Sanctuary (TV series)

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Sanctuary
Sanctuary's intertitle
Format	Science fiction, Fantasy
Created by	Damian Kindler
Starring	Amanda Tapping Robin Dunne Emilie Ullerup Ryan Robbins Christopher Heyerdahl
Country of origin	Canada
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8 (webisodes) 13 (TV episodes) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Damian Kindler Amanda Tapping Martin Wood Keith Beedie N. John Smith Sam Egan
Running time	42 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	The Movie Network Movie Central Syfy ITV4
Original run	October 3, 2008 – present
External links
Official website

Sanctuary is a Canadian science fiction-fantasy television series, created by Damian Kindler. The show is an expansion of an eight-webisode long series that was released through the Internet in early 2007 and sold directly to the viewer. Seeing the success of the web series, Syfy decided to pick up the series for a more traditional television-based 13-episode season,^[1] it has since been renewed for a second season also containing 13 episodes.^[2]

The show centers on Dr. Helen Magnus, a 157-year-old English scientist, and her team of experts who run the Sanctuary, an organization that seeks out non-human intelligent creatures, known as Abnormals, and tries to help and learn from them, while also having to contain the more dangerous creatures.

The series premiered on October 3, 2008, in both Canada and the United States, and on October 6, in the United Kingdom. The premiere drew in more than 3 million viewers making it the highest rated original series premiere since Eureka debuted in July 2006 for Syfy.^[3] The premiere's two-parter, "Sanctuary for All" was a combination and rewriting of the first four webisodes. Amanda Tapping with all of the original cast from the web series transitioned to the television series. A second season is in the making, slated to return this fall.^[4]

Contents 1 Series overview 2 Cast and characters 3 Production 4 Broadcast and release 5 Critical response 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Series overview

Sanctuary follows the exploits of Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) as she seeks out all manner of terrifying and monstrous creatures (known as 'Abnormals'), some of which are basically human with special abilities (ie, telekinesis, etc.) and some of whom are more animal-like. Some of these creatures she needs to lock up to protect the public and some of them she needs to protect from the public. She is aided in her quest by her reluctant protégé Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne); her intrepid, if somewhat reckless, daughter Ashley (Emilie Ullerup); the talkative geek Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins), a computer and security expert; and her taciturn Neanderthal-like unnamed assistant, sometimes called "Big Guy" (Christopher Heyerdahl).

The first season reveals the history of Dr. Helen Magnus, stating that in her youth she was a member of a group of experimental scientists known as "The Five",; which included also Nikola Tesla, Nigel Griffin, Dr. James Watson, and John Druitt; who wanted to push the boundaries of their understanding of the physical world through unconventional means. At some point during their partnership, Magnus acquired a vial of untainted vampire blood and used it in a serum that "The Five" injected into themselves. After the injection, they each developed different gifts; Magnus gained a high level of longevity which included resistance to disease, Nigel Griffin's molecules became photosensitive, Dr. James Watson's mind was able to reach incredible new heights, John Druitt developed the ability to teleport, and Nikola Tesla was turned into a vampire. Watson received some level of longevity, living into his second century, but since Watson died in "Revelations, Part 2" and was at that point living only with the aid of machinery, his extended life is not equal to Dr. Magnus' gift. It is not entirely clear whether Druitt's apparent simillar longevity comes from actually living 100+ years, or from teleporting through time as well as space. In the pilot, Druitt was failing and came to the Sanctuary for a vial of Magnus' blood. It was stated that he had received blood from her previously. It could be that his longevity is linked directly to this transfusion, or that his teleporting causes his instability, which is cured by her blood; after the transfusion, Druitt apparently becomes 'saner': i.e., not a raving homicidal manic.

In the second half of the first season, "The Cabal", a powerful shadow organization that captures, studies, and experiments on Abnormals in the belief that the Abnormal population is a threat to the human species, is introduced. During the season one finale, "Revelations", they test a small amount of a biological weapon named Lazarus, that causes all types of Abnormals to become extremely violent, attacking anyone nearby, before they painfully die. This is part of The Cabal's overall plan to incite humanity against the Abnormals so that they can wipe out the entire Abnormal population and gain a greater amount of power over humanity.

[edit] Cast and characters

• Amanda Tapping as Dr. Helen Magnus, an English medical and scientific researcher who has devoted her life to both hunting and protecting so-called 'monsters'. She runs a 'Sanctuary for All' where they may find refuge while she studies them and attempts to help them. She's 157 years old.
• Robin Dunne as Dr. Will Zimmerman, a brilliant forensic psychiatrist who is recruited by Dr. Magnus to help her treat people - specifically those which are difficult to reach emotionally, and need to be convinced to trust her.
• Emilie Ullerup as Ashley Magnus, Dr. Magnus' daughter with John Druitt. Ashley is an expert monster hunter, and provides a counterbalance to Dr. Magnus' desire to protect creatures.
• Ryan Robbins as Henry Foss, a self-proclaimed geek. He is both a weapons designer and a brilliant computer scientist. He keeps the Sanctuary's defenses working as well. It is revealed that he himself is a werewolf-like Abnormal.
• Christopher Heyerdahl as John Druitt, Dr. Magnus' former lover, he has the ability to teleport across both time and great distances. Unfortunately, this causes him brain damage every time he teleports, and he has become a twisted killer. His insanity is reversed after he is tortured by Tesla.
• Christopher Heyerdahl also as Bigfoot,^[5] a former patient of Dr. Magnus, she removed "more than a few bullets" from him, and after he recovered, he would not leave so Dr. Magnus gave him a position on her staff, as a butler, chauffeur, and body guard. He appears to be an intelligent Neanderthal and before meeting Dr. Magnus he liked to scare children for fun.

[edit] Production

The series is produced by Stage 3 Media based in Vancouver, British Columbia, located in Canada, founded in 2006. The webisodes were filmed from January 3 to January 31, 2007 at Bridge Studios.^[6] Sanctuary is filmed almost entirely using the green screen technique. Unlike many other shows, elaborate sets are not built for the scenes to be filmed; instead, they are created using CGI technology. Production on the television version of Sanctuary began in early 2008, with a reshooting of the pilot episode, "Sanctuary for All".^[7][8][9] The first season cost an estimated $21 million (Canadian), and filmed in Burnaby, Vancouver.^[10] In December 2008, the series was confirmed to have been picked up for a second season of thirteen episodes.^[2] The second season began production in the end of March/beginning of April, 2009. Guest stars for the second season include Agam Darshi, who will play con-artist Kate Freelander,^[11] and former Stargate SG-1 actor Michael Shanks as Jimmy for the ninth episode, entitled "Penance."^[12]

Sanctuary is the first television series in North America to use the RED camera exclusively. The RED camera system does away with tape and film and records straight to a hard drive allowing the Anthem Visual Effects and the series’ post production team immediate access to the day’s footage, and is capable of recording at resolutions up to 4096 horizontal by 2304 vertical pixels, four times the resolution of current day HD.^[13] Other than being a primary cast member, Amanda Tapping is also an executive producer on the show, but according to Tapping herself in an interview with The Today Show, she does not get paid extra as an executive producer, mainly because what salary the executive producers would get would go towards paying for the sets, because the series is not backed up by a studio.^[14] Although heavily reliant on virtual sets, few episodes in the first season, including "Kush" and "Requiem" were filmed on practical sets, including the fuselage of an aircraft. The series also took a different filming style for the Cloverfield-esque "Instinct".^[2]

Sanctuary has a large number of connections with the Stargate franchise. The show's creators, Damian Kindler and Martin Wood, are producers and directors for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Amanda Tapping has starred in both series, Ryan Robbins portrayed Ladon Radim in Atlantis, and Christopher Heyerdahl plays two recurring characters on Atlantis. Several guest stars from the first few webisodes - David Hewlett, Paul McGillion, Kavan Smith, and Chuck Campbell star or recur on Atlantis, the two latter also appear in the Sci Fi-produced series. Additionally, Stargate Atlantis regular, David Nykl was present in the cast of Sanctuary's fourth episode, "Kush". In Episode 8, "Edward", one of the creature drawings created by the episode protagonist is of an Unas, a recurring species in Stargate SG-1; another one is of a Wraith, from Stargate Atlantis.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Broadcast and release

Unlike traditional TV series, the primary distribution channel for Sanctuary was originally the Internet. Episodes were sold directly to viewers on the official website. The web episodes or "webisodes", are about 15–20 minutes in duration and were released bi-weekly. The success of the webisodes led the Syfy to commission a 13-episode season for 2008.^[1] The first four webisodes were rewritten and reshot as a two-hour premiere episode, "Sanctuary for All".^[9] Although the show's creators initially said that the deal with the SciFi channel would not have an impact on the web access of the series, the webisodes are no longer available.

In its first season on Syfy, the original series, Sanctuary has averaged a 1.9 Household rating; 1,044,000 Adults (Ages 18–49); 1,371,000 Adults (Ages 25–54) and 2,366,000 total viewers. The pilot episode, "Sanctuary for All" received a Nielsen household rating of 2.2, the highest rated original series premiere from Syfy since the series primiere of Eureka in July 2006. The 2.2 rating represented more than 2.7 million viewers; 1.08 million among the adult 18-49 demographic and 1.4 million among the adult 25-54 demographic. This placed Sanctuary the number one cable program among adults 25-54, and number four among adults 18-49. The ratings success also boosted the web series to 1.2 million views.^[15] In the United Kingdom, both parts placed the series first place on the top ten viewing programmes for ITV4 during the two weeks they aired. The first part was viewed by 565,000,^[16] while the second part received a higher viewing figure of 608,000.^[17]

The first season will be released on DVD on Region 1 for September 15, 2009,^[18] Contender Home Entertainment, in the UK (Region 2), will be releasing a PAL version of the boxset of four DVDs on October 19, 2009.^[19] A release date for Region 4 has yet to be announced.

[edit] Critical response

The series is general received warmly from the likes of IGN and TV Squad. Tori Ireland Mell of IGN called the series an intriguing story, and a mind-blowing concept, and believes the series from a production standpoint was executed well.^[20] Some reviewers has made comparisons between Sanctuary and British science fiction series Torchwood and Primeval, as well as drawing comparisons between Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) and Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1.^[21][22] USA Today reviewer Bill Keveney said that Amanda Tapping had reached her "Comfort zone," and continued with further positive reaction to the TV series.^[23] Rick Bentley from McClatchy Newspapers commented Tapping's role as Dr. Helen Magnus was a way for the actor to make a name of herself outside the Stargate universe as character Samantha Carter.^[24]

Sanctuary has been nominated for six Constellation Awards, the results are to be announced on July 11, 2009.^[25] The series has also been nominated for ten Leo Awards and won four of these in 2009.^[26]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Sanctuary Wiki, an external wiki (under construction)
• Sanctuary at Allmovie
• Sanctuary at the Internet Movie Database (2008)
• Sanctuary at TV.com

v • d • e Sanctuary Series Awards and nominations · Characters · Episodes (Season 1 · Season 2) · Webisodes Cast Robin Dunne · Christopher Heyerdahl · Ryan Robbins · Amanda Tapping · Emilie Ullerup Crew Sam Egan · Damian Kindler · Amanda Tapping · Martin Wood