SYFY LAUNCHES A WHOLE NEW TIMELINE WITH 12 MONKEYS
tHE PILOT EPISODE REVIEW BY SCIFIHISTORY.NET
Confession time: I’ve never seen the original 12 Monkeys.
(Go on, haters, ‘cause haters gonna hate! Get it out of your system. I'll wait.)
See, the thing about the film is it was directed by the brilliant Terry Gilliam. Now, I’ve seen enough films directed by Terry Gilliam to know that – well – I just don’t much care for films directed by Terry Gilliam. Don’t get me wrong: yes, they’re visionary – and yes, they’re dynamic – but they also have the added effect of putting me to sleep. For example, Brazil? I’ve tried to watch that thing four times, I kid you not, and it doesn’t take more than fifteen to twenty minutes before I’m out like I light.
However, this gives me the added benefit of going into Syfy’s latest offering – its own TV incarnation of 12 Monkeys – without any of that unnecessary baggage. This might not be a bad thing as I’ve read elsewhere on the web that this story only essentially lifts the premise of Gilliam’s film and then goes off a slightly different way with it. (Ease up, haters, I’m only repeating what I’ve read elsewhere, so if that’s incorrect, just give me notes in the chatback.)
Personally, I think that’s a good thing … because I quite liked the first hour of 12 Monkeys. It premiered on Syfy this past Friday (January 16), and I thought I’d give it a plug here in my space.
I would imagine that anyone even cursorily familiar with that original film can recognize the action: basically, there’s a plague that wipes out much of Earth’s population, and this causes a group of scientists to band together and invent time travel for the sole purpose of going back, eradicating the source of the virus, and thus destroy the resulting timeline. This would have the unfortunate benefit of wiping out James Cole (played by series regular Aaron Stanford), the temporal agent tasked with finding the geneticist known in our tomorrow as being responsible for the plague.
By the end of the very first episode, Cole – joined with modern day scientist and generally helpful gal-pal Dr. Cassandra Railly (a delicious Amanda Schull) – has achieved his goal, leading me to believe this was going to be as short a first season as was humanly possible. However, when the timeline fails to reset itself, Cole and Cassie realize there’s a much deeper mystery to the possible end of life as we know it (isn’t there always?), and thus the places are set for a continuing adventure.
Structurally, 12 Monkeys feels like it’s following in the genetic footsteps of other great programs done before. Those old enough to be familiar with the 1960’s classic man-on-the-run series The Fugitive can see the signposts put in place. Or perhaps those of us who fell in love with the stories featuring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in the 70’s favorite The Incredible Hulk can see the story’s overall structure? Or – dare I mention – another time-travel highwater mark Quantum Leap featuring the adventures of Dr. Sam Beckett leaping through the ages setting things wrong to right comes to mind.
Monkeys seems to be tapping that vein – the world-weary traveler with the central mission to “fix this” – and that’s a wonderful place from which to begin.
(Go on, haters, ‘cause haters gonna hate! Get it out of your system. I'll wait.)
See, the thing about the film is it was directed by the brilliant Terry Gilliam. Now, I’ve seen enough films directed by Terry Gilliam to know that – well – I just don’t much care for films directed by Terry Gilliam. Don’t get me wrong: yes, they’re visionary – and yes, they’re dynamic – but they also have the added effect of putting me to sleep. For example, Brazil? I’ve tried to watch that thing four times, I kid you not, and it doesn’t take more than fifteen to twenty minutes before I’m out like I light.
However, this gives me the added benefit of going into Syfy’s latest offering – its own TV incarnation of 12 Monkeys – without any of that unnecessary baggage. This might not be a bad thing as I’ve read elsewhere on the web that this story only essentially lifts the premise of Gilliam’s film and then goes off a slightly different way with it. (Ease up, haters, I’m only repeating what I’ve read elsewhere, so if that’s incorrect, just give me notes in the chatback.)
Personally, I think that’s a good thing … because I quite liked the first hour of 12 Monkeys. It premiered on Syfy this past Friday (January 16), and I thought I’d give it a plug here in my space.
I would imagine that anyone even cursorily familiar with that original film can recognize the action: basically, there’s a plague that wipes out much of Earth’s population, and this causes a group of scientists to band together and invent time travel for the sole purpose of going back, eradicating the source of the virus, and thus destroy the resulting timeline. This would have the unfortunate benefit of wiping out James Cole (played by series regular Aaron Stanford), the temporal agent tasked with finding the geneticist known in our tomorrow as being responsible for the plague.
By the end of the very first episode, Cole – joined with modern day scientist and generally helpful gal-pal Dr. Cassandra Railly (a delicious Amanda Schull) – has achieved his goal, leading me to believe this was going to be as short a first season as was humanly possible. However, when the timeline fails to reset itself, Cole and Cassie realize there’s a much deeper mystery to the possible end of life as we know it (isn’t there always?), and thus the places are set for a continuing adventure.
Structurally, 12 Monkeys feels like it’s following in the genetic footsteps of other great programs done before. Those old enough to be familiar with the 1960’s classic man-on-the-run series The Fugitive can see the signposts put in place. Or perhaps those of us who fell in love with the stories featuring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in the 70’s favorite The Incredible Hulk can see the story’s overall structure? Or – dare I mention – another time-travel highwater mark Quantum Leap featuring the adventures of Dr. Sam Beckett leaping through the ages setting things wrong to right comes to mind.
Monkeys seems to be tapping that vein – the world-weary traveler with the central mission to “fix this” – and that’s a wonderful place from which to begin.
As for the talent in front of the camera?
Well, Stanford spends a bit too much time channeling the spirit of Bruce Willis (a role he originated in Gilliam’s film), but that’s an easy complaint to forgive given the obvious ties between that property and this. Also, that’s something that tends to change subtly as versions find their own creative footing in a larger, more expansive universe. For my tastes, Schull felt a bit too young a casting choice for an apparently renowned geneticist; her early scenes honestly had her coming off to me as more of a bookish cheerleader (yes, even with the technobabble); but, again, if Monkeys has a long shelf life that’s also something she can dispense with great ease and stronger material. While the venerable Zeljko Ivanek’s time as plague mastermind Leland Goines (or is that Leland Front?) was short-lived here, keep in mind that few people ever really die in time travel tales; they’re always just one jump later in history away.
Syfy has had some real struggles in the past few years. They’ve rebranded themselves both in name and action, changing their moniker from ‘SciFi’ to something doctors scribble as an acronym of syphilis as well as brought professional wrestling into their primetime line-up. They’ve embraced reality storytelling and tried as best as possible to give it some kind of legitimate reason to air on their network. And they’ve repeatedly irked fanbases they’ve gone to great lengths to cultivate with properties such as Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and more.
But with 12 Monkeys – a smart, intelligent, and formulaic series if ever there were (I say ‘formulaic’ as a potential strength) – the network has the chance to regain some of its lost glory. Granted, that may be a long road ahead of us, but – if first episodes are any indication – this is a beginning. At least, this monkey wasn’t throwing feces. It has talent. It has ideas. And – thankfully – it has all of science fiction to tinker with.
That’s a nice place to start.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Well, Stanford spends a bit too much time channeling the spirit of Bruce Willis (a role he originated in Gilliam’s film), but that’s an easy complaint to forgive given the obvious ties between that property and this. Also, that’s something that tends to change subtly as versions find their own creative footing in a larger, more expansive universe. For my tastes, Schull felt a bit too young a casting choice for an apparently renowned geneticist; her early scenes honestly had her coming off to me as more of a bookish cheerleader (yes, even with the technobabble); but, again, if Monkeys has a long shelf life that’s also something she can dispense with great ease and stronger material. While the venerable Zeljko Ivanek’s time as plague mastermind Leland Goines (or is that Leland Front?) was short-lived here, keep in mind that few people ever really die in time travel tales; they’re always just one jump later in history away.
Syfy has had some real struggles in the past few years. They’ve rebranded themselves both in name and action, changing their moniker from ‘SciFi’ to something doctors scribble as an acronym of syphilis as well as brought professional wrestling into their primetime line-up. They’ve embraced reality storytelling and tried as best as possible to give it some kind of legitimate reason to air on their network. And they’ve repeatedly irked fanbases they’ve gone to great lengths to cultivate with properties such as Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and more.
But with 12 Monkeys – a smart, intelligent, and formulaic series if ever there were (I say ‘formulaic’ as a potential strength) – the network has the chance to regain some of its lost glory. Granted, that may be a long road ahead of us, but – if first episodes are any indication – this is a beginning. At least, this monkey wasn’t throwing feces. It has talent. It has ideas. And – thankfully – it has all of science fiction to tinker with.
That’s a nice place to start.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.