After watching the first season of “Defiance” I am still unsure of what I think about the series. I wasn’t interested in the show when it was broadcast for two reasons. The first being that it is on SyFy, a network that doesn’t have a good track record (with a few notable exceptions) as well as an increasing reliance on reality television programming and low budget schlock. The second was the look of the series. “Defiance” appeared to be done in a style that was reminiscent of a syndicated show from 20 years ago (think “Earth: Final Conflict” or “Renegade” or “Hercules/Xena”) albeit one with some decent quality production, but still of lower standard than a broadcast series for today.
When the first season of the series arrived I figured I’d go ahead and give it a shot. The premise is sort of interesting, if done before. An ex-military guy (Grant Bowler) is just trying to get by in a post-apocalyptic world. This time the setting is Earth years after an alien invasion and war has terraformed the planet as well as left massive amounts of wreckage in orbit and several alien races living on Earth. As the series opens he and his adopted alien daughter (Stephanie Leonidas) arrive in a town where the mayor (Julie Benz) has been on the job only a few weeks. There are a couple of other major players in the town, the human mine owner (Graham Green) and an alien (Tony Curran).
We get some politics about alien culture, a recurring sub-plot about the Earth Republic wanting to take over the town, and of course some interpersonal relationship stuff. There really is a continuous story going on here, and while many of the episodes feel self-contained they aren’t as they help to propel the overall plot of the series forward. This is generally a good thing.
A few things bother me, however, about “Defiance” and the world that is created. Nobody flies because (from what I remember being said in an episode) approximately 400 feet above ground level is radiation that is so bad it prevents any craft from navigating. Set in a future St. Louis, the Gateway Arch is prominent in “Defiance” – it is regularly occupied by people, most notably a radio station that serves as town exposition. But it’s 630 feet above the ground (which was supposedly terraformed and the “old St. Louis” is burried underneath).Why are there no computers? Why is nearly everything white, grey or tan? Why do the alien races look so much like humans, down to the sparkly white teeth?
Over 13 episodes we don’t get answers to those questions, but we do get some interesting scenes from a wild west series with a science fiction twist – and that’s what “Defiance” was going for.
I don’t know if I’ll watch the second season when it is broadcast on SyFy, but would be interested in watching it perhaps when it debuts on home video. I’m intrigued enough to see how things play out. There is a lot of unfulfilled potential and unanswered questions about the world that is created, but “Defiance” is a pretty good show, which is what you would expect for a syndicated program from about 20 years ago. I think I liked it more because that’s how I went into it and had lowered expectations.
The Blu-ray set of the first season comes with a few special features starting off with some deleted scenes. There are a few featurettes that are alright, including one that looks at how the television series and the video game are connected (but you don’t need one to enjoy the other).