Im downloading this. Will weigh in later. 
DEFIANCE game and TV show - sink or swim?
- Thread starter shavedape
- Start date
Jim of WVa
Well Known GateFan
Indeed, if they were really desperate for Lebensraum, why did they not settle Mars, or a Mars-like world in their own solar system. They would have to make their own biosphere under domes, but no one would be shooting at them.
Overall, the show might do OK, if they can step up to the plate and write decent episodes.
YJ02
Well Known GateFan
M'kay, just watched the premiere...
The first thing to bug the ever living shite out of me is the fact that the sentient aliens are all basically humans in bad make-up. There have several different species of aliens in this town but they're all English speaking/human acting types of "creatures" -- hell, they're not even "creatures", they're just humans walking around in make-up. There's more that bugs me about this but I don't want to rant too much right now.
The next thing that bugged me was the fact that they didn't explain much, if anything, about how the aliens got to Earth and why they terraformed it and why their ships were all destroyed in orbit. They also didn't explain how every alien can breathe Earth's atmosphere.
The one good part was that we got to see Grant Bowler with his shirt off, although the sex scene was rather weak I thought.
Okay, enough about this show as I feel a rant coming on and can't really indulge it right now. Suffice to say I don't think this show will last very long. Or, to put it in language we can all understand: SyFy strikes again!
with the aliens and their "humanity" I guess one could go with Samantha Carter's explanation of similarities: that if a planet exists that can support life then it would probably be life very similar to that on Earth-or, we can just go with they took they best winners from a season of FACEOFF and gave them jobs
the more i think on it and now that i am rewatching it-the first half of the pilot reminded me a lot of the pilot for EUREKA-the father/daughter thing-the strange town-a town slut-everyone has issues
the fight scene (for money) and the use of punching the big dude in the ass-presumably where is genitals are reminds me of Kirk fighting the alien on Ruapente and McCoy reminding him that not everyone keeps their genitals in the same place.
the whole show just brought to mind that its TPTB are a bunch of people, lacking originality, who are just rehashing their favorite scenes and plots and devices from a hodge-podge of their favorite sci fi. I saw-SGU, FIREFLY,STAR TREK, EUREKA at least for starters
--- merged: Apr 16, 2013 at 8:41 AM ---
Im downloading this. Will weigh in later.
are you getting it from syfy? i think they said it would be up on their site (?).
--- merged: Apr 16, 2013 at 8:46 AM ---
And why would they choose Earth-an inhabited -over populated and polluted planet? Obviously they had no morals
if somehow the current "us" were in this situation we would probably choose to die in space then to take away someone else's world
as for their tech and all-one would think that they would of had some type of advance team to set up landings and secure areas from the "natives"-put a bureaucracy in place as welcoming committee
and if the alien races are so at odds with one another why did they all come? why let an enemy get on the 'lifeboats'?
and where do those "spider-wolf" looking things come from? if alien, why bring useless predatory animals with you?
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
It's obvious they're going to try and parcel out the answers to these questions which I think only hurts the show in the long run. The world they initially showed us isn't that intriguing of a mystery that people are going to clamor for more of it. They would have been better off just giving us the whole story from the get-go, then build on that.
As it is I find the whole production very weak. The bad CGI, which is supposed to simulate game play, isn't that thrilling. And the human-aliens annoy me to no end. The sarcastic alien doctor is no alien at all, it's just a human that we're supposed to believe is an alien because they tell us so.
Oh -- and I don't care one wit for the teen angst love story going on. It's just lame.
ParagonPie
Well Known GateFan
One my little peeves is when people mention 'terraformer' which is to turn a world or place into a habitable area suitable for humans not aliens, Terra=Earth. Like whenever they mention hydroponics and yet the plants are in soil, yeah...
Anyway time for one of my crazy suggestions!
An explanation as to why the aliens look like humans. They are hybrids. The 'Ark' didn't literally carry species across the void, the Alien race that built the Ark are dead, so instead it carried the process of turning native life into hybrid ones and eventually bring the rising of the former race. Why would they do this? Well considering in the galactic terms of things, just planting down some DNA in the primordial goo isn't the safest way of ensuring a species eventual dominance over a planet, so they just hijack a preexisting one. Could also explain why they can survive in our environment (they probably came from an Earth like environment but colonization was too risky and not enough aliens would survive the voyage or for a sustainable population). Eventually through generations the true form of the alien race would arise though with a human twist to it.
Basically everything can be explained logically if given the time, it just seems to me that they ran with a concept and then started writing when the show went into production. The show can be salvaged, but I got a feeling that they will be playing it safe to the point of it being a detriment.
Anyway time for one of my crazy suggestions!
An explanation as to why the aliens look like humans. They are hybrids. The 'Ark' didn't literally carry species across the void, the Alien race that built the Ark are dead, so instead it carried the process of turning native life into hybrid ones and eventually bring the rising of the former race. Why would they do this? Well considering in the galactic terms of things, just planting down some DNA in the primordial goo isn't the safest way of ensuring a species eventual dominance over a planet, so they just hijack a preexisting one. Could also explain why they can survive in our environment (they probably came from an Earth like environment but colonization was too risky and not enough aliens would survive the voyage or for a sustainable population). Eventually through generations the true form of the alien race would arise though with a human twist to it.
Basically everything can be explained logically if given the time, it just seems to me that they ran with a concept and then started writing when the show went into production. The show can be salvaged, but I got a feeling that they will be playing it safe to the point of it being a detriment.
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
If you remember in the beginning scene when Nolan and Irisa go into that crashed ship to salvage that sphere they show human-like bodies in stasis pods. Now, my first thought is that these are aliens in stasis but I suppose it could be humans undergoing a genetic change. No matter how you slice it though it seems like a convoluted premise to base a show on.
ParagonPie
Well Known GateFan
I wasn't actually trying to justify their position, just looking back at it and seeing how it could of been differently or how I would of done it personally (hence why I said crazy suggestion time!
) 
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
I wasn't actually trying to justify their position, just looking back at it and seeing how it could of been differently or how I would of done it personally (hence why I said crazy suggestion time!
If only you were a showrunner on SyFy.
If only you were a showrunner on SyFy.
I have not watched my download yet, Im at work. But lets start collecting ratings on this show since we have an opportunity to do it from day one.
Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
AS...........YOOUUU WIIIISSSHHHH........... 
Defiance also delivered Syfy’s top performance in total viewers (2.7 million) and Adults 25-54 (1.4 million) since 2009 (Warehouse 13) during its two-hour telecast on Monday, April 15 from 9-11PM (ET/PT). While averaging a 2.0 HH rating, Defiance also averaged 479,000 Adults 18-34, the most for a scripted series premiere since 2006.
Since launching worldwide on April 2nd, the Trion Worlds game Defiance has seen players log more than six million hours of gameplay.
Defiance ranked among the top five scripted cable shows in social activity on premiere day, earning 59K social exposures to rank as Syfy’s best series premiere day and its most social scripted telecast ever. It outperformed HBO’s Game of Thrones and The Newsroom, FX’s The Americans, TNT’s Falling Skies and MTV’s Teen Wolf on their respective premiere days. In addition, Syfy Sync – Syfy’s second screen tablet offering - posted its best day ever in uniques and visits as well as the 2nd best performance in page views.
Looks like they learned something from the WWE in terms of abusing the hell out of social media
Oh, and so much for the "Monday night Deathslot"
Defiance also delivered Syfy’s top performance in total viewers (2.7 million) and Adults 25-54 (1.4 million) since 2009 (Warehouse 13) during its two-hour telecast on Monday, April 15 from 9-11PM (ET/PT). While averaging a 2.0 HH rating, Defiance also averaged 479,000 Adults 18-34, the most for a scripted series premiere since 2006.
Since launching worldwide on April 2nd, the Trion Worlds game Defiance has seen players log more than six million hours of gameplay.
Defiance ranked among the top five scripted cable shows in social activity on premiere day, earning 59K social exposures to rank as Syfy’s best series premiere day and its most social scripted telecast ever. It outperformed HBO’s Game of Thrones and The Newsroom, FX’s The Americans, TNT’s Falling Skies and MTV’s Teen Wolf on their respective premiere days. In addition, Syfy Sync – Syfy’s second screen tablet offering - posted its best day ever in uniques and visits as well as the 2nd best performance in page views.
Looks like they learned something from the WWE in terms of abusing the hell out of social media
Oh, and so much for the "Monday night Deathslot"
YJ02
Well Known GateFan
yup-like JOE said
and, they would have to 'retcon'(is that the right term?)-they show us dead aliens in stasis pods that broke-and i think in conversation the two in the alien couple (where the hubby is the gangster-lets say the alien Sopranos) were discussing when they first landed-but i may have misheard that
interestingly enough-i think this show will make it because IMO, it fits the target group of viewers that syfy is trying to capture-- we get all of the old classic sci fi stuff remade (stolen-artistically), we have fast and loose sex, we get fast cars (hey the show was sponsored by DODGE apparently the 'hero' will be getting a souped up version of DODGE's newest muscle car) We also get "wrestlemania/ mma fighting" copied in the fight for cash. plus, all of this is overlaid on the classic "win" of the cop show drama.
not saying that i love it-or hate it-its just something to watch for now
B
Backstep
Guest
I had the show on the TV but it could not hold my attention, I read on here it had a "sex scene"?
Oh hell....Im only three minutes into this thing and I have stopped it to write this. 
I will edit it as I go along, but damn...the song in the car and the stupid chick wearing contacts, is she an alien? It reminds me of Roswell already. THREE minutes. Back into the episode...
I will edit it as I go along, but damn...the song in the car and the stupid chick wearing contacts, is she an alien? It reminds me of Roswell already. THREE minutes. Back into the episode...
Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
The way you guys are describing it, it sounds more like Jericho but with aliens.
Mrs GF however saw a trailer and said "hey, that sounds a bit westerny, like firefly"
Mrs GF however saw a trailer and said "hey, that sounds a bit westerny, like firefly"
shavedape
Well Known GateFan
The way you guys are describing it, it sounds more like Jericho but with aliens.
Mrs GF however saw a trailer and said "hey, that sounds a bit westerny, like firefly"
It didn't premiere in OZ yet?
Personally I don't get the Firefly references that others are seeing. It's only "westerny" in the sense that there's a "sheriff" type and they do some stuff outdoors. If anything it's a hodge podge of various genres, which will be its Achilles heel in the long run I believe.
I had to eat something first...back to the "show". Ill start it over to see the cool opening CGI stuff...
Gatefan1976
Well Known GateFan
It didn't premiere in OZ yet?
Personally I don't get the Firefly references that others are seeing. It's only "westerny" in the sense that there's a "sheriff" type and they do some stuff outdoors. If anything it's a hodge podge of various genres, which will be its Achilles heel in the long run I believe.
Next week dude.
Plus, Mrs GF only saw bits of the trailer, so that is probably why she saw a "firefly-esque" type deal.
I called it a Firefly wannabe basically because it has an ensemble cast and uses some western archetypes. Alas the characters aren't very interesting and the lack of a well explained backstory makes it really hard to put anything into context. They badly needed to explain fairly clearly how earth got to its present state and who these alien races are.
B
Backstep
Guest
I wonder how the NuBSG and SGU fanbois will take to this? syfy has brought back the rubber faced aliens and standard cardboard cutout characters they claimed to hate so much.