So, Sanctuary For All. When I first watched this episode it was on ABC 2 here in Australia when they aired it first time round. There have since been repeats of cause. But his was first time round (on Free-to-Air anyway) here in Australia. And I was really impressed, my Mum not so (mainly because she missed the first half an hour and didn’t have a clue what was going on), but I really enjoyed it, even more watching it on DVD. I didn’t manage to catch all of season 1 on ABC 2 because (as is fate for me when I have a good show I like) we had a regular thing we had to go to on Mondays (not too sure it was Mondays, but I think it was) so after ‘Nubbins’ I missed the show. Damn shame! It was a shame because watching it on DVD I have to really stop myself from watching it, like a good book that’ll keep you up all night reading chapter after chapter (Terry Pratchett books in my case)! I just powered season one on DVD, and now I’m nearly finished with season 2, so that sense of wanting more carries on.
But now to the episode. OK, the first time I saw the first shot I couldn’t tell it was a visual effect, which it exactly what wanted, and I do have to pay really close attention to even see that it is one now, Anthem did an amazing job! And it gets even better throughout the series. Moving on to the next thing that I noticed: Kaven Smith. Yes as a Stargate fan (no- addict) I saw so many familiar faces Amanda Tapping being one (obvious, I know) and some familiar names too, hello Martin Wood and Damien Kindler. And some new faces, Rubbin Dune, Emile Ullerup and (well not quite so new) Ryan Robbins Christopher Heyerdahl.
It was a fairly good way to introduce the show and characters i.e we see it all with another outsider and we get brought in. Even if that was used in other shows, well mainly in my other addition; Doctor Who, I wont go to in depth but in the new series we started off with then new companion (and the NEW audience) pretty much running into The Doctor and throughout the story the whole concept of the show gets explained to the companion/audience. Come to think of it the same idea was used in 1963 with the original Doctor Who pilot. It was also used in Torchwood. Anyway, tangent (a word I know all too well).
As the music fan (wrong word again…insert ‘addict’ here too) the music throughout really kept me hooked, I’ll be back to the theme tune later. But as incidental music it did it’s job perfectly, never too overpowering and it really added to the action on scene. And that really is hard to achieve, sometimes the music can drown out dialogue, or perhaps try and dump emotions on the audience without them just feeling it from the actors and situation. Another thing about scores for TV and films is that a lot of people say they don’t listen orchestral (classical, ect, ect, ect) music, but then all I say to them is something like: “Do you watch drama (or Sci-Fi, or horror) TV?” Or “Seen the latest Harry Potter film yet? It has a great theme doesn’t it? Well I thought you liked because you keep whistling it” and so on.
So now to the CGI. Mmm… I used to think CGI never really works completely, and there are indeed some shots in Sanctuary that don’t work, but I can suspend my disbelief, to a point. Sometime I can get slightly drown out of the moment but that happens with everything TV. Some of the times I get drown out are actually where I’m trying to see what parts is real and which aren’t. Like when I’m watching a 3D film (3D NEVER works for me), but that can be fun. But I do get really surprised with a lot of shots (especially in season 2), so I suppose the best I can sum it up is it’s a bit hit and miss, in my opinion anyway. But that’s always the case with CGI.
Now to the acting…amazing! The main cast really have their characters down perfectly! Amanda Tapping shows us (Stargate fans at least) that she can portray a completely different character to Carter. Robin Dunne gives a really convincing world-shaken-upside-down but definitely not over stated performance. But for me the most convincing, given the characters situation, performance was Cainan Wiebe as Alexei, very believable. Of cause there’s the always wonderful Christopher Heyerdahl as Bigfoot. Oh, and John Druitt. But really the acting from the main cast throughout the entire series is really inspirational. It would be a dream to work with them!
The Abnormal that attacked Ashley was kinda dodgy, but it can’t really be helped, I mean creatures like that aren’t real. Or are they?
I mentioned the theme tune before, I think that the season 1 theme is the best (I’ve they don’t have for the opening credits for season 3, that’s a shame), but like the music throughout the episode, I’m even ready to say episodes, it’s understated but really a beautiful piece of music. It really gets me into the program. Then again I’m bias and love all of Joel Goldsmith’s work since Stargate, so maybe I can’t be taken too seriously on that subject.
Favourite scenes: The opening shot, it really gave you an example of what to expect from the show. But an actual scene? The Parapet scene with Will and Helen. It’s a gorgeous scene, in both the CGI and the brilliant acting.
Overall I think it’s one of the strongest episodes on the first disc of the boxset, only three episodes I know, but it’s still very good.
