Another Life

TV review by Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media
Another Life Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 14+

Cliche-laden sci-fi series has strong women, some language.

Netflix Drama 2019
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Parents say

age 16+

Based on 12 reviews

Kids say

age 15+

Based on 3 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Another Life is a sci-fi drama series about an alien craft that suddenly lands on Earth -- and the scientists who try to figure out why. Violence is less intense here than in some other shows with similar tone and settings, but expect sci-fi weapons and dangers from space travel, sudden deaths, and fights. Sexual content is infrequent, but many characters are single and interested -- kissing, dating, and references to sex are likely. Both male and female characters wear brief, tight costumes, and the camera lingers on body parts. Language is infrequent but includes "f--k, "s--t," "goddamn," and "hell." Strong women are at the center of the action and show courage and teamwork in solving tough, dangerous problems; another character has atypical gender presentation, which isn't remarked on. Katee Sackhoff and Justin Chatwin star.

Community Reviews

ThierMOM
ThierMOM Adult
October 4, 2020
age 18+

Commonsense review underplays the worst in this series

Who wrote the commonsense review? Did the person even watch the entire series or just the first episode? It completely downplays significant content that a parent or guardian might want to know. Contrary to the Commonsense review the series DOES contain more than a few F-bombs, the word seems to be a universal expression used at least 50 times per episode. The main character also uses "Jesus Christ" a lot which I find offensive for the sheer fact that Jesus doesn't have anything to do with what's going on- on that ship. The only character that doesn't use this language is the AI "William" but he's got other issues. Also the sex scene of the threesome is basically porn, the sex between a human and AI is just...(I can't even with that), then you have everyone hooking up with everyone and no real sense that anything more than lust is driving these encounters. At least in daytime soaps there's some effort to build a relationship not just odd glances in the middle of space. It's really sad because I was excited to watch this after seeing "Away," and "Lost In Space," Netflix needs to realize that if you have good writing, you don't need to infuse the script with gratuitous cursing and sex, that masquerades as love. And commonsense please pay me, I'll watch the full program and write a review that actually reflects the full content.

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
2 people found this helpful.
Georgeparentof2
Georgeparentof2 Adult
April 3, 2020
age 12+

if I could give this 0 stars I would

Don't bother. The acting is disappointing, the characters are mediocre at best and the storyline is boring. This is full of US terms such as 'blowing smoke up your a**'. There is a reason this has such a low rating on rotten tomatoes.

This title has:

Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
1 person found this helpful.
See all 12 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In ANOTHER LIFE, Niko (Katee Sackhoff) was the commander of a space mission that resulted in the deaths of 10 crew members, sending her into semi-retirement to raise her young daughter Jana (Lina Renna) with her extraterrestrial research expert husband Erik (Justin Chatwin). But when an alien craft lands mysteriously on earth and begins sending signals into space, it's up to Niko to uncover the origins and the purpose of the ship and our planet's new visitors.

Is It Any Good?

Get your science fiction cliche bingo cards ready, because this mashup of plot points from other, better stories will give you plenty to check off. Another Life starts with a promising Arrival-like premise, as an infinity-symbol-shaped alien "artifact" lands on earth for unknown reasons. So the aliens have arrived, and no one knows why. Cool! Viewers are ready to work backwards to get their answers. But what could be an intriguing puzzle is quickly squandered as Niko and her crew head out into space to check out the star the artifact's sending signals to, and the whole thing turns into what feels very much like a riff on Star Trek. The original.

You can expect a lot of "it's a crazy plan but it just might work" setups in deep space; meanwhile, Erik pokes around the artifact back on earth, trying to prod some sort of reaction out of it. He eventually does, in a sequence lifted fairly directly from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It just all feels rather lifeless, and though Sackhoff is as vital a presence as she was when sci-fi fans first got to know her in Battlestar Galactica, here she's wasted. Yes, she looks amazing -- the crew of the faster-than-light Salvare for some reason wear yoga clothes instead of uniforms, and seem to have been chosen for their sculpted abs rather than acting chops -- but the dialogue and her storyline are blah.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why science fiction movies so frequently focus on aliens and space travel. What is it about these topics that make for rousing stories? What hopes and fears about the future do they capitalize on, or crystalize?

  • Is Niko a role model? How does she demonstrate courage and teamwork? Why are those important character strengths?

TV Details

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