Defiance - TV and MMO

[Melbosa]

So this could go in the gaming section, but I don't know whether it belongs there or here.

http://defiance.com
Trailer: http://youtu.be/gN-f7DmnAw4

I'm not sure you have seen or heard of this, but SyFy and Trion are teaming up to do an MMO and TV show that are linked in the same world and have cross over content. Both will be released in April 2013, and the content of both with seamlessly cross between the MMO (XBox, PS3, PC) and TV Series throughout the first season.

While very ambitious, I'm not sure how successful this undertaking will be.  The actors and behind the scenes in the TV Series are some Science Fiction mainstays, coming from shows like Heroes, Warehouse 13, Battlestar Galactica, and many more.  Trion Worls is known for Rift and End of Nations, but not much else.

Here are some making of vids that are interesting:

• http://youtu.be/Ed7j3_xHxBw
• http://youtu.be/8i2GUKUJ5U4

What do you think?  The TV Series looks like a cross between Stargate and Farscape

[Darren Dirt]

"Rockne S. O'Bannon is a television producer and writer. He is the creator of the science fiction movie Alien Nation, television shows seaQuest DSV, The Triangle and Farscape."

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639328/#Writer

This guy has a seriesserious alien-invasion (or alien "integration"?) complex


actually let me clarify: he seems to have been impacted by ST:TOS as his focus is commonly on the "after THEY have landed/tookover and are trying to settle in with/over humanity, and how people are adjusting to THEM too" elements of storytelling, rather than on the conflict itself. Could just as easily have been a writer in the mid 20th century had WW2 gone differently maybe.

[Mr. Analog]

Finally got a chance to see the trailer, looks pretty neat actually. We'll see how this develops!

[Darren Dirt]

Defiance: Making of the Game

idk if this was already linked ITT.

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20130401

You KNOW that some teenage basement dwellers are totally doing this.

[Melbosa]

Well I have two weeks of play under my belt... its definitely a console MMO... but somehow it does work.  Its an 3rd person FPS with very simple mission mechanics and yet it does have that Borderlands feel for weapons and combat style.

I don't know... it wouldn't be one I would say you should subscribe to, and it is a good thing it is GW2 like in that regard - purchase once and play till game is shutdown.

The cross over stuffs? We'll see what that turns out to be.  I have high hopes but low expectations.

[Mr. Analog]

I saw a couple of previews on YouTube and I have to say that there are some elements that are really interesting (VEHICLES!) but others that are "meh" (monster closets)

I guess we'll see when it gets closer to launch.

*runs over mutant with a quad*

[Melbosa]

Game is launched, so I suspect you mean TV launch on Monday?

[Mr. Analog]

...oh... awkward...

To be fair the last video I saw was from before last week, I didn't realize what I saw was mostly what the game was going to be.

I have to agree, kinda bland

I hope the show is fun at least

[Darren Dirt]

Looks like we are in an age of SciFi being given season renewals!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2189221/board/nest/234938025 3rd season confirmed. Also, 2nd season coming of fantasy/scifi http://www.syfy.com/dominion

And http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2402207/board/nest/235008526 "The Last Ship" is getting a 2nd season.



For scifi especially it's all about characters and story arcs, and I always wait before investing time in either of them, to wait and see if a series gets a nice long run. Sometimes you've got an interesting premise and decent but not great pilot (e.g. "Rewind") that doesn't get picked up, other times you've got an iffy pilot that is given a first season to improve but they somehow don't quite "get it" in time (e.g. "Flashforward") or they DO but the ratings aren't enough for a renewal (e.g. "Odyssey 5") and sometimes you've got subpar writing/acting that somehow -- maybe because of heavy promotion or something -- gets a second season so then you decide to get caught up and then ffs it gets cancelled on a cliffhanger (e.g. "V") ... so it's tough to justify investing :-\

(Heck, even getting multiple seasons is no guarantee of quality -- sometimes things start out strong then go cheesy/formulaic awfully fast, and yet somehow you manage to hold onto a decent audience episode by episode -- think Falling Skies (apparently) -- or, non-scif think The Big Bang Theory (obviously) )



But sure seems Post-Apocalyptic is a very much recurring theme in high-profile scifi/speculative TV series the last few years (either via alien invasion, ecological devestation, or biological pandemic etc.) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1462059/board/nest/234067807 ... I guess maybe folks are a bit less impressed with the results delivered by Savior Obama than they were hoping for?

[Mr. Analog]

OT post below (I haven't even seen this show yet oops) regardless...

I've been on an epic Sci-Fi journey over the years thanks to the ever updating Classic Sci-Fi Movies blog, the key element that strikes me the most when it comes to speculative pop fiction is a kind of reflection of the thoughts and dreams of the people living in those times is exposed through Sci-Fi films. In the 20s and 30s you had utopian views that hinged on humanistic values, and often fell dangerously quickly, a basic mistrust of mechanisation not just echoes from the war that changed how wars were fought but the rapid advances of machinery changing the pace of life (Metropolis, Just Imagine, Frankenstein, etc).

In the 30s and 40s sci-fi serials focused on using brains and technology to fight irascible alien (foreign) foes.

The late 40s and through the 50s focused on the effects of terrific power (the Bomb changed everything), barely under control (Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, The Blob, etc), and alien visitation (no doubt linked to so many UFO stories generated from secret aircraft testing, etc). An additional theme that became popular was the growing paranoia after the discovery of atomic espionage from seemingly secure government installations the fear of foreign infiltration. This became evident in many genres sci-fi specifically treating the threat of foreign infiltration through alien interference (Invaders from Mars, The Thing (from Another Planet), Invasion of the Body Snatchers, etc).

The interesting thing though is that these themes didn't just come and go, they compounded.
-Fear of mechanisation (continued in stories like "Gog", "The Invisible Boy", etc)
-Fear of international political tension / invasion ("Rocky Jones, Space Ranger", "Cat Women from the Moon")
-Fear of Infiltration
-Fear of Annihilation

And this is all before the 60s and discounting horror films, which were already tapping into the general anxieties of youth through shock / horror.

Sci-Fi started to slow down in the 60s but there was an interesting shift, to the cataclysmic end of the world (The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, etc). Stresses from constant worry about the Cold War were boiling BEFORE the Cuban Missile Crisis. The 60s is an interesting decade to look through on its own, things shifted and on top of all these existing fears a new one started to develop right near the end of the decade; fear of something cataclysmic happening to the Earth itself. Again an extension of nearly 3 decades of annihilation fuelled angst.

Throughout most of the early to mid 70s almost all sci-fi was focused on environmental devastation, loss of morality, futility. Other genres were eually gritty and dark and held similar themes.

All the pressures and decades long worries that built up around the north american psyche, to the boiling point, reflected in virtually every corner of entertainment but moreso in Sci-Fi. Near the end of that decade Jimmy Carter made his "Malaise" Speech, which reminds me very much of what we see today, and almost in parallel with those times is modern escapist fiction which leans heavily on fears more than dreams.

I look forward to the time when fiction returns to optimism as it surely must, as well as culture in general.

For me, I'm pretty well tapped out on downer fiction, we as a species either sink into the muck or rise above it.

[Melbosa]

For Science Fiction/Fantasy TV my Wife and I currently watch:
[ul]

• Defiance
• Dominion
• Falling Skies
• Grimm
• Once Upon a Time
• Sleepy Hallow

[/ul]

There are others like Comic Book adaptations which I left out.

[Mags]

For Science Fiction/Fantasy TV my Wife and I currently watch:
[ul]

• Defiance
• Dominion
• Falling Skies
• Grimm
• Once Upon a Time
• Sleepy Hallow

[/ul]

There are others like Comic Book adaptations which I left out.

Was watching Defiance, but season two really blew. Not going back I don't think.

Dominion on the other hand is really one of those shows that is better then it has any right to be. Not classic or anything, but pretty good. And if my wife is following a scifi show that says something.

Sleepy hollow is not bad either.  Got to catch up, this weeks show looks creepy as @%&#.

Supernatural is still my staple for fantasy/scifi, maybe because I'm so invested in the show, but still one of my faves.

And as for falling Skies, sorry man hated the hell out of that one. Wanted to like it, but can't stomach these shows where ultra liberals in a survival situations do extremely stupid @%&# and it always works out for them. Hurts my brain.

Once apon a time? Man card please. J/k 😊

[Mr. Analog]

lol

[Mags]

OT post below (I haven't even seen this show yet oops) regardless...

I've been on an epic Sci-Fi journey over the years thanks to the ever updating Classic Sci-Fi Movies blog, the key element that strikes me the most when it comes to speculative pop fiction is a kind of reflection of the thoughts and dreams of the people living in those times is exposed through Sci-Fi films. In the 20s and 30s you had utopian views that hinged on humanistic values, and often fell dangerously quickly, a basic mistrust of mechanisation not just echoes from the war that changed how wars were fought but the rapid advances of machinery changing the pace of life (Metropolis, Just Imagine, Frankenstein, etc).

In the 30s and 40s sci-fi serials focused on using brains and technology to fight irascible alien (foreign) foes.

The late 40s and through the 50s focused on the effects of terrific power (the Bomb changed everything), barely under control (Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, The Blob, etc), and alien visitation (no doubt linked to so many UFO stories generated from secret aircraft testing, etc). An additional theme that became popular was the growing paranoia after the discovery of atomic espionage from seemingly secure government installations the fear of foreign infiltration. This became evident in many genres sci-fi specifically treating the threat of foreign infiltration through alien interference (Invaders from Mars, The Thing (from Another Planet), Invasion of the Body Snatchers, etc).

The interesting thing though is that these themes didn't just come and go, they compounded.
-Fear of mechanisation (continued in stories like "Gog", "The Invisible Boy", etc)
-Fear of international political tension / invasion ("Rocky Jones, Space Ranger", "Cat Women from the Moon")
-Fear of Infiltration
-Fear of Annihilation

And this is all before the 60s and discounting horror films, which were already tapping into the general anxieties of youth through shock / horror.

Sci-Fi started to slow down in the 60s but there was an interesting shift, to the cataclysmic end of the world (The Day the Earth Caught Fire, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, etc). Stresses from constant worry about the Cold War were boiling BEFORE the Cuban Missile Crisis. The 60s is an interesting decade to look through on its own, things shifted and on top of all these existing fears a new one started to develop right near the end of the decade; fear of something cataclysmic happening to the Earth itself. Again an extension of nearly 3 decades of annihilation fuelled angst.

Throughout most of the early to mid 70s almost all sci-fi was focused on environmental devastation, loss of morality, futility. Other genres were eually gritty and dark and held similar themes.

All the pressures and decades long worries that built up around the north american psyche, to the boiling point, reflected in virtually every corner of entertainment but moreso in Sci-Fi. Near the end of that decade Jimmy Carter made his "Malaise" Speech, which reminds me very much of what we see today, and almost in parallel with those times is modern escapist fiction which leans heavily on fears more than dreams.

I look forward to the time when fiction returns to optimism as it surely must, as well as culture in general.

For me, I'm pretty well tapped out on downer fiction, we as a species either sink into the muck or rise above it.

You know this reminded me of something I've often thought about; that scifi is my favorate kind of movie and yet eccept on three occasions it always leaves me wanting more. (Hint: 1977, 80, 99). I think i could list 10 or more any other genres (well maybe not fantasy, but fantasy suffers from such a small sample size). I wonder what you guys would say why it's just so hard to nail scifi compared to other genres.