new show review: Sanctuary
October 19th, 2008 by screenwriterguy
 All right, fine. So I’m about a bajillion years behind in reviewing all the new fall shows. I’m still doing them, if only to force myself to power through the DVR and catch up.Several things turned me off in the first few acts of Sanctuary. Biggest was the first main character we meet, Dr. Will Zimmerman, who is yet another “noticer.” See Psych and The Mentalist for other examples. Like those shows, especially Psych, our hero in Sanctuary comes complete with CSI-influenced zooms to show us everything he’s noticing. |
Then comes an accent from Amanda Tapping as agreeable as glass grinding, and a monster in this episode that looks like someone pulled up the character animation file for a gou’auld and didn’t feel inspired to make any changes. Then there’s the butt-kicking daughter whose character is far from groundbreaking. Robin Dunne as Zimmerman seems determined to summon Micahel Shanks in his performance, and the virtual sets are neither too stylized nor too realistic to work quite.
Still, there’s something about this show that clicks, and it got better as it went. The monsters, necessarily ground that’s overtrod, still had a feeling of originality to them. Neither acting nor dialogue gets in the way of enjoyment, and there are enough cool ideas to catch your interest. Let’s face it, weekly sci-fi television has a bar that’s a little lower. Sanctuary clears it, with every indication that it will jump higher next time.
Best aspect: The backstory of Tapping’s character, though it only really shows up towards the end.
Worst aspect: The explanation that having one’s mom killed by a monster would cause you to really, really notice a lot.
Verdict: The first hour would have left me uninterested. The second hour redeemed, and made me want to check out another.
Odds of success: The powers that be have pretty much proclaimed this show as the heir apparent of Sci-Fi’s Friday night of original programming. It’s made by the best team they’ve got. Much would have to go wrong for it to disappear.
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