"Defiance, the new Firefly?" Topic

"We've seen the first three episodes of Syfy's biggest gamble to date, the half-futuristic neo-Western, half-MMO game Defiance. Was it worth the risk? Can Syfy resurrect the sci-Western without stepping in a big pile of "Firefly did it better?" Here are our first impressions.
Here's the backstory: On April 14th 2013, the Votanis Collective arrives on Earth after a 5,000 year hypersleep journey. The collective is made up of 5 different alien races who have fled their dying solar system. Earth was supposed to be their new beginning, so imagine their surprise when they wake up and find it well-populated with humans. Humans give the Collective a plot of land in Brazil, but like all good science fiction alien race wars, negotiations fail and the Pale Wars begin. This war over the Earth lasts for 15 years, eventually ending in an uneasy truce but not before blasting away much of the familiar landscape of our home. Defiance takes place 30 years after the Collective first appeared.
Now that the Earth has been forever altered due to war and alien terraforming, humanity goes full Tombstone. Cue the old timey steampunk leathers, aliens in top hats, and dirt roads. Because concrete doesn't exist anymore (seriously the townspeople can build a new Saint Louis Arch but not paved roads).
This neo-West world is centered around two drifters, and our main characters Nolan (played by the forever-stubbled Grant Bowler) and his adopted alien daughter Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas). Together the two get saddled with the local Lawkeeper job in the town of Defiance. Putting them directly in the line of fire for every weekly drama.
This twosome is the heart and soul of the series, so thank goodness they're great. Irisa shines as the rebellious (but not obnoxious) teen counterpart to her dad's Mal Reynolds/Han Solo mashup that hasn't quite gelled yet. On the surface Nolan's character feels like another mediocre copy of great anti-heroes from out past, but by the third episode the relationship between these two brings out a lot of bigger themes that we're interested in. How can a human man raise an alien daughter? What mistakes will he make along the way? How will she respond to his failures coupled with her own adolescence? It's new drama territory that helps Defiance find its own voice. Irisa will win you over from the beginning, Nolan may take some time…"
Full article here.
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Amicalement
Armand

Interesting… I am a sucker when it goes to Scifi and steampunk, so I will give it a try.

I didn't realize this was on tv already???

Are those the vampires from Twilight?

Only if they sparkle.

I hope Wash's "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal" line doesn't happen here!

It's Syfy, if it is any good they will cancel it due to low ratings, if it is dreck it will never end.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of this (I gave up on SyFy years ago). I'm going to check it out.

Could be okay, but I groan every time I see more Star Trek-ish totally human "aliens" with an appliance on their brow to make the seem alien. Can't anyone do any better with all the effects available to us? Sheesh!

It is not on TV yet, the premiere is on April 15th, ie the day after the Votanis Collective is supposed to arrive.

They are also releasing a Defiance video game on April 2nd which is a multi-platform online shooter game in the same setting.

Worth checking out. It has some attractive women in it.

Sounds more like "Revolution" with aliens than it does "Firefly" set on what's left of Earth. I am a sucker for these kinds of shows though so I will probably watch it.

We'll see. Hope it's good. The commercial spots I've seen seem promising.

Looking forward to this coming out on disc. Don't watch TV as I can't stand adverts.

Theres also going to be a video game, thats interesting. Dont think I've seen video games based on tv shows launched near the same time

Looking forward to this coming out on disc. Don't watch TV as I can't stand adverts.

Dont have some type of recording box?

Ironwolf, it's not. It airs on SciFi in about 4 weeks.

I'm looking forward to it.

I think I can answer the question of whether it will be as good as Firefly, if only I can have the answer to one question.

Will it have Morena Baccarin and Jewel Staite in it?

All the best,

John.

Sounds like the Eureka Father/daughter dynamic – Syfys other show that ended last year

Releases April 15th. I panicked when I thought it was already on. :) It hasn't showed up on hulu. If syfy gets stingy then it will fail. With the MMO tie in, a major demographic is 18-25 year old males and almost none of them have cable :)

I still don't know what plays on CBS because their site sucks and is broken most of the time and they refused to join the hulu bandwagon. So they are dead to me.

Besides, the only time I get to watch tv is while making Omni-stand rods. Granted I do end up doing that for many many hours a week so guess that isn't saying much.

thanky for the info on when it airs. I read up on the online game tie in. This sounds pretty interesting and I'll watch the first season and see how it goes.

I'm also a big fan of Falling Skies, which is a tv show about aliens invading earth.

But as a kid and reading about Reagans UN speech about alien invasion. I've always been a sucker for the tv shows, movies or books. lol

"how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask" -- here comes the clincher -- "is not an alien force ALREADY among us?"

President Reagans UN Speech.

What made Firefly what it was was that it was good.

Like, really good.

And given that Serenity was not good, even Joss Whedon can't do that every time.

So no. This probably isn't the new Firefly.