When Eureka and Warehouse 13 return with new episodes Monday, the Syfy shows promise to leave behind clumsy romance in favor of the speculative fun that turned the series into standouts in the first place.
That?s good news for fans of both programs, which lately have delivered a steady diet of soap-opera storylines. Unrelieved sexual tension between major and minor characters has filled recent episodes rather than the mind-frying sci-fi and fantasy that makes for good television.
For its part, Warehouse 13 ? in which Secret Service agents Myka Bering and Pete Lattimer (played by Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelly) retrieve esoteric supernatural artifacts for storage in a remote South Dakota safehouse ? is happily moving on from the soap zone.
?We did find last year that when we went into romantic arcs for Pete Lattimer or [red-headed technowiz] Claudia Donovan that they didn?t work,? Warehouse 13 executive producer Jack Kenny told Wired.com in an e-mail.
?We?re not that show. One big reason is that we?re always out in the field. That?s where the fun of the series is, out on cases and snag ?n? bags, so they don?t really have time for any relationships.?
In Warehouse 13?s Season 3 premiere episode, ?The New Guy? (previewed above), the new guy in question is Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore, who played Jimmy Olsen on the now-defunct supersoap Smallville). A human lie detector who?s also a Buddhist seeking internal peace in a job that promises the opposite, Ashmore?s Jinks is a perfect comedic foil for Lattimer and Bering. With any luck, he can keep Warehouse 13 from relapsing into conventional romance, which is out of place in a show that has staked its claim in the unconventional.
?We wanted to find someone who brought an entirely different energy to the warehouse and our cast,? Kenny said. ?Aaron was the perfect fit for everyone. He?s also become a good BFF for Claudia.?
More good news, sci-fi fans! Most of Eureka's main characters are happily sleeping together. Let's move on, shall we?
Images courtesy Syfy
More perfect fits, as least as far as fandom is concerned, can be found in Eureka, which rounds out its continuing fourth season with 10 new episodes, starting with Monday?s clever blast, ?Liftoff.? The show has added perennial geek favorites Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day to its capable cast.
Wheaton?s recurring character, Dr. Parrish, is a grumpy bitch without compare that continually butts heads with uber-geek Douglas Fargo (the hilarious Neil Grayston), who runs the fictional town of Eureka?s haven for mad scientists. Meanwhile, Day?s skittish science wonk, Dr. Holly Marten, previewed below, sucks up screen time as Fargo?s frazzled but principled co-worker.
And, as if to prove that geek street cred has no limit, Eureka?s July 25 episode ?Glimpse? features Marvel Comics visionary Stan Lee.
?Felicia and Wil had been on our wish list for some time,? Eureka creator and executive producer Jaime Paglia told Wired.com in an e-mail interview. ?Wil was friends with one of our writers, Amy Berg, and loved the role. He introduced me to Felicia when we were doing signings at Phoenix Comicon.?
The trip to Arizona proved especially momentous, thanks to Paglia?s meeting Lee on the airplane from Los Angeles.
?Within five minutes of talking, he asked when I was going to give him a cameo on our show,? Paglia said. ?We made it happen and it?s one of my favorite episodes we?ve ever done.?
Wheaton and Day are such geek attractors that they?ve already been included in Eureka?s fifth season, in production now and scheduled to air in 2012. In fact, Wheaton slots into Eureka?s science madhouse so finely that he?s moderating the show?s July 22 panel at Comic-Con International, which will also include Day.
?They just fit perfectly,? Paglia said. ?Wil is a great antagonist for Fargo, and Felicia has this eccentric, lovable intelligence that is pitch-perfect. Both of them are seasoned sci-fi geeks with loyal followers and bring a great energy to the show.?
We?ll take seasoned sci-fi geeks over the interrupted romances that the first half of Eureka?s fourth season spawned like accidental wormholes. Despite all the horny loose ends between characters, the most interesting relationship in Eureka is between the sentient house SARAH and android deputy ANDY. When it comes to magnetic attraction, the humans simply cannot keep up with the machines.
Wheaton now has Day as a love interest, but we can handle that as long as the rest of the characters can put their redundant love lives aside long enough to handle whatever apocalypse Eureka?s whitecoats create.
So here?s to rinsing out the excessive soapiness. When Eureka and Warehouse 13 seize upon their comedic possibilities, the shows veer closer to the kind of geek-powered genius contemporary television needs.
Eureka airs Mondays at 8 p.m./7 p.m. Central and Warehouse 13 airs Mondays at 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central, both on Syfy.
Scott Thill covers pop, culture, tech, politics, econ, the environment and more for Wired, AlterNet, Filter, Huffington Post and others. You can sample his collected spiels at his site, Morphizm.Follow @morphizm on Twitter.
Source: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/07/eureka-warehouse-13/
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