Dark Matter Review

Now that's an alarm clock. I bet you were having a nice dream too

             SyFy is hot with it's new shows lately. My latest favorite is Dark Matter. A space opera with influences from Firefly and a bit of Farscape (and I want to say Babylon 5 but I'm not entirely sure). Here were things I liked about it.

Nap time's over the ship is dying!

        The over all style is appealing. Dark and creepy it provokes a claustrophobic feeling as the camera zooms and spins onto a ship sounding the warning alarms. Plus you see these people stranded in space with no memories of who they are or why they're there. Then we add in some heartless corporations bent on sucking the galaxy dry of resources for profit. Right now they're mostly a shadow, which benefits them in this setting. It's always more frightening when dealing with a faceless, amorphous entity than to actually see what you're dealing with. These corporations seem to have a far reach. It has all the makings of a space opera. 

You're going to need a bigger gun

           Some actors I've seen while I see some new faces. The chemistry between the cast is interesting. I wouldn't say perfect because there's still some improvement to be made. However, it sort of reflects their characters' chemistry where you have 7 strangers thrown together into this scary situation. Since there's no where to run and no one can leave it sort of forces these characters to interact and work together to try and get out of this terrifying situation. So by extension they learn more about each other (as well as themselves given the memory loss thing) and already we see some characters forming a bond while others remain suspicious of the rest of the crew.   

Because guns solve everything...

WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!

          I feel like this is going to be a character driven story. Characters assign themselves numbers until we learn their names at the very last minute (making a bigger impact after they thought they figured out they were supposedly the "good guys"): 1 - Jace Corso; 2 - Portia Lin; 3 - Marcus Boone; 4 - Ryo Tetsudo; and 6 - Griffin Jones. They all have interesting personalities that's a mixture of their old selves and their new clean slates. They have the muscle memory of their old selves but they also have an infancy quality to them. They band together out of a common fear of lost identity but at the same time they kind of fall into roles that may hint at a familiar pattern. 

This android has been eating her nanite wheaties

So I'm guessing everyone forgot where they sleep too?
This'll be awkward if they find something weird under the bed

        Portia (once called 2) right away seemed to take over the crew. Everyone just started following her lead. She's not just a pretty face being calculating as well as practical with a strong voice of reason to keep everyone on task. Boone (3) feels violence is the answer to every problem. Ryo (4) is the strong warrior silent type. While Ryo and Boone's violent nature is still present (reminiscent of their criminal selves), Jace, Griffin, and 5 have a more wide-eyed innocent nature. Jace seems to be more idealistic, ready to believe that he was a "good guy" who helps people. Griffin seems to be the same way as he and Portia start to bond immediately with 5. Of course no one ever wants to see themselves as the villain which was why the ending was so shocking for them. Jace and Griffin are outspoken wanting to help people in need and do the right thing but they find out that they are actually criminals sent to destroy the people of the mining colony. Bummer! Do they continue with the mission they were sent on or will they decide to become the good guys to make up for their past sins?

That hair ain't the only weird thing about this girl

        Still don't know who the girl is but like River Tam in Firefly she's got a big brain, a disarming cuteness but has a disturbing knowledge of how to kill someone while being totally casual about it. Already you can see she is the crew darling (except for Boone who reminds me of Jayne). She also seems to be having visions of her old life. Seeing as her record hasn't been recovered one may assume that she was the one the crew of the infamous Raza had kidnapped. We may assume but I won't hold onto the assumption until we find out more.

He doesn't like guns

          All in all I think it was a great introduction to the season. Pilots don't usually go well as the writers try to find their voice but Dark Matter seems to have nailed it. Amnesia seems cliché but at the same time a great plot device giving it some original content and making it more unique than previous shows like Star Trek, Firefly, and Farscape that featured in the same setting. I can't wait to see how much more this show has to offer.