YouTube’s ‘Origin’ Series Is ‘Lost’ Meets ‘Event Horizon’, Watch The Trailer Now [Comic-Con 2018]
IfCobra Kaididn’t convince you to check out YouTube Premium, how about a new science fiction horror series that feels as ifEvent HorizonandLostwere genetically spliced together? And thatEvent Horizoncomparison isn’t a throwaway reference, either – the first two episodes ofOriginwere directed byPaul W.S. Anderson, the filmmaker behind that 1997 B-movie gem and more than a fewResident Evilmovies.
Appropriately, the footage fromOriginthat was screened at San Diego Comic-Con International looked like Anderson at his best – slick, schlocky, and simultaneously straight-faced and silly. And while it’s leaning heavily on theLostmodel for basic structure, there are far worse shows from which to steal. Think ofOriginasLost, but instead of a mysterious island, everyone is trapped on a labyrinthine spaceship filled with things that mean them harm.
What is Origin?
Originunfolds across two timelines. 60% of a given episode takes place on the Origin, a ship built by the powerful Siren corporation that is transporting colonists to a distant and habitable planet called Thea. The other 40% is comprised of flashbacks to the various colonists' lives on Earth, exploring why they decided to drop everything, leave their lives behind, and journey into the great unknown. As you’d imagine, the cast of characters (engineers, doctors, criminals) all had a damn good reason to want a fresh start…and as you’d also imagine, that fresh start hits a brick wall on board the Origin, where things go terribly wrong.
11 of the colonists wake up and find their massive, maze-like, and inexplicably lit-like-a-haunted-house spaceship (shades of bothEvent HorizonandAlienhere) completely abandoned.Somethingbad happened and the vast majority of the crew and passengers took off in escape pods. What happened? Why was this group left behind? And what is on the ship with them? Cue screaming, running, and lots of goo dripping from ceilings.
The core cast includes a few familiar faces, especially for those well-versed in geekery.Tom Felton, better known to millions as Draco Malfoy in theHarry Potterfilms, plays an American drug dealer looking for a second chance in space.Natalia Tena, known for roles inHarry PotterandGame of Thrones, plays a PTSD-stricken, gun-loving woman of mystery.Fraser Jamesis a geneticist forced to play doctor to the fellow colonists andNora Arnezederis a Siren-employed engineer. However, the focus of the footage screened for the Comic-Con crowd was a character played bySen Mitsuji, a Japanese Yakuza who flees Earth to escape violence and only ends up finding more.
12 Minutes of Footage
The extended clip was taken from the first episode and it was immediately clear that Anderson andOrigin’s producers aren’t afraid to lean on familiar concepts. It it isn’t broken, why fix it? The set design isAlien. The structure isLost. The nasty horror isEvent Horizon. But you know what? It seems to work. Anderson has made his fair share of bad movies, but when he’s at his best, he makes great schlock that wears its influences on its sleeve. And at first glance,Originlooks like it could be great schlock.
The footage begins with a few unfortunate souls exploring the shadowy, confusing, murky corridors of the Origin and coming across a wounded and unconscious engineer, a freshly fired pistol, a trail of blood, and a sealed door. Naturally, the gathered characters split up – some stay with the body and the others investigate the sealed door. Do they go in? Is it sealed for a reason? What if someone needs help? Does this moral dilemma trigger a flashback to a moment from a character’s traumatic past? Of course it does!
Naturally, they go through the door. And naturally, the unconscious engineer wakes up and immediately warns everyone that they shouldn’t go through that sealed door. Whoops!
And we soon learn why the door was sealed. Something collided with the Origin and left this section of the ship heavily damaged. Thick goo drips from the ceiling. There are holes in the wall suggesting that something has burrowed through metal. Oh, and there’s the crew member who lurches out of the darkness, screaming and out of control, his body contorting like he has a few dozen extra joints in places where human beings shouldn’t have joints. After doing his bestExorcistspider-walk impression, his eyes bulge out of their sockets and he dies painfully and horribly.
So, yeah: whatever caused the bulk of the Origin’s crew to evacuate is bad business, causing its victims to engage in all kinds of vicious body horror, much of which seems to have been achieved practically. This is a YouTube show and everyone is clearly relishing the freedom of the platform –Originseems to have more in common with something you’d see on HBO, Showtime, or AMC than with network television.
