Sanctuary is a tv show that airs on the Syfy channel. It follows a 157 year old british scientist named Helen Magnus who leads the Sanctuary network. She runs the Sanctuary with her daughter Ashley, Forensic Psychiatrist Will Zimmerman, Techie Henry Foss, and personal assistant Bigfoot. After her daughter's death Kate Freelander takes the roll of the spunky, sarcastic female bad ass, who becomes like a daughter to Helen Magnus. The Sanctuary is basically a place for strange and unusual creatures or beings (Magnus calls them Abnormals) to come and be safe from the outside world or are taken in to keep the outside world safe from them. They have everything from mermaids to giant snake type things to furbie looking creatures that make your hormones race.Helen Magnus has to be my favorite character in Sanctuary. Of course because she is a strong female leader, plus she is british and you can't go wrong with that. She lived during the victorian era and was one of the only female doctors. She joined forces with John Druitt (Jack the Ripper), Nikola Tesla, James Watson, and Nigel Griffin to experiment with an ancient sample of pure vampire blood. (They called themselves the Five.) They then decided to inject themselves with the blood to see what the reaction would be. Each of them were blessed or cursed with a different
vampiric ability. Helen's was the simplest gift. She became immortal and would not age. John got the power of teleportation, which also inevitably drove him mad and caused him to murder all those women. Now though we are learning that it was an electrical entity that attached to him during teleportation which caused him to go crazy. James Watson was blessed with great intelligence, which enabled him to prolong his life using machinery. He eventually died when they were on the hunt for the source blood. Nigel Griffin was given the gift of invisibility. As long as he wasn't wearing any clothes he could turn completely invisible. He died before we could meet him in the show, but his gift was carried on my his granddaughter, Clara Griffin. Nikola Tesla's reaction to the source blood was the most vampiric. He essentially became a vampire. He could control electricity, he was very intelligence, he was immortal, and he grew fangs and nails and his eyes turned black when he became angry, etc.
I'd have to say my least favorite character is Will Zimmerman. He is just annoying. Even after all he has seen in the Sanctuary, he still questions whether or not things are possible. You would think after seeing a mermaid and knowing that your boss is 157 years old and has not aged, you would be open minded to anything. But no! Will still insists that things are impossible. Such as the Morgana in episode three. Magnus explains that they could have been kept in stasis for thousands of years and have not aged etc. Will then tells her that that is crazy and that could never happen. HELLO! YOU ARE TALKING TO A 157 YEAR OLD WOMAN WHO DOESN'T LOOK A YEAR OVER 35!!!!! Also Will give up on the lame dad jokes. No one thinks they are funny. I think that is probably the only part of the show that upsets me sometimes.
What I think is amazing about the show is that it is filmed on green screen. Save for a few props and the occasional on site filming, Sanctuary is filmed in all Green Screen. This way they are more eco-friendly and can do so much more with so little. The show started out as a webseries before it was picked up by the Syfy channel and the green screen effects allowed them to expand what they could do on such a low budget. I also think that the sanctuary wouldn't be as cool as it is if it was just built on a set. Most of the time you can't even tell that hallway they are standing in isn't really there, or the car that just drove by was just a gust of wind from a fan.
I feel like the abnormals on this show are definitely worth mentioning. They include creatures from Myths and Legends, such as the mermaid, werewolves, and vampires; to completely original characters such as Big Bertha, the folding man, and a Stenopelhabbilis. There are also abnormals that are just humans with certain abilities, such as the ability to turn invisible or the ability to read minds.If you have a love for scifi with a flair of fantasy and myth, you will love Sanctuary. This is not your ordinary creature feature. It perfectly blends action, adventure, strong kick-ass women, and amazingly original creatures into an amazing show. Now getting onto it's 22 episode third season. They hope to delve more into the past of the characters and bring a bigger story arch to the season.
This is a fun and interesting scifi show to watch with the family. So if you are a new scifi watcher or looking for something to escape into every night. This is definitely the show to watch!
Hannah, out.
