emotions the characters seem capable of in this art style is also a sort of lurid grotesqueness which made me at times feel quite put off.
Ultimately, I'm saddened by how it turned out, since I did enjoy the "remake" portion, with only a few misgivings. But I wouldn't, having now read it in its entirety, recommend this to any particular audience, even fans.
Part one worked for me, for the most part. I wasn't excited about the additions made (I'm not one to require a story to stick precisely to the original, but I do tend to want changes / additions to have imparted some value to the work, and I'm not sure that these do.), but overall I enjoyed reading it. The art style matches the visual style of the show quite well as well, for the most part. If I have one major complaint, it's that the text is absolutely rife with spelling errors. I'm not sure why they didn't have an editor on board for this project, but it really could have used one. I know that seems like a minor nitpick, but it continually drew me out of my immersion in the story.
The groundwork laid for the second part in the earlier chunk (mostly through the aforementioned additions) didn't leave me hoping for much out of the latter section, and even so, I was disappointed. It hits the ground stumbling and proceeds to fall flat on its face. The spelling errors do decrease (although they don't disappear), but otherwise, all semblance of intelligent science fiction, effective plotting, and well-written dialogue disappears. The story is fragmented at best and told in tiny vignettes centering around the few newly-introduced characters, many of whom are related to the members of Moon Base Alpha (in that way that strains your belief in the story at times). The dialogue becomes increasingly strained, and includes such completely natural lines as somebody being shown a fleet of space vessels and exclaiming, "Specifications!", which gives their companions an excuse to infodump statistics about the space ships at some length. And then, ultimately, most of these revelations, vignettes, and sub-plots come to no particular significance at all. Perhaps this series is playing a long game, but I wound up the story feeling like I'd utterly wasted my time, slogging through a bunch of painful reading that amounted to nothing.
Add to that an art style that, while it occasionally produces a "neat" scene, sacrifices all practicality and engagement (the use of shadow, posing, and clothing often makes it actively hard to tell who is whom, and some of the characters are unrecognizable frame to frame as being the same person save for bits of their clothing or accessories such as pets). The only emotions the characters seem capable of in this art style is also a sort of lurid grotesqueness which made me at times feel quite put off.
Ultimately, I'm saddened by how it turned out, since I did enjoy the "remake" portion, with only a few misgivings. But I wouldn't, having now read it in its entirety, recommend this to any particular audience, even fans.
vintonole's review
3.0
The first half of the novel follows the pilot, the second focuses on the aftermath on Earth. It actually follows the series pilot (which I just re-watched) very well. The changes were mostly (completely?) additions... new characters, scenes, back story. Some of the back story might be a little over the top, but since I haven't seen the rest of the television series, it might make sense. I do wonder if all of the additions were hinted at in the later television series or if it is completely original.
The second half follows the various fates of the moonbase crew families left on Earth. Of course the loss of the Moon would have disastrous effects. Some of them are glossed over in the pilot: volcanoes and earthquakes. Some added plot lines are also resolved. One interesting thread is about the crew of the Space Dock (International Space Station) which is only shown exploding in the pilot.
I wanted to like this better. I'd hoped this would clear up some of the issues I had with the cause of the disaster and it's effects, but it doesn't... it follows the original pilot completely. So, although an interesting idea (the moon blown out of Earth's orbit) you might need a healthy dose of suspended disbelief to really enjoy this. I still like the spaceships, although I don't think they have any business flying in Earth's atmosphere as they do in part 2. They should have been left as orbital and interplanetary shuttles only!
The second half follows the various fates of the moonbase crew families left on Earth. Of course the loss of the Moon would have disastrous effects. Some of them are glossed over in the pilot: volcanoes and earthquakes. Some added plot lines are also resolved. One interesting thread is about the crew of the Space Dock (International Space Station) which is only shown exploding in the pilot.
I wanted to like this better. I'd hoped this would clear up some of the issues I had with the cause of the disaster and it's effects, but it doesn't... it follows the original pilot completely. So, although an interesting idea (the moon blown out of Earth's orbit) you might need a healthy dose of suspended disbelief to really enjoy this. I still like the spaceships, although I don't think they have any business flying in Earth's atmosphere as they do in part 2. They should have been left as orbital and interplanetary shuttles only!
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