As streaming continues to dominate the way people watch television, the boundaries of what can be put on the small screen are being pushed further and further, writes “Streaming” columnist NICK OVERALL.

There’s perhaps no platform trying to bring the cinematic experience to people’s lounge rooms more than Apple TV Plus.

What it lacks in quantity of content, it certainly makes up for in sheer quality of spectacle.

Take the recently released Masters of the Sky from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, which feels like an epic war film of old brought to a laptop or phone screen.

Now the platform is trying to make the next giant leap with Constellation, a blockbuster space thriller that might just be streaming’s answer to Gravity.

Noomi Rapace stars in this moody sci-fi series about an astronaut whose life changes forever after disaster strikes the International Space Station.

While conducting an experiment on board, Jo (Rapace) and her crew are hit by space debris, forcing them to make a dangerous and death-defying return to Earth.

The catch? Upon returning to her home planet Jo finds reality isn’t as she remembered it.

At first these distortions in her memory start small: the colour of her car is different or old friends are now strangers but as the show goes things only get more bizarre and eventually frightening when Jo begins to question whether her own daughter Alice is even real.

Has her mind been afflicted with some kind of post traumatic stress from her narrow escape from death? Has some sinister force altered her memories?

The conceit of Constellation is to keep its audience guessing right up until its final plot twist unfolds.

It’s like if you took Gravity, dialled up the sci-fi and stretched it out over eight, hour-long episodes. The first three (released together) chart the emergency return to Earth before the following five (released weekly) dive into the conspiracy at play here.

It’s certainly those first three episodes that are strongest. The special effects and production values are some of the most impressive ever put to a streaming show.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the remaining episodes which, though at times interesting, tend to outstay their welcome.

Ironically, it’s a plot that probably would have worked better as a film but there’s still a lot to love here for those willing to get caught up in the psychological drama that follows the show’s far more compelling survival story set in space.

While Constellation certainly has cinematic movement that warrants giving it a try, when it comes to the show’s more philosophical elements, unfortunately it’s reach for the stars is often well beyond its grasp.

HITTING Netflix this week is the highly anticipated release: Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Not to be confused with James Cameron’s blockbuster saga about blue people, The Last Airbender is a live action adaptation of the popular animated series which tells the tale of Aang, a young boy who must harness the power of Earth’s elements to save a world being torn apart by war.

Fans of Avatar will remember the last time someone disastrously tried to turn the beloved animated series into the real deal. That was M Night. Shyamalan’s 2010 film version that, to this day, is still considered one of the worst movies ever put to screen. 

These days the debacle is streamable on Stan, though to say it should be avoided like the plague might be an understatement.

Now Netflix is offering a live-action version of Avatar the chance at redemption in the form of a new eight-part series.

Will it live up to the hype? Recently Netflix was able to pull off the live-action adaptation of another popular animated series – One Piece – with flying colours. 

The show attracted 50 million worldwide viewers in its first month alone,  and if it’s anything to go by, it puts “The Last Airbender” in good stead indeed.

Netflix might even have a new record breaker on its hands.