Maybe it shouldn’t hit me so hard. After all, the show has been off the radar for a suspiciously long time. Other shows had the word that they were green light or dead light, and SYFY kept silent. So on May 21 the announcement finally meandered down the pike – SANCTUARY was no-go for season five.
Cancelled? Who said that?
According to the news from Gateworld.org, the head-honchos were everything that was solicitous and praising of the show, crew, producers, actors, noisy pideons, et al. But the bottom line was that they had no vision for continuing the series. Howl though fans did, there was never anyone to contact about the show’s future. Methinks that was probably by design as networks just don’t like being blasted by thousands of emails from disgruntled fans like yours truly.
Too, too bad. There’s some conflicting emotions about SANCTUARY’s course and whether the show was on pointe with the audience or not. Especially when so many noses got out of joint after the episode where main character Dr. Helen Magnus locked lips with another female character. For myself, the show was usually magical. The actors carried off the fact that they were usually acting to an empty room, to which SFX (virtual) surroundings were later added. The show was the first to use the Red One Camera technology on air (Wikipedia:”Sanctuary was the first television series in North America to use the Red One camera exclusively”). It was also the first show to migrate from the internet to television.
I didn’t just follow Amanda Tapping from Stargate SG-1/Atlantis, although that’s not so bad. I liked the idea of the show, of the woman who barely aged and who made her life’s work the protection of the vulnerable, ‘different’ people among us. And everyone’s gorgeous, even Biggie. I wished the stories had been more consistently quirky and original. Still it was a grand outing, a flare in the fog of mainstream programming. I’ll look forward to treating myself some cozy evenings with popcorn and SANCTUARY marathons.
So long, SANCTUARY, we knew you well and salute your bright, short existence.
Urban Mage Page 