Sanctuary

I just finished watching all three seasons of SyFy’s show Sanctuary.  It took me a week and a half to watch 50 episodes.  I really enjoyed the show and couldn’t stop myself from watching it during my free time.  I’ve read almost nothing for the past week, and I’ve also ignored finishing my pre-trip homework.  I’ve been completely obsessed with the show.

For those of you who don’t know anything about it here’s a brief intro.  The show focuses on Dr. Helen Magnus, leader of a global network of sanctuaries for Abnormals; creatures that other people believe are only myths.  Magnus and her teams offer safe havens for peaceful Abnormals and prisons for violent ones.  The object is to study them and learn as much as possible about the physical world.  In my opinion the show operates kind of like a cross between House and superheroes.  There are constant missions and medical problems to be solved, Abnormals to collect and contain.  There are also a range of superhuman abilities spread out among several of the main characters who are Abnormal.  There are bad guys to stop, like black market slavers, scientific experimenters, and people who just want to destroy the Sanctuary network.  Every once in a while Magnus and/or teammates are infected/injured by a variety of things.  For example: psychotic killing spree inducing viruses, bitten by paranoia inducing insects, suffer from hallucinations, get tranformed into new species, get trapped in a virtual reality, become superheroes via an insect Abnormal supersuit, get captured and experimented on, and occasionally someone (temporarily) dies. 

Whenever anything inexplicable happens, Magnus and her teams are called in.  As the first season opens Magnus recruits a new protégé, Will Zimmerman, who’s in for the ride of his life.  The season one team consists of Henry, the techie, Magnus’ daughter Ashley, weapons and creature capture specialist, and Big Foot, the butler/driver/lab assistant.  Magnus' Sanctuary is a combination of gothic cathedral and high tech medical security facility.  Dr. Magnus’ lengthy and interesting history is slowly revealed throughout the show.  She is a 157 year old Brit after all, so there’s a lot of history to cover.  She has constantly been at the cutting edge of history and science.  For example: she was on the Titanic when it sank and she helped save the Allied forces on D-Day.

Here’s a few of the characters she interacts with on a semi-regular basis throughout the show: Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, and a half vampire with electro-magnetic abilities.  Personally, Jack the Ripper and the vampire are two of the more interesting secondary characters.   The fourth season is currently in production, and it should have 13 episodes; hopefully it will start up in the fall.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes from seasons 1-3:

Helen: Is that tea?

Will: The gods are on vacation.  It’s coffee.  Here, have some.

Helen: I’ll pass.  I have standards Will, coffee is well below them.

Will: You’re a Brit to the core.

Helen: And proud of it.

Will (takes sip): This is the world’s worst cup of coffee.

Helen: Rule Britannia.

Will: I can’t believe I did what I did.

Helen: You did what you had to.  We both knew it wouldn’t leave me while I was alive.  As deaths go, it was very creative.

Will: Magnus, never, ever ask me to kill you again.

Helen: Despite his good will of late, there are definitely warring sides to his personality.  Will, keep him company.

Will: What? I’m supposed to tell Jack the Ripper to fetch?

Helen: You don’t think I can handle his task?

James: One he had the powers of an ancient vampire.  Two he fell asleep in Edison’s electric chair at full current.  I don’t see your skill sets overlapping.

Will: You know, you might want to spend a little less time with Jack the Ripper.  It’s affecting your manners somewhat.

Will: So we are going to use a torch on top of a fuel soaked chopper that has a sea scorpion trapped inside it to drop it into the water so the giant vampire squid will follow it down?

Magnus: Sounds like a plan.

Declan: We need to discuss your next move.

Magnus: Currying political favour, I’d rather drink coffee.

Will: Surgery, here?

Helen: I’ve operated in the trenches at Verdun, at least here I don’t have to deal with the mud and the rats.

Will: Well, if you put it that way.

Helen: Go fix my generator.

Tesla: What am I your house elf?

Helen: Thank you Dobby.

Kate: Death, check.  I can put that on my resume.

Will: This is the second time for me.  It doesn’t get any easier.

Henry: So they reanimated us, like we’re zombies.  I’m not ok with that.