Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Defiance: Season Three Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 16, 2016

Review content, season synopsis, and episode summaries may contain spoilers for any of the series' three seasons.

The blurring of the line between, and the meshing of, filmed and interactive entertainment isn't complete, but it took a serious step forward, or at least promised to, with Defiance, a TV show that intertwined its plot line with happenings in the companion video game's interactive world, and vice versa. Certainly, it hasn't been a groundbreaking experience; neither the show nor the game became hallmarks of their respective genres or in any way cultural phenomenons, not in the way Sci-Fi TV like Battlestar Galactica or Star Trek have or as Sci-Fi games like Destiny or Halo have captured the minds and thumbs of a large number of players around the world. But it was an interesting concept nonetheless, and a logical step forward, in a world where television and interactive compete for eyes and so often influence one another in their efforts to dazzle with the latest and greatest. While Defiance the game sputters onward, the series -- only three seasons strong -- was officially cancelled by SyFY less than two months after season three's end.

Defiant.

Official synopsis: Nolan (Grant Bowler) and Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) return to the ruins of Defiance seven months after the complete destruction of New York City. They find the town on the verge of war with the Votanis Collective, led by the notorious General Rahm Tak (Lee Tergesen). To beat impossible odds and to save Defiance from the brutality of the Votanis Collective, the town turns to the mysterious Omec, a long-lost race of Votans with a blood-stained past.

Though it toyed with ideas similar to those found in more brainy Science Fiction, like L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth (the novel, not the fascinatingly putrid movie), Defiance primarily embraced the Deep Space Nine (which, by the way, prominently featured a starship called the Defiant) approach to intergalactic Science Fiction, bringing the aliens and the politics to a central location rather than expanding its horizons deep into the cosmos. Make that location Earth, and set it in a dystopian near future, and the series seemed set to explode onto the scene with a complex web of intergalactic drama, large-scale action, skewered social structures, intrigue, and so on and so forth. But the show never really caught fire like it should have. It felt a bit too forced, inorganic, lacking that magical Sci-Fi spark. Part of the problem is that it never felt relatable or timely, socially aware, or any other Sci-Fi staple. Rather than have something to say, the show often felt more content to just introduce crude television dynamics as a way to manufacture interest, drama, and action. Season three largely follows suit, mixing up drama and action and a whole lot in between to serviceably entertaining, but hardly deep, effect. It manages to tie up enough loose ends while still largely staying the course, pushing to look, sound, and feel "cool" rather than tell a leaner, more cerebral sort of dystopia-meets-aliens sort of tale that would seem to portend greatness but that instead just tosses it all on screen and hopes for the best.

Season three is comprised of the following episodes. Summaries are courtesy of the Blu-ray packaging.

Disc One:

• The World We Seize: Nolan and Irisa return to find Defiance on the verge of war with the Votanis Collective. To survive, the town must engage the Omec: mysterious new Votans that have taken control of the mines, and the gulanite. Nolan, Irisa, and Amanda bring a wounded Omec back to town for questioning, but the Votans of Defiance demand vengeance for the Omec's blood-soaked past.
• The Broken Bough: Datak and Stahna return with news of Rahm's nearby enemy camp, but soon prove to have another agenda that could bring Defiance to its knees.
• Dead Air: After an unthinkable attack by Rahm Tac, Defiance must regroup. Nolan and Amanda search for weapons to help the town fight, but find an unexpected ally that forces Amanda to confront a dark chapter of her past.

Disc Two:

• History Rhymes: Nolan and Irisa barely cling to life as an unexpected complication of their survival from the Kaziri forces them to relive painful memories, an experience that changes their relationship forever.
• Where the Apples Fell: Alak fights his way back to Defiance and exposes his parents as traitors, sending them running for their lives as the entire town hunts for public enemy number one: Datak and Stahma Tarr.
• The Beauty of Our Weapons: With the VC threat imminent, Nolan must raise a militia to protect Defiance against impossible odds, but finds that the greatest threat to keeping his new group together may be Irisa.
• My Name is Datak Tarr and I Have Come to Kill You: Defiance is at war with the Votanis Collective, and Rahm Tak draws first blood with a viscous assault. Backed into a corner and desperate, Defiance has no choice but to turn to the most unlikely of heroes to save them.
• Ostinato in White: As Defiance tries to piece itself back together after its war with Rahm, the town deals with a strange series of animal attacks that puts Doc Yewll at the center of a mystery.

Disc Three:

• When Twilight Dims the Sky Above: The Votanis Collective returns with an unexpected request...peace with Defiance.
• Of a Demon in My View: The Votanis Collective caravan taking Nolan to stand trial to Brazil is massacred, and Nolan is missing.
• The Awakening: Kindzi begins her Dread Harvest, bringing the hidden Omec to Earth to conquer and rule the planet. Nolan leads Defiance in a long-shot fight to defend their home. Kindzi's blood feud with Stahma reaches a deadly endgame.
• Upon the March We Fittest Die: It's the last stand of Defiance. Kindzi readies her ultimate plan to take the town as a home base for her assault on Earth: if Defiance falls, the world falls with it.

Defiance: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Defiance: Season Three's 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer presents a healthy, detailed image, most of the time. Dank, lower-light environments, both alien and on Earth, tend to lessen textural intimacy, depth of field, and overall clarity. Whether dark alien interiors or musty Defiance interiors, such as a bar where liquor bottles, wooden accents, and decorations cannot muster up densely detailed elements, several environments in the show just aren't conducive to the sort of eye candy visuals seen through the rest of the season. On the flip side, better lit environments offer a more enticing bit of definition. Exterior marketplaces and bright interiors show off plenty of little odds and ends with exacting sharpness and definition, reveling the rugged and worn dystopian wares, edifices, terrain, and background details with precision. Likewise, clothing reveals plenty of longtime wear, armor and accents are complex, and faces are intimately revealing, whether human or more complex alien. Colors often favor a somewhat darker shading but brighter environments reveal solidly balanced shades of alien skin, natural terrain, and doodads around the ravaged world. Black levels and skin tones fluctuate under the season's lighting schemes, pushing to crush and prone to noise in the most densely dark scenes. The series' lower-grade effects shots are messy and riddled with aliasing, noise, and a deiced lack of sharpness, but that's much more the source than the 1080p transfer. It's not a stunner by any means, but season three fares well within its style and structure.

Defiance: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Defiance: Season Three's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is probably better described as "rugged" rather than "refined." It's still a quality listen, just one that lacks the top-end precision instrumentals and effects of programs and films afforded a more appropriately large budget. Music presents with good definition, width across the stage, and depth towards the back. Bass kicks solidly but not prodigiously. Various sound effects, like rumbly spaceships and bellicose battles, offer enough raw power and heft to command the moment and pull the listener into the varied environments. Gunfire enjoys hearty vitality, zip, and oomph, again lacking that last little bit of utmost realistic precision but rattling and rolling enough to shape the moment with enough verve to get the juices flowing. Minor background support ambience around Defiance help set the stage with mild immersion. Dialogue is commanding and smartly center focused with no issues in either definition or prioritization.

Defiance: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Defiance: Season Three contains a few deleted scenes (1080p) scattered over three discs: Disc One: Scenes from The Broken Bough (4:05) and Dead Air (5:03). Disc Two: Scene from The Beauty of Our Weapons (4:01). Disc Three: Scenes from Of a Demon in My View (1:02) and Upon the March We Fittest Die (3:46).

A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.

Defiance: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Defiance is more entertaining Sci-Fi than it is thought-provoking Sci-Fi. While there's room for both on the same stage, Defiance chose to favor the former and only toy with the latter. Season three pushes it through to its end, which doesn't come mercifully, but does, probably, come timely. A good concept marred by middling execution, the show promised more than it could reasonably deliver, both directly in its production and in its bold effort to form a union between filmed and interactive entertainment. Defiance: Season Three features good video and audio. Supplements are limited to a handful of deleted scenes. Fans can buy with confidence (even considering the lack of extras) but audiences just looking for a good, modern Sci-Fi show should take a peek at the aforementioned Battlestar Galactica instead.