Sanctuary: A Warm and Cozy Place to Be

Secret organizations, mutants, historical references and global locales are what attracted me to Syfy Channel’s Sanctuary. It began as a web series that was picked up by the network and is now on its second season. The Canadian television series features Amanda Tapping, most known for her role on Stargate SG-1 as Captain Samantha “Sam” Carter.

Sanctuary is about Dr. Helen Magnus, a hundred-something-year-old English scientist who has set up sanctuaries all over the world to help, learn about, and at times confine a group called abnormals. These abnormals are human and non-human entities with varying abilities ranging from lycanthropy to teleportation. Magnus is a part of a group of five scientists during the Victorian era, who were seeking to push the boundaries of science. This resulted in her acquisition of a vial of undiluted vampire blood, which she and the rest of her cohorts injected into their own bodies with differing effects. John Druitt (played by Christopher Heyerdahl) receives the ability of teleportation, though using his power results in driving him mad and he becomes Jack the Ripper. Nigel Griffin on the other hand gains ability to become invisible (aka the Invisible Man). James Watson’s (taken from Dr. James Watson of Sherlock Holmes) intellect becomes magnified and then Nikola Tesla (based on the real scientist who contributed to humanity’s understanding of electricity) becomes a Vampire hybrid. Lastly Magnus attains the ability of halted aging.

In present day, Magnus recruits Dr. Will Zimmerman, a forensic psychiatrist with emphatic abilities as her protégé. His analytical mind and thirst for knowledge is what makes him a valuable member of the sanctuary team. Other main characters include Ashley Magnus, daughter of Helen Magnus, a weapons and hunting expert; weapons designer and resident computer expert Henry Foss and finally Big Foot, a humanoid creature who fills in the role of butler, bodyguard, and handyman to Magnus.

The first season mainly deals with Magnus’s past, but we are also introduced to a secret organization known as the Cabal. They are the antithesis to the Sanctuary where their goal is to study and exploit abnormals, either to incite humans against them or to wipe them out completely while giving the organization world domination in the progress.

While Sanctuary seems formulaic in its elements, I’ve enjoyed the series because of its references to history, literature, and pop culture. The storyline is X-Men meets X-Files with a sprinkle of Doctor Who. While it’s not the most revolutionary series ever to come out of the science fiction genre, its background plots are what keep me coming back for more. The idea of Magnus and the other five scientists were particularly interesting and actors Amanda Tapping, Christopher Heyerdahl, Jonathon Young, and Peter Wingfield portrayed each character with depth and relatedness.

My favorite though by far has to be Druitt because you’re not quite sure whether he really has reformed from his homicidal ways. As mentioned earlier, he had gained the ability to teleport but the effect was that it caused him to go on a murderous rampage. We also learn that Magnus and Druitt used to be lovers and that Ashley is their child. In the present day, he seems cool, calm, and stoic but shows the good in him in placing his trust in Ashley in order to save Magnus from the clutches of the Cabal. Druitt’s character appears genuinely remorseful of his past actions and seems to still harbor feelings for his former fiancée. It’s been enjoyable to see Heyerdahl portray a character with a strong personality and yet is constantly conflicted because of his past. Incidentally, he also plays vampire Marcus in the popular Twilight series.

I have also appreciated that the show is set in many different locations, from fictional “Old City” to Cairo and Montreal. While they aren’t actually shot in those places and are actually filmed on virtual sets, it’s nice that we get to see characters of different ethnicities as much as we see abnormals of different kinds.

Sanctuary is also the first television series based in North America to be filmed entirely on the Red One camera. What makes this technology revolutionary is that it duplicates the quality of analog film digitally (four times the resolution of HD) and that makes it cheaper and easier to use. It also cuts down the workflow time allowing for Syfy executives to view rough cuts of scenes for approval as quickly as possible.

This series is ultimately an enjoyable ride through a fantasy world that parallels our own modern times. It’s not perfect by any means, but if you can get past the generic elements that you find in most mutant-focused television series/books/films/comic books then Sanctuary is a pretty warm and cozy place to nestle in for any science fiction enthusiast on any given Friday night.

Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy

For more television reviews, click here.

Photographs courtesy of SyFy, NBC Universal, Jeff Weddell, and Jamel Toppin.