Final two reasons: I just wanted to have some “new” sci-fi set in space and I was very fortunate that when I was browsing on Amazon.com, I noticed a big price-dip, it was $36 instead of the usual price range of $52-65. Do I regret my decision to purchase this set you ask me? To be honest, after watching the first season, yes, although the last 3 episodes do give me a little bit of hope for the second season.

I so much wanted to say it is a great show and the Redux updates really add something to the show, but it is not enough for me to now say that this is / was a great show. It is still mediocre at best, the CGI has improved, but about some scenes I am really impressed while in other scenes I cringe at how it looks. The HD transfer itself is also not always as impressive as I’d hoped it would be. It does get better while the season is progressing, but it certainly is not more than a 7/10.

Characters:

The first season revolves around the 5 main characters, 3 of them are residents of the spaceship The Tulip, which is owned by Rudolpho deLuna (Stephen Marcus) who has hired Dante Montana as a bounty hunter. Dante Montana (Michael Paré) is the captain of the Tulip, he is a bounty hunter, born out of necessity because his number one goal is to find his son Travis, who has been kidnapped some 10 years ago. Percy Montana (Tanya Allen) is Dante’s niece, she is part of his small crew, she is a very smart girl, is responsible for engineering. The last crew member is Lucretia Scott (Claudette Roche), Luc in short, she is also a bounty hunter but she secretly also works for the Orchard, where her father Darius is the leader. The Orchard, a mysterious organization, who comprises scientists and researchers dedicated to unlocking, in hopes of controlling, alien genes called "The Divinity Cluster". That is where they are after, it suppose to have magnificent powers. The last “member of the crew” is an AI, Caravaggio (Murray Melvin).

Story-arc

So yes, Starhunter definitely is not episodic, sure, not every episode is related to this story-arc but most episodes at least touch upon it. Dante looking for his son, Luc’s involvement with the Orchard, her loyalty issues because of it towards Dante. The divinity cluster, which is suppose be very powerful and towards the end of the season we learn that Travis, Dante’s son, is the key to unlock it.

The first season overall:

After a pilot, which is okay where the story-arc is set-up about the Divinity Cluster, it becomes very mediocre, I really had to get used to Tanya Allen’s character, perhaps it is meant as humoristic, but she annoyed me for the better part of the first season with her childish behavior. I had a tough time seeing through the cheapness, the acting and such. The first better episode after the pilot is episode 8, just the first one after I quit watching so many years ago! It is called “Past Life”, it is a personal story, mostly about Luc, but also about Dante. The storytelling here supersedes the production values. Then we get a bunch of watchable episodes, it actually begins to level off, no terrific episodes but okay and episode 13 “The Most Wanted Man” I actually graded an 8/10! The story-arc is touched upon heavily again. We learn that Darius, the leader of the Orchard is actually Luc’s father, more mystery around the Divinity Cluster and because Luc has been in contact with The Orchard behind Dante’s back for months now, he no longer trusts her and wants her gone from his ship.

Episode 14 is also interesting, “Half Dense Players”, Darius pulls strings with Rudolpho to have the Tulip transport Andrea Arquette, an artist who's suspected of murder. Percy discovers that the Tulip is being trailed by a cloaked ship that might be over three million years old. Luc comes clean about the Orchard, she is able to stop Darius from killing her colleagues by remaining on board the Tulip. Even the acting seems to improve somewhat as also the PQ, because it may be on Blu-ray but certainly in the first couple of episodes you could have fooled me on more than one occasion. Well after episode 14, till episode 20, there is another significant quality drop in the episodes, most of these I graded with a 5/10 with one exception. Worst episode was episode 15 in my opinion, “Dark and Stormy Night”, a clip show! It starts out promising but it soon dives! As if I want to see all that again so soon what I have just been watching up until now!

When the attention is brought back to the story-arc again, in episode 20, which is actually the first of a three part episode which concludes the season. We do get to meet Dante’s son Travis, we learn that the Divinity Cluster could actually destroy humankind. We learn that Penny, Dante’s wife also worked for the Orchard and that she experimented on herself, which Travis inherited. The season finale in interesting, a real cliff-hanger, Dante, Percy and Luc are all gone from the Tulip, leaving Caravaggio alone wondering where everybody is.

Final Word:

At times it really was rough to get through, most episodes are a struggle to watch, at least this is how I experienced it. About 5 to 8 episodes I really enjoyed, including the last 3 episodes of the season. But because I consciously purchased it, I am going to finish it, so I am all in for season two. Should I recommend this show to anyone? Well, if you’ve read this blog and you still thinking about watching this show, well, then go ahead, but otherwise, I would skip it. If you go in, expecting nothing much, you may end up enjoying it for the most part, but you just have to realize, it is a sci-fi show on a low budget, in that sense, the Redux update does help: in the CGI, but also in season two where Caravaggio is now again played by Murray Melvin and apparently we also are going to see Michael Paré’s character Dante back, which wasn’t the case in the original Starhunter 2300 follow-up series.