SnoopyStyle It's 2046 and over 30 years since aliens travel to Earth. Failed diplomacy, a devastating war and mysterious destruction of the alien ships known as Arkfall led to the planet transformed and human civilization battered. Survivors from different alien species are trying to coexist uneasily in Defiance, what once was St. Louis. Joshua Nolan (Grant Bowler) and his Irathient adopted daughter Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) arrive. He's put in charge of security of the town run by mayor Amanda Rosewater (Julie Benz). Datak Tarr (Tony Curran) and his wife Stahma (Jaime Murray) are manipulative and ambitious with their rebellious son Doc Yewll. Doc Yewll is an Indogene who tends to have superior technological knowledge.This is an unabashed sci-fi show. That's its strength as well as its weakness. It's overloaded with aliens, technology and futurism. The only thing missing is space travel. I would have preferred fewer kinds of aliens. It's questionable how such an alien menagerie could survive together before arriving on Earth. The future technologies require a lot of CGI and it pushes the limits for a TV show with budget limitations. The story is more in-line with an old fashion western. It has some interesting bits but this is for sci-fi fanatics only.

Dana H This show is not for everyone. The first season was hit and miss. I often took the first season to be a world building season. It was the second season where the show found itself and began to tell a truly good story. This is not a perfect show and will not appeal to either end of the sci-fi spectrum. The sci-fi purists who want a perfectly accurate science fiction story where the science is accurate and everything makes total and complete sense or the other end where the fx is beautiful and up to date. This is somewhere in the middle. The acting is good because the stars on it are all fantastic. The season 1 story lines are mostly world building like I said but the season 2 story lines are when things really begin to happen. It is when things begin to grow and die. Where alliances are formed and are brokenEvery season gets better then the one before. This starts out a a simple alien immigrant story reminiscent of the underrated Alien Nation. But pretty quickly becomes something more. Its an alien Western where an old fashion law keeper tries to keep the peace even though he is anything but peaceful and a mayor tries to keep hope alive even when hope is lost. This is a show where aliens and humans interact and try to get along even when there is a world of difference and a lifetime of bitterness between them. I would highly recommend this extremely creative show to anyone who loves alien science fiction but also to anyone who loves a good western because this blends both in interesting and creative ways.

tone_e2000 It's amazing how many of the people who rated Defiance badly never got beyond the first episode.Defiance, like many shows, is one that rewards perseverance. Judging it based purely on one episode is ridiculous, because the story needs time to develop. Also, complaints about lack of backstory are unfounded. There is plenty of allusion to the past in the dialogue, but clearly some people can't pick up such subtle hints and would prefer a more on-the-nose flashback sequence (something for which other shows are criticised, so you can't please everyone).Obviously, Defiance isn't perfect, and it's not for everyone, but if you do choose to give it a go, I'd recommend watching at least four episodes before deciding you don't like it.

j-00482 This show depicts a world in which there are a variety of different species, however these species can easily be interchanged with races. The 'humans' can be seen as Native Americans, they're native to earth, and other species attempt to take over their land. The Castithan are the most racist against other species, most likely white, and then you have the Omek (of course there's other races, however it's irrelevant). The Omek are often depicted by African American actors, and these characters are seen as barbaric monsters who everyone should be in fear of -- sound familiar? This show simply recreates our world as it already exists, however instead of using just one species -- the human race, they add a little twist to it, incorporating other species as well.