The individual alien races aren't all that fresh. Yet I am engaged by the show's lively metaphor for a polyglot culture fractured by tribalism and Otherness, for a world that can easily put aside past pain and present differences to tackle a common threat.
Much of the casting is disappointingly flat, and the character development as shallow as in any video game.... Still, ambition counts for a lot in this expansive genre, and Defiance gets better with each episode.
This quickly became to event show of the week for me and my wife. Great character development arcs and growth. We may be outliers since we felt the same about Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine is our favorite Trek series. We're huge fans of Firefly, Battlestar Galactica reboot, Quantum Leap, SG1 and Farscape. Defiance was the most entertaining SF show in years. It grew each season and deserved full resolution that it didn't get like so many SF shows.
I just finished Binge-watching both Seasons 1&2 and the first 3 episodes of S3 so that is what this review is based upon. I will start by saying OMG this show is Phenomenal. I had nothing to watch since GOT ended and I decided to watch this and thank God for that bc this show killed it in every area. I will start with the story it takes place on Earth in the year 2046 after multiple alien species landed years prior and centers upon Nolan and Irisa in the Town of Defiance. The story is simple but gets even better as time progresses. I will now talk about the cast which is in my opinion the best part. I will credit the 2 best actors in the show that being Nolan played by Grant Bowler and my favorite character Datak who is played by Tony Curran both are astounding actors. I will also say that all of the actors and actresses did an Amazing job of keeping the story engaging. I will now movie onto the action which I will say is sometimes a tad corny but the majority of the time it's Insanely Epic. I would recommend this show in a heart beat and S3 is so far the Best season yet. F.Y.I one of the main villains in S3 called General Rahm Tak who is played by Lee Tergesen is an absolutely mind blowing villain who is now probably just after 3 episodes my favorite villain of any television show to date. Go and Watch this show Now lolz.
Defiance wants to be that crossover science-fiction show that appeals both to true believers and general audiences. If "Terra Nova," which aimed for that same ground, didn't succeed, I can't see "Defiance" doing it either.
The visionary environments are without blemish, and the sound design is on the level of some of Hollywood's heavy-hitters. Yet the stodgy inaction between each explosive set piece is so often bereft of substance that to endure Defiance is to lamentably scour its orbit for any exiguous points of engrossment.
There are only fleeting moments when you feel you're seeing something brand new in Defiance, but in its imitative way, it's fun to watch, thanks to some competent CGI effects and decent performances.
I am giving Defiance a 10, why? well,despite that some issues on the show stay isolated, and with no ending line, which they should, the show in general doesn't fail to put up with a clever idea of a future world, have you ever thought about it? I would definitely love to see other locations, yet, in the small scenario created, you get to see, what will happen on a near future with earth. No water, shortage of food, electricity, etc, if we don't take care of our planet. We don't need aliens to have our planted devastated, we are doing that by ourselves. The show should still come once more, to give a final closure to all the missing ideas that were left open.
I wanted to love this show, but I just like it. Production quality is subpar, but acceptable if the story was better. The premise is good, but the writing is average at best. Some interesting things pop up here and there which keeps me watching, but overall I can fast forward through 40 of the show and not miss much or be surprised by anything I may have missed.
It's not on the same level as Battlestar (yet), hopefully as the actors get to grips with their roles we will see improvement. There are some interesting characters and the show seems to carry the same formula as Battlestar, but lacks the dominating presence of an experienced screen actor like Ed Olmos or Mary McDonnell to carry it.
Tony Curran and Jaime Murray play the Tarrs fabulously in their deliciously machiavellian roles and i hope to see more of this as the story unfolds.
Stephanie Leonidas is impressive as the sidekick with emotional scars.
Julie Benz and to a lesser extent Grant Bowler, as the lead characters disappoint and need to step it up in terms of acting. They need some deeper plots with more backstory to build their characters on.
The Mayor in particular grinds away with a monotonous jibber-jabber which lacks emotional depth.
I do find myself looking forward to the next episode though, if mainly to see just how devious the Tarrs schemes can be.
Not something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would **** something I would watch.3 for effort.
Defiance really isn't sure what genre it is, at some points in the pilot I thought I was watching a sci fi show, other times it felt like a really bad western. However the show was at its worst when it tried to mix these two elements together, it just doesn't work. The aliens (who we get no real background information on during the pilot) dress and act like humans from the 19th century. The Earth has also been terraformed for reasons the show never goes into (or provides an explanation for how all the humans survived this process). Overall Defiance seems doomed to repeat all of the same mistakes that Firefly made; crappy cliched our of place writing/characters and poor production standards. We know that sci-fi can be contained to a small-town setting, Eureka did it, Jericho did it but, Defiance does not.