Set a little over 300 years in the future, around 2350, humans have colonized space and three major factions
have developed in the solar system: Earthers (governed by the United Nations), Martians and the Belters. The Earth itself
has changed drastically and we see that sea levels have risen by 20 or 30 feet (6 to 9 meters), and the colony on Mars declared
independence some time ago. The Belters are a breakaway faction that has made the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter their home.
One simple way of looking at this is that Earthers could be considered as the wealthy elite, Martians are the middle class and Belters
are the working class. Conditions on the space stations and hollowed-out asteroid colonies are a long way from ideal, and the low
gravity conditions to which they have adapted mean that most can never even visit Earth, because their bodies wouldn't be able to
adjust to the increase in gravity. In the Belt, air and water are more precious than gold. Then there's the Outer Planetary Alliance,
or OPA, which started its life as a labor union or advocacy group, fighting for the interests of the Belters, and depending on who you
ask, it's known as both a sociopolitical movement and a terrorist network.
Dark Matter was created by Joseph Mallozzi, who used to be in charge of Syfy’s Stargate franchise. The show’s premise is simple:
six people wake up from stasis on a starship called the Raza, find they’re missing their memories, and set out to learn who’s responsible, who
they are, and what they should do next. This show doesn’t drag out its big mysteries for long — the crew figures out their identities in the first
episode. They quickly learn they’re a group of criminals assigned to strong-arm a mining colony that recently had a falling-out with a company called
Ferrous Corp.
They ultimately decide they don’t have to be bad guys or lawless enforcers any longer. They just want to get away and figure out what
happened to their memories. The show has seven main characters: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Android. Since the characters didn’t remember
their names, they named themselves for the order in which they woke up. Eventually, they learn about their original identities, and they each
undergo a revealing of old identity and integration of thier new identity, inclucing the android, who is developing her own personality while
spending time with the crew.
Killjoys follows a trio of hard-living bounty hunters – Dutch, Johnny, and D'avin. Working for the Reclamation Apprehension Coalition (RAC),
they work in a four planet-and-moon system known as the Quad. Taking on warrants to apprehend people or property, RAC Agents are given high authority by
their agency. As part of their job, they swear to remain neutral in conflicts and owe no allegiance to any system, government, or other organizations. With
their pasts coming back to haunt them, the trio will have to work hard to keep themselves, and their friends, alive. When the show begins, Dutch has a mysterious
past linked to a manipulative character named Khlyen, and John and D’avin are brothers who are finally reunited after years apart. By the time season
five rolls around, the stakes are no less than the fate of the galaxy. If wanting to watch fun, quippy characters get into scrapes and survive by the skin of their
teeth, on spaceships and alien planets, is wrong, I don't want to be right. Killjoys has just the right mix of guns, high-tech knives, assassins, cage fights,
missions to hostile planets, dark secrets, tiny robot weapons and general space headbutting thrills to be the perfect treat for Friday nights.