Dark Matter

[REBerg]

1.04
This was an improvement over what had been a downhill slide from the premiere.

Spoiler

The clinic waiting room commercial for letting a clone do your traveling for you, especially the references to transfers of memories and personality traits, lent credence to the crew-as-clones theory.
Maybe the cloning station behind the secret door theorized by Lenny is a more advanced system which gives the clones more permanence. Maybe the android attacked crew members upon reactivation because, as originally programmed, she could distinguish clones from originals.

The episode recaptured some of the humor of the opener. The uncoordinated movements and conversational exchanges between One and Three as they attempted to move their shackled back-to-back chairs was laughable.

Five's shock at witnessing the destructive capabilities of Two was also noteworthy.

 

[Droflet]

Oh, my, my, my. When, oh when, will we get the next Battlestar Galactica? Or, at least, something a little closer to it than the most recent entries into the SF arena. They are trying their best, no doubt, but the gap between the excellence of BSG and everything else does not appear to be narrowing appreciably. This show, and others, are okay but, imho, fall short of the mark. And that, folks, is my two cents worth.

 

[Tulius Hostilius]

I am afraid that I am not as optimistic as you.

In this show they are top mercenaries that maintain their fighting skills but that seem to know nothing about the most essential precautions in an arms dealer or in a casino full of tugs. It is not coherent! We really need some coherency. If they are top mercenaries they should be more carful and know a bit more of the business. But they are just… dumb! It is too much pulp fiction in its worst.

The other series (Killjoy) seems more of the same. Top bounty hunters that when go to a planet (episode 2 or 3) the ships is taken down in a stupid way and they fall prisoners at the first encounter.

I don’t like super heroes or super intelligent characters (Sherlock type)… but the characters must have some coherency. If they are mercs/bounty hunters and are alive it is natural that the characters have some precautions that every idiot non merc/bounty hunter would have. This seems too lazy from the guys that are writing this!

 

[Gnrevolution]

Oh, my, my, my. When, oh when, will we get the next Battlestar Galactica? Or, at least, something a little closer to it than the most recent entries into the SF arena.

I hope the Expanse series will fill this gap. Not out till December though ...

 

[Warren_Paul]

I hope the Expanse series will fill this gap. Not out till December though ...

That's my hope too, and while it appears to be a step in the right direction, I'm going to say it's probably going to disappoint us. There just seems to be some magic about BSG that people have trouble replicating.

 

[REBerg]

Oh, my, my, my. When, oh when, will we get the next Battlestar Galactica? Or, at least, something a little closer to it than the most recent entries into the SF arena. They are trying their best, no doubt, but the gap between the excellence of BSG and everything else does not appear to be narrowing appreciably. This show, and others, are okay but, imho, fall short of the mark. And that, folks, is my two cents worth.

That's my hope too, and while it appears to be a step in the right direction, I'm going to say it's probably going to disappoint us. There just seems to be some magic about BSG that people have trouble replicating.

The second coming of BSG remains the gold standard by which all other sci-fi series are measured. I would be shocked if anything dethrones it, especially on basic cable. Production budgets may not be what they once were.

 

[Warren_Paul]

The second coming of BSG remains the gold standard by which all other sci-fi series are measured. I would be shocked if anything dethrones it, especially on basic cable. Production budgets may not be what they once were.

To be fair about basic cable:

Dark Matter is a Syfy show,
Killjoys is a Syfy show,
The Expanse will be a Syfy show,

Battlestar Galatactica (2004) was a SyFy show.

They're all on the same cable network, the only difference between them is the people behind the scenes producing the shows -- and probably the budget, although I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't the budget that was holding them back but the ability of the writers/producers.

 

[REBerg]

1.05
Even the presence of zombie-like creatures couldn't quite accelerate this episode out of the pedestrian lane.

Spoiler

Further evidence that the crew members are, if not clones, something other than purely human: Two's miraculous abilities to beat an always deadly virus and to regenerate her flesh, or should I say her, fleshlike component material.

 

[Warren_Paul]

I actually thought episode 5 was one of the better ones. It tied the subplot of the episode to elements of the main story quite successfully, although I'd still prefer a more high octane serialized story arc rather than episodic shorts. At least every episode continues teasing the main story, although I'm getting a bit tired of waiting for what's behind door number 1.

Spoiler

But I've always had a soft spot for zombies. There certainly seems to be much evidence pointing towards the crew being clones theory, definitely something more than human.

 

[clovis-man]

The zombie episode was entertaining. But I have to advance an overly simplistic thought (something I do often): This series is starting to look a tad like someone was thinking a lot about Farscape when the concept was conceived. Now don't start making character comparisons. That won't turn out well.

 

[BAYLOR]

The zombie episode was entertaining. But I have to advance an overly simplistic thought (something I do often): This series is starting to look a tad like someone was thinking a lot about Farscape when the concept was conceived. Now don't start making character comparisons. That won't turn out well.

They've been making Firefly comparisons too. But I think this series is going to be successful

 

[REBerg]

Not that it's a competition, but Killjoys is beating Dark Matter on my personal "watchability" meter.
To give Dark Matter a boost, Syfy should slate a crossover episode or two in which Dutch, John and D'Avin get a warrant for Marcus Boone/Three. They track down the Raza, but they cannot determine whether they have their suspect or a clone?

 

[REBerg]

I've been thinking of Dark Matter as Killjoys' duller and less attractive cousin, but I found this episode to be interesting.

Spoiler

Mining Five's dreambank was a creative way to present the backstories of the other crew members, as well as her own. I'm glad they didn't try to cover everyone in one episode.

In a completely unrelated observation: David Hewlett, in his cameos as the crew's "boss," does not appear to have stepped too far outside his Stargate Atlantis Dr. Rodney McKay persona. I haven't seen him in anything else. Is he typecast or simply playing himself?

 

[Warren_Paul]

1.06

Spoiler

This episode was interesting because it fills in some blanks on character backgrounds, but because they have limited themselves to episodes solely within the confines of their ship while it meanders through space, they were left with no choice but to use an info-dump method that I found came across rather forced.

While I liked seeing how Five came to be aboard the ship and how she was connected to the dead boy, I still would have rather learned about Four by his past actually catching up with him and throwing him into a scenario of confronting the empress. The way they did it in this episode loses the points they'd gained from me with episode 4+5.

But Four's reaction does imply that we might well see more of that plotline before long, so fingers crossed there; would be nice to have some conflict that actually matters for once introduced into the story.

I found Six's memory of killing everybody a bit unbelievably forced as well. The main guy they were talking to, sure, kill him for tricking them all into committing mass murder, but killing the rest of the group seemed really out of character. But I suppose they are trying to show us what he was like before he lost his memories. Yet even taking that into consideration, there appeared to be zero reason to kill the other 3 people in that scene; they were all duped just as much as he was.

 

[Lenny]

Spoiler: 1.07

Welp, no crazy cloning machine. Could it be, then, that One is the only clone (him, or the 'real' Corso), and the rest are actually themselves?

Poor insecure Android!

Interesting to have a 'villain' set up. We've passed the halfway mark for the first series, and the story arc appears to be keeping with: "Who are these people? Why can they not remember? Will they find food?", so I guess that's going to be resolved over the next six episodes, and this villain fella, Ferrous Corp, the Mikkei Combine, and Calchek will be more centre stage come a second series.

 

[REBerg]

Spoiler: 1.07

Welp, no crazy cloning machine. Could it be, then, that One is the only clone (him, or the 'real' Corso), and the rest are actually themselves?

Poor insecure Android!

Interesting to have a 'villain' set up. We've passed the halfway mark for the first series, and the story arc appears to be keeping with: "Who are these people? Why can they not remember? Will they find food?", so I guess that's going to be resolved over the next six episodes, and this villain fella, Ferrous Corp, the Mikkei Combine, and Calchek will be more centre stage come a second series.

1.07

Mapplethorpe? What kind of a lame code is that?

Spoiler

I was certain that you were right about finding a cloning station behind the big mystery door. Big disappointment! I still haven't completely abandoned the crew-as-clones theory.

Anyway, at least the cargo bay beyond the door was full of goodies -- Three's dying, unremembered girlfriend, “entertainment” android Wendy and apparently enough liquid assets to get the Raza back in full shipshape. What was up with the door only opening enough to allow crew members to squeeze through? Gotta mean something.

I do feel sorry for the ship's original android. Seems like all she really wants is a friend.
Maybe a less severe hairstyle would do the trick. She should have taken advantage of Wendy's salon skills before she went bananas.

I sincerely hope that the revitalized ship will take them somewhere more interesting than FTL space. Dark Matter is starting to remind me of Stargate Universe, in a reverse sort of way – with the mystery focused on the characters instead of the ship.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Spoiler: 1.07

I was pretty underwhelmed. Losing faith in this show. What happened to back in episode 2 when Five was saying they must not open the door. It's Five herself opening it instead, betraying her own warning...

After all that anticipation building up to what was behind the door... I was disappointed. Two episode length characters that deserved considerably more screen time than they got, resulting in them barely adding anything to the story, nothing catastrophic behind the door, turning Five's warning into a gaping plot hole, and their money problems solved as soon as they step foot inside the room.

Pretty weak storytelling imo. But hey, at least they mentioned the villain.

 

[Lenny]

Spoiler: 1.08

But...but...but... the clone theory! Curse these writers, and their liberal use of red herrings!

So One and Corso are, for sure, two different people. We've had backstory on Four and Six, and moved to the next stage for both. Five's origins have been revealed, and Three has had both a touching moment and a "Wooooahhh!" reveal (which explains One and Corso).

New Obvious Theory(TM) time: Two is behind the memory loss! We're running out of episodes, and the reveals are becoming more shocking, and more closely linked to the story arc of how this crew got to the point where they woke up on a ship with no memories. To me, the lack of any reveal of Two's past suggests that she has a big part to play in what happened to them all.

It was interesting to see that the Transfer Transit pods were all decorated as "Transfer Transit 2.0" - maybe the clone theory isn't a bust after all? Why would label this the second major release of the tech, if the first major release isn't going to play some part? Chekhov's Cloning Device, if you will.

 

[REBerg]

Spoiler: 1.08

But...but...but... the clone theory! Curse these writers, and their liberal use of red herrings!

So One and Corso are, for sure, two different people. We've had backstory on Four and Six, and moved to the next stage for both. Five's origins have been revealed, and Three has had both a touching moment and a "Wooooahhh!" reveal (which explains One and Corso).

New Obvious Theory(TM) time: Two is behind the memory loss! We're running out of episodes, and the reveals are becoming more shocking, and more closely linked to the story arc of how this crew got to the point where they woke up on a ship with no memories. To me, the lack of any reveal of Two's past suggests that she has a big part to play in what happened to them all.

It was interesting to see that the Transfer Transit pods were all decorated as "Transfer Transit 2.0" - maybe the clone theory isn't a bust after all? Why would label this the second major release of the tech, if the first major release isn't going to play some part? Chekhov's Cloning Device, if you will.

1.08
Curses! We have been thoroughly duped by the cloning industry!

Spoiler

Even with Transfer Transit 2.0, the consumer-level, commercial clones have very limited lifespans, just long enough for an extended weekend on Risa. That's probably a built-in safeguard to avoid clone chaos. Who is to say that black market clones, the type of clone that cutthroat space pirates might know where to find, would have such limitations?

All right, I concede that the clone theory has left center stage, but I haven't completely abandoned a role for them in the few episodes yet to come.

At this point, I'll jump on board your latest trademarked theory and expect big things from Two's secret. Interesting that Four and One had similar backstories, both coming from high places and looking to solve murder cases. At this rate, Three will turn out to be the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.

I was happy to see the android and Five seem to find each other. Both were desperately searching for a friend and not getting any takers.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Wasn't too bad of an episode. Had some good moments and reveals.

Spoiler

I'd dismissed the clone theory awhile back. Although introducing the concept of clones into the same episode that we get to see his doppelganger is definitely a red herring of the highest degree and a trick well played. But it now appears Derrick Moss genetically modified his body to get onto the Rasa and get revenge on Boone for killing his wife.

While watching the scene towards the end when One was telling them the truth, I was starting to think he has become my prime suspect, until the reveal of his true identity right at the end. Unless the memory loss incident was truly an accident, it doesn't make sense for it to be part of Derrick's plan to get revenge on Boone.

I'm leaning towards it being Two as well, and she definitely is something more than human, if her regenerative ability is anything to go by. Or surprise twist, it's Android!

I laughed at the shooting scene when Two and Four were fighting their way into the base after Six. It was so badly done, how the enemies were waiting for them around corners, and when they showed up, the enemies just stepped out in front of them and not even trying to attack. It's like, surprise! Now shoot me! Somebody needs to teach the production crew how to choreograph combat better.