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Post by Darko on Jun 17, 2014 14:35:58 GMT
With Game of Thrones finished for the time people, I and many others worry about what we'll watch now... fear not, there is hope! I'm here today to tell you guys about a little-known show called Defiance. It premiered last year and as far as I know it's the sy-fy channels' first attempt at an original program since Farscape. It reminds me a lot of the prematurely-cancelled British show Outcasts, with hints of Battlestar Galactica (certain people who worked on that also work on this show now), particularly in parts of the soundtrack (they're actually very different shows, but both well-done character dramas). Speaking of the soundtrack, have a listen some time. Granted, there are a few not so strong tracks but some are fantastic... worth a listen while you're doing something else. Furthermore, there is an ambitious multi-platform tie-in MMO (called Defiance, unsurprisingly) that is just a one-time purchase at a cheap price which is nice. It's a surprising move (and the game is rather average, you get exactly what you pay for, but that isn't really relevant here) and thankfully there was only one rather boring episode tied into the game in the first season. So, if you have watched the videos I've posted, you'll have some idea of what the show is about. It's set several decades in the future, the Votan races arrived from their own destroyed worlds and tried to terraform Earth. It didn't work out, caused a great big war, and now the planet is a half-terraformed alien world. Oh, and giant chunks of space arks fall out of orbit on a regular basis which means there are devastatingly powerful weapons and immensely advanced technologies just lying around to be scavenged. It's got a bit of a Fallout-esque feel, minus the 50s era style and far more colourful (though there are plenty of dark sets to match many of its dark themes). The show can be a lot of fun, and I highly recommend it. It does take a little while to find its footing, with a feature-length pilot and about 12 or 13 episodes in the first season, but by the end I believe you will be satisfied. A few plot arcs don't develop too well and end rather poorly... but the ones that are executed perfectly, particularly the ones surrounding the Castithans (that's the albino people in the trailers for those who haven't seen the show) never fail to disappoint. Oh, and the main characters are a father and adoptive daughter with a rather complicated relationship. That's pretty brave as far as most TV series go, particularly sci-fi. If I had to sum Defiance up? Action. Drama. Political intrigue. Badass alien biker gangs that wear top hats and monocles. You've got until Thursday (or Friday, if you're watching it a day later like me) this week to watch the first season if you want to be caught up for the second, and I really do recommend it. While I can definitely see how not EVERYONE will enjoy this show, casual viewers and even sci-fi fanatics will be pleasantly surprised by this relatively new program. I won't post the season 2 trailer because why the hell would you watch it if you haven't seen the first season mind you. In any case, I am absolutely curious to know whether anyone else on the site watches this show? (In which case, no spoilers about season 1 yet for the sake of everyone else)
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Post by Darko on Jun 20, 2014 16:47:50 GMT
If anyone else IS watching this show (looking at you scrazz) I'll have the same rule as my GoT thread, no spoilers from the current season but the first is fair game (so if you haven't watched all of season 1, read ahead at your own peril).
A spoiler-free comment I can make on 2x01 is that.. well, it feels a lot more solid. It isn't dumbing things down or explaining things for the sake of people haven't seen season 1, it gets right into it and shows us the situation with old characters as well as introduces new ones in a timely and succinct manner. It sets the stage for the future, opens up new mysteries (there's a lot of WTF moments in this show, you sort of get used to it and just go along with it without trying to hurt your brain too much) as well as unsurprisingly not really explaining old ones.
It also introduced several new locations, whereas the first season really only featured Defiance. Whether these places will continue to feature prominently isn't clear at this point, although at least one of them will likely be around for a few more episodes I'm guessing, as two main characters are attempting to escape said place.
I'm also very happy to see the show is still completely comfortable showing our "heroes" doing strictly unpleasant things. There is one moment fairly early on in the episode where I was sitting there knowing exactly what the main character was going to do.. and then he actually did it, and I was pleased, because they could have copped out there for the sake of keeping a separate character going throughout the series. Once again it reinforces the tone of the show - in this harsh, brave new world, there's very little to stop people doing what they want to do. It's a gritty future with people doing bad things for good reasons and doing good things for bad reasons (well, less so the latter than the former) and there are people across the spectrum.. the more shows with shades of grey, the better, I say.
I mean, most of my favourite characters on the show do some really awful things, and only some of them are particularly nasty people - the others are otherwise 'good' overall. While they really are a bit all over the place currently, there definitely seems to be a certain pull back to Defiance itself (unsurprisingly but good to see nonetheless) and when the gang's all back together, seeing how they deal with how much things have changed between seasons 1 and 2 will be incredibly satisfying and intriguing in equal amounts.
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Post by Darko on Jul 4, 2014 14:32:10 GMT
So far, having just watched episode 2.03, Defiance does seem to be continuing its trend of having a rather slow start, throwing more mysteries at us which at this point are becoming more confusing and a little tedious rather than intriguing, and of course having a number of scenes at the end of each episode with music playing rather than the audio of the actual scenes to wrap up what they couldn't do in the rest of the episode.
However, in season 1 it all worked well enough for the most part and in this episode, the final scene was excellently done, reminding us that a certain character means business.
I feel like it's once again reaching the tipping point where it's going to start speeding up and kicking off, which would be great to see simply from an entertainment perspective rather than simply analysing the story.
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Post by Darko on Jul 26, 2014 21:01:53 GMT
Episode 2.06 stuck to Defiance's original track record of waiting until about mid-season to really kick things up a notch. Quite possibly the best (in terms of pure entertainment value) episode of season 2 so far (if not quite as deep or dark in terms of themes as other recent episodes, which has its own merit) it had some interesting character developments, some fun scenes and oh, we finally get to see where they've been putting that CGI budget. They were holding out on us again, and while hardly the best CGI ever, it was fun to see and more than satisfactory for a TV show.
Perhaps some of the most intriguing elements of this episode are the sub-plots that took a backseat and what ramifications they will have in future episodes. Colour me intrigued...
It did feel like, again as this show often does, that they crammed just a bit too much in. Much of the arcs could've done with some more scenes, particularly surrounding the Tarrs ongoing plotline. While it's very interesting and typically the best plotline in the entire show, this week it was a bit rough around the edges, teasing us with things just begging to be revealed and doing the same old tricks to show off how clever and deadly the Tarrs are, yet this week the plot fell a bit dull and the pacing wasn't fantastic.
Still, the character development of the Tarrs continues to be the best, although the actual nature of it and dynamic between them is perhaps not as entertaining as in season 1. But, it's all building up to much bigger things and I feel like as with season 1, I'll look back on the entire thing with much more fondness.
----------- That aside, I am genuinely interested to know if anyone else currently does or has at least started watching this show. It's one of the few good shows on currently (in terms of sci-fi/fantasy) and that definitely works in its favour, I think. I'm confident we'll get a season 3 and when we do, that Defiance as a whole will become something quite special. With that in mind, it's well worth getting on board with it now and catching up with seasons 1 and 2!
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Post by Darko on Jul 27, 2014 20:14:44 GMT
Definitely one of if not my favourite track from the Defiance OST, featuring lyrics in one of the alien languages in the show.
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Post by Darko on Jun 22, 2015 1:22:30 GMT
I'm confident we'll get a season 3 and when we do, that Defiance as a whole will become something quite special. With that in mind, it's well worth getting on board with it now and catching up with seasons 1 and 2! My prediction has turned out correct. Three episodes into season 3 and the producers have seriously stepped up their game. Season 2 was a bit rocky but it's immediately obvious that the quality of writing has improved immensely, save for one particular scene that was a little bit too easy in its resolution, but needs must. Other than that it really has been great, and I'm getting back into Defiance big time. Still hoping that someone else in the community is also following this show so that I actually have someone to discuss it with.
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