SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Begins tonight feedback?

Doesn't start here for 45 minutes. I'll be watching, but it's Syfy, so my hopes are not up.

First question: how can you terraform the Earth? It *is* Terra.

Speaking an alien language with subtitles are good. The Mad Max costumes the aliens are wearing, not as cool.

Science Fantasy, similar to B5 or Mass effect. I'm... not hating it.

I rather enjoyed it. Quite a few cliches from previous works. Every week can't build to a blockbuster finish. Nice twist with the villan reveal at the end. The only supporting character that stood out was the doctor.

I thought it was kind of cheesy but still very entertaining, I'll keep watching

I usually try to give a new syfy show a full season to see how the characters develop. It's slower with syfy because there's a certain amount of time the writers have to spend explaining the world the story takes place in.

I liked it enough to set my DVR to record the series. I'll give it some time to develop.

However, one thing really got to me. Is it just me, or did they totally gloss over the fact that someone murdered their sheriff? I mean everyone is screaming that the law keeper is dead and when we return from the commercial, everyone is arguing about who could've killed the kid. No one hardly even talks about the law keeper, whose corpse is right there on the floor. I know that the event was necessary to give the main character a reason to stay in Defiance, but it seemed kind of lazy not to roll that into the story.

Other than that, I think they are laying some pretty good groundwork for an interesting series.

I thought it was decent. It certainly wasn't perfect, but it has some potential. I think perhaps they tried to do a little too much with the first episode. The effects were surprisingly good, the but story was a bit contrived. Still, I enjoyed it and I'll keep watching if it continues to be at least this good.

I'm prepared to give it some breathing room. Remember, Star Trek: The Next Generation was a total DOG when it started (how that pilot ever got out of the vault, I'll never know), and it turned out okay.

I agree with most of the comments above... often TV series start off a bit trite and stereotypical, but then they get better... My wife and I were talking about these types of series (Grimm, which we like, vs. Arrow, which is so-so) and one thing we agree on is that two keys are good casting, and also "being something that you do not expect". Watching the first 1 hour 15 minutes of the Defiance Pilot, I would say the casting is okay (although not great), but in some ways it feels like that had a checklist to follow, so all the parts of the show feel like they were borrowed from other TV shows.... Nice digital effects though! And smart use of a Johnny Cash song.

I didn't care for it much. Not much backstory (you have to download an ebook or read the Wikipedia article or their website). Already gets low marks from me because it has a game tie-in. If I wanted to watch a police procedural, I'd tune in to regular prime time from CBS or ABC.

Completely agree with the person who noticed the terraforming of Terra. Major SF faus pax there. The backstory not included in the pilot episode but available online via other sources explains that situation.

I'll watch a couple of more espidoes, but to be completely honest, Syfy has pissed me off too much by cancelling good shows early (Stargate: Universe; Caprica; etc.) so I don't have high hopes for this series. Why should I invest my time in it if Syfy will just kill it next year or the year after?

Jon wrote: "Completely agree with the person who noticed the terraforming of Terra. Major SF faus pax there. The backstory not included in the pilot episode but available online via other sources explains that situation.

I'll watch a couple of more espidoes, but to be completely honest, Syfy has pissed me off too much by cancelling good shows early (Stargate: Universe; Caprica; etc.) so I don't have high hopes for this series. Why should I invest my time in it if Syfy will just kill it next year or the year after? "

I agree. The "terraforming" bit jarred me right out of the story line, so I missed the next couple of items. What nitwit editor missed that?

Every show you and I ever liked, eventually died. Some after less than a season and some after a decade. But eventually, all shows die. I guess the answer is to enjoy a story while it's here. With SyFy we have to enjoy it FAST, because if the production costs are high, they'll drop it faster than a mouse leaving a cat convention and replace it with rasslin' (or some other form of cheap fiction).

I'm still hacked off over Eureka.

I liked it. My worst nitpicky peeve was the falling orbital debris at the beginning that landed right side up, essentially intact (at least the central room) with no crater and cool enough to walk on immediately

I gave them a pass on "terraforming" because there is no other single word in our language that would convey the same idea quickly without a lot of extra explanation that they didn't have time for in the voiceover....but the debris thing was inexcusable! :)

I'm usually not a fan of things that are shoved down my gullet, but I actually am enjoying this series so far. I thought I would give the pilot a try and then set my alarm so I could catch the second episode. I just hope that it continues the way that it is going and doesn't just become the same story retold every week, month, year.... I even downloaded the game, but it is just a Halo run and gun type of rip off. It is interesting but not much to it.

I didn't like the second episode at all. Too much "been there, done that" with aliens standing in for the Western standbys of Indians and Chinese.

I am glad I wasn't the only one that felt that way. I didn't want to write about that, but it had too much a spaghetti western feel for me.

Sci fi often incorporates westerns. DS9 was basically Gunsmoke etc. I found it credible, small touches like the birds in the mine worked. They have left it wide open which makes jumping the shark a real possibility. Introducing back story, we now know alien terra forming, accidentally introduced is causing mutations. Needed but it is hurting pacing.

I watched the pilot last night, and although I missed a couple of the incongruities mentioned already, I absolutely loved the use of alien languages, the subtitles.
Some of the acting was deplorable, and I don't want to say anything bad about particular actors or actresses, but I think there was a lot of bad casting here. However, I loved how odd and inscrutable Irisa is. And the Indogene doctor is great.
I have a ready word for the alien version of terraforming from a human point of view. Xenoforming. Wouldn't we have understood that?

Xenoforming. Awesome.

So I know that this topic is winding down, but I missed last nights episode. Is it worth watching, or should I just delete it?

I think the show continues to find its way. This episode was more about character development. The visions were explained.

I missed it, too, yet feel no compulsion to watch it.

I think it's alright so far. Feels like Babylon 5 in some ways. The show's creators sure did spend a lot of time on the various alien languages. Lots of subtitling.

On those languages: *wikipedia fact copy pasting* that's David J. Peterson, who created the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for Game of Thrones, responsible for both the Castithan and Irathient languages in Defiance.

Steven wrote: "So I know that this topic is winding down, but I missed last nights episode. Is it worth watching, or should I just delete it?"

to watch or not to watch .... as others have commented, there have been a lot of sci fi series that started poorly but became very good in later seasons. i'd say S.T.N.G. was mediocre until season 3. Bab5 had some really poor episodes in season 1 and even Battlestar Galactica's first season is a little weak compared to what came later. I like to give sci fi series the benefit of the doubt. I will definitely watch first season.

also, i agree with the earlier comments about the doctor - she is the most interesting of all the characters.

I still believe this show could grow into a classic. They have created such a complex world, lots of potential for interesting characters and plots. The downside is it takes longer to sort it out.

I agree with Patgolfneb in that it is a complex world with lots to sort out. I need to give it time to flesh out.

Deciding whether it's good at this point is like looking at a baker's mixing bowl of ingredients and judging whether the cake will be any good. You may get a hint if you see ingredients you like or dislike, but you just don't know what the whole thing will taste like yet.

Travis wrote: "Deciding whether it's good at this point is like looking at a baker's mixing bowl of ingredients and judging whether the cake will be any good. You may get a hint if you see ingredients you like or dislike, but you just don't know what the whole thing will taste like yet."

Boy-howdy is THAT analogy ever wrong.

A show that's on the air? That's a finished meal. It's done.

The proper "ingredients" analogy is like looking at the first draft of the script and basing your judgement of what the final product -- the "meal" -- will taste like just on that. Have you seen the first version of The Incredibles? Not only would that taste like crap, it would've given you food poisoning. But when you saw The Incredibles in the theatre, that was a full meal. You aren't waiting for the fourth sequel to decide if you like it or not.

Now, an ongoing series is different from a movie in that it's more like an Italian 12-course meal that lasts all night and you may have items or even whole courses you dislike, but you'll know right away if it's any good, even if the desert is terrible. (Or doesn't show up at all, as is so often the case.)

Late to the game here. Our DVR crashed and we lost the first 2 episodes. We knew they would re-air eventually, so we have been catching up. We're only a few episodes behind now, and we are really liking it. The world and characters have a great hook. I like the idea of the game tie-in, but hubby says its more of a shooter than a RPG, my preferred online game of choice. So, I'll pass.

I think it's gotten better as the season has gone on.

I think it is decently written, but (as with most TV shows) is trying too hard to recycle old ideas/shows. At this point, the only real mystery is what the old mayor is trying to do or find. Everything else has become pretty predictable.