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SANCTUARY |
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Amanda Tapping Robin Dunne Emilie Ullerup Christopher Heyerdahl Ryan Robbins Agam Darshi 
OTHER SANCTUARY SEASONS Season 1 OTHER HERO SHOWS Birds of Prey Batman Blade Heroes 
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End of Nights- Part 1Ashley, Helen Magnus's daughter, is still in the hands of the mysterious Cabal and is having her genes manipulated into something else. The Cabal also want to get hold of some products of an old experiment. The Sanctuary team must prevent that, using a Cabal operative as a key to finding out what is going on. SANCTUARY may have come from a web series and been a bit of a split personality in its first season as a result, but it comes back to the screen for this second series full of confidence and with an agenda that would appear to be tightly worked out. The Cabal's plan is slowly revealed as each clue is discovered and it is something of a biggie. OK, there's the occasional steal from the likes of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but if you're going to steal then steal from the best and it is used in the service of a tightly exciting plot. The action may not be high octane when it finally arrives, but there is the feeling that there is more to come and it's going to be worth the wait. There's too much plot happening for the cast to really make an impression and the villains are a bit pantomime, but then that's par for the course in this kind of thing. At least the principals are firing on all cylinders. SANCTUARY is back and the signs are looking good. Written by Damian KindlerDirected by Martin Wood Top End of Nights- Part 2The Cabal have created a group of superhuman soldiers with the single aim of wiping out the whols Sanctuary network. As the safe houses fall around the globe, Helen Magnus has Nikolai Tesla working on a weapon to stop them, but without killing Magnus's daughter Ashley in the process. Season 1 of SANCTUARY varied in quality from episode to episode, but few of them were up to the standard of this two-parter conclusion. The situation is dire, the enemy is gathering and the promised super weapon hasn't turned out to be the Deus Ex Machina solution that was expected. There's also the possibility of one of the biggest shocks that the show could have produced in only the second episode. The action is fast and furious and there is a lot of it, but there is also time for character stuff as well, giving more meaning to the flashier side of things. Some of the CGI background work renders scenes a bit flat, but the plot rips along at such a pace that these are minor matters, even managing to paper over most of the major plot holes. With this opening two-parter, SANCTUARY has raised its game. It now remains to see whether it can live up to it. Written by Damian KindlerDirected by Martin Wood Top EulogyThe members of the Sanctuary network are mourning their losses each in their own way, which for John Druitt means that he is killing everyone he can find in the Cabal. Helen Magnus is looking for any evidence that her daughter survived the attacks and Will is trying to help her comes to terms with that loss as he has come to terms with his. The rest of the gang have more practical issues to worry about. There are two aspects to this episode and only one of them is any good. The team chasing around after a CGI beastie (and there are some really poor effects in this episode) is uninventive, cheesy and really rather dull, even if it does introduce Agam Darshi as the all-action girl replacement for Ashley. Helen Magnus's obssessive search for her daughter is much better thanks to the controlled performance from Amanda Tapping with strong support from Robin Dunne. The fact that such searches often turn up the goods in sci-fi shows makes it even stronger when she eventually fails. Of course, this is Sci-fi, so that doesn't mean anything as yet. Written by Sara B CooperDirected by Brenton Spencer Top HeroThe discovery of an ancient egg releases a giant insect into the city. At the same time, a man in a strange suit appears righting wrongs and being all superhero-like. Kate finds herself targeted by a gangster through her loser brother. Three stories to play with and none of them prove to be worth a third of an episode. The hero strand is the most humourous and pleasing, but the very poor CGI effects spoil the impact. As for the egg, it's a monster of the week story that has no real point to it and Kate's dilemma is dealt with too brusquely to really carry any weight. After the initial opening of the series, this is a disappointment. Written by Allan McCulloughDirected by Martin Wood Top Pavor NocturnusMagnus wakes up to find herself in the Sanctuary, but a ruined Sanctuary in the heart of a destroyed city. Rain pours constantly and there's something out there, something that is most certainly not friendly. SANCTUARY is mainly a formulaic genre show, but every now and then it throws up an episode that just stands out head and shoulders above the rest and Pavor Nocturnus is just such an episode. For starters, it is shot in washed out brown shades that speak of the desolation and then it is soaked in perpetual rain. There's no explanation for what has happened or how Magnus came to be there and the destruction of the Sanctuary and the city are impressively rendered. As the story reveals itself, it becomes less impressive and the resolution is one big reset switch, but introducing Will as an embittered and violent survivor gives the show an edge of realism, fatalism and death. This is much harder than the SANCTUARY that we are used to and it is all the better for it. Written by James Thorpe and Damian KindlerDirected by Brenton Spencer Top |
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