But it does serve as largely indisputable proof that not all adaptations are created equal, no matter where they came from. Martin published the expanded take on Nightflyers in 1981, years ahead of his mega-popularity in 1981, it's weird for the two to get mentioned in the same breath. And while the two might share literary lineage, the new series is at best a pallid pretender.Ĭonsidering how vastly different the two projects are, and that George R.R. Martin's High School Yearbook' - but Nightflyers merely reinforces that such alchemy is exceedingly rare. The desire to catch lightning in a bottle in the way that Thrones did is certainly understandable - one half expects to see 'George R.R. O'Byrne (among others) did the best they could with the material.Īs far as Game of Thrones comparisons go, CNN had a sharply drawn one in its own mostly negative take on Nightflyers.

It is worth noting that many reviews, even the negative ones, call out the performances as the show's most successful element, saying stars like Gretchen Mol, Eoin Macken, David Ajala and Brian F. Unfortunately for genre fans, horror and sci-fi projects tend to be the most guilty of delivering thinly designed characters, who are often seen as secondary in importance behind big sequences and overall plot mechanics. And with the performances covering the full spectrum from sinister frowny-whispering to sinister angry-whispering, it adds up to a pretty one-note experience. There's no one on board the ship who doesn't have some kind of bloody backstory.

While people will probably never stop praising the majority of the character ensemble introduced in Game of Thrones, it doesn't look like Nightflyers will inspire the same level of widespread admiration. Surely not everyone will consider all those moments to be trite, but the sentiment was shared by several different critics.ĬNET, which flat-out stated that Nightflyers 'is no Game of Thrones,' placed part of the blame on the characters themselves. Granted, a horror-tinged series set in space in 2093 will obviously aim for moments that set viewers on the edges of their seats, However, it's always more satisfying when a show earns those kinds of moments, and doesn't just shoehorn them in to fulfill an unofficial quota. Like too many recent TV series and miniseries, Nightflyers feels as if it's running out the clock, padding action to fill predetermined time slots rather than because the story actually needs it. The script is a repetitive collection of jump scares and gross-outs that arrive at roughly seven-minute intervals, timed to the rhythm of ad breaks.

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