When I was a drama major at the UofG, we sometimes spoke of \u201ctheatre value\u201d: the extent to which the story being told had to be told through theatre, and could not be told as effectively, as successfully, in another medium.<\/p>\n
What Sense8<\/a> gets very, very right, is its grasp of an equivalent principle: \u201ctelevision value<\/strong>\u201d, the extent to which its story must be told through the medium of television. Or to be more specific, the medium of an internet-based video-streaming television service. In fact I think the show’s television value will change the nature of television. <\/p>\n Before I begin: a quick note about what the show is about.<\/strong> It’s the story of eight people, very different from each other, living in seven different countries around the world, who share each other\u2019s memories, feelings, thoughts, sensory experiences, and sometimes specialized skills. There\u2019s a computer hacker, a business executive, an actor, a criminal, a scientist, a police officer, a bus driver, and a DJ: the spread of complimentary skills makes them a kind of modern-day D&D adventuring party, really. Finally, it’s the product of JMS<\/a> and The Wachowskis<\/a>, whose previous sci-fi credits include Babylon 5<\/em> and The Matrix<\/em>. Here’s the trailer:<\/p>\n