[TV] Defiance on SyFy

[Moliere]

Could this show be good? As long as sharks aren't attacking planes I have hope.

[Razgon]

The game is pretty fun - I can't say much because of NDA, but it has pretty high production values, so hopefully the TV show has so as well!

[EngineNo9]

I'm sure it will be just as good as the Red Faction one. 

[CeeKay]

so, any impressions.  I guess this started yesterday.

[Crawley]

It's ho-hum. The first few minutes are great however. Then there's Country singing.

Basically the show is a sci-fi Western. But none of the characters are really intriguing despite having a large group of different alien species.

So far it's no Firefly. But I'll give it a few more episodes.

[Soulchilde]

Is on the TiVo.. probably will watch tonight

[metallicorphan]

I actually really enjoyed this,and was quite surprised when i had 30 minutes left to watch(i DVR'd it),and then realised it had been on for 90 minutes as its a 2 hr pilot which i didn't know

Just here there was no subtitles so i had a hard time remembering or even hearing people's names,so i may catch a repeat of it and hope subtitles have been put in,In fact,i think i may bug SyFy UK twitter feed now about that

[Scraper]

My initial impression is that they crammed a ton of stuff into the pilot. So much material that it would have taken other really well written shows an entire season to get through it all and really flesh it out. For instance a seemingly main character was murdered right before a commercial break and they had caught the unknown killer and wrapped up all the subplots with that murder prior to the next commercial break, and so on. It doesn't mean it was a bad show, it just felt rushed. I will keep watching to see where it goes from here.

[MonkeyFinger]

I enjoyed it. However, as noted there is a ton of backstory here that we don't really know but that they allude to... like the Pale Wars and ARKFALL. Found that I really needed to peruse the official website and there's also a free iBook with lots of nice content and history.

[hepcat]

Oh cool, I'll have to poke around for the iBook you mentioned.  Thanks!

I didn't think it was outstanding, but I was entertained without feeling like my intelligence was being insulted, so that's a thumbs up for me in today's world of tv.  I'll stick with it for a bit.  I just can't help but visualize a young Nathan Fillion or Ben Browder in the main guy's role.

[MonkeyFinger]

Let me save you the poking... here. 

[hepcat]

why thank ye, kind sirrah!

[Knightshade Dragon]

I loved the show, but damn it....the "Coming up" portions are even worse than I expected.  Hell, Vikings shows you the whole show twice given how much they show, but somehow this is worse.  "Oh look!  A fight!"  - 'Coming soon... (shows fight outcome)' - Why am I watching this?  :/ 

I won't watch this live again - TiVo is the only way I can watch this.

[Harkonis]

I'm a huge non-fan of shows with giant 'previously on' and 'here's what's next'

[metallicorphan]

I loved the show, but damn it....the "Coming up" portions are even worse than I expected.  Hell, Vikings shows you the whole show twice given how much they show, but somehow this is worse.  "Oh look!  A fight!"  - 'Coming soon... (shows fight outcome)' - Why am I watching this?  :/ 

I won't watch this live again - TiVo is the only way I can watch this.

where do you guys get the 'coming up' portions?...we get them when the end credits start,which i have turned over by then,even when DVR'ing a show,i never stay around for the coming up segments or end credits unless i need to know who the hell i just watched

I don't mind the previously,Arrow does this but thankfully when i need reminding about something that happened in the early episodes that will be relevant in the episode that is showing

[Knightshade Dragon]

Before every commercial we are getting the "Coming up on" stinger to "keep us interested and coming back".   It makes me want to not come back. 

[Crawley]

Yeah had that experience too. It was pretty bad that they were basically spoiling what was going to happen after the commercial break. Even with the DVR you could not not see them - that's a double "not".

[Azhag]

They were short at least, and I managed to mostly miss them on the dvr. Show is good enough for me to give a run... but I'm a sucker for scifi...

[WarPig]

Before every commercial we are getting the "Coming up on" stinger to "keep us interested and coming back".   It makes me want to not come back. 

Ron, I follow the @syfy twitter feed and they had a Q&A this morning: no more "advance looks", that was only for the premier.  I really liked it as well, but I pretty much don't watch anything these days unless it's on my DVR first, so I didn't notice them that much.

[rshetts2]

I didnt notice the "coming up" blurbs because I DVR'd it and skipped past all of that.  What I did notice is that in 2 hours they managed to rip off every sci fi cliche, ever filmed.  From Star Wars to Star Trek to Mad Max etc,  hell they even threw in Romeo and Juliet for kicks.  I half expected an Alien to burst out of Julie Benz chest at the end, just because they hadnt hit that one yet.  I hope the show gets better but then this is SyFy, so if it does improve, they will likely cancel it immediately.

[hepcat]

I can count on one hand the number of genre films that don't borrow from other films to some extent.  Nothing was blatant though.

[Scraper]

Episode 2 was good enough to keep me watching. But,

Spoiler for Hiden:

Didn't they kill that billy guy (or whatever his name was) in episode 1. I know he was lying on the table in episode 2, but was he dead only to be brought back to life or was he unconscious? And if he was dead, is he really dead now or just fake dead waiting to be brought back to life again?

[Crusis]

It took a week but I finally managed to sit through the first episode and I won't be back for more. There was trouble at the first hint of teen angst and it just got worse from there. I swear that if I were playing "take a shot ever time they hit a cliche" I would have passed out at the half hour mark.

Terrible.

[Harkonis]

I hate the 'previously on' specifically because if someone hasn't been on in a long time or is thought dead and they will be back for this episode, they always show their clips in the previously.  This means that I now know they are back and there is no suspense.  Same thing with putting the guest star names at the opening.

[Roguetad]

I almost never bail on a show after just 1 episode, I even stuck with Terra Nova through its entire run.  I was already wanting to jump ship after the first 30 minutes of the Defiance pilot.  Nothing was clicking for me, none of the characters, the pacing, the effects, or the story.  I tried hard to make it through the entire pilot, but I just couldn't do it.  I'm a sucker for ok to good sci fi, but this seems pretty terrible.  If it gets better later in season 1, I'll try and go back and watch again. 

[Misguided]

I thought it was pretty good for a pilot, given the amount of ground they were trying to cover. Second episode was decent.

[Isgrimnur]

I hate the 'previously on' specifically because if someone hasn't been on in a long time or is thought dead and they will be back for this episode, they always show their clips in the previously.  This means that I now know they are back and there is no suspense.  Same thing with putting the guest star names at the opening.

Checkhov's Recap.

[Teggy]

This has been a winner for me so far. I really like that the main characters are all pretty complex. Good guys are not perfect, bad guys are not pure evil and most everyone is more than they seem.

[Teggy]

Renewed for a second season:

http://www.eonline.com/news/417338/defiance-renewed-for-season-2-by-syfy

[Knightshade Dragon]

Renewed for a second season:

http://www.eonline.com/news/417338/defiance-renewed-for-season-2-by-syfy

Sweet.  I'm enjoying the show.  Shame the game didn't turn out better, but knowing Trion Worlds they'll hammer it out eventually.

[metallicorphan]

This has been a winner for me so far. I really like that the main characters are all pretty complex. Good guys are not perfect, bad guys are not pure evil and most everyone is more than they seem.

I am liking the show,but its gone downhill a little since the pilot

I am glad that

Spoiler for Hiden:

Nolan has sussed out that Albino woman is the forked tongue behind Albino dude's rise to power

[Moliere]

This has been a winner for me so far. I really like that the main characters are all pretty complex. Good guys are not perfect, bad guys are not pure evil and most everyone is more than they seem.

This. And minimal teen angst. I had to smile when the albino went to his first counsel meeting, greeting everyone before shutting the door in Nolan's face.

[Teggy]

We know now that humans and Irathians have similar reproductive systems.

[hepcat]

We know now that humans and Irathians have similar reproductive systems.

I'm not so sure about that.  The way she was grinding crosswise against the guy, I have a feeling something's aligned differently.

[CeeKay]

they're advertising a marathon for this on Monday; the first 6 episodes starting at 4pm est.