2025 is a science fiction series that is set ten years from 2015, when the show aired. To begin with, it is not very gee whiz to have a show that takes place in the far-flung future of ten years from now. I'm guessing that perhaps this was pitched as 2045 or 2035, and the setting was brought down to a manageable year given budget and other constraints. Imagine if you made a show in 2005 called "2015" - what would be the noticeable physical differences? The phones got smaller, but there's not very much other than that.
The plot is your basic sci-fi conspiracy deal - an unassuming accountant is caught in a car accident. The problem is, self-driving cars don't have accidents. His wife and daughter, and the neighbour kid who has a crush on the daughter, get drawn into a far-reaching malicious plot. It turns out there was more to the accountant than his family thought, and he is secretly a brilliant neuroscientist. There is also an intrepid detective who sets about unravelling the mystery, which involves the CEO of a biotechnology firm, an ambitious presidential candidate, and his drug addict son. The biotechnology firm is rolling out a cognitive enhancement device called the "psychip," and if you have seen or read one dystopian sci-fi anything, you know where this is going.
The series is described as a "docu-drama," which is confusing. The reason it's given this designation is the narrative part of each half-hour episode ends about two-thirds in. The remaining third of each episode comprises talking head segments, with people who work in various fields being interviewed about the technologies that are showcased in each episode, some of which are pretty mundane. So you have often deeply uncharismatic people discussing 3D printing and self-driving cars and the like. This is stuff that would typically comprise bonus material, and not be part of the actual show. It makes one think that the producers felt like Singaporeans do not fundamentally grasp the concept of sci-fi. It would be like if every time someone used the matter transporter on Star Trek, Michio Kaku shows up to explain how that might work. It undercuts the little drama that the show has. In the final episode, one character dies and their remains are turned into diamonds. The expert who shows up to explain this process robs that character's death of any emotional weight it might have had.
I'll be honest: I was willing to cut 2025 a lot of slack because I know how hard it is to get anything made here, let alone a science fiction TV series. I am certain that there are many talented filmmakers and other artists in Singapore, it's just that they get discouraged very early on when all their ideas get shut down instead of being nurtured. I was excited to see where this would go, fully having the expectation that it probably would be a bit rinky-dink because that's just how things are.
The most obvious thing is that the show does not look good. It puts the visual effects front and centre when the visual effects are very poor. There are ways to disguise and work around limited resources, but here, the limited resources are on full display, Emperor's New Clothes-style. The pilot episodes opens with the car crash. There's just no weight to this and the car does not occupy the same physical space. One of the problems is that they're cutting between this CGI car and this practical motorcycle, and they just don't match. Shortly after that, we get this scene of the accountant guy getting surgery where the medical robot just does not look finished.
The practical aspects of the production aren't great either - the villainous Enforcers all dress in what looks like paintball armour, and the futuristic pistol is a NERF gun. To their credit, they did paint the NERF gun black but they didn't sand the logo down. Who knows, perhaps Hasbro becomes the world's top weapons manufacturer in 2025? There's still time for them to get into that market.
The "final boss" of the series is the presidential candidate's son wearing this exo-suit that looks like cardboard spray-painted silver.
The look of the show is far from its only problem, or even its main problem. The story is a really basic sci-fi plot. Something that is straightforward and unoriginal can be forgiven if it is presented in an entertaining manner, but 2025 is not entertaining. It's chock-full of exposition and just really goes through the motions.
The acting is generally not convincing, but then again, it's like that across the board for Singaporean TV, so I don't want to be too hard on that aspect. There certainly are actors in this who know what they're doing: dependable industry veteran Lim Kay Tong is doing a decent Lex Luthor-type villain performance, and Edward Choy, who plays the police detective, is clearly trying his best. Scott Hillyard, who plays the neighbour kid, is reasonably endearing even if his character is written to be a bit annoying at times.
Eunice Annabel Lim, who plays the daughter, is a beauty influencer who acted once in the film The Lion Men before appearing in this show. It's low-hanging fruit to criticise the acting skills of social media influencers, but it is troubling that producers think that influencers and actors are remotely the same thing. It seems like a widespread misconception in Singapore that acting is very easy and anyone can do it, and as such it seems undervalued as a craft.
It is indicative of the state of Singapore's mainstream film and TV output that I actually was excited for this show back in 2015. 2025 represents how stuck Singapore is, and how challenging it is for any Singapore-made genre projects to have credibility. Genre is a great way of making stuff that travels, and stuff that gets noticed elsewhere. A well-made Singaporean sci-fi film or TV show could gain cult status among genre fans around the world, but it seems like we're just really far off from that, and that there needs to be a paradigm shift in the industry that I'm not sure really could happen.
The plot is your basic sci-fi conspiracy deal - an unassuming accountant is caught in a car accident. The problem is, self-driving cars don't have accidents. His wife and daughter, and the neighbour kid who has a crush on the daughter, get drawn into a far-reaching malicious plot. It turns out there was more to the accountant than his family thought, and he is secretly a brilliant neuroscientist. There is also an intrepid detective who sets about unravelling the mystery, which involves the CEO of a biotechnology firm, an ambitious presidential candidate, and his drug addict son. The biotechnology firm is rolling out a cognitive enhancement device called the "psychip," and if you have seen or read one dystopian sci-fi anything, you know where this is going.
The series is described as a "docu-drama," which is confusing. The reason it's given this designation is the narrative part of each half-hour episode ends about two-thirds in. The remaining third of each episode comprises talking head segments, with people who work in various fields being interviewed about the technologies that are showcased in each episode, some of which are pretty mundane. So you have often deeply uncharismatic people discussing 3D printing and self-driving cars and the like. This is stuff that would typically comprise bonus material, and not be part of the actual show. It makes one think that the producers felt like Singaporeans do not fundamentally grasp the concept of sci-fi. It would be like if every time someone used the matter transporter on Star Trek, Michio Kaku shows up to explain how that might work. It undercuts the little drama that the show has. In the final episode, one character dies and their remains are turned into diamonds. The expert who shows up to explain this process robs that character's death of any emotional weight it might have had.
I'll be honest: I was willing to cut 2025 a lot of slack because I know how hard it is to get anything made here, let alone a science fiction TV series. I am certain that there are many talented filmmakers and other artists in Singapore, it's just that they get discouraged very early on when all their ideas get shut down instead of being nurtured. I was excited to see where this would go, fully having the expectation that it probably would be a bit rinky-dink because that's just how things are.
The most obvious thing is that the show does not look good. It puts the visual effects front and centre when the visual effects are very poor. There are ways to disguise and work around limited resources, but here, the limited resources are on full display, Emperor's New Clothes-style. The pilot episodes opens with the car crash. There's just no weight to this and the car does not occupy the same physical space. One of the problems is that they're cutting between this CGI car and this practical motorcycle, and they just don't match. Shortly after that, we get this scene of the accountant guy getting surgery where the medical robot just does not look finished.
The practical aspects of the production aren't great either - the villainous Enforcers all dress in what looks like paintball armour, and the futuristic pistol is a NERF gun. To their credit, they did paint the NERF gun black but they didn't sand the logo down. Who knows, perhaps Hasbro becomes the world's top weapons manufacturer in 2025? There's still time for them to get into that market.
The "final boss" of the series is the presidential candidate's son wearing this exo-suit that looks like cardboard spray-painted silver.
The look of the show is far from its only problem, or even its main problem. The story is a really basic sci-fi plot. Something that is straightforward and unoriginal can be forgiven if it is presented in an entertaining manner, but 2025 is not entertaining. It's chock-full of exposition and just really goes through the motions.
The acting is generally not convincing, but then again, it's like that across the board for Singaporean TV, so I don't want to be too hard on that aspect. There certainly are actors in this who know what they're doing: dependable industry veteran Lim Kay Tong is doing a decent Lex Luthor-type villain performance, and Edward Choy, who plays the police detective, is clearly trying his best. Scott Hillyard, who plays the neighbour kid, is reasonably endearing even if his character is written to be a bit annoying at times.
Eunice Annabel Lim, who plays the daughter, is a beauty influencer who acted once in the film The Lion Men before appearing in this show. It's low-hanging fruit to criticise the acting skills of social media influencers, but it is troubling that producers think that influencers and actors are remotely the same thing. It seems like a widespread misconception in Singapore that acting is very easy and anyone can do it, and as such it seems undervalued as a craft.
It is indicative of the state of Singapore's mainstream film and TV output that I actually was excited for this show back in 2015. 2025 represents how stuck Singapore is, and how challenging it is for any Singapore-made genre projects to have credibility. Genre is a great way of making stuff that travels, and stuff that gets noticed elsewhere. A well-made Singaporean sci-fi film or TV show could gain cult status among genre fans around the world, but it seems like we're just really far off from that, and that there needs to be a paradigm shift in the industry that I'm not sure really could happen.