Defiance

I'm willing to give any show at least a chance.

Defiance does seem to offer some interesting takes on certain aspects of Sci-Fi. (terraformed earth, Arkfalls that feel like threadfalls) I had to read the wikipedia information to really catch up on things. They can't really infodump on screen like they do in a book or video game.

Some scenes felt very game-esk to me. The car chase near the end of the first hour, for instance. Perhaps as the show grows the effects will improve. We really got a plot with very little background or scope.

I want to give it a few episodes before I run into hiding.

Just watchd it from the DVR last night, and I liked it okay I reckon. As others have said, I'll give it a while and will see, but I try to be optimistic.

My only complaint is the MC's occasional "impish while also being smug and very pleased with himself" grin.

A quibble I know, but it seems such a jarring mismatch both to his character and his usual "face".

Sure, grin, laugh, be happy etc, but if he keeps looking like he's swallowed ambrosia when he quips, I'll just have to kill him.

I thought it was watchable, but had issues. These could go away after the pilot. We'll see. I know it has tie-ins to the MMO which I find interesting.

It's one deal to start off with things rolling, but to kind of throw the viewer into this big town, the politics, the players, the citizens and not give much back story or rising character action, was a bit jarring. Oh, here's these guys. Wait, here's a family that doesn't like THAT family. Hold up, there's the whore who's sisters with the mayor. Guess what? As a viewer, you should just accept all of this and move along. They could have been a bit more graceful with introducing characters and politics.

The male lead seemed to be trying to be like Mal from Firefly and Han Solo, but I imagine he'll find his own.

I liked the female lead better. Felt she had more depth.

The enemy at the end felt extremely rushed. Who are these bad guys? Everyone seems to shake in their boots, but why? We heard about "reavers" on Firefly on episode 1 and we knew exactly what they were from two sentences: "If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And, if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

We never got this with the volge (bad guys). Okay, they have robots. And humanoids . . . maybe. Don't feel an ounce of fear here.

But, all griping aside, I thought it was entertaining, just not the new Galactica that people were hoping for. And I'll try anything with Mia Kirshner in it.

Gilroy Cullen said:

Some scenes felt very game-esk to me. The car chase near the end of the first hour, for instance.

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That's probably because there's an MMO that goes with the show. As in they expect game-world and show-world to impact each other. Not sure how it'll work beyond being a gimmick to sell both products to the audience though.

I dunno. I mostly tuned in because I heard Rockne S O'Bannon was involved with concept and writing (and I'm the world's biggest Farscape nerd). Defiance had it's moments, but it really needs to pick up in the next week or two. I felt like not a lot was really established for a two hour opener.

I watched a bit of it and I have it DVRed to see the whole thing, but... what the hell is wrong with the people? They all look weird, like, I don't know. CARTOONS. Is this a cartoon or a real show or some mashup of both? If I keep staring at their faces and missing out on the storyline, I'll probably give up really quickly.

I enjoyed it more than a lot of recent sci fi series (Terra Nova, Falling Skies, Revolution etc) but it didn't wow me. I did like the alien doctor. It hit me as I was watching it though, most of these series nowadays seem to be trying to combine scifi with a "western" feel. That just makes me even sadder that they cancelled Firefly.

GeorgeK said:

After a quick search it appears that there is no free demo for the game, which means I won't be trying it. I have yet to ever find a demo-less game that I was able to play (due to the game being too twtichy for my nerve damage) or that I enjoyed playing. $60 (standard edition) or $100 bucks (delux edition) for a game unseen, no thanks

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Yeah, I saw how much it was and knew I wouldn't be getting it. I can't afford it.

And yet a lot of the pilot seemed like advertising for various levels of the video game. Lotta fights for a 2-hour show with world-building to fit in. It'll be interesting to see what they sacrifice when they go to regular 1 hour episodes.
Still, I found the teenagers less obnoxious than the ones on 'Revolution', and I really liked the doctor. None of what appear to be the main characters are too irritating.
As for the 'classic tropes', well, if you've got a lot of background to cram in, it makes for a convenient shorthand. Each of the two big families has a teen-ager: of course they're going to fall in love. Probably even if they're both of the same sex.
But, I liked the scheming mother. Good plan, lady. It's that Game of Thrones touch. Especially as she started off as so meek and subservient.
And, the 'Western' influence, for a rough'n'ready, semi-lawless setting seems a reasonable choice, a background that most viewers will 'get', from other movies and TV shows, at least.
And, the 'scenes from next week' preview suggests that there will be political intrigue a-comin'!
So, yeah, I'll give it another try.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Is this a cartoon or a real show or some mashup of both?

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Since when are cartoons not real shows?

kuwisdelu said:

Since when are cartoons not real shows?

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I think Shadow_Ferret may have meant live-action show.

And weighing in on the show, I liked it enough to keep watching and see how it develops. The writers seemed to cram so much into the pilot. Aside from the obvious SF, they had a murder mystery, fisticuffs, all-out battle, family drama, intrigue, romance, and the mysterious stranger (also an adoptive single father) out for his own interests who decides to do the right thing.

Certainly enough to get me interested.

Defiance has been promoted so much, I lost interest before it came on.

And, 47 years after I started watching Star Trek, I've seen so many humans in makeup presented as aliens, that I'm just tired of it. We've got the special effects to do truly alien aliens now.

I'm not hooked, but I also haven't ruled it out yet.

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Likewise. I like the concept so I'll give it at least 2 more episodes before I make my final decision.

Manuel Royal said:

And, 47 years after I started watching Star Trek, I've seen so many humans in makeup presented as aliens, that I'm just tired of it. We've got the special effects to do truly alien aliens now.

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Yes, there was a great (sarcasm!) line in tonight's ep where the evil alien mother said something along the lines of "most men are jackasses...it transcends species."

And I couldn't help appending "just like having ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes a nose and hair growing out of the top of your head."

I know that down through the decades budgets more than anything else have dictated what our alien visitors/invaders will look like, but I can't help feeling there is just a touch of narcissistic creationism thrown in as well.

I finally got around to watching the pilot. Not bad. I think they did too much with the opener though. Murder mystery, sabatoge, cage fighting, magical macuffin stealing, showdown with the big bad, political intrigue, families at war. Like daaaamn slow down already. Too much going on with people I don't really care about.

That said I love the snarky doctor.

Scheming white haired lady reminds me of Lucretia from Spartacus which hopefully leads to some good drama.

Red Headed Wi-fi Girl (seriously, that looks like a wi-fi symbol on her forehead) and Young Black Deputy seem to have an interesting relationship brewing. I liked their exchange at the prison.

Let's hear it for Native American/First Nations people playing real characters that aren't Noble Savages at one with the land.

Hero Guy bored me the most because he looks, acts and sounds like every one of his kind from every spec fic show I've seen in the past twenty years. Yawn.

I've heard the game play is pretty good on the console. I like 3rd POV in games so it'll be worth a look. No demo is a big black strike though. What happens to the game if Syfy cancels the show after five eps?

After Syfy's recent epic fails, I've given this one a chance. I actually like it for the complexity of the backstory and the way they've woven it in. Yes, I called most of the plot 'twists' very early, but that's only because I've been reading and watching sf&f since 1974.

The western motifs do make me sad for 'Firefly'. But I'll keep watching 'Defiance' until it gives me a reason to take it off the record list.

To me, it was worth checking out just because Julie Benz is in it. And, as it turned out, Stephanie Leonidas. And Jaime Murray. O'Bannon was another nice surprise. I don't think I've seen anything he's done since Farscape.

Plot- and setting-wise, nothing new, really. There have been so many post-apocalyptic shows recently, it takes a little more than this to stand out. I liked that Hero Guy turns out to actually be from St. Louis. Gives a whole new backstory to why he maybe really came back.

It's an okay start. I'll give it a couple of more episodes before I make a verdict.

I'm having trouble with the plotting. It feels like they have so many story lines they want to tell before they get cancelled that they're trying to smash them all into a few episodes. The pilot felt very rushed and so did this most recent episode.



Give us a little time to absorb, SciFi!

I like the alien designs well enough. You have to consider that the aliens are actors in make-up, and they're important characters too. So they have to wear that stuff all the time. Vaguely non-human with those considerations gets a pass from me.

kuwisdelu said:

Since when are cartoons not real shows?

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Real shows=real actors.

Cartoons=drawings.

I didn't mean anything insulting. Except, well, now that you mention it, I don't generally watch cartoons.

So again I ask, is this a live-action show with real human beings, is it a cartoon, or is it something like 300?

ETA: ok. I watched it with my new glasses and think I understand what happened. I had been doing a lot of computer work and when I turned to the show the first time, I came in where there were a lot of aliens and their make-up combined with my blurry burning eyes gave everything an animated look. Now I see its just live actors -- no animated special effects. Sorry about that.

Last night was finally a coherent show where all the plots linked and made for one show. If they can work it like last night's show, I might be able to stick with it...

I enjoyed the first episode. Love the Doctor! The 2nd episode started to drag a little. Possibly because I watched them back to back, and the first was so packed with action that the change in tempo was really obvious to me.

I also drew comparisons with Firefly. It didn't bother me though. I've loved Grant Bowler since his Blue Dog Heelers days. (Plus many years ago I went to uni with his brother so there's that little claim to fame )...

I hope this series gets a chance to go somewhere. I hate getting sucked into stories only to have them ended prematurely.

ETA - Did anyone else feel like they were watching Mad Max at the start during the salvage scenes in the bad lands?