Defiance

Last week we sat down and rewatched the first season Defiance before getting into the second season of this show that we had ordered.  My reaction to watching the first season of the show had been a bit mixed.  It tells the story of aliens, the Votan Collective, who arrive to colonize Earth only to find us here, which is a plot point that is developed as the series progresses.  The description of Defiance as an SF show where a bunch of space elves (Castithans), goblins (Irathients),  dwarves (Liberata), cyborgs (Indogenes), beastmen (Sensoth), and orcs (Volge) fall to Earth may be a little bit unfair to the show, but I can see why people came to this conclusion. 

I enjoyed re-watching the show far more than I thought I would.  During the re-watch we both noticed a lot of little things that we had missed when watching the first time round.  I still have a problem with the male lead who leaves me cold, as I just don't understand why he has such sex appeal?

But the supporting cast are all excellent, and three women characters really stand out.

The first is Jaime Murray, who people may remember from Warehouse 13 where she played HG and  she was also in first season of Dexter.  In Defiance she plays the alien Castithan Stahma Tarr who steals every scene she is in, and absolutely acts her little cotton socks off.  The Indogene Doc Yewll, played by Trenna Keating, also manages to stand out in every scene she's in by delivering deadpan snark with aplomb.  While Stephanie Leonidas who plays the Irathient Irisa Nolan, the adopted daughter of the hero, is very good too as the hard bitten child survivor whose parents tried to kill her.  The only slight disappointment is Julie Benz, who is well known from playing in Buffy, Angel & Dexter, who plays Amanda Rosewater.  Despite her character having an interesting story arc as the former Mayor now whorehouse madam, she is outshone by the other cast members.

In season two we are also introduce to the as yet unseen final member race of the Votan Collective, the Gulanee who are energy beings that are effectively Vorlons in encounter suits, but less angelic, more bubbly, like something out of H P Lovecraft's Cthuhlu mythos.  However, despite the fact that this show steals like crazy from other shows, and could be described as being somewhat of a mash-up between Farscape and Firefly, and despite the other issues I've mentioned, it has been an enjoyable series to have watched.  I recommend you check it out if you haven't seen it so far.

Otherwise what's been happening?

I got my editorial report back.  After the wait I'd like to say the relief was palpable, but that would be a lie.  I did have a very strong affective response to reading the report, which I had to go away and think about.  I came up with six points that have to addressed in the next draft to resolve the issues identified by the editor.  I also sat down and re-read the report, and then cut & pasted sections into the notes section that Scrivener provides next to the appropriate chapters.

So this week I've only written 570 words, but I've tweaked the structure of the novel by moving a couple of scenes around and creating new chapters for them to be in, which will require me to write more description of what's happening.  My six point notes figure prominently in this restructuring.  I've also created a whole new chapter which will allow me to show why the main character does what she does when she does it. 

So that's it for another week, see you all on the bounce.