There are plenty of reasons why the SciFi channel can't broadcast the BBC series "Torchwood." The alternative to doing so is to remake it for an American audience. Unfortunately, the Amanda Tapping vehicle that is "Sanctuary" comes up short. "Torchwood" had a pedigree, of course, but it's premiere was interesting and kept your interest. It was funny and serious and Gwen Cooper was a great window into the reorganized Torchwood Institute. Former FBI investigator Will Zimmerman who is our window into the Sanctuary is nowhere near as interesting. Then there's the crappy special effect weevil that lives in the Sanctuary's shoe. And Tapping's Dr. Helen Magnus, with her indeterminate accent, stands on the top of a building and strikes a Capt. Jack Harkness pose. Tapping's 157-year-old Magnus is in no way equal to John Barrowman's immortal Harkness. "Sanctuary" tries to play on Torchwood's moody rainy streets sensibility and tales of monsters and falls flat. The premiere's storytelling was glacial, plodding, predictable and boring.
Why SciFi would greenlight "Sanctuary" yet let "Caprica" languish in development hell is anyone's guess. It's a sad commentary indeed that the networks are producing better scifi programming than the SciFi channel. If the premiere of "Sanctuary" is any measure of what's to come, this series will deserve to go the way of the SciFi channel's reimagined "Flash Gordon."
No comments:
Post a Comment