Alien Abduction Review

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(More customer reviews)The Sci-Fi Channel showed this movie over the weekend, and I'm seriously thinking of buying the DVD. Often their weekend fare seems to be low-budget techno-testosterone-adventure that's best avoided by anyone with a brain. But "Alien Abduction" is low-budget something else entirely.
It starts out seeming innocuously unoriginal, with four fairly annoying twentysomethings on a camping trip in the woods. They experience a horrifically gory alien abduction (hence the title), and then our lead woman wakes up in an institution for abduction survivors, where she has to figure out what's going on before what's going on kills her. We're not told whether the other three have survived, but they do reappear in the story after a while. (I'm being vague here on purpose.)
I knew from the outset that there would be a twist ending, and I assumed the twist would be fairly standard and predictable. Once the movie got going, though, it became obvious that I'd have to revise my prediction. I actually made several guesses through the course of the movie about what it would be, but was still surprised when it finally came. And it was pretty clever to boot.
All the hospital scenes are shot in a wash of green, or sometimes purple, contributing to the surreal, dreamlike atmosphere that pervades the whole movie. The only full color is when reality starts to intrude. If you pay attention, there are clues and red herrings scattered throughout as to the true nature of the situation, and some of them are actually not obvious, such as when the woman in charge says she is "responsible for all the abductions in the northeast region." In context, she clearly means that her hospital is responsible for the victims of such abductions. -- Or does she? The bizarre behavior of many (if not most) characters is another clue, but for this there are at least three potential explanations within the course of the story. Don't make the usual mistake of thinking this is merely bad acting. While it may be that, it also (perhaps unintentionally) has the effect of adding to the surreal, inhuman, disorienting quality of our heroine's surroundings, while at the same time preserving the quiet campiness, which turns out to complement the story surprisingly well.
Along her adventure, our heroine discovers scarred, murderous nurses; how easy it is to pose as a doctor in a military-run hospital; and the importance of wearing the right clothes for any given occasion. This is good dirty camp, and should be appreciated as such. Yet this character also acts in a completely consistent and believeable way, and turns out (after an initial spate of shrieking) to be a pretty sympathetic protagonist. This movie was made on a shoestring budget over a whopping one-and-a-half weeks, and the sound quality in particular suffered for it -- be prepared to turn your volume up, then down, then up again, several times. (This is frustrating but not fatal.) For the money and time they had, they did a pretty good job with a pretty good script.
All in all, the best B-movie I've ever seen.

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ALIEN ABDUCTION - DVD Movie

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Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Defying Gravity is the story of eight astronauts who begin a record setting tour of the solar system. The mission is billed to both the crew and the world as an example of human achievement and satisfying humankind's desire to explore the unknown, but it soon becomes clear that there is much more to the mission than this. Before reaching their first destination, Venus, the crew discovers the 'Beta Object', and the true nature of their quest is revealed.
This show is full of mystery and unanswered questions that leave you with great anticipation for the next episode. Throughout the season, we get to know the crew through their interactions on the spaceship Antares and through their memories of what happened on Earth before the mission. The characters struggle with the complications of friendships, romance, and passion both on the Antares and Earth, which test their integrity and strength as human beings. In addition to the interpersonal challenges, the Beta Object is affecting the crew physically, mentally, and emotionally. We are left wondering if these changes will help or hurt the astronauts on their journey...
Defying Gravity does an outstanding job of appealing to all viewers, regardless of whether they consider themselves SciFi fans or not. Sadly, this television show went mostly unnoticed due to poor management by the ABC network. While it may not have gained the huge following desired by ABC during its short-lived debut, it has a loyal fanbase and the potential to achieve great success if properly advertised and scheduled.

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Set in the very near future, eight astronauts from five countries undertake a mysterious six-year international mission on the spaceship Antares. This sexy and provocative sci fi thriller follows 4 men and 4 women through the solar system where their pasts reveal intimate and interconnected secrets that have a strange effect on the present and mysteries yet to be revealed. DVD includes 5 episodes never seen on television.
Audio: English: 51 Dolby Digital EX
Language: Dubbed: English / Subtitled: English, French & Spanish
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: Widescreen: 1.78:1

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Dollhouse: Season One (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)...this show is *actually* GOOD. What I mean is that Dollhouse is not good simply because Whedon fans worship at the shrine of Whedon and therefore cannot be trusted to tell you the real deal. In a lot of ways, it's a shame that this show was so hyped from the beginning, because it didn't get a chance to gradually develop a fanbase in its own right, but was instead touted as a show sustained merely by Whedon fans. While I admit to being a Whedon fan, which compelled me to watch it even through some shaky episodes, here's the scoop:
In the beginning of the show, what we learn is that a woman named Caroline (Eliza Dushku) has agreed (or was coerced) to download her personality into cyber storage, and some shady organization rents her body out to the highest bidder for various "engagements." We see that these engagements can involve sexual fantasy (hence the dubbing "cathouse" by the critics), or perhaps something that requires personality-combo platters in order to complete some sort of high risk, spy-type mission. A lot of negative reviews here refer to the first five episodes. And, yes, the first five establishing "mission of the week" episodes are surfacy and disconnected, but it's really the journey of the series arc (and character growth) that will ultimately make for some passionate tv. (And though these first five episodes were not the highlight of the season, there are some gems of ideas in there. For instance, one episode pays homage to Cornell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game", which is based on quite a chilling concept.)
Now that we've got the darned hype out of the way, let's talk about the show, as it evolves in Episode 6. (Incidentally, the theme of episode 6 is very similar to the unaired pilot episode on the dvd release, which was awesome, and epitomizes Joss's idea of the show - excellent). Now instead of just seeing the sexual fantasy episodes in terms of some hokey emporer's club cathouse (which, let's face it, is something that already exists out there for the kind of money these clients are paying), we start to see the NEEDS that these fantasies fulfill in the clients. And here's the thing: even though we do not approve of what they're doing, we start to sympathize with, and in some cases even begin to care about, these clients. And here is one place where we begin to see the brilliance and fascinating challenge that this show presents, and will continue to present, to its viewers (bring on Neuromancer!).
This is a show that lives and thrives in a very gray area - it's unclear who the heroes might or might not be, and this is shaping up to be a nuanced, character-driven ensemble show (with an extremely talented cast). At its heart, this is a show about the identity of "self" without memory. About science and ethics. About exposing our darkest human fantasies, and exploring the root of the needs that create them. The show is not just about the "dolls," but is also about the clients - WHY do they need a fake person to save them? And what could have possibly compelled these "dolls" to have given away their memories in the first place? And then there's the dollhouse itself...why does it exist? Who are these people that babysit and program the dolls - what's their story?
The extras on this dvd set are worth buying, especially the unaired thirteenth episode, "Epitaph One". Without giving too much away, it's a little like CLOVERFIELD meets THE MATRIX meets SERENITY, Dollhouse style. The commentaries are great - Joss has much to say about episode 6 and a very conspicuous not much to say about episode 1 ("oh, look, people are pretty, and I'm hungry right now"), which is exactly what you'd expect, especially given how amazing the unaired pilot episode was.
All in all, this show is a little bit ALIAS (except replace awesome disguises with personalities), a little bit BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (except replace "Cylon" with "doll"), a little bit LOST (except replace "island" with "dollhouse"), and a lot Whedon (exploring the essence of humanity and individual identity through grandiose metaphor). Assuming that the show is allowed to breathe and grow into its full potential, we're in for even more thought-provoking, heart-breaking, butt-kicking entertainment. Trust me, you don't want to miss out on the ride!
**Addition to review**
While the actors who were less well known (to me) on this show were all outstanding, here are some highlights:
Season 1:
Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Tru Calling)
Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica)
Amy Acker (Angel, Alias)
Other guest stars you may recognize from Firefly, Buffy, and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog
Announced (by Fox press release) for Season 2:
Summer Glau (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles)
Alexis Denisof (Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica)
Keith Kerridine (Dexter)

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From Joss Whedon comes a new groundbreaking show starring Eliza Dushku as Echo, an operative in an underground organization that provides hired personas for various missions.

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Caprica (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was extremely skeptical when I heard about the proposed prequel to the greatest television science fiction saga of this generation. Attempting to cash in on the success of Battlestar Galactica so soon after the series ended seemed like a losing proposition doomed to mar an amazing franchise. Well, consider those fears alleviated. The first taste of "Caprica" is absolutely amazing. With no space battles and the themes of humanity's destruction and survival at the hands of their own creation already done to death, I feared for a lack of compelling material to further immerse me in the pre-genocide human society of the twelve worlds. All politics and no spaceships makes science fiction a dull genre. But what BSG did for the space opera, "Caprica" is set to do for cyberpunk. If BSG was Star Trek and Babylon 5, "Caprica" is Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix. I am beyond impressed.
The story unfolds as a terrorist attack by a youth seeking to draw attention to his monotheistic cause (most worship the old Greek gods). The result tears two families apart and in half a century's time will lead to the destruction of human society. But before that there is one hell of a story to be told. The themes on the social commentary buffet so far includes a much more bold dialogue on religion then even BSG gave us, a different angle on the definition of human as we know it, a frank look at a racist society, and an exploration of the logical extremes of future virtual existence. This is to say that once the internet and virtual reality become compatible, one hell of a can of worms will be opened.
Since this series premiere comes to us in movie form, the gods have shined upon us. As far as it's predecessor pushed the sexual envelope for a tv show, "Caprica" has easily bested it here. I don't know how they are going to cut this for television. There is abundant nudity, group sex, and some serious girl-girl going on in this film. Virtual human sacrifice in underground virtual hacker clubs speaks volumes about the social issues to be confronted and is damned disturbing. There is one violent death featuring a but of arterial spray as well. Still think science fiction is for kids? The idea of creating a virtual copy of yourself by hacking the information in your own brain and uploading it to a digital avatar, thereby achieving a brand of immortality is brilliant and the Frankenstein complex that leads a father who lost his daughter to cross lines that should never be crossed is stroke of absolute genius.
Familiarity with it's parent show will certainly deepen your appreciation of "Caprica", but it is not at all necessary. This is great science fiction, period. Now's your chance to get on board with what promises to be the best series in coming years. Don't miss it. Battlestar maniacs will get to see one of that show's enduring heroes in his formative years and witness the birth of the first Cylon in a heart-rending accident. But at it's heart this show -like Galactica- is about two things: massive universal concepts of humanity, and intimate relationships with the characters who inhabit this work of fiction. One cannot improve on that formula. There is no television show, no movie, nothing in entertainment that I am currently looking forward to more then this. If you are a fan of adult science fiction in any way, then this is what you need to be watching. And that goes double for BSG fans.

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An astonishing breakthrough is taking shape on the planet Caprica. The rapidly evolving spheres of human and mechanical engineering have collided, along with the fates of two families. Joined by tragedy in an explosive instant of terror, two rival clans led by powerful patriarchs, Joseph Adama (Esai Morales, Jericho) and Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz, The Butterfly Effect) duel in an era of questionable ethics, corporate machinations and unbridled personal ambition as the final war for humanity looms.The latest phenomenon from the executive producers of Battlestar Galactica (Ronald D. Moore and David Eick), set in a time over 50 years earlier, Caprica is entirely its own world - provocative, thrilling and startling relevant to our own.

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Race to Witch Mountain (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)You'd think a Las Vegas cab driver had seen it all, especially with that UFO convention in town, right? Almost right, until two solemn children show up in his car. They have a wad of cash that they don't seem to understand very well, an urgent need to reach some desert destination, and a schoolbook way of speaking. It seems as legal as anything in Las Vegas and the money's green, so they're off.
So, a moment later, are the government goons in their black SUVs, in hot pursuit. The kids turn out to be something pretty special. The big bad gov guy calls them "illegal aliens," without stating just which laws they broke or just how alien. Then the chase is on with a few extras thrown in, like a killer robot and the only UFOlogist in the world who actually has a clue.
There's plenty of action, a bit of bloodless violence, some ominous but ambiguous threats against the kids, and a steady stream of one-liners to keep the mood from getting too grim. Maybe this isn't one for the ages, but it provides some popcorn entertainment where no one gets killed and everyone keeps their clothes on. Enjoy!
-- wiredweird

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Studio: Buena Vista Home VideoRelease Date: 08/04/2009Run time: 98 minutesRating: Pg

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Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)I started watching The Plan really skeptical; I read all the reviews here, and thought it was going to be mediocre at best, as all the negative reviews seem to be saying that in unison.
However, I was really pleasantly surprised. I can understand how some people might be disappointed with The Plan, it doesn't, after all, answer some of the questions left hanging in the air after the series finale. It doesn't have the space battles or insane intensity of some of BSG's better episodes. It doesn't include some of the most important characters (Laura Roslin, Apollo, Starbuck).
But The Plan was never planned or written, I think, as a nostalgia film that is supposed to exploit our feelings for these characters to milk us for some cash. Instead, it has decided to do something bold: to tell an entirely new story that connects with what we already know, happening at the same time as what we've seen during the first two seasons of BSG.
It's the story of how the Cylons, each in different situations and living amongst different humans were in fact influenced by those humans. We see them developing genuine empathy, and utter hate. We see some renouncing their Cylon identity because of what they've done. We see them questioning their actions. We see them at their most brilliant, but also at their most incompetent. We see them for what they truly are: the imperfect creations of imperfect creations. In the end, the moral is simple: it's easy to kill someone from space with a nuke. It's hard to kill someone looking them in the eye.
If your going to watch The Plan expecting some grand revelations about the loose ends in the series finale, then you will come out disappointed. But if you watch The Plan looking for a really well written movie, with some terrific performances, some new insights into Cylon thinking, or just for a little nostalgia, you wont be disappointed.
So, if you choose to buy this DVD, judge it on it's own merits.

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The Cylons began as humanity's robot servants.They rebelled and evolved and now they look like us.Their plan is simple: destroy the race that enslaved them.But when their devastating attack leaves human survivors, the Cylons have to improvise.Battlestar Galactica: The Plan tells the story of two powerful Cylon leaders, working separately, and their determination to finish the task.

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Eureka: Season 3.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)There's some not-so-pleasant changes in store for the little town of Eureka.
"Eureka Season 3.0" (meaning the first half of the third season a la "Battlestar Galactica") provides plenty of those, which adds some new tension to geniustown (including some rather shocking cast changes and a new "love-to-hate" person). It's kind of disconcerting to only have eight episodes, but they have the signature mixture of warm comedy and intriguing sci-fi mystery.
Among the changes in store: Alison (Salli Richardson-Whitfield) and Nathan (Ed Quinn) contemplate remarriage, and Henry is in jail. And the DOD sends in a corporate "fixer" named Eva Thorne (Frances Fisher) arrives to cut the deadwood from Global Dynamics. But then an anti-missile VIPER drone goes AWOL during a flight test and starts threatening Eureka, while Thorne decides to embed herself in Global Dynamics as one of the new bosses.
And while Eva ruthlessly makes GD "profitable," the usual sci-fi disasters crop up. Carter has to deal with bizarre transformations in a sealed biosphere, a wedding-day timeloop, exploding biomemetic dogs, an impossible volcano brewing under Eureka (and which sprays gross fluids on people), an inept spandex-wearing "Captain Eureka," a mayoral election heated up by an artificial supernova, and a swarm of ancient Egyptian insects.
In the meantime, Thorne is snooping around Eureka in search of something. Her quest leads to the discovery of a vast military base, and some bodies dead since 1939 -- and a bizarre substance that threatens Zoe's life after she slips and falls in it.
Apparently the once all-important Artifact is yesterday's business, because the dark subplot of "Eureka Season 3.0" is the mystery prewar bunker and whatever Thorne wants destroyed. It adds a nice undercurrent of conspiracy and tension to this season, though the focus is always first and foremost on our Everyman Sheriff, and how he tries to deal with the Horrific World-Ending Scientific Crisis of the day.
That's a nice balance, because the rest of the season flows in a river of gentle humor and extreme scientific problems. Plenty of weird inventions (cloud sculpting, flying rabbits and robot pooches), fun tongue-in-cheek dialogue ("They killed the infected and burned the city to the ground." "Let's call that Plan B"), and hilarious comedic moments. And Carter's always in the middle of it, trying to unravel a way to fix things.
But it's worth noting that while the Disasters Du Jour and the bunker plots are dealt with by the eighth episode, the half season ends with a cliffhanger for one character. Just sayin'.
Ferguson does a brilliant job as Carter, the down-to-earth Everycop who just wants to do his job ("It's all fun and games until someone gets cursed"). But Carter has some new problems in this season -- his new-agey, pregnant sister moves in with him, and Zoe continues to spread her wings with a job and boyfriend. Erica Cerra's Jo experiences some relationship woes, while Richardson-Whitfield's Alison is put in the position of being pretty powerless. Sadly, a longtime cast member also exits the scene early on.
This season also sees the return of Henry, whose skills turn out to be too invaluable for him to rot in prison -- and he even gets a new job on top of his old one. And Fisher turns out to be a great addition: she initially makes a great steely-eyed corporate dictator, but the facade cracks as time goes on, and we get to see that she's haunted by something terrible in the past.
"Eureka Season 3.0" is way too short (new episodes coming in July), but it still has the fresh mix of out-there sci-fi and small-town comedy. Definitely still worth the seeing.

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Make a return trip to the seemingly ordinary small town where extraordinary things happen with Eureka 3.0 in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Reunite with the town’s hard-working sheriff, Carter (Colin Ferguson), as he tries to deal with his adopted hometown’s unique geniuses, volatile experiments and earth-shaking secrets … all while trying to raise his feisty teenage daughter on his own. Witty, surprising and full of intriguing mysteries, it’s the innovative SciFi Channel series that explores the fascinating intersections where human dilemmas and super-science collide.

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Harper's Island: The DVD Edition (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)We are so hooked on this show it isn't funny, which must be a tribute to the writing and the direction. The producers certainly know how to get you going, though it takes a few episodes before they can start reeling you in and playing you the way they want to.
At the very beginning there are too many characters--if you have ever seen Robert Altman's film A Wedding some of this will look familiar, but add into it a maritime setting, a fantastic yacht, and a culture of working class people trained to anticipate the needs of the wealthy, and you have a recipe for tension right there, and that's before you get the murders going. The families of Trish Wellington (Katie Cassidy) and Henry Dunn (Christopher Gorham, often looking oddly like lean, lanky, nutty Anthony Perkins) invite you to a destination wedding, one held at Harper's Island somewhere in the Puget Sound, where you will be staying at the incredibly glamorous Candlewick Inn, but there will be plenty of time for slumming and seeing how the other half live.
Chief among the main characters is our heroine, played by Elaine Cassidy, the Irish actress who made a splash in Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey ten years back. As Abby, the daughter of the local sheriff (Jim Beaver), Cassidy plays the tragic survivor of a mass murder that rocked the island seven years ago. Could the killer, John Wakefield, thought to have been shot down by Abby's dad, still be alive? Has he gone back to his ways of hanging his victims from the trees? For many episodes Fate and the unseen killer arrange it so that one by one, victims die but nobody really realizes it, thinking they have just gone back to Seattle and will return for the wedding ceremony. That got a little hard to swallow, but during this period we began to sort out who was who, who's sleeping with who, who resents the power of who, who seems irretrievably scarred by the earlier murders, and something of the sociology. Now we know the characters and it hurts when one of them dies.
The show's gory in spots, soapy in others. So violent is it that the individual episodes are named after comic book signifiers ("Ka-Boom," "Thwack," etc) and after a few weeks you learn to wait for the act of violence each one stands for. The "Sizzle" is particularly gruesome, though nothing yet matches the shocking death that takes place in the island's lovely old church. I still get headaches when I think about that one! Every cliché of this kind of slasher film is rehearsed here, but expertly and often with a twist. Even the one where a medium reads the heroine's Tarot cards and suddenly sees something in them too horrible to put into words and she runs out of the room mumbling, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." -Like the beginning of Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7!

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A horror-inspired drama, this CBS series is about a group of friends and family who meet to celebrate a wedding on an island just outside Seattle, an island that is famous for a streak of unsolved murders seven years ago. Suspense ensues when they end up dead one by one; has the killer returned or is someone else to blame?

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Fringe: The Complete Second Season (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)This review covers my sentiments for SEASON 1 and SEASON 2. Its a good series in season 1 from pilot to episode 6 or 7......and then STRAP YOURSELF IN cuz its going to get way way way better from that point on.
Think LOST in SEASON 1. Thats Fringe. nothing to do with the story lines But with the excitement and anticipation each episode brings. Well mostly each episode. Yes sometimes they'll do an episode that doesnt advance the story line of the SERIES - which drives me nuts btw - but even in those few episodes, the story you will see in that episode will be greatly entertaining and leave you wanting more.
DO NOT start watching this at 11pm if you have an early morning. There is no way you will start and not watch at least three episodes. maybe if you are strong willed you might be able to just watch one or two among the first 6 episodes of season 1. But DO NOT TRY it with starting your viewing late in the evening with an episode that is after 6 of season 1. If you do that, I promise You WILL BE WATCHING 5 episodes back to back before you know it.
You have been warned...........

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From J.J. Abrams (Lost), Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci –the team behind Star Trek and Alias –and executive producers Jeff Pinkner, J.H. Wyman and Bryan Burk, Fringe returns for a second thrilling season and continues to explore the unexplained phenomena and terrifying occurrences linked throughout the world – known simply as "The Pattern“ – in pursuit of a larger, more shocking truth. Set in Boston, the FBI's Fringe Division formed when Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) enlisted the help of institutionalized "fringe" scientist Walter Bishop (John Noble) and his son, Peter (Joshua Jackson), to save her partner and lover from a mind-bending death. Through unconventional and unorthodox methods, the Fringe team imagines and tests the impossibilities while investigating unbelievable events, macabre crimes and mystifying cases involving teleportation, reanimation, genetic mutation, precognition, artificial intelligence and other fantastical theories. When the unimaginable happens, it's their job to stop it.

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Warehouse 13: Season One (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)Combine "The X-Files" with Indiana Jones and add a dash of "Sanctuary," and voila -- you have "Warehouse 13."
Yeah, Sci-fi/SyFy's latest series isn't exactly the most original or unique show out there, but it is strangely endearing. After a round of rather generic standalone episodes, this series bounces off once it introduces a main villain and a plot arc -- and while there's little romantic chemistry, the lead characters are a likable bunch with some nicely handled character development.
After a weird incident involving an assassin and an Aztec bloodstone, Secret Service agents Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) are summoned to a run-down warehouse in the South Dakota badlands. An eccentric agent called Artie (Saul Rubinek) informs them that this is Warehouse 13, which holds dangerous and bizarre "artifacts" -- and their new assignment is to collect and neutralize new artifacts.
Among the problems they encounter: a young man possessed by a strange Italian power, bank robberies using music, a teleportation experiment gone wrong, a device that channels enough energy to fry people to a crisp, a katana that can slice through light, a mirror that switches Myka with a malevolent creature, and a prison whose occupants are driven to madness by the ghosts of their pasts. But the most dangerous problem is a former agent of the Warehouse, who is now determined to grab the artifacts for his own purposes -- and destroy Artie and the others as well.
Despite being pretty derivative of "The X-Files" at times (skeptical strict female agent paired with quirky wild card), "Warehouse 13" has a pretty brilliant concept -- basically it's about a place that seals away any dangerous historical artifacts. Among the artifacts: Poe's pen, Lewis Carroll's mirror, a Studio 54 disco ball (which plays "I Will Survive" when disturbed) the Tesla gun, a giant steampunky computer and a wishing kettle that produces ferrets.
The stories are a solid blend of action, grimy sci-fi (the warehouse is a pretty bleak-looking place), and a bit of comedy on the side (one of the Important Artifact-Seeking Questions is, "Do you smell fudge?"). While the first few episodes are rather generic one-offs, the plots become tighter and more intense about halfway through -- and the addition of the sociopathic MacPherson and the Regents adds a new level of potential to the arc storyline.
Downsides? The dialogue can be painfully cool-kiddish at times, especially when Claudia is being annoyingly self-referential ("Couldn't any genius whiz-kid?"). And the romantic chemistry between Kelly and McClintock is almost nil.
But Kelly and McClintock make a solid supernatural-detective duo -- he's a quirky pop-culture-loving weirdo (although I just can't see him as a Secret Service agent) with a weakness for cookies, while her almost-fanatical devotion to rules/plans is explained by a tragic personal loss. Allison Scagliotti does a good job as the erratic "whiz-kid," although her character can be annoying. But Saul Rubinek is the ruling force in this series -- a quirky, gruff, antisocial man who is haunted by the many agents lost in pursuit of artifacts. He's absolutely brilliant.
"Warehouse 13 Season 1" is pretty derivative at times, but it's also strangely endearing and quite fun. The best part is, it seems to be getting better with time.

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After saving the life of the President, two top Secret Service agents find themselves abruptly transferred to Warehouse 13 — a massive, top-secret storage facility in the badlands of South Dakota that houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. Now the pair — off-the-cuff Agent Pete Lattimer and by-the-book Agent Myka Bering — must chase down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects for their eccentric new boss, Artie Nielsen, to safeguard at the Warehouse. It’s a wildly entertaining adventure full of inventive gadgetry and thrilling action, and with all twelve Warehouse 13: Season One episodes cataloged and archived in this collectible three-disc set, now’s your chance to snag it, bag it and tag it!

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