Call me stupid, but I struggled with the concept of Syfy's new show Defiance. Here's what I could pick up; it seems a hotchpotch of aliens collectively called the Votans came to Earth believing it uninhabited and then, I'm not so sure because it all became a bit fudged and it was thirty odd years later and I was lost. If ever a show needed to give you a bit more background this was it.
So, according to Defiance, the Earth of the future seems to resemble a great big outdoor Babylon 5 convention. With various alien races wandering around. One mob look like they are covered in lino, while another looks like an Edgar Winter tribute band and a third resembles Harry and the Hendersons with dreadlocks and a nose ring. So into this fancy dress, mess rides Nolan (a far from charismatic Grant Bowler) and his adopted, well sort of, alien daughter Irisa (Stephanie Leonaridas). They discover the town of Defiance, formally St Louis, after an altercation with a group of aliens who seem to be big fans of Mad Max 2. It turns out Defiance is basically Deadwood via Comicon. Yep it's a western town and after meeting all the stock factions, including geek fan Goddess Julie Benz as the Mayor, inevitably Nolan becomes the new Lawkeeper (sheriff to you and me). OK, there was a lot of bunkum in between, bar fights, the odd murder and the inevitable Romeo and Juliet sub plot, but that was about it. There I've saved you two hours of sitting through tosh, no need for thanks. Rockne S. OBannon has a hand in the creation of Defiance, which is probably why it looks like Alien Nation out of Farscape.
Hopefully the show will settle down and the concept become clearer in the weeks to come. But with its so, so acting and dog's dinner plot I might not be around to witness the improvement.
Over
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