What I'm into: Dark Matter

[sholio]

No spoilers past mid season three, please! I'm not caught up yet!

So here's the other thing that's eaten my heart/brain/soul over the last week or two: Dark Matter



What is it? It's a 3-season Syfy spaceship show, by some of the same people who did Stargate. All of it is streaming on Netflix.

What's it about? Six people -- seven counting the ship's android -- wake up on a spaceship without their memories. Evidence suggests one of them is a traitor. Further evidence suggests they're part of a galactic conflict they can't even remember. They have to figure out who they are and who they can trust before their pasts catch up with them. Basically this turns into found-family on a spaceship, as it does. (Also, to make it less confusing if I end up making more posts about this show, most of the main characters have numbers for names, because they don't know their real names for awhile and adopt numbers as shorthand.)

Why is it awesome/why might I want to try it? FOUND FAMILY ON A SPACESHIP. I've really missed having a spaceship show in my life, and this one hits my team-love buttons like few things have since Stargate.

It’s got femslash, slash, and het potential. It’s got a ton of interesting character relationships, including kid-mentor ones and sometimes-enemies learning to trust each other (”Stop saving my life. … Now you’re just doing it on purpose”) and a relationship that’s a lot like Janeway/Seven of Nine in which one is a woman of color. It’s got canon h/c and teaminess and all the sci-fi tropes (e.g. the characters meet their evil alternate universe doubles, trapped on a prison world, taken over by mind-control goo, on a spaceship fulla zombies, time loops, etc). It has redemption arcs and snark and themes about the meaning of life/what it means to have a soul and characters running around doing action stuff in long coats and leather jackets while rock music plays in the background. It's got several Stargate actors in recurring roles, including David Hewlett playing a character who is basically Rodney McKay as a seedy fixer, and Evil Elizabeth Weir.

It has a female Asian captain, a cast that (depending on the cast makeup from season to season) is frequently at least half female and less than half white, and multiple recurring female villains for your foe-yay needs. Plus a number of different characters being incredibly hot in black leather, and actually some pretty cool sci-fi worldbuilding, such as travel-via-cloning in which instantaneous intergalactic travel is accomplished by animating a disposable clone of yourself in a different location, and a galactic milieu with a higher-than-I'm-used-to level of background multiculturalism; they really do a pretty good job of making this feel like a plausible hundreds-of-years-in-the-future Earth-colonized galaxy, at least I think so.

It also contains an episode that has managed to make the coveted "sholio's All-Time Favorite H/C Episodes" list. :D (Er, this list does not exist in reality. But now I think it's a list I should make. And post.)

What might turn me off? There are some questionable writing/casting choices (my least favorite of these is that one of the main characters is basically Space Samurai from Space Samurai Planet, and he doesn't really have a whole lot of characterization other than that). In general, since it's by the same people who did SGA and Stargate Universe, it unsurprisingly shares some writing weaknesses with earlier Stargate shows. I'm watching it with my husband and I get the impression that the handwavy science and occasionally WTF plot resolutions are driving him crazy on a regular basis. I personally could not care less because I am there for FOUND FAMILY IN SPACE, but ymmv.

Also, it got unexpectedly cancelled after season three. I suspect (though I don't know for sure, since I'm not there yet) that it's going to end on a forever-unresolved cliffhanger.

Anything else? Based on what I remember from the last time I posted about Dark Matter when I watched the first season, there are people following me who dislike Three. Which is fine, but keep that to yourself around here, please, because Three is AWESOME and no one can tell me different. :D (Although it's tough to pick a real favorite; as of season three, I think the entire cast is my favorite. It's one of those shows.)

ETA: If you haven't watched the show, beware of spoilers up to early season three in the comments!

Comments

[rachelmanija]

All-Time Favorite H/C Episodes" list. :D (Er, this list does not exist in reality. But now I think it's a list I should make. And post.)

Yes, you should! I feel like I could come up one too.

Is the Dark Matter episode in S1 or S2?

[sholio]

It's in season two. (And yeah, I should make that list!)

[kore]

YES, YES, DARK MATTER, I LOVE IT. I was like heartbroken when the showrunner couldn't pull together a deal at the last moment -- he wrote it all up on his blog, he tried and tried. He says he still might write it up as a comic!

First season reminded me a lot of Farscape, which is why I fell in love with it I think. Desperate people with shady pasts thrown together on a spaceship who slowly become found family and would die for each other = MOI CATNIP. Also, the way it bounces from goofy to heartbreaking, very Farscape.

T was watching it before I did, altho he doesn't love it quite as much -- he lured me in with Roger Cross (Six), who I'd loved in Continuum as Travis. Altho it took me a bit to get used to him, Six was so different!

Did you see "All the Time in the World", the fourth ep, yet? All Three and it was HILARIOUS.

[saturnofthemoon]

I totally didn’t realize Six was Travis from Continuum. *headdesk* I might have wiped the show from my memory because of certain things that happened in S3.

[sholio]

Did you see "All the Time in the World", the fourth ep, yet? All Three and it was HILARIOUS.

I did! I loved it! :D Probably my favorite ep in the third season, so far. (I think the 6th or 7th episode of S3 was the last one we watched.)

... I didn't know Roger Cross was in Continuum! That's one show I should get back to. We watched the first season and liked it, back when there was only one season, and then never watched any more. The only characters I remember now are the main female protagonist and the kid.

But yeah, season one lured me in with cool mysteries, and then in season two I fell for the characters HARD, damn it. I'm trying not to be too bummed that there will never be any more once we finish S3, but it's so hard. I had seen mention of the comic thing around somewhere, and if it can't come back as a miniseries at the very least, I hope we get that. (Although I know I'd be reading it and wishing I was seeing those scenes playing out with the actors, damnitall! But it'd be better than never knowing where things were going to go.)

[madripoor_rose]

Oh, I remember hearing about this when it came out, sounds intriguing and just added it to my Endless Watch/Rewatch List.

[sholio]

It is good! I didn't expect to love it as much as I do.

[saturnofthemoon]

*sniffles* I'm still crying over the show's cancellation.

I can see why people would initially dislike Three, but he's a sweetheart under his, (incredibly transparent), tough exterior. Plus, he has a lot of respect for the women in his life. It's the other, (now dead), white guy that I couldn't stand.

[sholio]

WHY DID THEY CANCEL THIS SHOW, WHY. ;____;

Three is such a sweetheart. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. :D Honestly I think one of the things that made me fall the hardest for him (besides 2x11) was the time loop episode, because he could have done literally ANYTHING knowing it was going to reset (honestly I was kinda expecting the show to do the narratively obvious thing and have him hit on someone he'd never normally hit on because he knows there's a reset coming), but all he ever did was ... treat the almost-entirely-female people around him with respect (or at very worst, playful sibling-esque bickering, e.g. stealing from Solara's fruit cup in the full knowledge that she was going to punch him for it). He was just really sweet to them and even though he KNEW it would reset, he was STILL really sweet?? Like kissing Two's forehead when she believed him or trying to make Five feel better on multiple iterations until he finally found something to say to her that helped. And he was really TRYING every time! There was never a single iteration of the loop that, if he'd dropped out of it on THAT loop, would have screwed up his relationships with anyone.

And if we had to lose one of them, I don't mind losing the one we lost.

[kore]

I was pretty devastated. It had not been looking good for a long while and was obviously going down to the wire and Mallozzi was talking about striking the sets, but....man. That was a punch. Apparently it was sort of like the Sarah Connor Chronicles v Dollhouse, where the network said "We have two series on the block and one of them has to go."

[schneefink]

I agree, you should make a list of your all-time favorite h/c episodes :)

[sholio]

I should definitely do that. :D

[lunabee34]

I need to be watching this. Why didn't I watch it?

Sounds awesome.

[chelseagirl]

You do. So good.

[sholio]

I hope you like it if you watch it! I've fallen for it SO HARD. Though, like I was saying in another comment, I didn't really click with it fannishly until season two. It takes awhile for the characters to grow on you - at least it did for me.

[trobadora]

"sholio's All-Time Favorite H/C Episodes" list. :D (Er, this list does not exist in reality. But now I think it's a list I should make. And post.)

You really should! :D

Also, I still resent Mallozzi for the whole SGA/SGU fiasco, which is why I haven't watched, but you make the show sound really appealing. *sighs*

[sholio]

Yes, I should. :D

I actually wondered whether lingering resentment towards Mallozzi & co. might have been a big part of why Stargate fans stayed away, because it is a VERY Stargate-ish show (for obvious reasons, I guess). And that's legit; I completely understand!

I kinda feel like Dark Matter feels like the show they were trying to make with SGU, but weren't very good at (yet). With DM, they've managed to blend the things that I did actually like about SGU with a bunch of the things I liked about SGA, and came up with something that pushes the same buttons SGA pushed in me.

That being said, I don't blame anyone for not watching.

[chelseagirl]

We just finished the series a week or two ago, having DVRed it on broadcast and not having gotten around to this season right away. We're both devastated that there will not be more. (We being M and I, not the royal.) Not to slight Killjoys, which is plenty enjoyable, but it seemed to get far more attention than Dark Matter, which both of us preferred.

I admit that I was a Three-disliker, initially, but by the end I quite liked him. He had more layers than I initially gave him credit for. The Android was my favorite, though -- there was something so touching about her, and I remembered Zoie Palmer fondly from Lost Girl. I also really liked the friendship/father-daughter thing between Five and Six. And Three was awesome. So yeah, I guess that means I pretty much liked them all . . . though Four, as you say, never really got more depth.

[sholio]

I do intend to watch Killjoys eventually! It looks fun! I just got to this one first ...

And, haha, *I* didn't like Three at first. It took me half the first season for him to start growing on me. Android was a favorite from the beginning, though -- probably the first character on the show I remember really latching onto. She's SO great. :D The Android-centric episode in mid season two made me cry.

[kore]

Zoie Palmer is amazing. AMAZING. People were like "oh she's the Data" and she just did so much more with the part. And I think they were going to do so much more with the evil doubles! I LOVE EVIL DOUBLES. I loved how Melissa O'Neil could go from Two to Portia in just the blink of an eye. And SIX. They were all just so great.

....the one character that wound up not working for me was Ryo, which sucked because I liked Four and then he was Evil Fake Space Japan Emperor in Evil Fake Space Japan, and that storyline just was no good. I loved Four as the grumpy uncle of the crew, though.

[muccamukk]

I keep meaning to watch this. Nenya and I saw the first two episodes and weren't pulled in, but I think its meant to grow on you.

[sholio]

For what it's worth, it didn't really click for me until season two. I enjoyed season one fine, but I was mostly watching for the resolutions of the mysteries - it's an entertaining space show, but I didn't really have feelings about it until the characters had bounced off each other for awhile and the found-family aspect really started to click into place. I think the fact that every single character is a) a blank slate, and b) a redemption arc, due to the show's premise, makes it hard to get into them as people at first.

One of the above commenters mentioned that it's similar to Farscape, which I think is pretty accurate -- although in my case I bounced off Farscape because I never watched far enough to get past the "assholes in space" to the "found family in space" part (though I know it gets there, and I've always meant to go back and try again). And this show doesn't have an audience-entry character like Farscape did. Although for me that was part of the problem, because I've never really enjoyed Browder much.

Anyway, I can totally see why someone would bounce off this show; personally I think it's worth sticking it out, because there's such good stuff later on, but ymmv!

[gwyn]

SOLD! I had stopped watching things on SyFy because the cheese was just too much for me, but I watched the first season of The Expanse a while ago and though I had huge issues with a lot of it, I want to see second season at some point, and plan to check out some other shows that aired there.

And now I'm looking at your post and realizing how crappy a job I did trying to sell people on a movie recently, and thinking of making a new post altogether.

[sholio]

I really hope you enjoy it if you watch it! :D It's probably worth mentioning that it took me awhile to really get into it. In the beginning I was drawn along by curiosity about all the mysteries on the show, and then while I wasn't looking, bam, feels. XD

I've never done a pimping/recruiting post in this style before - usually I'm terrible at trying to sell things I like to people who haven't seen them. I decided it might work well to just lay out all the basic what/why and let people make up their minds about it that way. :D

[rissabby]

I only saw season 1 on Netflix. You've convinced me to try the rest of it.
I don't get SyFy, so during the wait for season 2 I forgot who everyone was except cute green hair girl who dresses like my 9 year old granddaughter, i.e. colorful and no respect for conventionally matching patterns.
I do, however, read Mallozi's blog, so I was aware of, and partly participating in, the efforts to save the show.

I'm sorry that no one seems to like Ryo. I only know him from season 1.
I'm an American of 100% Japanese ancestry, and I can remember the time when Asian-American men were stereotyped almost totally as unmasculine (not that that has changed very much). The influence of Bruce Lee, The Way of the Samurai, and martial arts at least presented a more robust stereotype for people to latch onto. All stereotypes may be dehumanizing, but having a bit of variety -- or two extremes is, imo, a step forward.

[sholio]

*hugs* I'm sorry that everything that's been said about him so far is so negative! For whatever it's worth, I think the actor is great and I love that the show has a Japanese character and that he's portrayed as a guy who is dangerous, badass, and sexy. (He has some romance storylines in later seasons.) Most of the complaining above is based on stuff that happens in season three and on the general character concept -- but yeah, I get what you're saying about it being a big step forward from the sexless/unmasculine stereotype. He gets to be smart and competent and sexy and do cool stuff as part of the team. So yeah, not everything they've done with Four and his planet worked for me, but I'm definitely glad he's there. <3

Anyway, I hope you'll like the rest of it when you watch it!

[yalumesse]

I'm glad you made these summaries, I've been wondering what got you posting so enthusiastically. And this one sounds like my thing!

(And now you've got to post this All-Time Favorite H/C Episodes list. Please? I'll do something similar if you ask.)

[sholio]

Thank you! I'd love to have more people to talk about it with. :D

And yeah - I do need to make that list! It sounds like a blast to write.