Something very strange is going on here, everything up to the prison ship was first class but then collapsed into some of the worst acting I have ever witnessed. The actors performance was astonishingly poor and makes you wonder whether any of these people have ever even seen the inside of a dramatic arts Academy. My rating went from a high 8 to a low 2 between one scene and the next it was so bad. Then as if by magic, the direction/acting performance quality returned! It's all very strange and once you are through the first couple of episodes the show starts to get good. As a result, I'm hoping that the prison ship acting fiasco was just a blip and I'm actually starting to think that an assistant director (after a heavy nights drinking) told the actors to behave as weirdly crazy as possible.
Now, about the special effects, I've even seen a couple of reviews that have even suggested that the effects were "cheap and nasty". Well, I worked in the industry for 20 years and these are some excellent sets and effects. Actually, the only negative effects that I could pick up on was of the motion of the personal police ship at the start of episode one.