I thought I'd mentioned this show elsewhere but couldn't find the thread. Anyway, now that the pilot's out, I suppose it should get its own thread.
Really, not a bad show. I had high hopes, considering Rockne S. O'Bannon wrote and executive produced it (did I hear he'd moved off the project? I hope not, though Farscape did get better once he stepped back. And now that his other show The Cult has been cancelled... more room in the schedule). As some may know, I'm a big Farscape fan, so... Yeah, this is how Joss Whedon fans feel, I suppose.
If anyone's looking for good hard sci-fi, this won't be it, and the premise doesn't seem airtight (considering it has a MMORPG tie-in, that's not too surprising) and certainly not original (SyFy never had a good track record with that word). So far the aliens are more Alien Nation (also written by, though I was thinking this as I was watching it and either hadn't known or entirely forgot as I was looking up stuff on IMDB) than Farscape, but there are possibilities. Even if I don't yet understand why there are multiple alien races on Earth.
The cast seems pretty good. A lot of familiar but not well-known faces (damn. Never thought I'd write the following, but H.G. Wells got sexy. Guess Game of Thrones has sci-fi pushing the boundaries) and nothing that made me cringe (did I mention I have low hopes for most new sci-fi?). What's weird, though, is how eerily similar the plot's pilot is to Eureka's (I'm thinking O'Bannon didn't plot this or has some serious post SyFy issues). Rough around the edges but skilled wanderer shows up with troubled hot teen daughter who is both perpetually frustrated with and totally trusting of her ne'er-do-well father. Old sheriff gets incapacitated (not that anyone seems to care. Was he an Andy?). New guy saves town at moment of crisis and accepts the offer to stay. Hilarious hijinx ensue. No surprise that there's not an equivalent Nathan Stark character to eventually get out of the way, and the Fargo analog seems to have met an early end. Hopefully they get more miles out of the last two minutes than Eureka did with the whole Beverly thing. Anyway, not a new trope, I know, just saying.
Music by Bear McCreary, so I have no complaints.
I would like it if it got a little darker or broader in scope (space battles!), but it's OK for now.
Oh, and the special effects so far are entertaining but sometimes pretty bad. I'm fine with that. The FX budgets tend to grow as the plot progresses and can kill a good show whose audience doesn't grow with it.
Defiance
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Defiance
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They are trying a little too hard to hype it, or were last month.
I was sort of almost interested enough to inquire about it, until I found out it was a mmo.
It also kind of seemed like the most compelling thing about the show/game was the off chance that your character gets on the show? Which of course, A) I missed by not buying the game at 8am the day it came out, and B) Enjoy trying to work SlutBanggzor342killkill into the show, writers.
I mean seriously? They are gonna try to put something from the internet into the rest of the world? This is that White House Death Star thing all over again.
I was sort of almost interested enough to inquire about it, until I found out it was a mmo.
It also kind of seemed like the most compelling thing about the show/game was the off chance that your character gets on the show? Which of course, A) I missed by not buying the game at 8am the day it came out, and B) Enjoy trying to work SlutBanggzor342killkill into the show, writers.
I mean seriously? They are gonna try to put something from the internet into the rest of the world? This is that White House Death Star thing all over again.