Five Reasons To Watch Defiance

With supernatural types like vampires, werewolves and witches pretty much exhausted, and superheroes becoming as ubiquitous as they are omnipotent, it's time for something new from fantasy and sci-fi. And so, we enter a new era of dystopia (alas - if only Joss Whedon's Firefly could somehow be resurrected). The trend was kicked off last year by The Hunger Games, Could Atlas and Dredd and will next hit the big screen with Tom Cruise's upcoming Oblivion. TV-wise, Canadian show Continuum debuted last year, while 2013 has already seen the premiere of Revolution on Sky 1 - and next up is Syfy's latest offering, Defiance.

But does it have enough going for it to keep us interested? Here are five reasons to give it a go…

#1 The Plot Has Promise

The future-set series begins years after the Earth's invasion by an alien race, the Votans. After decades of war, the planet is left ruined, and both races must learn to survive alongside each other. His military service over, our hero Jeb (True Blood's Grand Bowler) returns to his hometown of St Louis - now little more than a refugee camp named Defiance (aha!) - and becomes Chief Lawkeeper, charged with protecting the town from dangerous clashes between humans, aliens, military scavengers and other dangerous visitors.

#2 The Folks What Wrote It

Defiance has three executive producers - Rockne S. O'Bannon, who wrote V and Farscape and, way back in the day, worked on The Twilight Zone; Kevin Murphy, who wrote Battlestar Galactica and was the showrunner on Caprica; and Michael Taylor, who's best known for his work as a writer for both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, and also worked on Battlestar Galactica and Caprica. You can't deny they've got the pedigree.

#3 A Cult Cast

So, we've already mentioned Grant Bowler, Defiance's requisite loveable rogue, but wait until you hear about the rest of the cast. Between Julie Benz (Buffy, Angel), Jaime Murray (Hustle, Warehouse 13), Mia Kirshner (The Vampire Diaries), Stephanie Leonidas (Whitechapel) and Tony Curran (Doctor Who), you'll spend a hell of a lot of time shouting "Ooh! it's her! You know, off of thingy!" at the TV screen during the first episode.

#4 Fightin' & Fisticuffs

Of course, when civilisation breaks down in America, life inevitably takes a turn for the Wild Wild West (we won't do the Will Smith bit, you all have it in your heads now anyway). Defiance is no different, so despite a reasonable amount of modern technology and contemporary weaponry, we still feel a bit like we're watching Back To The Future Part III, though with much less Christopher Lloyd. Maybe it's the action, or all the political corruption… Anyway, the downside of course, is that it's a little cliche. The upside, though, is that there's plenty of good ol' fashioned, rootin' tootin' fisticuffs to keep us entertained - and we like a good fight. Some of it's even bare-chested. (There's also a bit of sexy time too, but you lot are far too innocent and pure-minded to care about stuff like that, aren't you?)

#5 It's More Than Just A TV Show

We live in a world of transmedia entertainment, so it's kind of surprising that Defiance is the first TV show to have ambitions on this scale. At the same time as the series launches, so will a MMOPRG game - not just a spin-off, but a full-scale compliment to the show that serves to expand the universe. While TV viewers follow the action in Minnesota, gamers will adventure in the San Francisco Bay area - and though each narrative is standalone, the shorelines, complete with crossovers, are mutually progressive. There are even plans for player influence to affect the second season.

GG♥SF Verdict: ♥♥♥♥♥ - the pilot shows great promise, but with a large cast and complicated plot, it's going to take a couple more episodes before we know whether or not we're hooked.

Defiance comes to SyFy on Tuesday 16th April at 9pm.