Dark Matter TV show, what do you think?

[tschel23]

I've been watching Dark Matter (locally aired on SyFy channel) and have been very much enjoying it. Anyone else have an opinion or thoughts on it?

[Fishybugs]

Yeah, I enjoyed it quite a bit. There was a thread on this and Killjoys a while back when Season 2 was airing. Both shows are a lot of fun.

[Olinser]

I enjoyed the first season immensely, although that diminished a bit when they went WAY off the rails in season 2 with

The rather abrupt death of both One AND Jace Corso, Four just as abruptly murdering his entire family to seize control of Zairon, and the rather stupid reveal that the tiny chip Five randomly pickpocketed is a magic key to a new kind of warp drive that somehow can't be recreated by the people that invented it. Killing the brother in particular was way, WAY out of character for both Four and Ryo Ishida.

I still enjoy the show - I like the Raza Android in particular. Hopefully they can bring it back on the plot rails for season 3, whenever they finally start it.

[Cheesegear]

The archived thread for it is here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-421372.html).

One of the major problems of the series is 'Women in Action Roles', and it's played right down to the hilt. The outcome of any fight is nearly always determined by gender (for better or worse). Since the Dark Matter thread pointed it out so explicitly (specifically, Pex did), I've now noticed it more and more in other shows too. I'm not willing to comment on social implications of it. But, as a story, as a narrative, if the audience can work out who's already won any given fight just by the gender of the fighters involved, before a punch has even been thrown, your story has problems, because half the fights have no stakes because the winner was already determined. Which is...Lame. I have an even bigger problem, which is done frequently in sci-fi/fantasy but I feel like the last two times I talked about it, people got mad at me. So I'll stop there.

The story is...Fine. It's basically Firefly again, with better story (IMO, cry more).
It's just that the action scenes tend to be forgone conclusions, and it takes the stakes out of the story, which I don't like.

Pex knows more - or you can read all about it in the archive.

Basically, Dark Matter is a show where episodes go for longer than 26 minutes and it's better than most other things on TV.

[Joran]

I enjoy it. It's a silly show where I don't have any concept of what the technology is capable of. They keep pulling things out of thin air it seems.

It's a good pairing with Killjoys in the space adventure genre.

P.S. Wonder how Pex feels about Into the Badlands. The fights tend to be bloody and pretty gender neutral. The women lose frequently.

[Pex]

The archived thread for it is here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-421372.html).

One of the major problems of the series is 'Women in Action Roles', and it's played right down to the hilt. The outcome of any fight is nearly always determined by gender (for better or worse). Since the Dark Matter thread pointed it out so explicitly (specifically, Pex did), I've now noticed it more and more in other shows too. I'm not willing to comment on social implications of it. But, as a story, as a narrative, if the audience can work out who's already won any given fight just by the gender of the fighters involved, before a punch has even been thrown, your story has problems, because half the fights have no stakes because the winner was already determined. Which is...Lame. I have an even bigger problem, which is done frequently in sci-fi/fantasy but I feel like the last two times I talked about it, people got mad at me. So I'll stop there.

The story is...Fine. It's basically Firefly again, with better story (IMO, cry more).
It's just that the action scenes tend to be forgone conclusions, and it takes the stakes out of the story, which I don't like.

Pex knows more - or you can read all about it in the archive.

Basically, Dark Matter is a show where episodes go for longer than 26 minutes and it's better than most other things on TV.

Sniff

:smallsmile:

I'll also add that Three is the Worf of the show. He talks a big game. He has his shining moments and is proven to be an excellent marksman. However, he will always get beaten up for the sake of being beaten up to show how tough the bad guy is and absolutely especially if the bad guy is a female. Sometimes it's just for a joke humiliation at his expense. Even Five gives him one of those. Everyone else will only lose a fight if it's crucial to the plot.

[Norrefve]

I really like this show! I love the mystery of characters who don't know where they come from. And the names are really easy to remember. :smalltongue:

Honestly I never even realized the whole gender thing in the fights, and I don't think it really matters. If people aren't hyper-observational about things like that, it makes everything more enjoyable, IMHO.

I have to say that I enjoyed Firefly more, though. The characters are a little more dynamic and easier to relate to. Also, Nathan Fillion.

I actually hadn't heard of Killjoys before, I'll have to check it out.

[GrayDeath]

Its a very well done, if less humourous, Version of Firefly.

You need to be able to stomach some cheese, and the second season, while not bad, is very very inconsistent compared to the first.

Aside from that I like it a lot. Quite a bit more than Killjoys, as it offers far better chemistry between the actors (and granted, 3 of my favorite Series Actors are in it^^).