Defiance: New science fiction series from Syfy, being developed alongside MMO game.

[Overmind One]

This is VERY interesting, and I love the premise they are describing in this series. Please watch the video here:

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According to this article: http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Defiance-Preview-Look-Making-Syfy-Series-Video-Game-42771.html



This premise has to do with a crashed alien ship, full of alien animal species, plants, sorta like an ark. It crashes on earth, and then we have aliens and humans living side by side. We have seen this in Alien Nation, Earth: Final Conflict, and a few others. This seems like it could be a good show. All that bothers me is the co-development of the MMO game alongside the series. It seems like a shameless pimping relationship. I wonder how much the game will cost to play, and what other sort of advertising tie-ins there will be? What if they make it so you have to be in the game to solve a mystery in the show? That wont bother me that much, but the series sounds interesting.

The game looks like this:

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MMO shooter? That could be LOTS of fun. I was addicted to the Delta Force games which were MMO. Deathmatches involving hundreds of mercenaries or soldiers could eat up obscene hours in the day. Syfy still draws the interest of game developers it seems. With two Stargate MMO games gone belly up, I hope this one sticks. But from the looks of the game, it will need the series to make it different. Looks like standard fare, even if the characters and scenery is different. I am looking forward to checking out the series.
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[EvilSpaceAlien]

I'm pretty excited about this show since it has several actors which I like, such as Julie Benz (BtVS, Angel, Dexter), Jaime Murray (Dexter, Spartacus, W13) and Tony Curran (Doctor Who ep 5.10 "Vincent and the Doctor"). Also, the creative team behind the show looks very promising, what with its creator being Rockne S. O'Bannon of Farscape fame, and the head writer is Kevin Murphy whom I think is a very capable writer/showrunner judging from when he took over as showrunner for Caprica during the show's last few episodes, during which (IMO) the storylines had a notable increase in quality.

 

[Bluce Ree]

I might catch the first season and stop there. Syfylys tends to rot their shows as of late after a successful first season when they start cutting budgets and introducing their own brand of meddling "creativity" (except SGU, which was pure unadulterated garbage from the get go, and Flash Gordon, which won the international fecal award).

 

[SciphonicStranger]

I remember the Enter the Matrix video game which was a bridge for fans between Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. The game had a story that connected the two movies and a few easter eggs for the die hards.

They seem to be suggesting here that what happens in the video game world will affect events in the TV program. I'm not sure how they will pull that one off, but if gamers can blow away annoying lead characters from the TV show it would be a good thing.

 

[Overmind One]

I remember the Enter the Matrix video game which was a bridge for fans between Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions. The game had a story that connected the two movies and a few easter eggs for the die hards.

They seem to be suggesting here that what happens in the video game world will affect events in the TV program. I'm not sure how they will pull that one off, but if gamers can blow away annoying lead characters from the TV show it would be a good thing.

LMAO! That would be VERY nice. The other part about the game and the show being "married", I see that too. That could become annoying, especially if they start pushing the game.

 

[SciphonicStranger]

LMAO! That would be VERY nice. The other part about the game and the show being "married", I see that too. That could become annoying, especially if they start pushing the game.

Suppose they had done this with SGU - could you imagine the world-wide prestige one would have to be able to proclaim "I am gamer-XXX, and I was the one managed to take out Chloe!".

 

[Overmind One]

Suppose they had done this with SGU - could you imagine the world-wide prestige one would have to be able to proclaim "I am gamer-XXX, and I was the one managed to take out Chloe!".

Knowing Brad, they would have demanded that the core characters be immune to dying from friendly fire, like in Battlefield 3. . But for every game, there is a dedicated hacker. All you would have to do is substitute the skin of the enemy with one of your hated characters, and VOILA!

 

[shavedape]

Oh boy, where do I go on this one? For starters, it has Grant Bowler and Jaime Murray, both of whom I like a lot as actors, plus Julia Benz who as ESA pointed out is good, so they're starting off on the right foot with casting. That's a good sign. Bowler's character, as described, sounds a bit cliche' so I'm hoping he doesn't turn out to be the stereotypical "handsome bad guy with a heart of gold". Please please please give the character some depth and range.

As for the premise about a crashed alien ship and new species introduced to the planet, well, that too has been done as others have pointed out. The gamer in me is excited about a shoot 'em up with different aliens but it almost seems like that's just window dressing to get people to watch the "immigrant drama" they have laid out. So basically we're going to have some rubber masked "aliens" that are sentient, kind and benevolent and who live along side humans and then there will be the animalistic type aliens that pop up out of the ground on a regular basis that humans and human-like aliens have to fight.

The fact that they refer to the show as an "immigrant drama" pretty much tells us that they're going for a soap-fi aspect (again, sigh...). Of course there will be "secrets" that none of us viewers will care about. Then there will be the characters that are in love but can't tell each other that they're in love and they will have a star crossed sort of relationship. It will be an annoying relationship but will be tolerable if the action and general premise of the show is done well.

As for the gaming aspects, well, I can't see them using the game to reveal anything too specific and central to the plot of the show as a huge amount of their viewers won't be playing the game. That's just how it is. Sure they can offer up some little things like going off on tangents about more trivial plot points, but the central story will have to be told in the show. And if they allow the gamers to affect how the show goes in terms of plot it will only be on minor points. I'm sure the writers will be too sensitive to allow their precious, albeit annoying, little gems to be offed by viewers, but as OM1 pointed out where there's a will there's a way.

 

[shavedape]

Saw a commercial for this the other day and was reminded it's coming up next Spring. It looked fairly impressive so I'm hoping it turns out to be a winner. Fingers crossed!

 

[EvilSpaceAlien]

It does look quite promising, however I fear that since it is on Syfy it will inevitably get screwed up at some point down the line. And I just can't quite shake the feeling that maybe a high concept show like this would be better suited for a channel like HBO or Starz instead of Syfylis.

 

[Overmind One]

]It does look quite promising, however I fear that since it is on Syfy it will inevitably get screwed up at some point down the line.[/B] And I just can't quite shake the feeling that maybe a high concept show like this would be better suited for a channel like HBO or Starz instead of Syfylis.

I have to agree. Just being ON that channel seems to be a portent for bad things to come, down the line. They feel for some reason that change is absolutely necessary in every show. They cant seem to leave the characters or their relationships with each other alone. They have to ship them, make them have powers or reveal something about them to change who they are, or they just kill them off to replace them with newer, more boring characters. Or they swerve the path of the storyline and crash it into a wall.

That reminds me...where is Briangate?

 

[SciphonicStranger]

I have to agree. Just being ON that channel seems to be a portent for bad things to come, down the line. They feel for some reason that change is absolutely necessary in every show. They cant seem to leave the characters or their relationships with each other alone. They have to ship them, make them have powers or reveal something about them to change who they are, or they just kill them off to replace them with newer, more boring characters. Or they swerve the path of the storyline and crash it into a wall.

That reminds me...where is Briangate?

He's probably locked himself away since the NHL started the lock-out.

Seriously though - I would blame the show runners more than I would SyFy for the plot decisions. SyFy just decides to order or not order episodes of any given show. They're still airing 4 shows that I watch - WH13, Lost Girl, Haven, and Alphas. Maybe Defiance will be the fifth.

 

[Overmind One]

He's probably locked himself away since the NHL started the lock-out.

Seriously though - I would blame the show runners more than I would SyFy for the plot decisions. SyFy just decides to order or not order episodes of any given show. They're still airing 4 shows that I watch - WH13, Lost Girl, Haven, and Alphas. Maybe Defiance will be the fifth.

Still loving WH13, but need to catch up.

 

[SciphonicStranger]

Still loving WH13, but need to catch up.

Well get caught up already. You've got until April.

 

[Joelist]

SyFy has both meddled with its shows in the past and made bizarre decisions on renewal-cancellation. I still remember them canning Farscape for no logical reason (as in the ratings were still good) and SGA likewise. Or in a more fantasy setting, they cancel The Dresden Files after moving it around so much it was hard to find - and that was a well written and acted show.

That said, the pay cable stations is just as guilty of both meddling (the level of nudity in Game of Thrones) and bad decisions (Torchwood Miracle Day has readily evident script problems that should have blocked a greenlight until it was rewritten). So who knows? Maybe they will leave Defiance alone.

 

[Bluce Ree]

I have to agree. Just being ON that channel seems to be a portent for bad things to come, down the line. They feel for some reason that change is absolutely necessary in every show. They cant seem to leave the characters or their relationships with each other alone. They have to ship them, make them have powers or reveal something about them to change who they are, or they just kill them off to replace them with newer, more boring characters. Or they swerve the path of the storyline and crash it into a wall.

That reminds me...where is Briangate?

In other words, cheaper labor.

 

[Bluce Ree]

SyFy has both meddled with its shows in the past and made bizarre decisions on renewal-cancellation. I still remember them canning Farscape for no logical reason (as in the ratings were still good) and SGA likewise. Or in a more fantasy setting, they cancel The Dresden Files after moving it around so much it was hard to find - and that was a well written and acted show.

That said, the pay cable stations is just as guilty of both meddling (the level of nudity in Game of Thrones) and bad decisions (Torchwood Miracle Day has readily evident script problems that should have blocked a greenlight until it was rewritten). So who knows? Maybe they will leave Defiance alone.

Syfylys seems to have two criteria to cancel a show; when the ratings drop and when they feel it's "too expensive" and can replace it with a "winner" that costs less.

 

[Graybrew1]

SyFy has both meddled with its shows in the past and made bizarre decisions on renewal-cancellation. I still remember them canning Farscape for no logical reason (as in the ratings were still good) and SGA likewise. Or in a more fantasy setting, they cancel The Dresden Files after moving it around so much it was hard to find - and that was a well written and acted show.

That said, the pay cable stations is just as guilty of both meddling (the level of nudity in Game of Thrones) and bad decisions (Torchwood Miracle Day has readily evident script problems that should have blocked a greenlight until it was rewritten). So who knows? Maybe they will leave Defiance alone.

I like TGOT the way it is. If I wanted Sesame Street or the Disney channel, I would put them on. Many agree with me, hence the fact that the show is a hit.

 

[Graybrew1]

Syfylys seems to have two criteria to cancel a show; when the ratings drop and when they feel it's "too expensive" and can replace it with a "winner" that costs less.

I have still not forgiven them for Quantum Kitchen. LOL.

 

[Graybrew1]

I am hopeful for this show. I think it stands a better chance because of the multi-platform premise with the gamers. I hope they can satisfy the level of greed required for Syfy to hang on to a show. If this works, then perhaps a SG game and new show might not be as far away as thought.