Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
Good times for science fiction fans. This week marks the return of the popular series, Eureka, on the newly named SyFy channel. No, not “see-fee”, “Sci Fi”.
This week also marks the debut of the new series, Warehouse 13. If you don’t have the SyFy channel on cable, the pilot for the show can be found at Hulu, at the SyFy show site, and also available, for free, in HD quality, at Amazon Video on Demand, and iTunes.
I watched the show using my Roku box and via Amazon VOD. The digital quality was excellent, the streaming more than sufficient.
Warehouse 13 is about a secret government-run warehouse in the badlands of South Dakota, which contains all manner of supernatural and super science oddities. The main characters are a mysterious woman, known as Mrs. Frederick (played by C. C. H. Pounder), who recruits members for an organization to locate, and bring back, whatever dangerous oddities still exist in the wild. The crew consists of Arthur “Artie” Nielsen (played by Saul Rubinek), the long time team member, who is newly joined by two Secret Service agents: Peter Lattimer (played by Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (played by Joanne Kelly). He’s loose, she’s uptight, and yes, this has been done before. However, they pull it off well, especially the Bering character. And Saul Rubinek is excellent in the show, taking his character, Artie, beyond the typical mad genius who is above emotional turmoil. The man gets mad, looses his cool, worries about people, but still manages to come off quirky, and fun.
The pilot has the team hunting the jeweled comb of Lucretia Borgia, allowing for a strong female protagonist, making a nice change from the typical science fiction program, with male or monster baddies.
Will you like Warehouse 13? If you like Steampunk, Eureka at its more serious, X-Files, at its lighter and quirkier moments, you’ll probably like Warehouse 13. At a minimum, you can check out the pilot for free.
Other things to watch this week:
- Watching “Maxed Out” on Netflix Watch Now. “Maxed Out” is a documentary on the credit card business, and is both fascinating, and more than a little chilling. If you don’t have access to Netflix Watch Now, it’s also available as Amazon VOD, and on iTunes. Recommended.
- Watching the Doctor Who special show, “The Next Doctor” via iTunes on my AppleTV. This show features the tenth Doctor Who, David Tennant, who will be ending his stint this year. A pity, too, as he was an excellent Doctor. Frankly, I’m not sure about the next, much younger Doctor. It’s an interesting experiment on the part of the series, but could backfire. Regardless, “The Next Doctor” is prime Doctor Who, and any Doctor fan will want to view it. It’s free for you folks in the UK. The rest of us will have to get it through iTunes, or via DVD or TV (BBC America).
- Watching “The 3D Sun”, on Hulu. This 30 minute documentary put out by NASA covers Stereo, positioning satellites in parallel, equidistant from the earth, in order to provide a 3D look at the Sun’s activity. The show features excellent interviews, a nice overview of how the Sun’s activity impacts on the us, and wonderful visuals. Of course, what we’ve come to expect from NASA. If you can’t access Hulu, you can access the video at the STEREO Mission site. It’s also been released to theaters as 3D, but I hate the stupid glasses. Watch it on your computer instead.
- For all you old Star Trek fans, You can access shows at YouTube, as well as the CBS.com site, in addition to accessing on Watch Now, and on iTunes. In other words, there’s always some Star Trek to watch. It has to be better than watching the latest episode of “You Can Dance!”
Happy viewing.