Watching Warehouse 13 - by Vijaya Schartz

Imagine a warehouse where all the most secret and the most dangerous devices, scientific, alien weapons, or magic artifacts, are stored and protected from the wrong hands. This secret facility is hidden under a mountain, and the innocent entrance looks like an old-fashioned barn. Who would search for powerful artifacts in a barn? Of course, the barn leans on a mountain side, and the enormous facility is hollowed out in the rock under the mountain range.

This steampunk, sci-fi, paranormal series is fun and engaging, and sometimes dramatic and gruesome. The romance between the two protagonists is lacking, although there were attempts at romance in previous seasons. I guess that's why the creators introduced a new fresh character, Claudia. She fell in love but her love interest was killed in a previous episode.

Not to worry, this is Warehouse 13, and the young man can be revived... although there will be a price to pay.

In a typical episode, an artifact is missing, or an artifact is sighted somewhere in the world, wreaking havoc, and our two FBI special agents have to retrieve it, often pry it off the hands of some bad guys bent on world domination. The plots are full of adventure. Saving the world is a daily occurence. Sometimes it requires going back in time to undo some evil... always at a price, though.

I'm watching religiously on SyFy on Mondays.

FUN WATCHING EUREKA! - Too bad it's being cancelled

I'm a sci-fi freak. Whether or not there is romance in it. And I have to say that most of the time, there is. Right now, I'm really enjoying season five of EUREKA on the SyFy channel on Mondays. Although the setting is contemporary or only slightly futuristic, I love the concept. The writers also do a fabulous job at stellar dialogue, the situations are as often funny as they are dramatic, and always full of action and intriguing suspense.

The Eureka concept:

Somewhere in a tucked away mountain range is a small town, which is nothing but ordinary. A bunch of  scientists live there, working on a myriad of top secret scientific projects, including spaceships, artificial intelligence, supercomputers, time travel, talking houses, flying cars, reviving the dead, constructing biological entities... you name it, they are working on perfecting the prototypes.

Of course, as in all good stories, everything that could possibly go wrong does, and often with epic consequences. Try going back in time and changing a few things during WWII, then come back to a different present with lots of surprises.

What I also like about the show is that the characters are so human, corky, and torn by impossible ethical conflicts. And they still dare fall in love despite the consequences.

In yesterday's episode, a new thread started where the evil seems to be in the machine. In a town where you can build human bodies and imbue them with the electrical impulses of an existing human mind, someone is building replicas and taking over the town... to be continued.

Not all the characters are geeks. Sheriff Carter is just a good guy with an inferiority complex. Who wouldn't feel inadequate among all these geniuses? His character is the perfect plot device to educate us muggles in lay terms when necessary.

That's why I'm so bummed that the SyFy channel did not renew the show for the next season. There won't be a season 6. I sure hope they make a movie. In any case, I will be watching the reruns.

Vijaya Schartz

Blasters, Swords, Romance with a Kick

http://www.vijayaschartz.com