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Plenty of new television series need a season or two to sort themselves out, and as this three-disc, 13-episode (plus bonus features) box set from the second season (2007) reveals, the Sci-Fi Channel’s Eureka is still a work in progress--which is not a bad thing, considering that it’s one of the more provocative and ambitious shows out there. For the uninitiated, here’s the basic premise: Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson), accompanied by his teenage daughter Zoe (Jordan Hinson), is stationed in Eureka, a picturesque little burg somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Eureka is hardly Anytown, USA; indeed, this is the place where "the world’s greatest thinkers" live and work, most of them at Global Dynamics, "the most advanced scientific facility in the world." It’s also a place where exceedingly strange things happen on a regular basis. In Season Two, those happenings include people spontaneously combusting, becoming invisible, turning into gold, or simply disappearing (and leaving nothing behind--not even a memory that they ever existed); a "personal force field" that’s growing so large and so fast that it will soon engulf the whole town, and maybe even the whole world; freaky weather that changes by the moment; and even an experiment to re-create the Big Bang inside a Global Dynamics lab, leading to some unexpected side effects. These developments are all presented with enough cool special effects and scientific techno-babble to make Eureka a perfectly viable and sometimes quite dramatic science fiction diversion. But there’s more--much more. Sometimes this is a show about relationships: Jack and Zoe (custody becomes an issue when Jack’s ex, played by Olivia D’Abo, shows up in the early episodes); Jack and Allison Blake (Salli Richardson), Global Dynamics’ new boss (their growing attraction is complicated by the continued presence of her ex, a genius scientist type); Jack and his pal Henry (Joe Morton), who blames Jack for his girlfriend’s death but gradually learns there’s more to it than that. Much of the time it’s a comedy, heavy on the quirks; and, in a change from the first year, it’s also a serial, with several story arcs continuing over the course of the season. All of that can make Eureka a but convoluted and hard to get a handle on, but this show is a keeper. Extensive bonus features include deleted scenes, gag reels, podcast commentaries, and a good deal more. --Sam Graham |
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I've become a big fan of Eureka. It has a great balance of humor and sci-fi drama that I enjoy. It's not overly dark and there's always an opportunity to chuckle. And, with it being set in the current timeline, it makes it easy to relate to. Wouldn't it be great if some of these inventions and creations really did exist? But, they also point out some of the drawbacks. After all, M.A.D (Mutually Assured Destruction), may not really be the way to end the last great war and being able to time travel could have some serious consequences. It's a great show. That's all that really needs to be said. |
