TV Verdict

The SyFy Channel, as they call themselves now, hasn’t had good luck with films but they have done well with TV shows. Eureka and Battlestar Galactica are fantastic and Stargate and Sanctuary are also entertaining shows. I refuse to reference their reality programming here. At any rate, the network has really been promoting their newest series: Warehouse 13. To get this over with quickly, no it doesn’t fill the void left by BSG but it does make a great sister series to Eureka.

Warehouse 13 is an amalgamation of several other shows, which is good and bad. It’s good because the shows that Warehouse 13 is most like haven’t been thematically represented on television since the 80’s. It’s bad because Warehouse 13, at least based on the pilot, isn’t quite as good as most of those classic shows. The 80’s shows that Warehouse 13 is most like include Amazing Stories, Tales from the Darkside, and Friday the 13th The Series. Mix in a little X-Files and you start to get an idea of where the creators are going with this one.

THE SETUP

I guess the most disappointing thing about the show for me is the setup. You have the all business very stiff female FBI agent forced to partner with the roguish and charming agent who gets the job done but doesn’t exactly go by the book. These two archetypes being forced together is really over baked. I can think of multiple examples of this same set up on television right now. The most obvious is the Nathan Fillion series Castle. The show is completely different but the character set up is way too similar. Beyond that complaint though, is a series that has the potential to offer some real 80’s science fiction fun.

The bulk of the pilot, and the best parts of it, involve setting up the characters and the situation. These two agents know each other but they don’t work well together. As I mentioned before, they have very different approaches to their jobs. A mysterious government official does see the potential of the two of them working together though. She sends them out to the wilderness of Dakota to a beat up Warehouse known of course as Warehouse 13. Pete Lattimer isn’t that upset about this assignment because he was expecting to cool his heels on suspension. You also get the feeling that he might not be so unhappy to get far away from a woman, or women, that he had relations with. Myka Bering, on the other hand, is horrified by the new assignment. She is just coming off saving the President and is hoping to see her star begin to rise. Unfortunately for the two agents, getting them out of this new assignment is out of their old boss’ pay grade, so they are stuck together on this assignment in the middle of nowhere.

THE WAREHOUSE

Inside the warehouse is when things get really interesting. The two agents meet their new handler Artie who is played by Saul Rubinek, a face you’ll recognize from virtually everything else you’ve ever seen. Once he’s on screen, he’s easily the most compelling of the three main characters. He’s probably the most interesting because he’s the least cookie cutter of the three of them. He’s the caretaker of all of the quirky “artifacts” held in the museum and he’s now also responsible for sending these two FBI agents out in the field to find new artifacts. This is basically the formula for the show. Someone is acting weird and it may not be just because they’re weird it’s because they’ve come in contact with some artifact. The two agents head out to investigate and bring the artifact back to the warehouse. So, at its core, this series is a detective procedural all wrapped up in pretty sci-fi packaging. This is where the show really feels the most retro.

Artie and the two agents are equipped with cutting edge technology but because so much of the tech was built years ago the devices have a very antique look. They carry a video communicator that was actually built not long after the original television was built so of course it looks like a miniaturized old fashioned television. They also carry stun guns that look very steam punk. I’m not sure how these ideas really play out upon more thought but they all look really cool. Maybe this little video communicator is just so advanced that it exists above and beyond the current wireless infrastructure that is being used for video chat. Also, Artie uses a computer with highly advanced graphics on screen but the device itself again looks ages old. You’d think some brilliant mind would have invented touch screen technology before Apple. At any rate, the gadgets all look really cool.

THE FIRST CASE

The second hour of this premiere involves Lattimer and Bering investigating a college student who is acting out of sorts because Artie believes he is being affected by an artifact of some sort. During the investigation the two agents are able to demonstrate why they are a good team. During an interview, Bering notices the most extreme of details that end up revealing more about the person being interviewed than the words he actually spoke. Lattimer on the other hand is able to protect Bering from being attacked because he gets some “vibes” that something is going to happen. Apparently he has some sort of psychic ability that will become more and more important as the series progresses. Unfortunately, this investigation is less than stellar. Honestly, it’s just a little boring. That’s the challenge of the series though. Each week the creators must come up with a new riveting case for Lattimer and Bering to jump into. While the characters are built heavily on characters we’ve seen before, the style of the series and the formula make the show worth a second look. As long as the cases get more interesting from week to week, Warehouse 13 will be an entertaining addition to the SyFy schedule.