In Review: Tom Swift (S1 – EP1) …And the Liftoff to Saturn

Synopsis: Tom is shaken after the shocking disappearance of his father, thrusting Tom into a breathtaking adventure full of mysterious conspiracies and unexplained phenomena.

The Story

As introduced in a season two episode of Nancy Drew. This spin-off introduces us properly to Tom Swift and the high-tech world that he inhabits. When his father Barton Swift embarks on a mission into space. His ship explodes and it is assumed that he is dead. Driven by the loss Tom begins an investigation into what happened to his dad, which leads him into a bit of industrial espionage that implicates a certain Congressman as being complicit in the plot to kill Tom’s dad.

As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that the Swift family is under attack from an Illuminati style that wants to stop the progress of modern technology.

The Acting

Tian Richards reprises his role of Swift and very quickly demonstrates his ability to lead a cast. Ashleigh Murray is fantastic as Tom’s friend Zenzi Fullington who seems to be somewhat similar to the role that Pepper Potts played in grounding Tony Stark in the Iron Man films. Although Zenzi is unlikely to be a love interest for Tom Swift as he is very definitely gay. We also get a fun voice performance from Star Trek: The Next Generation star LeVar Burton who gives a voice to Swift’s computer system, which is called Barcley. 

Overall

This opening episode does a great job of setting the story up and allows for the cast to very quickly develop some chemistry. The sequence where we see Swift’s team infiltrate the computer systems of the company that they suspect of sabotaging Barton Swift’s rocket was nicely done.

I also liked the unique imaginary technologies that we saw. Such as a pair of sneakers that actually allow you to sneak. As well as the mist that allows them to download the entire contents of a hard disk.

Overall. This is a pretty decent start.