https://www.1ksuns.com/

Sent to a promising terraforming candidate world, an astronaut ruminates on his bottom line, crosses an ethical boundary and discovers there is always a bigger fish.

A Thousand Suns is, if all goes well, a regular anthology series releasing short science fiction movies on YouTube. The first batch dropped today and as statements of intent go, ‘Ice’ is about as strong as you can hope for.

Lee Wakefield as the astronaut is a great choice. He’s got natural presence, a great voice and everything about him screams blue collar spaceworker. What really makes it work though is the way that Wakefield, writers (and director) Ruari Robinson and Phillip Gelatt weaponize his fundamental likability. We’ve seen astronauts like this before and you feel like the Nostromo crew, or Isaac Clarke, would get on with this guy or perhaps owe him a tenner.

Then he does something unspeakable, and in doing so the script reveals a card you didn’t even notice wasn’t turned over. The game is rigged, the deck is stacked and we’re still reeling from that when the ending hits in every possible sense.

Verdict: ‘Ice’ has  a great script, with a great performance at its core. It’s also beautifully shot and designed and sets the intent for what’s to come perfectly. There are five more episodes, each telling their own story, released and, hopefully, many more to come. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart