Alternate histories tend to become more incredible the more they advance in time beyond their point of divergence.
Such has been the tragedy of For All Mankind, the Apple TV series about a Space Race in which the Soviets landed on the Moon first. With each season — the show is currently in its fifth and has one more to go — the stories have become more farfetched. (Our review of Seasons 1 and 2 here, and of Season 3 here.)
The spinoff Star City suffers from some of the same weaknesses: from cosmonauts being recruited for a deep-space mission at the last minute to a KGB desk agent acting way beyond her job description in order to tie up disparate storylines.
But it more than makes up for these few implausibilities with a setting and story firmly grounded in the real Russia of the 1960s and 1970s, and a stellar cast that brings out the oppressiveness and sometimes absurdity of Soviet life, which all comes to a head in a thrilling sixth episode (out of eight).
The architecture, the clothes, the furniture, the songs — all are authentic and familiar to Russians who grew up even two decades later (I checked). The production design and writing lean heavier on what goes on “on the ground”, including the constant friction between the Soviet space program and its KGB “protectors”, than it does on outer space.
Making Star City perhaps less a science-fiction series than one about Soviet Russia. Albeit in a timeline where the Soviets not only put the first man on the Moon, but also the first woman: Anastasia Belikova, played here by Australian actress Alice Englert.
In the real world, the “chief designer” of the Soviet space program, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (his name was kept secret during his life), died in 1966. In the series, he lives into the 1970s, portrayed by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, accounting for the Soviets’ advantage over the Americans.
Much of the action takes place in the “closed” Star City somewhere in the dense forests northeast of Moscow. Only a few scenes take place in the Baikonur Cosmodrome in modern-day Kazakhstan, and a few more in Moscow.
Apple TV has not yet renewed Star City for a second season. I hope they will — while avoiding the mistake of their parent show by letting it go on for too long.
