Sadly Syfy's 'Defiance' is not the next Big Thing in Science Fiction

Defiance is Syfy’s newest series and the biggest production (and most expensive, which is telling for a cable network that is never keen on spending any money they can’t guaranteed will be returned to them) they’ve done since Battlestar Galactica. The sad part is, though, the show has this we’ve-seen-this-all-before vibe. Another words, in a genre that is hurting for something new and different, Defiance offers us a reminder that science fiction is being further diluted; shows designed to minimize its science fiction plotlines to entice viewers who don’t like science fiction. In doing so, fans of the genre themselves are left out in the cold, as they’re forced to watch shows that are more police procedural (Terra Nova).

  

The plot line is lifted from 250 other sci-fi series over the years, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine along with Babylon 5, Alien Nation (which Defiance co-creator Rockne S. O’Bannon also created), V and even Fox’s Terra Nova. It even is part of the newest trend in sci-fi: what happens to the Earth after some alien invasions that are plotlines in such up-coming movies such as Oblivion and After Earth. 

O’Bannon (along with writer/producer Kevin Murphy and long-time Star Trek: Voyager writer Michael Taylor) is pretty good at World Building –all you got to do is look at Alien Nation to see what he can do. Here on Defiance the creators give us an alien invasion that sort of resembles what was done in that movie and subsequent TV series.

The story revolves around the Votans–who are not a single species, but rather a collection of seven different ones who evolved in the Votanis star system- arrive on Earth in 2013 after fleeing from their dying system. They assumed that Earth was uninhabited, but discovered otherwise. Through some various plot points that are quickly glossed over –Wikipedia will give the viewer a better understanding of the series origins- we learn that war tore apart Earth –called the Pale Wars- and an event called “Arkfall” sort changed everything. Apparently, the Votans had intended to use their terraforming technology in a carefully reimage Earth to their liking, but the Arkfall haphazardly unleashed chaotic and radical changes to our planet, altering the biosphere and geology of Earth, making the planet dangerous to both humans and the aliens. The earth was scorched, chasms opened in the ground, new mountain ranges were raised, and the surface of the planet was covered with dust and debris.

So this well-developed backstory is interesting, but becomes clearly secondary to the plotline involving a Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowles), a war veteran of the Pale Wars, who spends his days scavenging Arkfalls, the scraps of alien transport ships that drop like meteors into the earth, destroying whatever is in their path but providing technology to the highest bidders. His adopted daughter is a headstrong (rebellious, defiant, stubborn blah, blah, blah) Irathient named Irisa.  When she is injured by fellow Irathient’s –who could be called the typical biker dudes who hate all authority- Nolan arrives in the remnants of St. Louis, now renamed Defiance (coincidentally named after a battle Nolan fought in) and is greeted by the town sheriff (who’ll be accidentally killed later in the episode). There, Nolan learns about the sprawling town. After meeting the new mayor (Angel and Dexter‘s Julie Benz who seems a bit out of her depth here) and fighting a Bioman (an engineered superhuman) in the pits, his next stop is an upscale brothel—despite the rough town and brutal Castithan mafia, the brothel is portrayed as a place of warmth, run by the mayor’s sister, a strong, confident woman who handles the smelly miners with a smile (which reminds me of Firefly). By the way, was this necessary? Was this the only way to create Nolan as the lovable rogue? We know prostitution is sort of a horrible lifestyle and yet this show seems to want to glamorize it so it can show Nolan has a heart of gold.

So after the death of the sheriff, Nolan now becomes the town’s lawman, and much like what happened in Fox’s Terra Nova, he is thrust uneasily into a powder keg of problems that will dismiss the series sci-fi arc, thus turning it into an episodic police procedural, which will make it more easily digestible –and thus, very similar- to almost every show on this cable network.

Or what I call Sci-Fi Lite. 

The rest of the pilot concerns the attacking Volge –who are realized like the Orcs from The Lord of the Rings franchise- who want to destroy Defiance (which seems to be the only real mystery of the show, but even that gets somewhat of answered at the end of the episode, which I’ll get too shortly). There is also a whole Romeo and Juliet subplot that grew annoying very quickly and we get no huge surprises with the pilot –after all, most of its telegraphed days earlier, as unruly Irisa (who wants to continue with the scavenging ways) returns with the new age biker dudes to save Defiance. 

As I mentioned, this genre is in need of a sci-fi show that is ambitious and big, but Defiance plays it safe –much like Terra Nova did as well. The characters are cartoonish (but better than most of the ones that are part of Syfy’s more siller series)-we've seen them done 100 times better someplace else and I wanted to walk away from it feeling impressed. But it never really reached out and grabbed me, it never excited me to see what happens next, mostly because none of the characters were intriguing enough to become fully invested in them.

As with a lot of TV these days, we’re left with a “surprise” ending that sets up the shows arc. While the casting of actress Fionnula Flanagan as Defiance's ex-Mayor might not be seen as red flag for some viewers, I knew from the start that because it was not a cameo (if it was, she would’ve been killed off instead of just retiring from the job) she figured somewhat in the ongoing arc of the show. The reveal that she seems behind the Volge attack was startling in a many ways (was it too early to reveal the villain?). And while her grand scheme seems to include the death of innocent people, they reason behind it reads as racism –she is trying to rid Earth of the Votans, right? Of course, racism was part of O’Bannon’s Alien Nation movie, and was heightened in Kenneth Johnson’s take on the TV series. 

In the end, Defiance needs to know what kind of series it wants to be. As an ongoing one, it needs to put out a lot of questions, answer a few, but keep the mystery going. This is what creates a need for viewers to turn in over and over. Or if it wants to a weekly procedural where its sci-fi elements take a back seat to an easily solvable mystery, then you need great characters, but they attempt some moral ambiguity only to quickly dismiss them when their analogy becomes too complex.

Sadly, after the pilot, I’m not sure just what the show wants it to be. Creating black and white characters and scenarios is great for viewers, who might skip an episode here and there, but a truly ambitious show needs a better hook, and like Terra Nova before it, Defiance fails to be anything other than looking somewhat pretty (though the VFX are pretty bad) brain candy. I mean, sweet Baby Jebus in a pita pocket, you can create two languages and a new looking Earth, yet when it comes to characters and plotting, and you remain firmly planted in past?