Sanctuary For All (101-102)

[Integrabyte]

But if you watched the pilot completely unspoiled, then I do see how her accent can be confusing. I've spoiled myself silly about this show, so it was quite straightforward for me.

Now you know where I am coming from. Next time don't shoot me beforehand. For me that flashback was additional info regarding her relationship with John. As far as I could tell, she traveled around the world in order to offer her assistance to the ones in need. It did not cross my mind that she was born and lived there before shacking up with John.

[EvenstarSRV]

Now you know where I am coming from. Next time don't shoot me beforehand. For me that flashback was additional info regarding her relationship with John. As far as I could tell, she traveled around the world in order to offer her assistance to the ones in need. It did not cross my mind that she was born and lived there before shacking up with John.

Did I shoot you down before? I don't think I did, but I'm very sorry if it came across that way, that was not my intention at all.

I've noticed a lot of Sanctuary reviewers commenting on not understanding why Helen has an English accent, so I've been trying to understand the confusion since it seemed fairly straightforward to me. I've seen the webisodes multiple times, and sometimes I forget that a lot of people watching the show now have never seen them.

So again, I'm sorry if it seemed like I was shooting your comment down, I really did not mean for it to come across that way.

[Integrabyte]

People often think I am one of those people who does not sleep at night and I use google to read everything about the next episode of [insert show here]. I don't do that. When I saw all the actors in Sanctuary, I was like **YAY, SGA and BSG reunion **. I was pleasantly surprised to see that.


Another thing missing in this Sanctuary episode were the cool guns . I loved the gold gun Ashley was using (Demi Moore had two of those in Charlie's Angels ) but for some reason I thought killing ghouls needed some cooler weapons . Tis good we get a nice weapon in the next episode .

[Rachel500]

So, given the second part of the pilot, how did it all stack up?

If the first half was all about starting the introduction to the primary characters, the second is about completing it. There are two focuses: the first, finding out more about Helen (and by extension, Ashley), and the second, Will making his decision.

Will’s plotline shifts from main to sub in the second half. The ending of the storyline with the boy does provide a reason why it was a vulnerable child with a problem chosen to front the first half and not just a big, scary ‘wow’ monster. It provides Will with a chance to show his expertise and for him to start to view ‘monsters’ in a different way – a thread picked up on, expanded through the discussion with Helen around the death of his mother and completed through his reassessment of BigFoot. It’s not a surprise that Will ultimately makes the decision to stay but what is good is the caveats he places on that decision and the sense that he still isn’t certain. Robin Dunne performs well.

The main plot in this second half belongs to Helen as her past is explored. Her relationship with John Druitt (another excellent performance by Christopher Heyerdahl), the truth about Ashley’s birth and her own uniqueness are revealed. Tapping gives a very good performance and here, Helen is fully realised as a character with Sam completely discarded; lonely, dealing with secrets and past mistakes that haunt her, a worried mother and a scared woman. The scenes with her and Will both on the roof and at the end show her vulnerability; the scene with Heyerdahl which is fabulously tense, her strength.

Ashley is also highlighted through the Druitt story: the fact that she is the daughter of two beings with power, her abilities, her toughness. She is slightly relegated to damsel in distress – she is rescued by both Silvio and the Sanctuary boys later, but there is enough seeded to hope that she becomes more later. Certainly the fact that she knows nothing of her heritage promises an interesting tension to the relationship with her mother and potentially Will.

Both Silvio and Henry provide some interesting colour around the three primary characters although both remain firmly in cliché land as tough, gangster-rap type weapons dealer and wisecracking geek. However, both do create some banter and interest in another hour that while upping the action from the first, still has huge swathes that are devoted to talk and exposition. I’m not certain we needed the flashback to London and John’s serial killer past.

The production values of the second half of the pilot remain high and it was nice to see some daylight added to the show by the end. Some of the quality of the CGI did seem to be eroded at times: on the roof scene, in the storage warehouse in the fight between Ashley and Druitt and in the scene with the monster in the cage. At one point in the latter the whole thing got so blurry that I had no idea what was going on.

So, what of the whole piece? Looking at both episodes together they definitely set up the premise of the show, introduce the characters and provide some interesting dynamics that will hopefully be explored. It promises to be less ‘hunt the monster of the week’ and more a character based drama where the characters are involved with hunting monsters. So in many ways the pilot set out to do what it needed.

It definitely needs to get a better balance of exposition to action though. While understandable that there was a lot of information to communicate, there was too much here across both hours. The action element also needs to be clearer – the fight scenes were blurry and jumpy at times, and not so contained to one room, one area in order to get the sense of more motion and drama.

For me, it also still needs to lighten up in tone; Will and Helen seem too serious, too earnest at the moment and the danger is going to be that potentially recurring characters such as Henry and Silvio will become a lot more interesting and liked because they don’t treat the events so heavily.

Overall, it’s a solid accomplished piece. I can’t say I’m hooked or a fan - yet - but I will probably continue watching for the time being to see where it goes. As a pilot it has done its job, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

[Mousie]

Sorry if this has been mentioned/discussed already but I'd be interested to know if Ashley knows Helen's history, i.e, that she is 157 years old, that she is anyway 'special'?

[Integrabyte]

Obviously she does not know John is her father. I do imagine she is aware that her mom is not normal but I do not think she knows the whole story. Is Helen immortal or the perks of science?

[sbz]

Sorry if this has been mentioned/discussed already but I'd be interested to know if Ashley knows Helen's history, i.e, that she is 157 years old, that she is anyway 'special'?

I would answer that with a resounding "yes." Why? Many reasons.

Firstly, I don't see Magnus as the type of person who would lie to her daughter about that. She told Ashley about abnormals etc, brought her into that world, why would she lie about herself? Furthermore, she could be brutally truthful about everything else to compensate for the lie about Druitt.

Secondly, more practically, Ashely had to be told in the interests of maintaining their relationship. I figure Ash is about 20 years old, old enough to realize her mother isn't aging (if she didn't notice sooner). Magnus had to tell her because of this.

Third, in the episode Fata Morgana

Spoiler:

Ash says "you'd be surprised" in response to Squid who said the Kabal had been around for a lot longer than the Magnus women.

I don't see it as a secret that, practically speaking, could be kept from someone who's as close to Magnus as Ashley is, who lives with her day in and day out.

[RealmOfX]

Is Helen immortal or the perks of science?

This is something that I'm interested in seeing if they keep it the same as in the webisodes because in the webisodes Helen was supposed to not be immortal but long lived and a rather vague remark implied that the longevity could have come about through her work with abnormals. However we'll have to wait and see where they go with it for TV, apparently they explain a lot about Helen in a upcoming episode.

[Mousie]

I would answer that with a resounding "yes." Why? Many reasons.

Firstly, I don't see Magnus as the type of person who would lie to her daughter about that. She told Ashley about abnormals etc, brought her into that world, why would she lie about herself? Furthermore, she could be brutally truthful about everything else to compensate for the lie about Druitt.

Secondly, more practically, Ashely had to be told in the interests of maintaining their relationship. I figure Ash is about 20 years old, old enough to realize her mother isn't aging (if she didn't notice sooner). Magnus had to tell her because of this.

Third, in the episode Fata Morgana

Spoiler:

Ash says "you'd be surprised" in response to Squid who said the Kabal had been around for a lot longer than the Magnus women.

I don't see it as a secret that, practically speaking, could be kept from someone who's as close to Magnus as Ashley is, who lives with her day in and day out.

That makes sense, especially re Fata, which is on in the UK tonight!

[Integrabyte]

I always thought KABAL was more and not one . Guess I need to see it again . Maybe because John says others...

[kes]

When John appears, in the office, does Ash say "Bloody hell!" or "What the hell?" Sounds "Bloody hell" to me and it would be cooler, cos it something she would've picked up from Magnus. Shame she says crap in the last ep (Revelations pt 2).

[EvilSpaceAlien]

I watched this episode 6 months ago I think, and didn't really pull men in. I decided to give it shot again, and there were some good and some bad. Amanda's supposedly british accent was annoying as hell, but I think I'll be able to ignore it. It didn't pull me in this time either, but I've decided to keep watching to see if it gets better.

[AresLover452]

i was rewatching the entire eppy while I was at work and it was just funy that Magnus hit will with the car... i found that funny.

[Teal'c_PI]

I think this is one of the best pilots I've seen; even better than SGA's Rising. The scene where Helen talks to the mermaid is absolutely wonderful. And to find out from the commentary that Martin Wood fought to keep it against everyone else's wishes...was actually shocking!

[Tachyon]

Just watched the first two episodes. It's a good start. Not brilliant, but not bad or mediocre either. I'll definitely keep on watching.