Then THAT Happened: Season One of Dark Matter

[formerlyfreedom]

Since there has been some discussion on discussing season one as a whole; here's the spot to do it.
 
Please remember, we have topics for characters as well as comparisons to other shows; this topic is NOT the place to do that, it's the spot to talk about Season One as we look HOPEFULLY towards Season Two!

Comparisons To Other Shows: What Do You Mean It's Not "Stargate: Firefly?"

 

Characters;
One: Jace Corso/Derrick Moss

Two: Portia Lin

Three: Marcus Boone

Four: Ryo Tetsudo

Five: Das

Six: Griffin Jones

The Android
 

[tennisgurl]

So, what are peoples thoughts on the pros and cons of the season as a whole?

 

As a Pro, I will say that, while I thought most of the characters were pretty cliche and dull at the beginning, they grew on me a lot as the season went on. I mean, yeah a lot of them are still kind of cliche, but likable kinds of cliches. I actually think they developed a pretty good chemistry with each other, and had some interesting relationships (except for the ewwww that is 1 and 2 and their weird romance. I am not a fan) 

 

As a Con, I say the world building needs a TON of work. I still really have no idea how this world works at all. And you would think, with all our characters having amnesia, we would have some exposition, but not really. I hope we get an expanded look at how the government of this world works, what the cultures are like, now that we are following the crew outside of their little Raza bubble. 

[MissLucas]

Yes, the world-building is the main weakness of this show for me. Maybe it was a conscious choice to let us feel how clueless the characters must feel in a world they hardly understand. But occasionally it made me wonder why they were not trying harder to gather intel.

 

It wasn't always a smooth ride but I did enjoy this season nevertheless. Hardly a show ever hits the ground running and I hope they get a season two to in order to sort out some problems. I hope season two won't deal much longer with amnesia-related problems to the extent this season did. By now we have a relatively good idea who these people are (with the possible exception of One) and I would like to see if they can leave their past behind or are doomed to repeat it.

[DEM]

Dark Matter S1 is one of those strange cases for me where the whole truly did exceed the sum of its parts. The show falls down in myriad ways, yet I find myself engaged with it and have re-watched the episodes many times over.

 

I do wish the show had been more psychological -- or at least better at it.  They sort of went through the motions of "what is my history" and "I don't trust you" but there was very little day-to-day or intrapersonal exploration of what it would be like for someone to have absolute, total autobiographical amnesia. There also could have been little details here and there, like David Hewlett noticing that the crew dynamics seemed weird.  Two's personality makes little psychological sense, and given my interests and preferences that should put me off, yet she has emerged as my favourite character.  I long for a writer who will do something new and different and challenging with the "AI/android vs. emotions" trope, and although Dark Matter is going down the same well-trod ("computers are people, too!") path, I'm very intrigued and entertained by Zoie Palmer's Android.

 

Going forward, I'd like to see more world-building and more mixing-and-matching of the characters.  I'd also like for everything to feel more like it's 200+ years in the future, particularly the characters.

Edited August 31, 2015 by DEM

[Raja]

I like the slow burn of us learning about the world as our characters do. For the budget they can tweak things used to SyFy the look with the the side panel lighting but then overall a dark ship that I complained bitterly about in Stargate Universe.

[Hanahope]

I'd just like to know where they got the name for the show.

[shapeshifter]

I'd just like to know where they got the name for the show.

Me too. Maybe it was a pun?

[DEM]

Here is a funny video from Joseph Mallozzi showing how he revealed to the cast the identity of the mole. He said something I found odd. He said they'd been building to this reveal since Episode One.  Really?  I thought they'd been building to the identity of the memory wiper.

 

I guess I understand his comment if we assume that the memory wipe was done because Six was a mole (from the outset), and that would explain why the reveal of who did the memory wipe was sort of buried, but that story structure feels wonky to me. Like more time should have been devoted to the Five reveal in order to let that point breathe.

Edited September 8, 2015 by DEM