Sanctuary - Sci-Fi Series Pilot - Review

Sactuary started out as a web based series that was created by some of the Stargate producers. The show stars Amanda Tapping as Dr. Helen Magnus, who is 157 years old and keeps a "Sanctuary" for supernatural creatures. Some are there for their own protection and others are there on their own.

The series had over 4 million viewers on the web and was actually a pay service so that they could recoup some of their costs. It went over well and was eventually copied and put out on the web for others to see. Still Sci-Fi picked it up and is running the 8 episode series to see how it does.

The first episode was two hours and gave us a background of the main characters and the purpose for the Sanctuary. This episode starts off with the strange murders of two police officers and an old man. There is a little boy who has some abnormality that has a life of it's own, but feeds off the boys fears. This appendage attacks by striking a persons brain, killing them instantly. The boy was born near Chernobyl during the fallout out from the nuclear meltdown.

Dr. Magnus is looking to find the boy and bring him into Sanctuary to help him. She looks to Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne), a forensic psychiatrist, to help her work with these patients and get into the minds of them. Dr. Zimmerman's background is that he saw his mother killed by a monster and even though he's told it never happened, he finds out that it did and that Dr. Magnus was there to rescue him. He was once with the FBI, but moved on to local law enforcement because of his tactics. Now he is asked to help assist with Dr. Magnus.

There are several other characters intoduced including Helen's daughter Ashley, who tracks down these creatures and John Druitt, who himself is a creature and has a past with Helen.

The first episode was a bit slow at times and seemed to be more of an attempt to develop characters instead of thinking that people would rather see more action and monster types moments. I know that's a LCD attitude, but I think that's a bit of what you need to get the popular viewing you want.

I thought the show was a bit dark and watching it at about 10pm I was almost ready to crash. So I'm going to give it more time to see if it peaks my interest over the next couple weeks. Amanda Tapping attempted and English accent, but I didn't feel it was good at all. Just stick to what you know best.

The plot is good and it leaves it open to a lot of things for the future if the show ends up having one. I know the last several shows have dies in season one including, Dresdan Files, Pain Killer Jane and Flash Gordon. Let's hope it can break the chain and continue on into a new season.

I would give it a couple of weeks to judge it. There are plenty of shows that gained momentum after the first couple weeks. Now pairing with Stargate Atlantis you might find more viewers next week. tune in and we will see.