Enter the Universe of the Killjoys
Four Episodes of Killjoys … and I can’t wait for more. GEEKPR0N was lucky enough to receive a sneak preview of the first four episodes of SyFy and SPACE Channel’s newest sci-fi action series – Killjoys. After an evening of interplanetary excitement and bounty-hunting, I’m spent. Produced by Temple Street Productions and created by Michelle Lovretta, Killjoys is a real window into another universe. What makes this show really appealing is the level of inferred backstory present – the implied history and culture of the four planet system known simply as the Quad. Very much like Lovretta’s other creation, Lost Girl, viewers experience detailed world-building effort in the fabrication of this universe: politics, class structures, technology and even the ranking of the Killjoys themselves makes a viewer wonder and want to watch more.
The Killjoys
The characters are vibrant as well as intriguing. Dutch, the beautiful but mysterious senior RAC (Reclamation Apprehension Coalition) agent level 5 and leader of the crew is played by Hannah John-Kamen. Her history is shadowed with vague hints at some sort of esoteric assassin training that occasionally pops up in retrospective vignettes from Dutch’s past. Her right-hand man, Johnny (Aaron Ashmore) is a level 3 agent and a technology genius. Engineering, piloting, electronics, computers – Johnny can do anything. Assisted by their artificially intelligent ship, Lucy, Johnny’s abilities are constantly called into action.
The Killjoys’ intelligent ship – Lucy
The first episode involves Johnny’s estranged brother, D’avin; an ex-elite soldier with advanced weaponry and personal combat training. Played by Luke Macfarlane, D’avin makes his entrance with an immediate death warrant on his head. It’s up to Johnny and Dutch to rescue D’avin and discover who put the warrant on him. Essentially, this is a team-forming, origin episode that manages to get through the awkward, introductory period of acclimatization to any new television show with a respectable degree of authenticity and excellent performances. In terms of warrants, there are five levels. The first is a simple reclamation of goods. The second is a transfer, involving the movement of a person across jurisdictions or the services of a bodyguard. The third level is known as a live warrant, requiring that the target is brought in alive. The fourth level involves the apprehension of a dangerous target, most likely to resist capture and may be returned dead or alive. Finally, the most difficult level of warrant is a death warrant or a sanctioned assassination. Each of these levels requires the equivalent leveled Killjoy to undertake it. For example, a level 3 Killjoy could not take a level 5 warrant.
The show flows even better as you get into Episodes 2, 3 and 4 as we get to travel to more of the Quad and are introduced to many more of its strange and varied cultures. We visit migrant laborer farms, savage wastelands inhabited by nomadic tribes and scavengers and even get introduced to members of the controlling, upper classes of this society and see even more how it functions. As Dutch, Johnny and D’avin are Killjoys, their status as non-partisan members of this society allows them the ability to move freely around the Quad in the performance of their tasks. They enjoy a degree of legal immunity guaranteed by the ruling body of the system, a corporate organization known simply as the Company in pursuit of their fugitives or transporting goods around the system. They are even allowed to use lethal force, depending on the nature of the warrant or in self-defence.
The Beautiful and Mysterious Dutch
It’s this type of detail that makes you really want to get into this show. Killjoys promises a thoroughly conceived adventure series that will force you to follow the weekly adventures of this intrepid trio of adventurers as they chase bounties and discover more about this engagingly rich universe. Just remember that the Warrant is All … and you’ll be fine.
