Sanctuary – Fata Morgana

Sci Fi

(Season 1, Episode 2)

In the spirit of trying something new with our reviews here at CliqueClack, I’m going to dispense with the traditional review for this second installment of Sanctuary. Instead we’ll examine five points of interest in the episode. Things that work and things that don’t so much.

This episode tapped again into scenes and plotlines from the eight episode web series that launched the Sanctuary phenomenon. Is it a phenomenon? I’m sure Sci Fi would love for it to be. Certainly it’s groundbreaking in its use of computer technology and CGI. Regardless of how the series ultimately does, I have a feeling that it’s extensive use of green screen and CGI backgrounds will establish a new way to make science fiction and fantasy series. Imagine how much easier it would be to create a medieval world of sword and sorcery if all of the sets and background scenes were computer animation.

1. Dr. Jackson Zimmerman

This guy’s our eyes and ears into this world of insanity that Dr. Magnus drifts so easily through. He also apparently serves as our filter to the outside world. Tonight he reached out to his ex, played by Kandyse McClure, though I’m not sure why. Is she the only person outside the Sanctuary he still talks to? No family? Friends? I guess she exists to show his own insecurities about his new job. Don’t get me wrong, she’s hot, but I found that conversation to be a bit pointless.

Except that it did bring up a point. Does he ever leave the Sanctuary? Do they all live there? Maybe we’ll get an episode on Zimmerman’s day off. Even Torchwood showed us everywoman Gwen’s personal life outside the job from time to time.

2. Dr. Helen Magnus

Amanda Tapping was born in England but moved to Canada at age three. So what is her real accent? If it’s not the one she’s affecting for this series, then why go with it? It’s kind of a British hybrid. I get that she’s over a hundred years old; are they trying to show that she has a strange hybrid accent due to her longevity? So far, she’s bold but a little bland.

3. Relationships

Let’s face it, there are only three main characters on this show so far, unless you want to count Foss or Druitt. Hell, the Sasquatch is more important than either of them, performing as an aide and confidante to Helen Magnus. In fact, she seems to have a closer bond with him than with her own daughter.

Long-term prospects of a series like this are built on character relationships. Unless you’ve got some brilliant master story to hook viewers, you need your characters and their interactions to help drive your plots forward. Some serious work needs to be done on Ashley’s character as she’s currently as flat as the Earth used to be. Add in Henry and any other workers around the Sanctuary and there’s a lot to cover.

4. SFX

Special effects are a key component of the show. In promotional tours, Amanda Tapping continuously talks about the extensive use of green-screen technology and computer graphics. She even went so far as to state that she wanted the fans at home to realize at times that they were watching CGI. I would think that while you might want people to be generally aware of how much CGI you’ve used, you wouldn’t want them to notice it while watching the show. Throws them right out of the drama.

For the most part, the CG used here is spot on and very impressive. However, there are some creatures that look way too obviously fake, as well as some establishing shots. It’s interesting that some of the more complex scenes, like the jagged bridge over the water in this episode, are just seamless while more standard fare like an outside shot of the Sanctuary look digital.

5. “Monster of the Week”

For someone who runs a Sanctuary, Magnus sure seemed to be in a hurry to eliminate her three newest “residents.” She’s got some pretty frightening creatures running around the facility, and while these three sisters have proven themselves potentially dangerous, it seemed a knee-jerk reaction to just want to put them down. Now the skull mask fellows are much more genuinely sinister looking.

After this week, we’ll be moving beyond the stories and plotlines established in the initial web series. It will be time for Sanctuary to see what it’s made of and start to build its larger world. Maybe the sisters are a piece of that larger world and we’ll see them again. I do think we’ve not seen the last of the bald military maniac or the people he works for. It did, however, make for another slightly anticlimactic episode.

You’d think with a lack of dramatic tension we’d have gotten a lot more character growth and develoment. Instead, we got none. Okay maybe not none. There was that one moment at the beginning where Helen said it would be nice to spend some time with her daughter. Wow! Moving. Make me care about these people! At least a little!

Clacked by Jason Hughes
on Oct 11, 2008 @ 08:57 EST5EDT