UK Timeline : Defiance : Season 1

[Tezcatlipoca]

The big, new, and extremely hyped up SF series Defiance starts tonight at 9pm on Syfy UK, one day after its US premiere. It's a feature-length pilot.

It has been developed by Rockne S. O'Bannon (co-creator of Farscape).

http://www.defiance.com/en/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defiance_(TV_series)

Defiance is an American and Canadian science fiction television series developed for television by Rockne S. O'Bannon, Kevin Murphy, and Michael Taylor. The series is being produced by Universal Cable Productions, in collaboration with Trion Worlds, who are producing an MMO video game of the same name which will be connected to the series. Defiance stars Grant Bowler as Joshua Nolan, the local lawman in a border town known as Defiance, as well as Julie Benz, who plays the newly appointed mayor of Defiance, Amanda Rosewater. Also starring are Stephanie Leonidas, Jaime Murray, Tony Curran, Graham Greene, Mia Kirshner and Fionnula Flanagan.

(snip)

The series is set in the near future, where aliens known collectively as Votans have come to Earth seeking a new home after their star system was destroyed in a stellar collision. The Votans had thought Earth was uninhabited, but upon their arrival in 2013 discover that humans are living on the planet, who respond to them with hostility and suspicion.

A limited number of Votans are allowed to settle in a colony in Brazil, and eventually two other colonies, but millions of Votans remained in hypersleep aboard their ships in orbit as negotiations dragged on with Earth governments for full-scale settlement.

Tensions rose for ten years, but the Votan and human governments were on the verge of negotiating a peaceful settlement, when in 2023 the Votan ambassador to the United Nations was assassinated by a disgruntled human supremacist on live television outside of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. This sparked a disastrous global conflict between humans and the aliens known as the "Pale Wars".

The wars tore apart the planet for seven years, until their culmination in 2030 in the apocalyptic "Arkfall" event, when the Ark fleet in orbit mysteriously exploded. The aliens think a rogue human commander was responsible, while humans suspect it was an alien weapons experiment gone awry. Millions of Votans died in hypersleep. During the Arkfall, destroyed Arks rained down on Earth and accidentally released terraformer technology.

While the Votans had intended to use their terraforming technology in a carefully planned manner, the Arkfall haphazardly unleashed chaotic and radical changes to the biosphere and even the geology of Earth, making the planet dangerous to both humans and the aliens. The earth was scorched, chasms opened in the ground, new mountain ranges were raised, and the surface of the planet was covered with dust and debris.

Animal and plant species from the Votan star system were introduced to Earth, and both native and alien animal species were horribly mutated by the uncontrolled terraformer technology, creating bizarre and dangerous hybrids and new species.

Within a few months, the Pale Wars wound down as both sides had fought to the point of mutual exhaustion, and a ceasefire was declared. Few organized governments remained for either the humans or the aliens, and both sides factionalized as their members began looking out for themselves. In several areas, local human and Votan militias began to band together when they realized that they had to cooperate if they hoped to survive on this new, almost alien planet.

The debris from the destroyed Ark fleet now forms an artificial "Ark belt" in Earth orbit, which periodically rains down in small scale "Arkfalls", which present a hazard for survivors on the surface, but also provide valuable opportunities to salvage advanced technology aboard the Arks (which even the aliens can no longer easily reproduce on their own).

There is also a game of the same name, which is a subscription-free persistent world MMO third-person shooter / action-RPG. It's set in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is connected to the events of the TV series, with one apparently affecting the other...

[cimt]

Got it set to record. I shall watch it live though. I now have a reason to watch something other than BBC One HD.

[alferret]

Looking forward to this!

is anyone playing the game? I may consider buying it as it seems like a nice change

[Tezcatlipoca]

Craig and I have both been playing the 360 version.

I've only done the tutorial so far, but I like it.


As for the show... I quite enjoyed that

[Mick Fisher]

I was a bit underwhelmed.

Maybe it will pick up a bit as it goes along?

[alferret]

Originally Posted by Mick Fisher:35561991

I was a bit underwhelmed.

Maybe it will pick up a bit as it goes along?

Feel the same.
Had elements from V, Alien Nation,Terra Nova and a few others.
Will stick with it tho, it may turn out to be a peach rather than the lemon it started out as.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Oh, I agree it was quite formulaic and derivative, but I still enjoyed it I think it was a far better pilot than those for Terrible Nova or Revolution, for example.

Well, I guess it was a bit predictable in places, but yeah, I quite enjoyed it. Enough to keep watching for a few more, and see how it pans out.

[Kymmy]

I was expecting an updated Alien Nation, which then turned into the already mentioned Alien based Terra Nova/revolution mix..

I nearly turned it off after 30 minutes but I'm glad I persevered till the end as it has shown some possibilities of being a good show.

[Anonymouse]

It's been compared to Firefly. Firefly it's not, but it doesn't half feel like it. And the reference to the Yellowjackets - surely homage to the Browncoats, yes?

I'm in two minds about it, but we'll see how it goes.

[Kabaal]

A lot of the Firefly comparisons came from the trailers as some of them did give off a western in space sorta vibe. The show itself however is nothing like it other than it will probably be cancelled after one season too :p

I wasn't impressed with it at all. Shoddy writing, sub standard acting and horrible CGI.

[alferret]

After watching ep2 I'm still on the fence.
It's like a show of 2 halves, half is quite good with its acting, dialogue and storyline and the other half has poor acting, storyline, dialogue and CGI.
I think the idea is very good and the overall plot soun, just lacking somewhat in execution. Another Revolution.

[Henkesghost]

CGI is pretty poor, but as its a tv series they won't have the budget a movie would have, so kinda understandable. Very few tv series I follow but this seems ok. Series link set and see how it goes.

Annoying thing is the law maker looks like and has the facial expressions of a hirsute Ross Kemp

Kurt Cobain will be turnin in his grave after that horrific cover version

[cimt]

It's been renewed!

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...y-syfy/181987/