Line #35 Series/Outcasts


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/outtcasts.jpg]]
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3	''Outcasts'' is a British SF show broadcast by Creator/TheBBC in 2011, produced in collaboration with South African and German partners.
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5	The series is about a group of colonists attempting to survive on a planet called "Carpathia", after [[EarthThatWas Earth got nuked]] in WorldWarIII, which apparently was caused by a major confrontation between the [=USA=] and China over Taiwan. The hardness of the SF steadily decreases over the series. The initial tension develops from disputes among the humans about [[RomanticismVersusEnlightenment the best way of surviving and organising]], with the majority of the colonists, led by President Tate, wanting to set up a stable community, and the military Expeditionaries, led by Mitchell Hoban, wanting to strike out further into unknown territory. But there are even more serious tensions between the standard-issue humans and the "Advanced Cultivars", [[BioAugmentation genetically-engineered]] humans created to have a greater chance of surviving hostile environments. And there is also the question of whether the planet really is uninhabited by sentient life.
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7	While the show has attracted some fans, it received some strongly negative responses from other SF fan commentators, and generally hostile reactions from the mainstream press reviewers. From the sixth episode on, it was moved from its original weekday primetime slot to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork a desultory Sunday late-evening slot]], suggesting that the BBC had pretty much given up on it. A second season [[strike: looks unlikely]] was not commissioned.
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9	Not to be confused with the 1968–69 U.S. {{Western}} series ''The Outcasts''.
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11	----
12	!! ''Outcasts'' provides examples of:
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14	* ActionGirl: Fleur, who shows no hesitation in shooting people or chasing down suspects.
15	* ActionMom: Josie Hunter definitely qualifies.
16	** Stella's capable of being one, as we see in episode 5, but she's really more of the cerebral sort.
17	* Main/AlienSky: Carpathia has two giant moons, that for some reason are only visible in the day time. They are bigger than Earth's moon, or closer, or both, but do not cause very high tides in the seas.
18	* AllNaturalGemPolish: Carpathia seems to be awash with perfectly cut diamonds.
19	* TheAtoner: Cass.
20	* BenevolentBoss: Tate tries to be this. [[EvilutionaryBiologist He doesn't]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist quite]] [[PlayingWithSyringes succeed]]. Stella more or less hits it, though, as long as you don't cross her.
21	* BioAugmentation: Of both the physical and mental kind.
22	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Lily, right down to the sulking and stealing for attention.
23	* BrilliantButLazy: Tipper, a self-described child prodigy. He's apparently the only one on Carpathia who can solve complex math formulae and equations.
24	%%* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler: Josie Hunter, in episode 6.]]
25	* CanineCompanion: Pak's dog ([[spoiler: whatever it was]]).
26	* ColonyDrop: [[spoiler: Possibly what's about to happen 2 seconds after the final credits roll, as a massive landing craft blindly heads straight for Forthaven.]]
27	** [[spoiler:More likely it was a troopship carrying an occupation force.]]
28	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: PAS officers wear blue, XP's wear white/brown. You can tell Berger is [[SinisterMinister evil]] because he tends to wear pinks and purples.
29	* CosyCatastrophe
30	* CowboyCop: Cass, frequently. Although his lapses from the rulebook are often motivated by believing in the innocence of someone who his bosses think needs to be locked up.
31	** Jack is bordering on a dangerous example of this. His [[spoiler: ordering the assassination of Rudy]] just may be his MoralEventHorizon.
32	*** He does all right in the end, though, when he [[spoiler: stops Berger, using his power as interim president]].
33	* CurseCutShort: From the pilot-
34	-->'''Tipper''': I'm the voice of liberty.
35	-->'''Cass''': Well, I'm the voice of f-
36	-->'''Stella''': Deep brain visualization, have you heard of it, Tipper?
37	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Cass, who apparently owes Tate for something.
38	** ... which is [[spoiler: covering up his real identity: Tom Starling, convicted child murderer. He'd never have gotten on the transport if not for Tate.]]
39	* DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler: Jamie Bamber as Mitchell Hoban.]]
40	* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: Marie Dougherty, when Stella chooses to give her the C-section.]]
41	* {{Doppelganger}}: [[spoiler: The duplicate Josie.]]
42	** [[spoiler: Tate gets one in episodes 7 and 8. Apparently it's a life-form that can look like ''anyone''.]]
43	* EarthThatWas
44	* EvilutionaryBiologist: Tate, for [[spoiler: creating the [=ACs=]]].
45	* FakeOutMakeOut: Cass and Fleur, in episode 8.
46	* FantasticRacism: The whole "Advanced Cultivar" situation.
47	* FollowTheLeader: Huge tonal, visual, and plot similarities to twenty-first century ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}''. Someone was obviously impressed.
48	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A few people have said they "know who [Cass] really is", including Mitchell. It finally comes to a head in episode 7, where it's revealed [[spoiler: he's a former criminal, guilty of murder]].
49	** Richard's dead children that he's been seeing? [[spoiler: They're not a hallucination. They're the planetary entity trying to get inside his head.]]
50	* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke
51	* GoldFever: Pak deliberately causes an outbreak with his diamonds.
52	* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler: Jack, in episode 8. Is he on Berger's? Is he on Tate's? He flips about three times before the climax.]]
53	* HostageSituation
54	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: So far, Tate seems to consist entirely of this and use it as his justification in regards to his severely sketchy treatment of the AC's.
55	* [[spoiler:InferredHolocaust: No one is likely to survive a hit from that transport ship.]]
56	* JurisdictionFriction: Supposedly, PAS (Protection and Security, headed by Stella and Cass) has control of everything inside Forthaven while the XP's (Expeditionary Forces, headed by Mitchell and Jack) handle everything outside. Needless to say, it doesn't work that smoothly.
57	* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Probably inevitable, given the small number of people on the colony.
58	* MamaBear: Josie.
59	* MayDecemberRomance: Stella and Tipper, though it may have just been a one-time thing.
60	* MeaningfulName: Cassius Cromwell, who is not an innocent man, named for two of history's greatest betrayers (Cassius, murderer of Julius Caesar; Oliver Cromwell, genocidal dictator).
61	** Elijah, the [[ScaryBlackMan scary, black]], prophetic Advanced Cultivar.
62	* MentalPictureProjector
63	* MountainMan: Pak.
64	* MyGreatestFailure: Tate [[spoiler: exiling and attempting to wipe out the ACs after having ''created'' them in the first place]]. Cass [[spoiler: working for the cartels on Earth and killing a young boy]].
65	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Stella, who seems to be a neurologist, meteorologist, medical doctor, and geneticist, and Tate, who knows biology, medicine, and agriculture, but is also called a "geneticist". Possibly a side effect of TheMainCharactersDoEverything.
66	* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: President Tate is President Personable on the surface, but is a WellIntentionedExtremist underneath.
67	* ParentalAbandonment: Lily feels Stella abandoned her for fifteen years.
68	* PedophilePriest: Some squicky insinuations about Berger.
69	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Tate and Stella.
70	* {{Recycled IN SPACE}}: It has elements of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' [-IN SPACE!-].
71	* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: Tate as Enlightenment, Hoban and the Advanced Cultivars as Romanticism.
72	* SadisticChoice: In episode 6, Stella has to decide [[spoiler: whether to save Marie when she goes into shock, or perform a C-section, which has a less than 50% chance of saving her, but will save her child.]]
73	* ScaryBlackMan: Jack and Elijah.
74	* SettlingTheFrontier: The basic premise of the show is the settlement of Carpathia.
75	* ShipTease: Cass and Fleur. Tate and Stella. Berger and Stella, though that's more one-sided and politically-motivated on Berger's part.
76	* SinisterMinister: Berger, what with the delusions of grandeur, accumulating political power, and implications of pedophilia. [[spoiler: In episode 5, it's revealed he's definitely TheMole and also TheDragon for the new transport ship.]]
77	* SleepCute: Cass and Fleur while on their trip with Pak.
78	* SpaceWestern: No Stetsons, but strong overtones in the setting and the philosophical divides among the characters.
79	* StayWithMeUntilIDie: [[spoiler: Pak's motivation]].
80	* TeamDad: Tate
81	* TeamMom: Stella
82	* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: Fleur, who was genetically engineered like the AC's]].
83	* UsedFuture
84	* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Both Richard Tate and Julius Berger believe this, but are polar opposites on how said utopia should be run.
85	* VisionaryVillain: Berger.
86	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: [[spoiler: [[strike:The duplicate Josie.]] All of the planetary entities.]]
87	* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: In regards to the AC's, and in episode 8, [[spoiler: in regard to the Omegas, like Fleur.]]

Context Series / Outcasts