History Series / Defiance

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The seventh Votan race, the Volge a extremely hostile and war-like race that the other Votan planed to leave behind during the evacuation. They reappeared on Earth during the Pale Wars and became hostile to Human and Votan alike.

* AIIsACrapshoot: The seventh Votan "race", the Volge, are actually robots from the Votanis system that the other Votan planed to leave behind during the evacuation. They reappeared on Earth during the Pale Wars and became hostile to all organics.

* [[CaliforniaDoubling Canada Doubling]]: Set in St. Louis, filmed in Vancouver.

* DeathWorld

* Expy: The Biomen are ones of [[HeavyGear GREL]].

* SpaceElves: Castithans have the aesthetic.

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[Series/OutrageousFortune Wolfgang West]] is Chief Lawkeeper.

* AIIsACrapshoot: The seventh Votan "race", the Volge, are actually robots from the Votanis system that the other Votan planed to leave behind during the evacuation. They reappeared on Earth during the Pale Wars and became hostile to all organics.

* DatingWhatDaddyHates: It appears that Rafe [=McCawley=] does not approve of his daughter Christie's relationship with Datak and Stahma's son Alak, both because he's Castithan and because his father's a mafioso.

* DrJerk: Dr. Meh Yewll, Defiance's doctor.

* [[TheMountainsOfIllinois The Mountains of Missouri]]: The promos depict these quite prominently.
** To be fair however there is an explanation in the backstory as to why the area around the former St. Louis now has mountains.

* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy / WhiteHairedPrettyGirl: The Castithans, an albino race who are the most human-looking and attractive of the Votans. The males also [[LongHairedPrettyBoy wear their hair long]].

* ConsciencemakesYouGoBack: Both Nolan and Irisa go back to help Defiance defend against the Volge, though Irisa takes a bit longer to come around.

* AIIsACrapshoot: The seventh Votan "race", the Volge, are actually robots from the Votanis system that the other Votan planed to leave behind during the evacuation. They reappeared on earth during the Pale Wars and became hostile to all organics.

* AlienInvasion: Subverted. The Votans aren't so much invaders as desperate refugees trying to find a new home.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the re-imagined ''[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined Battlestar Galactica]]''. Many of the same people are involved in producing it and have commented on how it has a similar feel. BearMcCreary is even doing the music. The frontier aspect has also engendered comparisons to ''{{Firefly}}'' and ''{{Series/Farscape}}''.

* AIIsACrapshoot: The seventh Votan "race", the Volge, are actually robots unleashed by the Votans during the Pale Wars. They eventually decided that all organic life was a threat and should be eliminated.

A TV series premiering on April 15, 2013, ''Defiance'' is set on 2072 Earth, badly damaged from a war with alien colonists called Votans and continued bombardment by the wreckage of their ships. The Votans are a loose alliance of seven species from multiple planets in the Votan solar system, whose sun has gone nova. The Pale Wars started when they arrived at Earth seeking shelter and were refused, and ended when soldiers on both sides gave up fighting out of disgust at the pointlessness of it, and set about rescuing the civilians caught in the cross-fire. The series takes place in a settlement named Defiance built on what used to be St. Louis. The town of Defiance is inhabited by both humans and Votans, in a tenuous state of coexistence. Planet Earth's environment has been drastically altered and filled with alien flora and fauna by the terraforming equipment that crashed when the Votan spaceships were mysteriously destroyed during the war.

* OneWorldOrder: The Earth Republic seems to see itself as this for humanity, many of the world's nations having collapsed during the wars.

* HappilyAdopted: Irisa, by Nolan, though their relationship has some ups and downs.

* TheAlliance: The Votans are a loose coalition of alien species from the same solar system. The current Earth Republic is a fragile alliance of what remains of the Votanis Collective and the old human nations.

* TheAlliance: The Votans are a loose coalition of alien species from the same solar system.

A TV series premiering on April 15, 2013, ''Defiance'' is set on 2072 Earth, badly damaged from a war with alien colonists called Votans and continued bombardment by the wreckage of their ships. The Votans are a loose alliance of seven species from multiple planets in the Votan solar system, whose sun has gone nova. The war started when they arrived at Earth seeking shelter and were refused, and ended when soldiers on both sides gave up fighting out of disgust at the pointlessness of it, and set about rescuing the civilians caught in the cross-fire. The game takes place around San Francisco, the series in a settlement named Defiance built on what used to be St. Louis. The town of Defiance is inhabited by both humans and Votans, in a tenuous state of coexistence. Planet Earth's environment has been drastically altered and filled with alien flora and fauna by the terraforming equipment that crashed when the Votan spaceships were mysteriously destroyed during the war.

* TheAlliance: The Votans are a loose coalition of seven alien species.

* DatingWhatDaddyHates: It appears that Rafe [=McCawley=] does not approve of his daughter Christie's relationship with Datak and Stahma's son Alak. It's not clear if that's because he's Votan or because his father's something of a mafioso.

A TV series premiering on April 15, 2013, and [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMO]] {{TPS}} videogame released on April 2, 2013, ''Defiance'' is set on 2072 Earth, badly damaged from a war with alien colonists called Votans and continued bombardment by the wreckage of their ships. The Votans are a loose alliance of seven species from multiple planets in the Votan solar system, whose sun has gone nova. The war started when they arrived at Earth seeking shelter and were refused, and ended when soldiers on both sides gave up fighting out of disgust at the pointlessness of it, and set about rescuing the civilians caught in the cross-fire. The game takes place around San Francisco, the series in a settlement named Defiance built on what used to be St. Louis. The town of Defiance is inhabited by both humans and Votans, in a tenuous state of coexistence. Planet Earth's environment has been drastically altered and filled with alien flora and fauna by the terraforming equipment that crashed when the Votan spaceships were mysteriously destroyed during the war.