DEFIANCE game and TV show - sink or swim?

[Gatefan1976]

If you spent as much time researching and discussing real scientific and theoretical advances as you do dissecting sarcastic posts, you might actually become a little more interesting.
--- merged: May 9, 2013 at 9:23 PM ---


Yeah but burying the entire city under ground implies hundreds of feet of dirt and debris. But, in a cavernous underground? That means the debris is high and stable and hollow.

Symbolism works just fine with consistency and an element of realism. Remember this?

 

[shavedape]

I'm a bit confused by that. If the St Louis arch not only survived but is (from what I recall) completely visible, why is so much of what used to be old St Louis buried in a cavernous underground intact?

I think it said in the DEFIANCE backstory "wiki" that Joelist provided us that when the explosions happened and the terra forming machines went wild some areas had the Earths crust lifted up and peeled over. In short, it's lazy, bad writing; that's how the caverns with intact city-scapes came into being. :winking0052:

 

[Bluce Ree]

I think it said in the DEFIANCE backstory "wiki" that Joelist provided us that when the explosions happened and the terra forming machines went wild some areas had the Earths crust lifted up and peeled over. In short, it's lazy, bad writing; that's how the caverns with intact city-scapes came into being. :winking0052:

 

[shavedape]

I know, right? :anim_59:

We're supposed to believe that moving the earth to the point of raising mountains in a matter of moments was somehow not strong enough to knock over the St. Louis arch or disintegrate the buildings that ended up in these "caverns"??? That's ridiculous!

It takes millenia to raise mountains and anything doing it in a couple days time (or even a years time) is going to cause massive earth quakes that would kill every living creature and would topple every man made structure in the vicinity. One doesn't have to be a geology professor to figure out this basic fact of reality.


*But this is "nuSci-Fi" writing which utilizes magical devices that never need to be explained on a physics basis cuz, well, they're magic!

 

[Jim of WVa]

This is bullshit, Jim! Bluce did not mention methane fuel cells which to me would be stupid because you have to expend energy liquefying methane to give any range to the engine. Hydrogen fuel cells need only water to react, and solar energy to create the reaction. The basic process is this:

View attachment 28211

Where in this process does a second party get an opportunity to bill you? How can your "power bill" be higher if it does not exist? :anim_59:. The home setup would be this:

View attachment 28212


This technology was made available way back in 2008:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10002704-54.html

You just posted that unsupported opinion from your backside. Where in the fuel cell charging and spending cycle does anyone get a chance to bill you? The only cost I see is the initial investment in equipment. I can imagine a transitional period where the prohibitive cost of implementation might allow companies to "lease" or rent the setup for a time. But with expansion comes lower costs and the potential to invest in owning the equipment. The government could tax ownership, I suppose. But your "scientific" explanation is pure bullshit.

You would need a much, much larger solar cell array to do what you want it to do. It would be too large for your house, and would be more expensive than just buying gasoline.
--- merged: May 10, 2013 at 8:48 AM ---
A methane fuel cell would be useful to convert natural gas to electricity. This would be much more reliable than the current grid delivery system for electricity.

 

[Overmind One]

You would need a much, much larger solar cell array to do what you want it to do. It would be too large for your house, and would be more expensive than just buying gasoline.
--- merged: May 10, 2013 at 8:48 AM ---
A methane fuel cell would be useful to convert natural gas to electricity. This would be much more reliable than the current grid delivery system for electricity.

Now that is a good argument, the cost. But as I said...that will come down and when it does it will easily be within reach. Technology surrounding the catalyst which splits H20 is the key, as is finding an energy efficient way to compress the hydrogen gas for storage. But these barriers are not unsurmountable. I bet the biggest barriers will be regulatory and they will be put in place by big oil interests with the help of lobbyists and payoffs.

 

[Overmind One]

The audience is listening...and they are not liking Defiance. Im seeing new articles pop up all over the place and they are calling it a soap. I want to like the show, and I want to see what they are trying to do with the show and the game, just to get a glimpse of their vision. But that vision is clouded by soap suds. :sour: But Im still watching the show, and spending a few minutes here and there playing the game. Anybody else here try the game?

Not-so-good reviews on this show:

http://www.gadailynews.com/rant/155514-syfy-s-new-show-defiance-sucks.html

This is what the game looks like, in case any of you are curious:

More not-so-good reviews:

http://commentaramafilms.blogspot.com/2013/05/why-defiance-sucks.html

SECOND SEASON IS IN PLANNING (as predicted)

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...ossover-defiance-is-already-in-the-works.aspx

In an interview with IndieWire.com, Kevin Murphy confirmed to the website that season two is already being planned, and that goes for both the second season of the show and the game.

Anyone doubting that they got two seasons out of the gate need only reflect back on the SGU trajectory. It got its two seasons out of the gate, and Syfy spun that as a renewal when it was not. Defiance got two years from the start (unconfirmed), and Syfy will spin it as a renewal. By the time this season is out, the spin machine will be on fire again.

View attachment 28213

 

[Bluce Ree]

You would need a much, much larger solar cell array to do what you want it to do. It would be too large for your house, and would be more expensive than just buying gasoline.
--- merged: May 10, 2013 at 8:48 AM ---
A methane fuel cell would be useful to convert natural gas to electricity. This would be much more reliable than the current grid delivery system for electricity.

Traditional solar cell methods of splitting water molecules have typically only achieved about 12% efficiency. However, using more recent nanotechnology-based solar cells, they've managed to bring that up to nearly 19%. It's still a far cry from 50% - 80% achieved with straight electricity. Even with such low efficiency, a service station with massive underground storage volumes can perpetually collect hydrogen on-site and remain ahead of demand.

By removing the gasoline supply chain, the only cost is the ROI on the hydrogen fuel collection infrastructure. Once that's paid off, the cost is maintenance, not paying some fat oil company 99% of your revenue.

We should also point out that hydrogen, pound for pound, contains 3x more energy than gasoline. The problem is compressing that hydrogen into a small space, which is why hydrogen fuel cell vehicle designs have the hydrogen storage tank the size of the car's undercarriage, which isn't a big deal because hydrogen electric cars have eliminated most of the moving parts, leaving ample room for storage.

 

[Overmind One]

I know, right? :anim_59:

We're supposed to believe that moving the earth to the point of raising mountains in a matter of moments was somehow not strong enough to knock over the St. Louis arch or disintegrate the buildings that ended up in these "caverns"??? That's ridiculous!

It takes millenia to raise mountains and anything doing it in a couple days time (or even a years time) is going to cause massive earth quakes that would kill every living creature and would topple every man made structure in the vicinity. One doesn't have to be a geology professor to figure out this basic fact of reality.


*But this is "nuSci-Fi" writing which utilizes magical devices that never need to be explained on a physics basis cuz, well, they're magic!

Why would a "terraforming machine" need to raise mountain ranges or create caverns, but not change the atmosphere? What would be the purpose of this? The aliens do not seem to require the mountains or caverns to survive so...:facepalm: But wait, it provides a great deus ex machina to avoid using real locations. You can just film Defiance on Planet Toronto and claim that terraforming changed everything. And I still want to know what they are mining in Defiance. If terraforming machines created the deposits, why create deposits that need to be mined instead of just creating the resource directly?

View attachment 28214

 

[Bluce Ree]

Why would a "terraforming machine" need to raise mountain ranges or create caverns, but not change the atmosphere? What would be the purpose of this? The aliens do not seem to require the mountains or caverns to survive so...:facepalm: But wait, it provides a great deus ex machina to avoid using real locations. You can just film Defiance on Planet Toronto and claim that terraforming changed everything. And I still want to know what they are mining in Defiance. If terraforming machines created the deposits, why create deposits that need to be mined instead of just creating the resource directly?

View attachment 28214

How does any process that tears and lifts the crust of the Earth like astroturf and folds it over a city do so without disturbing a single blade of grass in the city over which it's being folded and, at the same time, lift the city's landmarks above that folded ground but leave the rest of the city in a giant cave? :icon_lol:

 

[YJ02]

The fracking business in WV is still going strong, but there has not been a corresponding build up around the centers of activity because these people have seen it all before with the coal industry. Natural gas is nearly an employee-less industry relative to coal and oil, so the changes have been nearly invisible.

I would like to see more LNG use in transportation though.
--- merged: May 9, 2013 at 8:26 PM ---


So, you admit that you have played the game?

Yes, you are correct. With the radical changes made to Earth's surface, both the St. Louis arch and the Golden Gate Bridge would have been toast.

Yes I too would like to see LNG used in vehicles-mainly because I know it works having rode in them so often.

I think the people/towns that got snookered into infrastructure build up by the frackers are only the ones with no previous drilling experience.

Our local region was previously the PA hub of traditional gas and oil drilling in the state. Hell in the east of PA it is difficult to find a natural gas provider. Here, many people get it for free as a result of long ago agreements due to either a well on their land or a pipeline coming through. They use gas for everything they can
--- merged: May 10, 2013 at 12:11 PM ---

Just so I am clear, LNG is liquefied natural gas yes?
--- merged: May 9, 2013 at 8:35 PM ---

Nope, just read about it and watched the trailers enough to know where it is set dude.
The only game I am currently playing is SW:TOR and a bit of Tekken when I wanna play a old skool fight game. (I will admit to playing the WWE game as well, but the story mode is crap unfortunately )



Yup, they are symbols of............Defiance?

LNG = liquefied natural gas
--- merged: May 10, 2013 at 12:15 PM ---

How does any process that tears and lifts the crust of the Earth like astroturf and folds it over a city do so without disturbing a single blade of grass in the city over which it's being folded and, at the same time, lift the city's landmarks above that folded ground but leave the rest of the city in a giant cave? :icon_lol:

another thing, the article on it stated that the terraforming incident mutated both earth and alien animals--why were no humans or aliens mutated then?

or

will we see the introduction of these mutants (again so repetitive of many earlier shows and movies) in future eps"s

terraformed zombies anyone?

 

[shavedape]

Why would a "terraforming machine" need to raise mountain ranges or create caverns, but not change the atmosphere? What would be the purpose of this? The aliens do not seem to require the mountains or caverns to survive so...:facepalm: But wait, it provides a great deus ex machina to avoid using real locations. You can just film Defiance on Planet Toronto and claim that terraforming changed everything. And I still want to know what they are mining in Defiance. If terraforming machines created the deposits, why create deposits that need to be mined instead of just creating the resource directly?

View attachment 28214

I'm not defending this turd but I think the mountains and caverns and all that happened when the terra forming machines were out of control and were just tearing stuff up. It's a horrible gimmick to use to try and explain a futuristic world unless you're going to do it right, which they didn't.

As for the deposits they're mining, I find that whole thing stupid too. It's just lame. I mean, the energy source that they used to power their ships somehow got embedded deep into the earth and now they are mining it???
--- merged: May 10, 2013 at 1:49 PM ---

How does any process that tears and lifts the crust of the Earth like astroturf and folds it over a city do so without disturbing a single blade of grass in the city over which it's being folded and, at the same time, lift the city's landmarks above that folded ground but leave the rest of the city in a giant cave? :icon_lol:

That's what drives me nuts about crap like this. It's one thing to use futuristic technology to explain things in a scifi setting but when they cross the line from possibility into outright ridiculousness then it's no longer science-based technology but rather magic.

Quite simply you couldn't rip up that much of the earth in that short amount of time without having a destructive impact on the surrounding areas. We're not talking about a tornado that rips apart one side of a street but leaves the other side intact (happened to my grandma in Omaha when she was a young woman) but rather, a force that literally lifts up the earths crust and moves it.

 

[Jim of WVa]

...
Our local region was previously the PA hub of traditional gas and oil drilling in the state. Hell in the east of PA it is difficult to find a natural gas provider. Here, many people get it for free as a result of long ago agreements due to either a well on their land or a pipeline coming through. They use gas for everything they can
...

My sister knew someone who grew up with gas lights powered by free gas.

 

[YJ02]

My sister knew someone who grew up with gas lights powered by free gas.

When I was at FT Drum, NY, many in the the Mennonite community in the outer areas used natural and propane gas--many also had appliances that ran on propane.

Personally, I would not what my house so gasified and explosive but if that's what they want....

 

[Bluce Ree]

I tried to watch a bit of the latest episode. Is it just me or is this show turning into another thinly veiled cop show with a sci-fi backdrop? I see too much sheriffing and not enough Defying.

 

[Overmind One]

I tried to watch a bit of the latest episode. Is it just me or is this show turning into another thinly veiled cop show with a sci-fi backdrop? I see too much sheriffing and not enough Defying.

Its not just you. . But scifi cop soaps are better than this show. Continuum is basically a serialized cop drama, but this Defiance show is dumbed down way more than that. They have used old westerns as their inspiration (along with Firefly), so we get shallow characters, shallow simple stories and lots of action and explosions to round it out and make it watchable. The association of this show to the game is not any sort of enhancement at all IMO. But we will get two seasons to study it.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Its not just you. . But scifi cop soaps are better than this show. Continuum is basically a serialized cop drama, but this Defiance show is dumbed down way more than that. They have used old westerns as their inspiration (along with Firefly), so we get shallow characters, shallow simple stories and lots of action and explosions to round it out and make it watchable. The association of this show to the game is not any sort of enhancement at all IMO. But we will get two seasons to study it.

When I watched the promos before the show aired, I was led to believe it was going to be humanity vs alien invaders. Even the show title lends itself to that implication.

Continuum is smarter, I agree. The writing is better than Defecation and the acting and dialog isn't so over the top. My biggest pet peeve with that show is that it is too clearly a cop show and not a sci-fi story. The show moves so damned slow that I feel like Kirk in the TOS episode "Wink of an Eye". I can leave the TV, make myself a steak, go to the bathroom, make a couple phone calls, take out the trash and not have missed a single thing when I get back to the show.

 

[Overmind One]

When I watched the promos before the show aired, I was led to believe it was going to be humanity vs alien invaders. Even the show title lends itself to that implication.

Continuum is smarter, I agree. The writing is better than Defecation and the acting and dialog isn't so over the top. My biggest pet peeve with that show is that it is too clearly a cop show and not a sci-fi story. The show moves so damned slow that I feel like Kirk in the TOS episode "Wink of an Eye". I can leave the TV, make myself a steak, go to the bathroom, make a couple phone calls, take out the trash and not have missed a single thing when I get back to the show.

Like SGU, I am going to make a point of watching every single episode of this show until it is cancelled near the beginning of its second season. I bought the game too. This season was shot before season 1 had aired and is in the can, and they are already prepping production for season 2. I predict that after season 2 is in the can, that Syfy will cancel the show...and that it's ratings will be in the toilet. This show is following the trajectory of SGU's demise almost exactly.

 

[Jim of WVa]

Like SGU, I am going to make a point of watching every single episode of this show until it is cancelled near the beginning of its second season. I bought the game too. This season was shot before season 1 had aired and is in the can, and they are already prepping production for season 2. I predict that after season 2 is in the can, that Syfy will cancel the show...and that it's ratings will be in the toilet. This show is following the trajectory of SGU's demise almost exactly.

No, it is not. Defiance is a much cheaper show than SGU and the ratings have been higher:
View attachment 28219

 

[Overmind One]

No, it is not. Defiance is a much cheaper show than SGU and the ratings have been higher:
View attachment 28219

You have ignored the gaming side of this venture. Trion has spent more on the game than the show, and the pricetag of the whole deal is already over $150 million. Do you have the figures for SGU? How did you make this comparison? The ratings snip you are showing also includes the new timeshifted version of the ratings. But the numbers show that this show is STEADILY losing ratings with the subsequent episodes getting lower than the previous. In SGU wew saw brief spikes. Let's see if this happens with Defiance. Going by your spreadsheet example, this show is doing worse than SGU.