[Originally appeared on the TV Tyrant blog.]

Syfy has shown us the future, and it belongs to the kick-ass brunettes.

Literally. In the second episode of Dark Matter, one of them tells a crewmate: “Stop looking at my ass.”

The days of the BSG blondes are over.

Killjoys features one exotic-looking brunette; Dark Matter doubles down with two. The two shows follow Defiance in Syfy’s Friday night lineup this season.

“Two” to crew: “Stop looking at my ass.”

Based upon the first two episodes, Dark Matter appears to be the tighter of the two ships. The premise is that six people wake up on a spaceship with no memory of who they are or how they got there – though each seems to have some instinctive areas of expertise.

Since viewers know little more than the characters, there is no complicated backstory to digest all at once. Everyone is in the same boat as the writers reveal tidbits here and there.

It looks like Dark Matter will pursue the same nature/nurture debate that BBC America’s Orphan Black has handled so deftly. As the characters are told more and more about their pasts – information that may or may not be true – will they become the people they are purported to be? Or are their futures black slates, unencumbered by their pasts?

Their spaceship features an android, played by Lost Girl’s Zoie Palmer, that runs it’s systems. Sadly, what should be one of the show’s strengths looks to be a weakness. Palmer is too good an actress for the role; her efforts to avoid emotion are betrayed by a smirk that seems to say: “They’re actually paying me to not act.”

Killjoys

Killjoys could be subtitled “Adventures of Good-Looking Intragalactic Bounty Hunters.” The action is all over the place, backed by a complicated mythology that involves a planetary system, a brewing class war and hints at the characters’ pasts.

The premiere seemed like an attempt to bring Guardians of the Galaxy to the small screen, but with really attractive humanoid characters rather than a raccoon or a giant tree-like figure. Episode 2 had an Escape from New York vibe.

The writers rely on the show’s mythology to cover plot holes, such as when team leader Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), one of the aforementioned brunettes, is poisoned in the premiere, only to be mysteriously cured just in time by a mysterious (good-looking) man from her past.

The premiere was a fun ride, but don’t look for too much logic and consistency going forward.

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Stu Robinson practices writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications.

Tags: Dark Matter, Hannah John-Kamen, Killjoys, Syfy, Zoie Palmer