Yes, you're right, it does have a terra nova vibe about it as well.
Terra Nova is one of those sci fi series that fell victim to the high cost of episode production.
..and not enough viewers willing to forego what passes for TV nowadays, and watch a show with actual substance.
I've watched the first two episodes, and yes, there's elements of Firefly, Terra Nova, with a dash of Borderlands and Babylon 5 thrown in for good measure.
It's a strange (in a good way) mish-mash of traditional character archetypes and sci-fi tropes.
The special effects and CGI are a mixed bag. It looks great when you see stunning overhead shots of Defiance itself, but then it looks so
cheap and tacky for everything else. You can clearly see where the costs were cut.
I honestly didn't know what to expect going in, and what I've seen so far hasn't resonated with me the way Terra Nova did, but I'll watch it,
because I'm a sci-fi fan at heart. What I did hope to see, were aliens that were more...well...
alien. Not humanoids with different coloured skin and eyes.
They couldn't at LEAST make better aliens? WTF man! It was corny when Captain Kirk banged green women...and THAT was over 40 yrs ago. :/
What's going to make the difference with this show is the writing. So far I've seen an attempt to craft an over-arching plot with the former mayor,
but the sub-plots seem rather predictable. I'm willing to give the show a chance to see if the writing improves.
Based on history...I honestly don't see this show going past one season. Sounds harsh, I know, but if a Star Trek (Enterprise) series.....a STAR TREK SERIES
couldn't survive, which is WAYYYYY better than this, well then I don't hold out much hope for this show lasting very long.
I mean, we gotta see what the new drama is with the Kardashians, right? RIGHT!?