TV REVIEW: Defiance (SyFy, 2013–2015)
With few exceptions, science fiction and fantasy audiences in the 21st Century tend to pool into the most lucrative mass-media properties. While print and online media can go pretty much everywhere and garner a large fanbase, pre-existing IP are often the foundations of mass media products created by writers either too lazy to come up with their own stuff OR bad at creating their own stuff. And because of greed, those get spun out into different types of interactive media. It’s how we get our Star Wars and Harry Potter franchises, but also how we get our live-action comic book cinematic universes, live-action anime adaptations, and their licensed video game adaptations and toy lines. Sometimes we get what should be a winner which slips through the cracks when compared with larger franchises and better advertising. I’m talking about such a gem today called “Defiance”, an original SyFy series following in the shadow of “Farscape” — both of which were created by Rockne S. O’Bannon (Alien Nation [1988], “Amazing Stories” [TV-NBC]).
The Premise: Prior to 2046, aliens called the Votan arrive in Earth orbit in an armada of space arks. Their bodies traveled in suspended animation after their star went supernova and destroyed their shared solar system, and they were awakened some time after arrival. Unfortunately the space ark automatically released its terraforming probes to Earth — the Votan had scouted our planet in the distant past and thought to terraform it upon their arrival. The probes from the ship began to mutate affected flora and fauna, reshaping portions of the world as mankind sat powerless. “Arkfall” — an event when the Votan decided try and invade Earth from their space arks—was the breaking point, and the apocalyptic “Pale Wars” made way for new post-war centers of power emerging…least of them all being the neutral city-state of Defiance, Missouri, USA.
Our story follows two scavengers — Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler, Atlas Shrugged part I, Guns Akimbo), a rough-and-ready ranger, and his adopted daughter Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas, MirrorMask, “American Gothic” [TV-CBS]). Irisa is an Irathient, one of the Votan races he rescued from being sacrificed by a Votan cult. After their search for Votan terraforming tech goes badly (and a murder-mystery adventure that jumpstarts the plot for the pilot episode), they become the sheriff and deputy of Defiance, along with previous deputy Tommy LaSalle (Dewshane Williams, “The Expanse” [TV-SyFy], “Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B” [TV movie-Lifetime]). Through these three are how we meet our recurring cast of characters:
- The Tarr family: this pale-skinned Castithan family is led by patriarch Datak (Tony Curran, The Midnight Meat Train, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), a crimelord that pulled himself up from a lower caste and considers himself a self-made man. His wife Stahma (Jamie Murray, “Castlevania” [TV-Netflix], “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena” [TV-starz]) considers herself above the crime that permits her high-caste lifestyle, but she’s no less dangerous. Their son Alak (Jessie Rath, “18 to Life” [TV-CBC], “Supergirl” [TV-the CW]) walks the line between the old Votan ways and the new ways of Earth, in addition to being pressured to take over the crime business from his father.
- The McCawley family: the Native American owners of Defiance’s mine for Gulanite — a mineral created from Votan terraforming that powers most of the Votan tech —are led by Rafe (Graham Greene, Dances with Wolves, the Twilight Saga: New Moon), a hard-nosed businessman. He still mourns the disappearance of his wife Pilar (Linda Hamilton, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, “Beauty & the Beast” [TV-CBS]) and tries to raise his son Quentin (Justin Rain, “Fear the Walking Dead” [TV-AMC], the Twilight Saga: Eclipse) and daughter Christie (Nicole Muñoz, Center Stage: Turn It Up, “Van Helsing” [TV-SyFy]”) in the right way. Quentin’s mysterious murder is the catalyst for the feud between the McCawleys and the Tarrs, bringing Nolan and Irisa between them for the peace of Defiance.
- …and Everybody Else: Mayor Amanda Rosewater (Julie Benz, Jawbreaker, Rambo [2008]) does her best to balance the logistical needs of the town, and serves as Nolan’s love interest. Amanda’s sister Kenya (Mia Kirshner, Not Another Teen Movie, The Black Dahlia [2006], “The L Word” [TV-Showtime]) runs the town bar and brothel to smooth tempers and bring people together, above and below the waist. When people get hurt, they go to Doc Yewll (Trenna Keating, “The Mysterious Benedict Society”, [TV-Disney+], “A Dog Named Christmas” [TV movie-CBS])—the lone and surly representative of the Indogene, a synthetic Votan species. During the majority of the show’s run, the Earth Republic sends their media representative Jessica Rainier (Anna Hopkins, V/H/S/94 [segment “Storm Drain”], “The Expanse” [TV-SyFy]) to make propaganda; the locals call her “Berlin” because she dresses like a Nazi. Towards the end of the show, the Omec appears. They’re another alien race that truly frightens the Votan, with their chief representatives in the dangerous Kindzi (Nichole Galicia, Django Unchained, “Mayor of Kingstown” [TV-Paramount+]) and her imperious father T’evgin (Conrad Coates, Welcome to Marwen, How She Move).
The Show (and the Game): With every episode of this sci-fi western more about this new Earth is revealed, especially from the perspective of the many creatures— pale Castithans, earthy Irathients, ape-like Sensoth, synthetic Indogenes, squat & hairy Liberata, the Bio-Men, and so on — now cohabitating with humanity. The aliens keep their unique languages and cultures, making every interaction feel brand new. This is mostly in part to the linguist David J. Peterson, who is also responsible for the Dothraki and High Valyrian languages in the George R.R. Martin-inspired shows “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon” [TV-HBO]. Composer Bear McCreary (“Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” [TV-ABC], “The Walking Dead” [TV-AMC], “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” [TV-Amazon Prime]) makes music out of those alien languages, giving us pop, post-apocalyptic country, camping songs, and so much more. Some of my best memories are about the music from this show, particularly the last song: “Everyone says Hi” by Young Beautiful in a Hurry feat. Fyfe Monroe, covering the David Bowie song of the same name.
Despite the clear lines of sight for shooting that mark a set, the town of Defiance feels lived in and dirty like the Star Wars universe’s Mid-Rim and Outer Rim. The outside world beyond Defiance is even more notable, with humanity developing new social orders that were scandalous then but would seem tame today. While the aliens are cool, I would have loved to see more of the mutated animals and more alien monsters besides hellbugs (those things are everywhere). The CGI was not award-winning by any stretch, because it was obvious all the shows’ budget had gone into practical effects.
The show was so thick with lore it was developed into a TV tie-in third-person MMO by Trion World that was free-to-play in 2013, released on all major gaming platforms (PC, PS3, Xbox360). You could shoot all the hellbugs you want, and team up with characters from the TV show for missions! Despite the multi-platform exposure to this rich science-fiction offering, the show was cancelled for financial reasons in 2015, and the game followed soon after. The original game publishers brought the game back in 2018 as Defiance 2050 (moving up the timeline 4 years for new content) to get the players back. By that point the gaming community had moved on to the latest game (Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) and never came back, leaving Defiance 2050 to shutter in 2021.
The Verdict: It wasn’t like any of the older franchises which made it fresh and new; it wasn’t jokes-a-minute to distract from the situation; the IP was original; it was sexy and dramatic and engaging without overstating its presence as a “serious” sci-fi show or communicating any perceived agenda. So what happened? It might have been the budgeting.
Consider that the show was cancelled for financial reasons, then note all the advertising for “Defiance” were SyFy house ads. Competing programs like “Orphan Black” [TV-BBC America], “You’re the Worst” [TV-FX], and “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!” [TV movie-SyFy] were advertising on other channels as well as SyFy, leaving this program behind to revel in its amazing prosthetic and costuming achievements, prop design, and transmedia reach. I MISS THIS SHOW and it deserved better, but it doesn’t matter when it’s not advertised properly — the number of people who need to see it will always be beyond your reach.
