Taking Sanctuary

Sorry about the terrible pun in the title ... but it had to made.

Previously, I've blogged about my love/hate relationship with the Sci-Fi channel - it's potential for kick-assery is rivaled only by it's potential for cheesiness. In any given show, it's a toss-up as to which will win out in the end. And so, when I sat down to watch Sanctuary tonight, it was with a skeptical eye and one hand on the clicker.


Sanctuary is the story of Dr. Will Zimmerman, a forensic psychiatrist who gets recruited by a cryptozoologist, Dr. Helen Magnus, to aid in her mission "to find and help the unfortunate creatures of this world." Basically, she runs a humane society for monsters. So, right from the get-go the pseudoscience starts to bug. They keep saying things like "massive genetic mutation" and "I kept the embryo frozen for a century." It just makes my teeth hurt.

Still, the show has several redeeming qualities - not the least of which is the cast. Zimmerman is a classic Hot Nerd, played by Robin Dunne, the star of one of my favorite indie films, Borderline Normal. Magnus, the omniscient mentor figure, is played by Stargate SG-1 fan-favorite Amanda Tapping, aka Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter.

I knew (of) them when...

The cast is rounded out by the usual tropes: blonde hottie with an attitude, scruffy techno-geek, psychopathic ex-boyfriend who never dies... Wait, that's only a trope for James Marsters. You wish you were that cool, John Druitt! But, I digress. Sanctuary is definitely worth a look - Fridays a 9pm, on Sci-Fi.