Tag: NBC Universal

Welcome Back WormholeRiders,

A brand new program named Debris, arrived on our television screens tonight. Debris explores a science based subject that is certain to make viewers on the NBC Network absolutely ecstatic. Kudos to NBC Universal making Debris become reality in 2021!

As you are aware, TeamWHR loves science fiction movies and television programs. New entries in the field on a major broadcasting network are a rare event and fantastic when they occur. We believe all such efforts must be supported if our beloved genre is to flourish.

The arrival of aliens on Earth, believed by many to have already occurred, is an even rarer event. The wait is over science fiction admirers and fans, Debris has de-materialized on Earth! This evening on NBC, Debris, a fantastic news series kicked off with the Pilot episode.

Debris is described by NBC as follows:

“When wreckage from a destroyed alien spacecraft scatters across the Western Hemisphere, it soon becomes apparent the pieces are messing with the laws of physics, changing lives in ways we can’t comprehend. Two agents from different continents, and different mindsets, are tasked to work together to recover the debris, whose mysteries humankind is not quite ready for.”

The Debris creator and showrunner is the legendary J.H. Wyman of Fringe, Almost Human and many other fine entertainment products. Wyman will write and executive produce the series alongside his company, Frequency Films in conjunction with Legendary Television. Jason Hoffs (Edge of Tomorrow), Jeff Vlaming (The 100) and Samantha Corbin-Miller (Lie to Me )who will also executive produce Debris.” Tanya Swerling, also of Fringe fame and Katie O’Hara (Homeland) will serve as the series producers. Ms. Swerling serves a dual role, also editing the superb pilot episode.

The Debris ensemble cast features many TeamWHR favorites including Jonathan Tucker (Westworld) as agent Bryan Beneventi, Riann Steele (The Magicians) as Agent Finola Jones, Norbert Leo Butz (Bloodline) as Task Force Leader Craig Maddox, Scroobius Pip (Taboo) as Anson Ash, Michael Eklund as the artifact dealer, Jennifer Copping (Van Helsing) as Julia Maddox, Julia Benson (Stargate Universe) as Mary Vandeberg, Sarah Desjardins (Riverdale) as Nicole Hegmann, Christopher Shyer (V Series) as Richard Hegman, Sebastian Roché (The Man in High Castle) as Brill, Zak Santiago (Continuum) as Gary Garcia, and Rowan Schlosberg (Ghost Wars) as Holloway.

Debris features many more great supporting actors all of whom will add realism to the story arc! Courtesy of NBC, we include the first ten minutes of Debris below for your enjoyment before we begin our review analysis.

WormholeRiders gives the Pilot episode of Debris a straight “A” for concept, originality, series quality, awesome acting, superb screenwriting, concept and cinematography!

Debris Pilot:

Produced by Frequency Films and Legendary Television in association with Universal Television, the “Debris” Pilot, opens in a hotel room in New York City with Anson Ash (Scroobius Pip) and his sidekick Holloway (Rowan Schlosberg) are purchasing a mysterious object sealed in a shielded plastic case from an unknown black marker artifact dealer (Michael Eklund) who accepts a briefcase full of cash promising he has another artifact that can be made available for more money.

Anson and Holloway appear interested in the second object as they conclude the transaction on the first. We do not know at this point what the object in the sealed plastic is or why the objects are worth a briefcase full of cash.

The action immediately begins when our heroes Agent Bryan Beneventi (Jonathan Tucker), and Agent Finola (Riann Steele) arrive at the hotel with a squad of government agents hot on the trail of Anson, Holloway and the artifact objects dealer.

Bryan Beneventi and Finola Jones have apparently been tipped off regarding the transaction of the mysterious objects.  They quickly head to the fourteenth floor subsequent to the hotel front desk revealing where Anson, Holloway and the artifact dealer are in order to arrest the parties involved. Soon we will learn that the trio are trafficking what appear to be alien objects with unusual properties.

However, an eastern European operative (Andrei Kovski) associated with the purchasers of the object, tips off Anson Ash who hightails it out of the hotel room with Holloway!

The man selling the alien artifact objects grabs the briefcase, but gets caught in the hallway when agents storm the fourteenth floor. Obviously knowing that the object artifacts are forbidden, he stashes the second object he brought with him (wrapped in plastic) in a piece of furniture near a maids room service cart. The artifact dealer then follows Anson and Holloway down a stairway hoping to flee the hotel.

Anson and Holloway arrive in the kitchen downstairs on a lower hotel level with the seller of the objects not far behind. The seller suddenly turns a corner in the kitchen to find only a dead end hall. Anson and Holloway have completely disappeared, but how?

In fact both Anson and Holloway have apparently transported away to safety by using some sort of alien power associated with the artifact objects! Now we know why the CIA and MI6 are so interested in these two people!

Meanwhile, the seller of the alien artifact objects is observed landing on a vehicle outside the hotel after what is suspected as being thrown from the second floor by Anson and Holloway since the briefcase with the money is no longer seen in his hand after he impacts the vehicle which appears to have killed him.

We move back to the fourteenth floor where a maid observes the plastic bag with the second object sticking out of the drawer in the furniture. When the maid removes the object from the plastic bag and touches it, she is de-materializes and reappears flying through the ceiling of a ballroom on the ground level, killing her in the process!

As the Pilot unfolds into the introduction and theme sequence, we observe that a spaceship, an alien mothership has broken up in orbit with chunks of the ship witnessed entering Earth’s atmosphere in a wide swath, that Finola works for the United Kingdom’s MI-6 and Bryan works for the United States CIA, Bryan and Finola have teamed up to perform containment of the crashed alien ship of unknown origin.

In the next sequences we observe the Debris team investigating the ballroom where the maid died after falling through the floor to the ballroom. Once again we witness the piece of Debris that is able to defy gravity floating above the carpet in the ballroom.

A team of agents wearing hazmat suits arrives. They are equipped with special containers to hold the alien object safely so that it does not activate again. The CIA and MI6 containment teams have developed special technology to temporarily deactivate and then place the Debris into special metal alloy cylinders so that it can be safely transported back to their secret testing facilities.

Based on the disappearance of Anson and Holloway, who are not associated with the CIA and MI6, it becomes apparent that the object(s) can transport people using some sort of alien technology not available on Earth.

Also of interest is a secure phone call Finola has with MI6 Agent Priya Ferris (Anjali Jay) who is in London. Here it becomes apparent that although MI6 and the CIA and working together on securing the alien artifact objects, each agency has it’s own agenda. This will make for an interesting tension as the story arc unfolds in coming episodes.

We next meet Task Force Leader Craig Maddox (Norbert Leo Butz) while learning more about the containment team and their mission to attempt to track and contain the events that have occurred across the western hemisphere. In this way, the Debris events are similar to the 1947 Roswell incident that many to this very day was covered up by the United States government. The Debris difference is that there are many crash sites and the governments involved will have their hands full trying to contain the secret!

It becomes clear when Bryan Beneventi is talking with Maddox that Anson and Holloway, who were teamed with an eastern European agent, are likely working with agents not affiliated with Russia or China, or so they say. Who, and what countries are seeking to obtain samples of the crashed space ship remains to be revealed.

Then we are introduced to a young man named Kieran Vandeberg (Benjamin Goas) who is observed with his “mother”. We learn a bit later that the woman is not Kieran’s actual mother Mary Vandeberg (Julia Benson) when Kieran is seen with another woman who thinks she is Kieran’s Mom!

In fact Kieran was killed in an automobile accident seven months earlier and is an alien entity is projecting itself as Kieran for an unknown purpose. In this sequence we witness the modus operandi of young Kieran. He meets women he has taken control of in what appears to be a learning process about humanity convincing each of them they are his mother.

Each person Kiernan takes control of ends up near death. Each victim is sent floating away using Kieran’s alien ability to float objects above the ground and defy gravity! Kieran who we learn is in Kansas, sends a woman named Amy Morrison (Amanda Marier) that he has paralyzed on her way to a destination. At this point, only the alien in the body of the deceased Kieran knows why!

Upon their arrival in Witchita, Kansas, Benveneti, Jones and their containment team specialists find Amy Morrison, Mary Vandeberg and several others. All appear to be dead with blood seeping from their eyes. Amy Morrison is observed defying gravity, hovering or floating above the ground with her sweater caught on a barbed wire fence.

Investigation reveals that all are being drawn to the same location when Beneventi releases Amy whose sweater got stuck on barbed wire. The next scene is creepy when Beneventi and Jones follow the hovering Amy to the middle of a field where several other bodies are floating in a circular pattern in mid air!

The bodies are taken to a field containment unit setup to conduct examinations to be performed. Dr. Sharon Bhandari (Kendra Westwood), an Orbital EMT (Josh Panagiotou) and others who are part of the containment team. Dr,  Bhandari discovers that the people are not actually dead when their eyes exhibit movement!

The victims appear to be paralyzed with their life force being slowly drained by the alien who has inhabited Kieran’s body manifestation. Dr. Bhandari’s testing conforms that the victims are not dead, only that their motor movement skills have been inhibited and that they can likely hear and see what is going on around them.

Dr. Bhandari reports that their condition is deteriorating, likely because of the alien infested body of young Kieran Vandeburg is no longer around to sustain them.

All the victims, especially Mary Vandeburg, Kieran’s biological mother, are somehow connected to the accident that happened seven months earlier that killed Kieran. Beneventi and Jones head to the Vandenburg farm when it is reported that they have not returned a call to local authorities. Here they find Mary Vandeburg, floating like the other victims. Beneventi and Jones speak with Kieran’s sister and learn that he died in the accident seven months earlier.

As the mysterious adventure continues, a large pile of Debris is located in a forested area near the farm owned by Mary Vandeburg and her husband. The Debris is almost completely intact seemingly of a semi round cohesive state, floating above the ground with bits and pieces of nearby dirt and leaves swirling above the grave site memorial of Kieran.

While waiting for the containment team to arrive, Beneventi and Jones search the Vandeburg house for clues and discuss the Debris floating above Kieran’s grave. Things turn crazy when Beneventi states that Kieran how could this happen? How was Kieran exhumed by the alien and “meat” was placed back on his bones. Jones reveals that in her discussion with the sister, only Kieran’s ashes were at the grave memorial because Kieran was cremated!

After the containment team arrives, Finola Jones wants to take another look at the Debris before it is taken away for containment. As she approaches the large pile of debris, it becomes apparent that she is affected by it but pulls back before she becomes contaminated or transported away but only after Finola hears her own voice calling her own mother. Somehow the artifact was pulling memories from inside Finola’s mind!

Kieran’s sister Isla Vandeberg (Alisha Newton) then reveals to Beneventi and Jones that she was supposed to come home after her mother Mary Vandeburg called saying she had good news about Keiran. Suddenly the next day Mary Vandeburg cancelled the homecoming. The reason is that Kieran had taken control of Mary Vandeburg, killing her in the process.

The question is are these deliberate killings or some sort of tragic accidents as the aliens are trying to learn about humans by extracting or reading memories from their minds subsequent to being activated by the grief of Mary Vandeburg?

While Dr. Bhandari continues her examinations at the field containment facility, Beneventi and Jones piece together that the alien entity must have been using each human victim as a “human battery” in an attempt to understand the grief of Mary Vandeburg over the loss of her son. Dr. Bhandari calls Beneventi and Jones to tell them that the bodies are speaking two words: Jenna Goldman, the name of Finola Jones mother. Beneventi and Jones deduce that the Debris at the Vandeburg farm that Finola communicated with is somehow connected to all the paralyzed bodies in the field containment facility!

Suddenly Anson and Holloway appear at the Debris site on the Vandeburg farm while the containment team is at work. Agent Tom Gordon (Thomas Cadrot) spots the two intruders ordering them to freeze! Instead, Anson and Holloway each place a fragment of the alien artifact objects in their mouths and vanish, rematerializing  under a freeway underpass lord knows where!

This detail appears to prove that Anson and Holloway know more about the Debris than the CIA and MI6. Unfortunately for Holloway, he rematerializes inside a concrete pillar supporting the freeway! Anson kills his former partner and leaves the scene immediately but not before the containment team are alerted to an atmospheric disturbance.

Beneventi and Jones rush to the scene to find Holloway embedded in the concrete from his chest down. Although Anson has escaped, the technology, a type of “Phased Transport” system the aliens utilize is not without consequences for those who are not trained to use it properly.

Tracking down Kieran in Kansas via law enforcement and video cameras that the CIA has tapped into, we see the woman from the restaurant at the same service station that Kieran visited with his mother Mary Vandeburg. The woman thinks she is Kieran’s mother!

While Bryan interrogates the woman seen at the restaurants, now at the service station, the alien entity pretending to be Kieran takes control of Finola Jones mind when she approaches the vehicle while Bryan Beneventi is interrogating the woman from the restaurant.

Kieran, now in control of Finola Jones mind, is forced to drive the vehicle to the scene of his accident. As the pair leave the gas station restaurant, Beneventi alerts his containment team after figuring out that Kieran, who had been killed months earlier, is still attached to Mary Vandeburg as the anchor holding the alien to the circumstances.

Beneventi brings the sister, Isla Vandeburg, to the field containment facility in an attempt to speak to her paralyzed mother and convince the Kieran the alien, who is monitoring all the paralyzed humans, to break the mental connection and free all the victims, including his partner Finola Jones, from the mental grip of the alien entity that has materialized the body of Kieran Vandeburg.

Thankfully, the strategy works.  Mary Vandeberg, all the victims and Finola Jones are released from the alien mental control. The alien that was materialized as Kieran to relieve the grief stricken Mary, did not mean to harm anyone. Kieran is last seen in the field near the accident and then disappears.

The same cannot be said for Anson Ash who clearly has ulterior motivations and has somehow learned about the aliens artifacts and their power. At this juncture, we are uncertain how Anson has obtained his insight into the aliens, but it is absolutely clear that he committed to obtain more of them, and use the alien artifacts for what are certain to be less than honorable, likely political purposes.

As the episode winds down, during a conference call with Craig Maddox, Brfayn Jones and Finola Jones learns that the body found embedded in the concrete pillar is an ex SAS agent connected George Jones (Tyrone Benskin), Finola’s father!

The final sequences reveal the startling truth, Bryan Beneventi is ordered by Craig Maddox to not inform Finola Jones and MI6 that George Jones is directly involved with the plot to appropriate the alien artifacts for their nefarious purposes.

The final shot visually illustrates the motivation of Maddox and the CIA, the round alien objects we have witnessed previously are being reconstructed in a top secret hanger. As camera pans back, the objects are clearly alien escape pods that have crashed to Earth, and there are more than one of them being rebuilt inside the CIA hanger!

As we proceed to the future with Debris in our thoughts, Team WHR will return with more analysis of our favorite series including select science fiction book and television reviews. Additionally, we will be migrating the entire WHR YouDecide interview series here during 2021! Please feel free to share this article with your friends, co-workers and or family and leave your comments! We look forward to you visiting our dedicated review and analysis web site here in the future!

Or as many of our readers and visitors often do, visit WHR on Twitter, or visit me on Twitter by clicking the text links or images avatars in this news story. I and TeamWHR look forward to Seeing You on The Other Side!“

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Kenn of #TeamWHR