Defiance (SyFy)

[Lenny]

Defiance is a new post-contact (with a good argument for post-apocalyptic) science fiction series on SyFy developed in collaboration with Trion Worlds, a video game developer, who are producing an MMO connected to the series (separate thread here). It's quite an ambitious project by both parties, with series events affecting the game world, and vice versa. The game was released on April 2nd, to fair-to-good reviews, and the first episode (a feature-length) of the series aired tonight.

Defiance is set many decades in the future, on an Earth that has been terraformed by a collective of alien species known as the Votans, who came to Earth after their star system was destroyed by a stellar collision. They arrived thinking that Earth was uninhabited, but discovered that they were wrong. Humanity was hostile, but allowed the Votans to set up colonies. However, after ten years of rising tension, the Votan ambassador was assassinated and war broke out. The series begins around 2050, around two decades after the war ended.

More background, and profiles on the seven races that comprise the Votans, can be found on the Wikipedia page.

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On to my thoughts after the first episode.

SyFy is the channel that everyone loves to hate. Whilst they have produced gems such as the new Battlestar Galactica and Stargate: Universe, they're better known for low budget series like Haven and Warehouse 13, or any one of thousands of so-terrible-they're-good films.

I'm pleased to say that Defiance is showing signs of being closer to BSG and S:U than W13. Sure, the script isn't brilliant, and the CGI is obviously fake more often than not, but it has its heart in the right place, and it's actually pretty good -- the story has legs, the make-up, costume, and set departments have done some decent work, Bear McCreary is on soundtrack duty, and the mythology is deep and shows promise. I'm not sure how much of this is down to the partnership with Trion (I'd guess a fair amount of the world-building is. After all, game developers have entire teams just for that, who usually do a damned good job), but I'm thankful for it.

What's more, Defiance has a good cast, including: Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Jaime Murray, Tony Curran, and Fionnula Flanagan. Stephanie Leonidas (who I must admit is an unknown to me) also puts in a very good performance alongside Grant Bowler in a leading role, and her character, Irisa, is an early contender to be my favourite.

I started watching expecting it to be a terrible waste of hype (particularly as the first five minutes contains a cringe-worthy, and extended, sing-along to Johnny Cash), as befitting SyFy, but Defiance has pleasantly surprised me, and earnt a spot in my weekly watching schedule as a result.

Recommended if you like science fiction with a rich mythology, but don't mind everything taking place on Earth (you could even say that it's a terrestrial space opera), with special effects that aren't really that special but do the job well enough.

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The obligatory question: is anyone else watching? Thoughts, if you are?

 

[Connavar]

You give hope that Defience might not suck. I hope its decent atleast like Stargate Universe was far from great but still enjoyable. I had almost giving up on new SF like this until i saw the news of this series just today i Tv.com

Im just finishing Fringe after watching Season 1-4 the last weeks on Netflix. I was thinking i need more good SF shows like that today too.

 

[clovis-man]

Hmm. My first impressions aren't quite as positive. Overall it has the feel of a cross between Alien Nation and the cantina at Mos Eisley in Star Wars. Lots of action and lots of make-up (Took me a while to recognize H.G. from Warehouse 13). But the dialogue is vapid and totally cliched. Most characters are like cardboard cutouts. The old saw of people who don't like each other uniting against a common foe is too well traveled to be taken seriously.

The positive: Good role for Graham Greene. Stephanie Leonidas (who I don't know at all) fits well in the role of Irisa. Not so impressive from there, though. I'll watch a couple more episodes to see if it gets better.

 

[Susan Boulton]

I tried honestly, but gave up after an hour. There was nothing there to lift it from the run of the mill TV SF. I don't need lots of aliens or CGI. I need a good plot and strong dialogue and sadly this didn't seem to have either.

 

[ctg]

It's too early to say if SyFy cocked it up by making less then great pilot episode in their search to find a replacement for BattleStar Galactiga. By comparing those two pilots together, the new BGS wins the title blindfolded and hands tied back as there hasn't been a pilot episode like that in decades. But if you look the very last segment, the last 24 seconds before the episode finished, you will get the idea - Defiance is a mixture of Fallout game series and apocalyptic Science-Fiction.

You can also see that it lending great deal from SyFy's Town Called Eureka by placing a similar kind rough face as a sheriff for the Defiance. And I'm sure that a couple of geeks also see references to the Indiana Jones and the Avatar movie. However even then a series like this should stand on its own two feet without lending anything from other productions. And in SyFy's case, they should had done that as if you look BGS and Caprica, you can see Ronald D. Moore did his best to make both series unique, where in this one most of the money was blown on special effect.

But because of those last twenty four seconds, I will be watching this series to see where does it eventually lead, as you shouldn't judge series by watching one episode.

 

[Steve Jordan]

It's true the first episode wasn't impressive... but how many of us remember the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation? If I'd been a TV exec, I never would've let that piece of junk out of the vault! But look what we got.

Defiance's opening ep was better than that. So I'm prepared to give it room to breathe (though hopefully not for the season-and-a-half it took TNG to settle in). We can only hope the cliche'd characters amount to something in future writing, and stories don't settle into the usual tired dystopian tropes or prime-time soaps we've all had enough of.

And since I doubt they will have much of an SFX budget (the lion's share of it apparently going into game development, and probably blown on the pilot), hopefully the stories will be down-to-Earth enough to avoid much of a need for effects.

 

[Lenny]

My biggest worry is that the rest of the episodes are just going to be Nolan acting as Sheriff of Defiance - something happens in the shadows (that will allow the story to delve into the history of one of the Votan races), credits roll, cut to Nolan at the bar being told something has happened, half an hour of bumbling before suddenly realising who did whatever was done, and then an ominous scene linking the episode to the main arc.

 

[Steve Jordan]

If they intended to do that, they could have saved themselves time and money and brought back Eureka. That plot would work on occasion, but I agree, it would get tiring fast if done constantly.

Hopefully, Nolan will more often be playing fly-on-the-wall, being the viewer's eyes into what makes Defiant unique, how its people interact, and how we ended up this way.

I expect him to be regularly stepping in between the Montagues and the Capulets, keeping their feud to a slow boil, in the midst of everything else.

The one thing I can't forgive the show for is the !@&%#$!*&!!! Bearantulas and such ghosa! You want me to stop taking this show seriously? Go on, then: Put in more of those cheap Siffie monsters.

 

[Droflet]

Hmm, yeah it was okay (sort of). I couldn't escape the feeling that I was watching the beginning of another Terra Nova style show. If they pick up the writing side of the show it has some potential. Yet, there is still that nagging feeling that it's going to suck big chunks. Time will tell.

 

[Connavar]

My biggest worry is that the rest of the episodes are just going to be Nolan acting as Sheriff of Defiance - something happens in the shadows (that will allow the story to delve into the history of one of the Votan races), credits roll, cut to Nolan at the bar being told something has happened, half an hour of bumbling before suddenly realising who did whatever was done, and then an ominous scene linking the episode to the main arc.

Thats my worry too when i saw the first ep yesterday. I hope the story isnt limited too much to the town, its people. I want a broader SF story of the different alien races,how the world is like outside Defiance. Episodic generic stories focused only on Defiance and its people will be too much like Terra Nova was.

I liked Nolan and his alien daughter. Hope they keep those characters interesting.

 

[Ice fyre]

Well, I watched the pilot, and rather enjoyed it. Make up was good nice effects, the bear spiders were interesting, could be awful later on tho. Quite frankly I cringed at the Star Wars rip off before the big battle, the what are you going to spend your reward on bit. I just hope they keep thier heads clear and keep a good writing team on it. The game interaction could be a major positive, new ideas being put forward, but it could also wreck it as well. I will be watching the next episode and hope it continues the mostly good work shown by the pilot.

 

[ratsy]

I watched the pilot last night and liked it. A lot better than Terra Nova. That was the worst!

I will give the show a go and hope its stays on track

 

[Lenny]

My biggest worry is that the rest of the episodes are just going to be Nolan acting as Sheriff of Defiance - something happens in the shadows (that will allow the story to delve into the history of one of the Votan races), credits roll, cut to Nolan at the bar being told something has happened, half an hour of bumbling before suddenly realising who did whatever was done, and then an ominous scene linking the episode to the main arc.

Just watched the second episode, and I'm relieved to say that it's not as bad as I feared.

Whilst it does look like the show is going to use an event of the week to provide the bulk of the episode's story, it also appears that these events are going to be linked to the main story arc. Running parallel will be side-stories that give us a look at the different races. In the second episode, for example, we were treated to the religion of the Castithan.

 

[clovis-man]

The last episode about the burrowing critters was actually pretty entertaining. And some new elements are introduced which could prove interesting. It's still just a story about different types working out their differences for the most part. But not all that bad so far.

My only worry is that the game connection will dictate the direction of the series, which could end up in nothing more than body counts.

 

[Steve Jordan]

I wasn't impressed with the critters episode at all. The entire story was crazy-stupid IMO, from the guy who puts on antique shoes to go running in bear-spider-filled forests, to the giant bug-mama at the end. And pretty much everything in-between.

I want to give Defiance time to breathe. But we're only three episodes in, and the air's getting pretty rank already. Many more eps like this, and I may just take off and see if it's still here in a year or two.

 

[Lenny]

The most recent episode (fourth) was good, and mercifully low on special effects!

After three episodes, I'm very glad to see that we're not getting a crime of the week show. Sure, something happens each episode that gets Nolan involved, but his investigation is a minor part of the episode, which instead gives the alien cultures (and new tech) time to breath and show themselves.

I hope we get more consistent screen time for Irisa - Stephanie Leonidas was very good in the pilot, and the burrowing critters episode, but we didn't see that much of her in the second episode, and we barely saw her at all in the fourth.

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In other news, Defiance has been doing so well for SyFy (apparently netting the channel the top spot on cable for that timeslot on three consecutive Mondays) that it has already been renewed for a second series of thirteen episodes, with production due to start in August:

http://www.seat42f.com/syfy-renews-defiance-for-a-second-season.html

 

[Connavar]

I havent watched ep 4 yet because i have lost interest in this show. It isnt good enough at the moment for me to watch. It is not as bad Revoluation but the only character that have charisma, that makes me care for her is Irisa.

 

[Daisy-Boo]

I tried to watch the pilot twice and fell asleep both times. From all accounts it gets better from episode 2 so maybe I will give the pilot another try.

 

[Ice fyre]

I am quite enjoying Defiance now, things seem to be getting set up nicely. The races are intriguing, I am looking forward to some explanations on how there were so many different species on the ships that invaded. The human element is going to be interesting, there are clearly other factions, who sound ...worrying for the inhabitants of Defiance. Cant wait to find out more about the big ape style aliens.

 

[freetuga]

I like Defiance, but i understand why some people not like. It is because the show don't have many action, but it have a great creativity to create a new world with many races and a great sci-fi/apocalypse scenery. I think the show will become more interesting when the plan of "evil" can known and when they start fight against them.