It’s hard to keep track of all the good stuff on Peak TV, but SyFy has made a credible bid to return to the good old days of future dystopias and spacecraft, especially on Fridays. And its two big summer shows, Killjoys and Dark Matter, will be back for third seasons, and they’re both worth catching up on.
Killjoys is undeniably the bigger of the two, pulling in some surprisingly high ratings. The show follows a group of bounty hunters as they work the Quad, a solar system with four planets and a lot of criminals to apprehend. They’re, of course, sworn to neutrality and are just supposed to do their jobs, but that goes down the crapper faster than you can say “your past catches up with you.” It’s very much a throwback to the days of goofy, quippy space-set shows that turned up in droves on syndication back in the ’90s, and if you fondly remember, say, Cleopatra 2525, Killjoys will fill that void.
Dark Matter, though it doesn’t enjoy the same ratings success, deserves a little more attention than it gets. Developed by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, two alumni of the Stargate TV franchise, it’s best described as Firefly with the gas pedal nailed to the floor. The basic conceit is that six people wake up on the Raza, a heavily armed battleship, with no idea who they are or how they got there. They quickly learn that they’re feared mercenaries and the Raza is hired by intergalactic corporations to do the ugly cleanup jobs, which, suddenly, they aren’t okay with.
A particular highlight is ending every show on a cliffhanger; if you binge the first season on Netflix, expect to get hooked quickly, especially as it’s not shy about killing off main cast members. So, if you’re not busy with TV this month, although you likely are, make a little room to get caught up with these.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
