"Sanctuary: 2007-2011," a post-mortem
Sigh. When I sent in my Season 4 Sanctuary reviews to Geek Speak, I mentioned the limbo we were in regarding renewal. The editor asked me if I would be willing to do a post-mortem if "Sanctuary for None" did turn out to be a series finale, and I said sure. I kind of hoped I wouldn't have to. Alas, it became more and more clear it would be necessary. So it's my sad duty as Geek Speak's resident Sanctuarian to bid adieu to our show. ~sniffle~ Oh, and I decided to call it 2011 because that's when they stopped shooting it, when they aired the final episode... 2012 was just waiting for the official word.
"Same old Helen: I'm just going to jump off this cliff and hope that I sprout wings."
Sanctuary
2007 (webseries), 2008-2011
Syfy
Created by: Damian Kindler
Starring: Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, Ryan Robbins, Agam Darshi, Christopher Heyerdahl, Emilie Ullerup
"Good doctors come and go, but the great ones have always seen beyond the boundaries of science, beyond the known. The great ones dare to believe in the unbelievable."
-- Helen Magnus
This was the little show that could. A lot of shows can be described as labors of love, but Sanctuary truly earns the title. It was created as a webseries, filmed between Amanda Tapping's commitments to Stargate (because really, she only had a starring role on Atlantis and a movie to film simultaneously while also raising a baby and, we can only assume, sleeping occasionally... she must have had an hour or two of the day left to fill) and released with no real expectation anything would come from it.
SyFy, back then still bearing the comprehensible moniker "SciFi Channel" decided to turn the show into a series. Amanda Tapping hung up the combat boots she'd made comfortable over the past eleven years and strapped on a pair of sling-back heels. She dyed her hair black, grew it out, and spoke with a posh British accent that further separated her from the character we'd grown to adore over the previous decade. For an actress to completely change herself like that takes guts. Fans have turned on actors and shows for less than a haircut.
When Sanctuary premiered, the terrible trio - writer/creator Damian Kindler, director Martin Wood, and actress Amanda Tapping - acted as executive producers but didn't receive compensation for the job. They were only there to get the show up and running, and they felt the executive producer fees would go toward making the show since they weren't backed by a studio. The show was filmed with a heavy reliance on virtual sets, which allowed them to give their world a scope and depth unlike anything else on television. The Sanctuary was truly a dark, Gothic place with branching corridors and dark nooks and crannies where anything could (and probably was) lurking.
Sanctuary was the story of Dr. Helen Magnus, a teratologist from Victorian England whose experiments with vampire blood granted her the gift/curse of longevity. When the series begins she is 157 years old and hasn't aged since 1888. She's used her extended lifespan to continue her father's work of seeking out creatures called "Abnormals." Her mission is to protect these creatures from humans, and vice versa.
Helen Magnus: I work with sentient beings, each worthy of the same respect that humans, even animals, receive automatically. These creatures are the key to the evolution of our race, past and future, and yet we revile them, destroy them. And worst of all, pretend they don't even exist. But they are out there, Dr. Zimmerman. Lost, like the child you saw tonight. Misunderstood, hunted... and they need our help, your help.
Will Zimmerman: I-I still don't understand why you would come to me.
Helen Magnus: Because I need someone who can see beyond the surface, see the world as it really is.
Will Zimmerman: I profile criminals, not monsters.
Helen Magnus: You can't see the irony in that statement?
Throughout history, Helen has had a myriad of people assisting her in this goal. At the turn of the last century, she worked with James Watson (the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes), Nikola Tesla (yes, that one), Nigel Griffin (who inspired The Invisible Man), and her fiancé, Montague John Druitt: Jack the Ripper. She acquired wealth and connections that have made her a very dangerous person to cross.
Helen was one of the most dynamic characters in science-fiction. She was flawed and dark, she was funny and charming. She was a damsel in distress who didn't wait around to be rescued; she just knocked out her guards and rescued her own damn self. She had an uncanny ability to transform even the most domestic line, like "get off my property" and "My house, my rules," into lines worthy of Clint Eastwood at his most badass. Helen Magnus was in charge, and woe to anyone who challenged that.
Helen Magnus: You come near us again, and I'll arrange to have you eaten.
One of the most intriguing things about Sanctuary was the scope of its history. For each season, the main title was adjusted to show a photograph of Helen standing beside a different historic figure. Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were all spotted on Helen's desk, and countless other historic figures were name-dropped through the series. Helen didn't treat these as brushes with history; they were just people she once worked alongside. Joe DiMaggio taught her how to play baseball. She was aboard the Titanic during its doomed voyage. She watched the sun rise with one of the Beatles (George Harrison, as confirmed by Amanda).
Characters like Nikola Tesla, John Druitt and Adam Worth had their origins in real-life Victorian and Edwardian news. Just like Stargate SG-1 sneakily taught mythology and ancient Egyptian history through alien overlords and epic space battles, Sanctuary inspired its fans to dust off their history books (okay, fine, Wikipedia) and read up on the real people their favorite characters were based on.
With all of that put aside, Sanctuary was an extremely rare show in that it featured a lead character who was a woman whose mission in life didn't involve finding Mr. Right, getting married, having a bunch of kids. She held her own with the men. In a situation where Helen is being held hostage, her male companion gets the drop on the enemies and uses his advantage to take out the henchmen at the back of the room. Helen handles the guy with the knife to her throat on her own.
The show took risks. When a same-sex kiss was written into an episode, Amanda Tapping asked for the scene to be adjusted to make it clear Helen wanted it. With one moment, the show confirmed their main character was bisexual, territory rarely explored by other mainstream television series. Amanda had long told anyone who would listen that Helen was bisexual, and that she'd romanced women (including a dalliance with Amelia Earhart), but to have it confirmed so completely was an amazing thing to see. Sanctuary for all is not an empty motto.
And above it all, stepping aside from the show itself for a moment, it was a rare example of a show doing good things in the real world. Some actresses would be content to be the lead on a television show, to travel to conventions and sign autographs, and go home at the end of the day. Amanda Tapping saw an opportunity to use her position for good, and she used her fame to create a charity called Sanctuary for Kids.
Much like the series itself, the charity grew from a small seed, a pebble thrown into a lake, and the ripples quickly grew. The goal was to help children all over the world, to take the idea of a Sanctuary and apply it to those in the real world who really needed a Sanctuary of their own. Amanda and Damian Kindler paid the start-up and administrative costs out of pocket so that all money paid to the charity went directly to the children. Lives have been changed (and without a doubt saved) from the efforts of the charity.
With conventional thinking, Sanctuary should never have existed. A show with no studio backing, powered by the creative energies of three people who basically pushed their boat out to sea and waited for the winds to pick up, it was an uphill climb. We had four great seasons, with historical scope and amazing characters. At the very, very least we can say that the series ended with an appropriate finale. We were witness to the end of one chapter in the long life of Helen Magnus. Whatever the next one is, I'm sure it will be as epic and amazing. I just hope, one way or another, we get a glimpse of what she's up to.
(Sanctuary is over, but Sanctuary for Kids lives on. Please visit sanctuaryforkids.org and see what you can do to help.)
(Written for Geek Speak Magazine)
"Same old Helen: I'm just going to jump off this cliff and hope that I sprout wings."
Sanctuary
2007 (webseries), 2008-2011
Syfy
Created by: Damian Kindler
Starring: Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, Ryan Robbins, Agam Darshi, Christopher Heyerdahl, Emilie Ullerup
"Good doctors come and go, but the great ones have always seen beyond the boundaries of science, beyond the known. The great ones dare to believe in the unbelievable."
-- Helen Magnus
This was the little show that could. A lot of shows can be described as labors of love, but Sanctuary truly earns the title. It was created as a webseries, filmed between Amanda Tapping's commitments to Stargate (because really, she only had a starring role on Atlantis and a movie to film simultaneously while also raising a baby and, we can only assume, sleeping occasionally... she must have had an hour or two of the day left to fill) and released with no real expectation anything would come from it.
SyFy, back then still bearing the comprehensible moniker "SciFi Channel" decided to turn the show into a series. Amanda Tapping hung up the combat boots she'd made comfortable over the past eleven years and strapped on a pair of sling-back heels. She dyed her hair black, grew it out, and spoke with a posh British accent that further separated her from the character we'd grown to adore over the previous decade. For an actress to completely change herself like that takes guts. Fans have turned on actors and shows for less than a haircut.
When Sanctuary premiered, the terrible trio - writer/creator Damian Kindler, director Martin Wood, and actress Amanda Tapping - acted as executive producers but didn't receive compensation for the job. They were only there to get the show up and running, and they felt the executive producer fees would go toward making the show since they weren't backed by a studio. The show was filmed with a heavy reliance on virtual sets, which allowed them to give their world a scope and depth unlike anything else on television. The Sanctuary was truly a dark, Gothic place with branching corridors and dark nooks and crannies where anything could (and probably was) lurking.
Sanctuary was the story of Dr. Helen Magnus, a teratologist from Victorian England whose experiments with vampire blood granted her the gift/curse of longevity. When the series begins she is 157 years old and hasn't aged since 1888. She's used her extended lifespan to continue her father's work of seeking out creatures called "Abnormals." Her mission is to protect these creatures from humans, and vice versa.
Helen Magnus: I work with sentient beings, each worthy of the same respect that humans, even animals, receive automatically. These creatures are the key to the evolution of our race, past and future, and yet we revile them, destroy them. And worst of all, pretend they don't even exist. But they are out there, Dr. Zimmerman. Lost, like the child you saw tonight. Misunderstood, hunted... and they need our help, your help.
Will Zimmerman: I-I still don't understand why you would come to me.
Helen Magnus: Because I need someone who can see beyond the surface, see the world as it really is.
Will Zimmerman: I profile criminals, not monsters.
Helen Magnus: You can't see the irony in that statement?
Throughout history, Helen has had a myriad of people assisting her in this goal. At the turn of the last century, she worked with James Watson (the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes), Nikola Tesla (yes, that one), Nigel Griffin (who inspired The Invisible Man), and her fiancé, Montague John Druitt: Jack the Ripper. She acquired wealth and connections that have made her a very dangerous person to cross.
Helen was one of the most dynamic characters in science-fiction. She was flawed and dark, she was funny and charming. She was a damsel in distress who didn't wait around to be rescued; she just knocked out her guards and rescued her own damn self. She had an uncanny ability to transform even the most domestic line, like "get off my property" and "My house, my rules," into lines worthy of Clint Eastwood at his most badass. Helen Magnus was in charge, and woe to anyone who challenged that.
Helen Magnus: You come near us again, and I'll arrange to have you eaten.
One of the most intriguing things about Sanctuary was the scope of its history. For each season, the main title was adjusted to show a photograph of Helen standing beside a different historic figure. Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were all spotted on Helen's desk, and countless other historic figures were name-dropped through the series. Helen didn't treat these as brushes with history; they were just people she once worked alongside. Joe DiMaggio taught her how to play baseball. She was aboard the Titanic during its doomed voyage. She watched the sun rise with one of the Beatles (George Harrison, as confirmed by Amanda).
Characters like Nikola Tesla, John Druitt and Adam Worth had their origins in real-life Victorian and Edwardian news. Just like Stargate SG-1 sneakily taught mythology and ancient Egyptian history through alien overlords and epic space battles, Sanctuary inspired its fans to dust off their history books (okay, fine, Wikipedia) and read up on the real people their favorite characters were based on.
With all of that put aside, Sanctuary was an extremely rare show in that it featured a lead character who was a woman whose mission in life didn't involve finding Mr. Right, getting married, having a bunch of kids. She held her own with the men. In a situation where Helen is being held hostage, her male companion gets the drop on the enemies and uses his advantage to take out the henchmen at the back of the room. Helen handles the guy with the knife to her throat on her own.
The show took risks. When a same-sex kiss was written into an episode, Amanda Tapping asked for the scene to be adjusted to make it clear Helen wanted it. With one moment, the show confirmed their main character was bisexual, territory rarely explored by other mainstream television series. Amanda had long told anyone who would listen that Helen was bisexual, and that she'd romanced women (including a dalliance with Amelia Earhart), but to have it confirmed so completely was an amazing thing to see. Sanctuary for all is not an empty motto.
And above it all, stepping aside from the show itself for a moment, it was a rare example of a show doing good things in the real world. Some actresses would be content to be the lead on a television show, to travel to conventions and sign autographs, and go home at the end of the day. Amanda Tapping saw an opportunity to use her position for good, and she used her fame to create a charity called Sanctuary for Kids.
Much like the series itself, the charity grew from a small seed, a pebble thrown into a lake, and the ripples quickly grew. The goal was to help children all over the world, to take the idea of a Sanctuary and apply it to those in the real world who really needed a Sanctuary of their own. Amanda and Damian Kindler paid the start-up and administrative costs out of pocket so that all money paid to the charity went directly to the children. Lives have been changed (and without a doubt saved) from the efforts of the charity.
With conventional thinking, Sanctuary should never have existed. A show with no studio backing, powered by the creative energies of three people who basically pushed their boat out to sea and waited for the winds to pick up, it was an uphill climb. We had four great seasons, with historical scope and amazing characters. At the very, very least we can say that the series ended with an appropriate finale. We were witness to the end of one chapter in the long life of Helen Magnus. Whatever the next one is, I'm sure it will be as epic and amazing. I just hope, one way or another, we get a glimpse of what she's up to.
(Sanctuary is over, but Sanctuary for Kids lives on. Please visit sanctuaryforkids.org and see what you can do to help.)
(Written for Geek Speak Magazine)