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Dark Matter and Killjoys: the beginnings of SyFy's attempt to get their spaceship on again


Maester Llama

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So other than the pilots, I haven't seen any of these shows, for reasons I had already mentioned.

But after reading some opinions here I am considering a go at Killjoys. How would you guys rate it, and DM, too, among the SyFy shows since Stargate was cancelled? I am talking about Defiance, Helix, Eureka, even Continuum, even if that one is not a SyFy porduction. And feel free to rate them among all sci-fi shows.

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Ditto. A pity it's only ten episodes again; I was hoping for a longer second season.

 

Me too.  I wonder if that's what SyFy wanted of if that's what the creators wanted - if it's the latter than I'm cool with it because I would rather they not try to force a longer season then they need.

 

 

 

So other than the pilots, I haven't seen any of these shows, for reasons I had already mentioned.

But after reading some opinions here I am considering a go at Killjoys. How would you guys rate it, and DM, too, among the SyFy shows since Stargate was cancelled? I am talking about Defiance, Helix, Eureka, even Continuum, even if that one is not a SyFy porduction. And feel free to rate them among all sci-fi shows.

 

Tier 1:

  • 12 Monkeys
  • Continuum

Tier 2:

  • Killjoys
  • Being Human

Tier 3:

  • Bitten
  • Warehouse 13
  • Eureka
  • Dominion
  • Ascension

Tier 4:

  • Helix
  • Defiance
  • Lost Girl 
  • Dark Matter

Tier I'm not even trying that shit:

  • Olympus
  • The Mighty Johnsons
  • Z Nation
  • And everything else
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So other than the pilots, I haven't seen any of these shows, for reasons I had already mentioned.

But after reading some opinions here I am considering a go at Killjoys. How would you guys rate it, and DM, too, among the SyFy shows since Stargate was cancelled? I am talking about Defiance, Helix, Eureka, even Continuum, even if that one is not a SyFy porduction. And feel free to rate them among all sci-fi shows.

 

[i]Killjoys[/i] is definitely better than [i]Defiance[/i]. I want to say the latter is better than [i]Dark Matter[/i], but truth is I am having trouble remembering individual episodes of [i]Defiance[/i], and the story arcs left only vague impressions. I'm not even quite sure when I stopped watching it.

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So other than the pilots, I haven't seen any of these shows, for reasons I had already mentioned.

But after reading some opinions here I am considering a go at Killjoys. How would you guys rate it, and DM, too, among the SyFy shows since Stargate was cancelled? I am talking about Defiance, Helix, Eureka, even Continuum, even if that one is not a SyFy porduction. And feel free to rate them among all sci-fi shows.

 

My rating of SyFy shows if anyone's interested :

 

1 - Continuum.

2 - 12 Monkeys.

3 - Defiance.

4 - Killjoys.

5 - Helix.

6 - Dark Matter. 

 

And i'm planning on giving a go at Dominion and Sanctuary one of these days.

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Defiance-- (in a freshly repainted nutshell)

If you like albinoes who bang, Defiance ranks higher up on the list.   I stopped watching it too, but then started again when they had Arissa destroying the universe for a while.   The characters who irked me have all been killed off except for Alack and he's been improved from a dip to a tragedy survivor who gets it.   I find the Doc Yule artificially created character infinitely more better than Dark Matter's Android dumbassery.  The mayor used to be a vampire in Sunnydale so she turns me on, and the lawkeepers are butts who keep things interesting with how they head-butt into each new case.   The albino aliens used to be a pisser as rich alien trash I wanted to slap but they've become excellent and rewarding characters who have a lot to throw at each other conversationally because of how much crap they've gone through, so their scenes are deeply snappish and popcorn worthy.   It's grungy, unsavory, turf-war-centered, small-towny, Western-ish, rife with corn, and rarely about inspiring awe, but it has watchability except for that stretch when I stopped watching it.  But then they killed off those downer characters.  So... maybe start with the first few episodes of season 1 and then skip a year ahead?

 

Monkeys is the one I went pilot-only on and will now try to catch up.

 

TNT has something called Last Ship which they advertised about 40,000 times during the basketball season so I hate it very much without seeing one minute of it.   It looks like Helix on a boat.   Helix was so gross and didn't feel like it had an upside to justify being grossed out every week.  Bitten stars some kind of hot poon so I watched that once.  Sadly Continuum was very boring the week I tried it and never went back.   They must have just timed their one boring episdoe for that week.  Surely that's what happened.   Sanctuary had lots of the trappings of an interesting sci-fi show but for some reason didn't seem to really gel or captivate.  Penny Dreadful is far preferable to me as a monster mash show.  Lost Girl seems quaint as something to check out once a year or so, looks like a fun world.  What's Ascension?   Eureka seemed unserious like The Librarians so I didn't give either much of a chance.  I stuck with Haven and it's been a strange trip; warning---they repeat their show's catch phrases and jargon a lot. 

 

The joy of Killjoys is its tightness.  It flies with a sense of motion and direction.  (Compare with Star Trek shows, where most episodes felt listless, as if the "inertial dampeners" were keeping the plot from going anywhere interesting).

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TNT has something called Last Ship which they advertised about 40,000 times during the basketball season so I hate it very much without seeing one minute of it.  

 

The biggest strenght of The Last Ship is the rythm. Some episodes were among the more nervous ones I've seen on TV !

 

 

Sadly Continuum was very boring the week I tried it and never went back. 

 

Cannot say it was boring... it efficiently set up the dynamics for the sadly very short season we'll get ! But I have faith it's really quickly gonna be intense !

 

 

Sanctuary had lots of the trappings of an interesting sci-fi show but for some reason didn't seem to really gel or captivate. 

 

That one is very high on my 'to watch' list !

 

 

Monkeys is the one I went pilot-only on and will now try to catch up.

 
I was very skeptical of the first 3 or 4 episodes, but man, really, the latest 4 episodes were amazing, imo !
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Finished up Killjoys and was far superior to what I've seen of Dark Matter, but I have watched only 4 episodes of DM before getting kind of bored with it. Is DM something I should try to continue on with?

There are a couple good ep's, and the last 3 kind of find a grooves, but they couldn't hold on threw out each ep. If you got the time, watch it, with the pick up for next year, it might be worth it. 

 

Oh f***, they better give a season 2 to Dark Matter after that finale...W

The last 3 ep, they kind of changed the format of the show, w/ a WTF moment at the end of each. I still think this has everything going for it, if they can make up their mind about what they want to do w/ it. As I have said many times, a lot of Sci/Fi shows takes more then a season to find their footing.

 

Wait! WTF Wil Wheaton? Why don't I remember that?

 

@RedEyeGhost  Give Z-nation a chance. It isn't any where near TWD, or FTWD, but it has a nice little quickyness.

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The last 3 ep, they kind of changed the format of the show, w/ a WTF moment at the end of each.

 

That was pretty much standard operating procedure throughout the season.

 

"Oh, they're all criminals!"

"One of them did the mindwipe!"

"One isn't really who the records say he is!"

"Two is Wolverine (or would that be X-23?)!"

"Three may have killed One's wife!"

"Four just murdered a guy for no reason!"

 

etc.

 

I still think this has everything going for it, if they can make up their mind about what they want to do w/ it.

 

I really think they should have figured things out before they started production (wasn't this originally a comic book? Like, there should have been some overarching story structure in place already) and by the end of the season they should have been able to communicate to the viewers what directions the show could go in the future, but instead it just looks like more of the same down the road.

 

Wait! WTF Wil Wheaton? Why don't I remember that?

 

Evil Wil Wheaton even. Actually, nowadays there probably isn't much of a distinction to be made.

Seriously: he was the scientist who wanted to experiment on Two.

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I really think they should have figured things out before they started production (wasn't this originally a comic book? Like, there should have been some overarching story structure in place already)

 

I think the comic only covered the first two episodes.

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Great to hear Killjoys has been renewed for Season 2.
 
Bemused that Daft Matters has also escaped the hangman's noose, but am looking forward to scratching that itch when it airs. 

 

I'm still meaning to catch up with Killjoys. I had watched the first two eps a while back and it didn't do anything for me beyond thinking the lead actress playing the bounty hunter was like really gorgeous, but apparently it gets better. I guess I'm just deeply prejudiced against SyFy, I literally automatically assume everything they make will turn out to be a shower of shit and it's a steep hill to get over before I commit to one of their shows.

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1That was pretty much standard operating procedure throughout the season.


 

2I really think they should have figured things out before they started production (wasn't this originally a comic book? Like, there should have been some overarching story structure in place already) and by the end of the season they should have been able to communicate to the viewers what directions the show could go in the future, but instead it just looks like more of the same down the road.

 

3Evil Wil Wheaton even. Actually, nowadays there probably isn't much of a distinction to be made.

Seriously: he was the scientist who wanted to experiment on Two.

1. I think they picked up the pace the last 3 ep, and added more Secondary storylines. Or I should say that they had a Main storyline, w/ some characters running a second line, instead of having each group on its own story line.

 

2. I can not argue w/ that. A lot of shows base everything about season 1, but then have no where to go in season 2, and then wind up running the same villian/ same type of villian the 2nd year.

 

3. I either fell asleep during part, or lost connection, and missed that part,when I resumed it.

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@RedEyeGhost  Give Z-nation a chance. It isn't any where near TWD, or FTWD, but it has a nice little quickyness.

 

I agree. Z Nation is... enjoyable. It's sort of all over the place, but not necessarily in a bad way. Yes, there is a lot of camp, but the campiness is handled with a wink and a nod that says, "Yes, we know this is wacky and out there, but you know what? It's fun! So just enjoy it!" It's not a serious show (but it does have glimpses of serious moments) but I found it fun.

 

I just finished up watching the first season over Labor Day weekend. Unlike a lot of shows on Netflix, I wouldn't recommend binge watching. But, in small chunks of 2-3 episodes at a sitting, I think you could enjoy it. As long as you go into it not expecting TWD, but something more like Last Man on Earth.

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  • 8 months later...

Killjoys is out on blu ray, yay!  But the price is crazy high at $45, boo! 

Season 2 starts July 1, yay!!  But it's still paired with Dark Matter, boo!

I'll probably wait a week or two to see if the price drops at all, but I doubt I'll be able to wait much longer than that.  Really looking forward to rewatching it.  Season 2 teaser came out a couple of days ago:

 

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