User reviews

I too am a Stargate buff & like Amanda Tapping. It is my opinion that the show is worth the watch. On watching the first episode I liked what I saw, then after a few I didn't so much. However, my son had continued to watch it & told me not to give up on it just yet. So I went back to it & got pleasantly surprised. Some episodes were as good as full length movies. I particularly liked Jonathon young's character, Nikola Tesla:) Amanda played an extremely believable lady from England & I thought her accent was just great. It was a complete transformation from Samantha Carter of SG1. This character was a more domineering in control person who knew what she wanted and how to get it. The settings & special effects were pretty darn good I thought. It seemed a fair amount of thought and time went into these areas. Like all TV shows there is going to be an episode or three that doesn't appeal or seems to loose focus to the individual. However, overall I felt good about watching the show.

Interesting way to release this new series - webisodes every couple of weeks that are about 15 minutes long. Put them all together and you potentially have a pilot of just over two hours.

For Amanda Tapping, this is a good move - she's not Sam Carter anymore, playing the enigmatic and potentially very sexy Helen Magnus, aided by her slightly stereotypical teen-angst-ed daughter Ashley, some gentle-monster beast and a newly inducted fish out of water type, Will.

The concept is nice, 'Sanctuary for all' - being 'all' are non-humans, (but it does come across that they're all sort of imprisoned anyway). There's a sort of 'Gothic Buffy' feel about the scenario and the circumstances, but minus the classic Whedon Buffy humour.

The production values aren't superior and it's obviously CGI, there are some sub-par blue/green screens going on in places...but you can forgive this for a decent enough premise and storyline. Knowing that this hasn't been funded by a studio and Tapping herself is an executive producer, one should actually give the production some credit.

Tapping is fairly good in this role - we see her move out of the clever and cute Samantha Carter and flex her acting muscles somewhat in the portrayal of an 18th century English woman. Her accent isn't flawless, but you can forgive this - I'm sure it would be explained away that Magnus has been living in the USA for some time. There is no explanation as to why she's in the USA - or if she even is in the USA - the location is not revealed, but one assumes it's in North America.

Other actors put in decent enough performances, but there's nothing outstanding. Character wise the weak link here is the character of Ashley. Far too stereotypical, hard and cold. One supposes that she is in some way meant to contrast her mother, but we've seen characters like this far too many times before...she needs some depth.

This will be compared to Buffy - the characters aren't immediately associated with the former series - but it's there in the design of the monsters - the characters are also somewhat similar - the blonde fighting machine(Ashley/Buffy), the clever researcher (Magnus/Will/Giles) and monsters that work for the 'good guys'.

This 'pilot' doesn't go that far and we need a whole season of this to make a judgement call really. Based on this pilot though, I am intrigued and would like to see more.

What else can a Sci Fi fan ask for? This show has the potential to be one of the best original shows on SciFi channel. I can't wait for the new episodes to start.

I especially enjoy the acting. Amanda Tapping, Christopher Heyerdahl, and Robin Dunne give great performances. I wouldn't be surprised if they were nominated for several acting awards.

Some of the episodes standout more than the others. "Edward", "The Five", "Requiem", and "Revelations" are episodes that capture the soul of the series. The stories are compelling. Besides being well planned and acted, these episodes give important background and pushed the story arch further.

Sanctuary is a fun show to watch. Amanda Tapping and crew do a fine job of telling interesting stories. Many of the story lines came straight from the webisodes. However, the topics were highly compelling, the acting wonderful; especially with all the green screens, and the production may be the wave of the future for most TV series.

I would not be surprised if several of the actors receive awards for their acting. In addition, I expect to see several technical awards for the production of the show.

Christopher Heyerdahl plays a couple of characters that are very different from each other. From the first episode of season one to the last, you get to see his incredible range as an actor.

Most of the time when an actor or actress plays a role for a very long time, the way Amanda Tapping played Samantha Carter, it is can be difficult to remove that image from the audiences mind. In Sanctuary, Amanda Tapping proves yet again what a fine actress she is as Helen Magnus. She created a new entertaining character for her public to care about and support.

This show hearkens back to a few of the shows from the 90s like "Poltergeist: The Legacy" and even the first six seasons of "The X-Files".

The potential for future story lines is very good, and the acting is decent too, specifically by Amanda Tapping. While her Helen Magnus character retains a little bit of the scientist heart of her Stargate character, there's a much more mysterious and darker side to Magnus. In fact, Magnus is what Samantha Carter could have been in another time and place. It's a refreshing change. The other principles do an okay job. Emilie Ullerup's character starts out as a little too Buffy The Vampire Slayer-ish, with too much of a cautious-less teenage attitude at the beginning -- her character was established as being over 18, which doesn't jive with how she's portrayed -- but she showed a little more maturity at the end of the pilot. Having seen Ullerup in a bit part in Battlestar Galactica, she's more than capable of pushing her character to more grittier areas, which would provide a nice counterpoint to the other characters. Robin Dunne reminds me a little too much of Daniel Radcliffe. I'm half-expecting him to start reciting Hogwart incantations. At the end of the pilot, his character still seems to be a bit 2 dimensional.

The special effects were quite good for work that was done in front of a green screen. But ... I thought that the pilot episode suffered in one particular area: pacing. I'm not sure if it has to do with the editing or directing, or both, but the two hour premiere could have almost been cut down to an hour and a half. Some of the cuts were too slow, lingering on exposition scenes. Tighter pacing and quicker cuts would have made the pilot episode a lot better.

Minor nitpicking... There are two things I wish they would have taken care of. The first was the scene in the train tunnels where Ullerup's character was following the boy. Honestly, if I was wandering through a train tunnel, I'd immediately realize that someone was following me, especially someone with a flashlight. And also, it's kinda weird that two folks could just slip by a crime scene in the same tunnel without even being noticed. (Unless, of course, they used some Jedi mind tricks...) The second was the little side story regarding the police's prime suspect to the murders. For me, this was unresolved and I would have liked to have a resolution to it. I found it disappointing that the main characters would actually let an innocent man take the fall for something that was done by some of the "monsters". Perhaps this was part of the original script? I don't know, but it's unresolved. And considering the task that the main characters are facing, you'd think they'd at least have some sort of moral compass.

Overall, the show has a nice concept, but could benefit from better editing and directing. I'm going to keep watching the show for a few more episodes before I decide if I'm going to be watching this show after Stargate Atlantis.

Funny what happens when a good group of people get together with a great idea...

This internet series was made on next to nothing, and it still turned out this good..? It's no wonder Sci-Fi has picked up this gem. Fantastic premise, cutting edge production technology, established stars and fresh new faces...

Amanda Tapping totally re-invents herself as an eloquent British matriarch, complete with the full on accent, and a classy brunette look (befitting her new, more serious character). Stargate fans are gonna go bananas...

Robin Dunne is the heartthrob Hamlet of this strange group of heroes, and Emilie Ullerup is the sleek, sexy, leather-clad bad ass. Bad guy Chris Heyerdahl is awesome as Druitt, a nasty "Jack the Ripper" immortal who just can't seem to stop... Add to the mix a whole new level of strange creatures that go bump in the night, and you've got the recipe for a Sci-Fi, TV stew of epic proportions. Looking forward to seeing what they do with it next...

This is a review of the first season on TV, which should really be known as season 1 on IMDb, and the webisodes season 0.

Essentially there are three main characters, all of which believable, even Tapping's accent, and I'm saying that as a Brit. She's great as Magnus, not overdone, but sensitive, slightly badass and played right. She has a daughter, Ashley. She's instantly likable and Emelie Ullerup doesn't fall into the trap of making her the typical blond 'Yeah, uhuh I like totally, like, kick- ass. Isn't that cool!' character. Instead she's much better and thankfully without a teenage crisis. I'll get onto Robin Dunne's excellent Will in a sec.

Sanctuary is more than just the sum of its parts. It has a great grittiness to it, a real world, almost familiar environment. It's slightly dark, but optimistic at the same part. 30 minutes into the pilot and I really liked it. Will was believable, I even liked and sympathised with him. the way it was done felt like a feature, not really like an hour long weekly show. The whole actual Sanctuary concept wasn't done too fantastically. However I felt it wasn't perfect but it's taken me 2 more episodes to think that actually it's worth continuing to watch.

For Brits, its on ITV 4, mondays at 9. Or 8. Pretty sure it's 9, but check. if you don't have ITV 4, it's on their catch up thing on the site. For Americans it's on Hulu and Sci Fi's Rewind.

Have fun getting into it, looking forward to see where it goes.

I cannot seem to figure out what this show is missing. It has a great cast, Amanda Tapping at her best. The premise of the show....excellent, offer sanctuary to those that might be "different" than the "normal" humans. the storyline is great....

Now, the show just seems to be missing something. Maybe, as another reviewer put it, the show needs to pick up the pace a bit. It is certainly thought provoking. I cannot say the show is bad, nor can I say that it is great. I'll close by saying that it is certainly worth a watch, probably need to view a few episodes before making any kind of decision either way.

I just can't get into it for some unknown reason.

Watched a season and a half and realized I don't feel like continuing. It's not that bad, but it just doesn't hold my attention. The fantasy aspect of it is quite weak, but that's not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is that I really don't care about any of the characters, they seem quite cliche and don't resonate with me at all.

Have to say I was excit d to see Amanda Tapping after Stargate ended. This series grew on me over time and and like many other sci-fi that gets cancelled was sad to see it go. I was introduced to Actor Ian Tracey in this series and he does an amazing and very memorable job in the role of Adam Worth.

OK... so in reality I've only watched the first 4 episodes but... I really like getting to see Amanda Tapping as another character. It's great to see... don't get me wrong, I love Samantha Carter but still. Also, I think it's neat to see Amanda bringing together her enjoyment of science and her love of acting. All that being said, I really like the premise of the show over all. Its intriguing and entertaining. I'm looking forward to seeing what other 'abnormals' are created for this series. From what I've seen so far this looks to be a very creative and imaginative show. I can't wait to see more!

This show is worth watching. However, it seems to struggle to locate itself and this is always due to the strength of script. The show badly needs good writers who can bring depth to it and lift it out of the B-film category. The best shows we've ever seen are memorable because they tell us something about life and about ourselves. At this juncture this show is like munching on popcorn...not really good enough to endure. Canadian production can do better. The best thing they've done thus far is introduce Agam Darshi to the cast. She picks up the show's energy by a good number of points. Still, we need to see better scripts. As for Nikola Tesla being a vampire...this is bizarre and not terribly bright. It makes as much sense as introducing Ghandi as a zombie. Tesla remains one of the great unsung heroes of modern technology. Please do some thinking before you commit a script to production.

I had a lot of hope for this show when it first debuted. It has the talented Amanda Tapping at the helm and it started out with a really cool, creepy goth feeling to it that pre-dates a lot of the current vampiremania that's all over the big and little screens. Problem is, it feels like it's lost a lot of that uniqueness. The story lines can be very entertaining (especially when Tesla's in them) or they can feel like 20 minutes of story fluffed up to fill the hour-long slot that Sanctuary inhabits. Tapping's character is engaging but, as someone else noted in the comments section, it's all over the place and kind of distracting. I like Robin Dunne's character too, as the "everyman" former government nerd who gets sucked into a really strange and wild ride when he agrees to join forces with Team Magnus. Christopher Heyerdahl is just plain great playing shadowy "are they or aren't they" villainous types so it's good to see him move beyond his previously entertaining role as "Todd the Wraith" in SG:Atlantis. With no intended disrespect, I just can't cotton to either of the fast-talking, too-cool-for-school younger female characters played by Emilie Ullerup (first season) and Agam Darshi (later seasons). The actresses themselves were fine but the both of their characters (Ashley and Kate)were/are neither sympathetic nor likable. Here are two characters that could be great but the writers spend too much time trying to make them edgy and sarcastic rather than strong, capable and wry. Bummer. I hope the story lines get a little more interesting and I hope the writers at least try to build on the backgrounds of the characters more as well. Until then, I'll watch it when it gets back to it's truly interesting roots.

Absolutely love the show! Two thumbs up! Sanctuary and Warehouse 13 have now taken the place of Stargate SG1 and Atlantis for me, although Stargate Universe has been getting way better in Season 2. Obviously the heart of what made Stargate SG1 so popular moved through Atlantis and continued on to Sanctuary! Thanks Damian, Amanda,and Marty!!! I like Dunne & Robbins. Heyerdahl is exceptional! Agam Darshi - nice addition ..... More Druit, Wingfield and Young please - These guys rock! Goa'uld beget Wraithe beget Abnormals - OK,VERY COOL! Keep the DeLouise boys in the loop and maybe throw in some RickyD, a little Chris Judge and of course Michael Shanks as periodic guests and you have the IT factor that made Stargate in the first place - the main cast, producers, and writers! Would be nice to see Simon and Williams back in the gang as well! I do believe that Apophis and Baal would make superb Abnormals! Keep up the good work guys - This is great! KUDOS! Amanda,and Marty!!!

Granted, the action is a bit lacking at times and some of the stories are a bit slow, however, the characters are likable, and the concept is fun. The writing is not up to par with most major networks, but most non-pay-per-view channels on cable aren't, so there you go. The writing does seem to get to a point, however, and unlike many shows out there in the sci-fi genre doesn't try to take itself too seriously. Overall, it is not the best show on television, but it is a far cry from the stupidity of Lexx back in the day. The only truly negative about the show is the over usage of computer generated (cg) settings, which seem to be fewer in the second season. Hopefully, now that they have been getting a better budget there will be more sets and less cg as the show progresses. All in all, Sanctuary is entertaining and an overall good time.

When this program was first released, I was put off in the previews by Amanda Tapping with a British accent, so I skipped watching it. She may have been born in the UK, but her American accent seems to pop out at times. However, I decided that after three seasons on the air, I would watch the program. I was not disappointed. The story is a very interesting look at the Sanctuary that Dr. Helen Magnus operates to protect "Abnormal" beings.

The program uses probably more CGI and green screen (CSO) than any I have seen in awhile. Some of it is very well done and in other places it looks like a scene from a PS3 game. However, the effects seem to add more than distract from the plots. Another bonus I liked was seeing SG-1 alumni pop up now and then like Michael Shanks (Dr. Jackson) or Gary Jones (Walter). My favorite line is when Gary Jones says. "I knew that British accent was fake."

Christopher Heyerdahl is brilliant in his roles as is Robin Dunne as Will. Another treat is seeing cast from Highlander such as Jim Byrnes and Peter Wingfield. Overall the casting is very good and believable. Most of the shows so far have had some substance but I do wonder how long that will last. Hopefully, it can find good writers and continue on!

No this has nothing to do with Harry Potter, I just thought the title would be a great summation of the show. Which I think is fair to say. And it also tells you what to expect here. And while it felt that the show started off slow (which makes sense with all the introductions), it does take off a bit.

Even when I felt not as engaged here as with other shows (characters seeming bland, emphasis on seeming). there are quite a few standout episodes that would have worked greatly even without the backstory of the show - as standalones so to speak. The creators obviously like film and they like doing shows too. Obvious and apparent when you see the whole thing but even in certain episodes (the one with the found footage, the one with the singing aka musical light and more) - you may not always agree with the approach or the style/content but you cannot disagree with them going with it and being succesful.

The ending sort of makes sense and while there is a sense of - well losing threads and some inconsistencies, you get them with shows that deal with the fantastic most of the time (see Buffy and others). Overall this had a nice arc and was more than decently told - and the actors no matter what you think of the characters they played or how they behave behind the scenes (quite a few extras on the complete box set) are very likeable too