Eureka (TV series)
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| Eureka | |
 Title card |
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| Also known as | A Town Called Eureka |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Created by | Andrew Cosby Jaime Paglia |
| Starring | Colin Ferguson Salli Richardson-Whitfield Jordan Hinson Joe Morton Ed Quinn (seasons 1–3) Erica Cerra |
| Country of origin | United States Canada |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 33 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | British Columbia, Canada |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | approx. 44 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | SCI FI soon to be SyFy |
| Original run | July 18, 2006 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Eureka is an American science fiction television series set in a town inhabited almost entirely by geniuses. In the UK, it is known as A Town Called Eureka.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Eureka takes place in a high tech community of the same name, located somewhere in the Pacific Northwest (implied to be Oregon, due to the presence of Oregon maps and flags.) and inhabited entirely by brilliant scientists working on new scientific advancements for the United States government that frequently go disastrously awry. The town's existence and location are closely guarded secrets.
U.S. Marshal Jack Carter stumbles upon Eureka while transporting a fugitive prisoner — his own rebellious teenage daughter Zoe — back to her mother's home in Los Angeles, California. When a faulty experiment cripples the sheriff of Eureka, Carter finds himself quickly chosen to fill the vacancy. Despite not being a genius like most members of the town, Jack Carter's ability to connect to others repeatedly saves Eureka, and indeed the entire world, from one would-be disaster after another.
[edit] Characters
- Colin Ferguson as Sheriff Jack Carter, a U.S. Marshal who reluctantly ends up as Sheriff of Eureka. Jack is consistently dumbfounded by the wonders Eureka produces, as well as their propensity to produce things that often threaten the entire town, if not the world. Despite being an average man in a town full of geniuses, Jack's admittedly simplistic ideas often save the day; he contrasts with the other residents of Eureka, who tend to over-complicate things. Jack is in love with Allison Blake, current director of Global Dynamics, and, as of the middle of season 3, is currently unemployed after being fired by General Mansfield.
- Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Dr. Allison Blake, a Department of Defense agent who acts as the liaison between Eureka and the federal government, and later becomes the director of Global Dynamics. She is always at the forefront of any dilemma that might arise.
- Jordan Hinson as Zoe Carter, Jack's rebellious teenage daughter. Unlike her father, she is intelligent enough to keep up with the town's residents (her IQ is 157), yet like her father, possesses the street smarts that most of the town's residents do not.
- Joe Morton as Dr. Henry Deacon, the town jack-of-all-trades. Henry's assistance is often invaluable in defusing the situations the experiments in town create. So much so that in the middle of season 3, he was elected mayor as a write-in candidate.
- Ed Quinn as Dr. Nathan Stark, one of Eureka's top scientists who is modeled after Tony Stark[1]. He and Jack are frequently at odds, though both respect the other. He was formerly married to Allison, and they rekindled their relationship in the second season. They were supposed to get remarried in the third season, but he died while saving the world from a time paradox on the day of their wedding.
- Erica Cerra as Deputy Jo Lupo, another of the town's few nongenius residents. Jo is a tough, no-nonsense cop who loves her gun collection (maybe a little bit too much).
- Neil Grayston as Dr. Douglas Fargo, an average scientist who more often than not ends up a victim of the disasters that befall the town.
- Debrah Farentino as Dr. Beverly Barlowe, the town psychiatrist who secretly works for a conglomerate of business interests that wish to exploit Eureka's innovations.
- Matt Frewer as Dr. Jim Taggart, a somewhat eccentric animal expert.
- Chris Gauthier as Vincent, the owner of Cafe Diem. He prides himself on being able to make anything his customers ask for. It is implied in at least two episodes that Vincent is gay. [2]
- Niall Matter as Zane Donovan, a rebellious genius recruited in the second season after being arrested for fraud. He is said to have caused the New York Stock Exchange to crash; he denies the allegations. He develops a relationship with Jo Lupo shortly after he arrives in town.
- Frances Fisher as Eva Thorne, a corporate fixer hired to make Eureka more profitable, which she mainly accomplishes by downsizing. She seems to have an ulterior motive involving an underground military base built before Eureka was founded.
- Barclay Hope as General Mansfield, an army general who frequently visits Eureka to check up on government projects, or to enforce martial law when experiments get out of control.
- Jaime Ray Newman as Dr. Tess Fontana, a new employee at Global Dynamics coming in season 3. [3]
[edit] Episodes
The episodes of season one were not aired in the order intended by the show's creators. This is suggested by the episodes' production numbers which are displayed on the SCI FI's Eureka website next to episode titles quite often. There are some small inconsistencies when watched closely, but such inconsistencies are minimal and were intentionally controlled. In podcast commentaries with the show's creators and star Colin Ferguson, they confirm that the production order is in fact the order in which they intended the show to air, but the network executives changed the order to try and place stronger episodes earlier in the run to help attract viewers. The creators were able to make minor changes in editing and sometimes dubbed dialogue in later episodes (for instance, they removed the explicit mention of Zoe's first day at school) to try to eliminate audience confusion.
Eureka was originally planned as an animated series.[4]
The remaining episodes of season 3 will begin airing July 10, 2009.[5]
[edit] Ratings
The series premiere garnered high ratings, with 4.1 million people tuning in. Eureka was also the top rated cable program for that Tuesday night, and was the highest-rated series launch in SCI FI's fourteen-year history.[6] The season two premiere drew 2.5 million viewers, making it the top-rated cable program of the day.[7]
For calendar-year 2008 on a first-run basis, the series delivered 1.42 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic. [2]
[edit] Critical reaction
Critical Reaction was mixed, with general praise for the premise, but overall middling reaction to the writing of the pilot.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
It's all very quirky. Too quirky, maybe, for an audience that is used to spaceships, robots, and explosions. Though every episode promises an "aha!" moment based in quantum physics and obscure scientific laws, this world is relatively flat, conceptually speaking, in comparison to the complexity woven into series such as Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica. This does not mean Eureka is a complete waste of time. Not at all. The characters are fun, Ferguson is believable and pleasant, the script is solidly constructed, and the visuals are slickly produced. All in all, it's a sweet series and probably not long for this world.[8]
The New York Daily News:
With its playful new series "Eureka," set in the Pacific Northwest and telling the story of an outsider who comes to explore, and settle in, a remote town full of eccentrics, Sci-Fi Channel isn't just inviting comparisons to "Twin Peaks" and "Northern Exposure." It's demanding them. But co-creators Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia hold up to them pretty well. "Eureka" has a premise, a cast and a plot that make it one of the TV treats of the summer. The folks at Sci-Fi Channel clearly intended to reinvent the summer TV series here, and come up with something breezy and fun. And "Eureka" - they've done it!
[edit] Awards
Eureka was nominated for a 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series. The other nominees were Battlestar Galactica (the winner), Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, and Rome.[9]
[edit] Production notes
[edit] Main Crew
- Michael Lange
- Mike Rohl (4 episodes, 2006-2007)
- Michael Robison (3 episodes, 2006-2008)
- Michael Grossman (2 episodes, 2006-2007)
- Jefery Levy (2 episodes, 2006)
- Jeff Woolnough (2 episodes, 2006)
- Eric Laneuville (2 episodes, 2007-2008)
- Jaime Paglia (34 episodes, 2006-2008)
- Andrew Cosby (Head Writer)
- Johanna Stokes (5 episodes, 2006-2007)
- Thania St. John (5 episodes, 2007-2008)
- Dan E. Fesman (3 episodes, 2006)
- Harry Victor (3 episodes, 2006)
- Charles Grant Craig (3 episodes, 2007-2008)
- Bruce Miller (3 episodes, 2007-2008)
- Karl Schaefer (2 episodes, 2006)
- Eric Wallace
The stunt coordinator was David Jacox.
[edit] Filming locations
- Chilliwack, British Columbia[10] – Downtown Wellington Avenue on April 12, 2006
- Duncan, British Columbia
- Ladysmith, British Columbia[11] – Downtown First Avenue
- Nanaimo, British Columbia – Ney Drive, Biggs & Townsite Roads
- Surrey, British Columbia – (Sullivan Heights Secondary School, Fraser Heights Secondary School)
- Victoria, British Columbia
- Port Moody, British Columbia – (Heritage Woods Secondary School) Exterior shots of Global Dynamics. The interior of the school has also been used as the school that Brian Perkins attends, on May 3, 2007. This school's interior has also been used as the school that Zoe Carter attends as well (in the episode, "Duck, Duck Goose"). The roof of the school was also used as the location of the astronomy tower (also in the episode, "Duck, Duck Goose").
- Ashland, Oregon – (City Hall) Interior and exterior shots of city hall
- Burnaby, British Columbia – Vancouver Film Studios[12] for the majority of the Global Dynamics building interiors, cafe interiors as well as the home of Sheriff Carter.
[edit] International distribution
March, 5th, 2009
[edit] DVD releases
[edit] Season One
| Season One | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
 United States |
 United Kingdom |
 Australia |
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| July 3, 2007 | March 24, 2008 | December 3, 2008 | ||
[edit] Season Two
| Season Two | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set Details | Special Features[13] | |||
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| Release Dates | ||||
| United States |
United Kingdom |
Australia |
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| July 15, 2008 | August 18, 2008 | Unknown | ||
[edit] Spin-offs
[edit] Original soundtrack
On August 26, 2008, La La Land Records released Eureka: Original Soundtrack From the Sci-Fi Channel Television Series.[14] Composed predominately by Bear McCreary, the album consists of 28 tracks from the show's second season. It also includes two variations of the Mark Mothersbaugh and John Enroth composed main theme, as well as two songs -- "Let's Get Hitched" and "EurekAerobics", written by Brendan McCreary and Captain Ahab, respectively.[15]
[edit] Comics
Boom! Studios is producing a comic book based on storylines provided by Andrew Cosby (who is also the co-founder of the comic publisher), to be written by Brendan Hay, with art by Diego Barreto.[16]
[edit] References
- ^ "Sci-fi made sexy on 'Eureka'". http://entertainment1.sympatico.msn.ca/TV_Guide/Interviews/Insider/Articles/070425_ed_quinn_eureka_MH. Retrieved on 2009-01-18.
- ^ One implication made in the episode Invincible as Carl was kissing Dr. Beverly Barlowe.
- ^ http://scifiwire.com/2009/01/exclusive-video-a-sneak-peek-at-the-new-resident-of-eureka.php
- ^ "Sci Fi Wire - Eureka Almost A Toon". Sci Fi Wire. 2006-08-08. http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=37437. Retrieved on 2006-08-14.
- ^ [1]The SyFy press release
- ^ "Eureka Scores High". The Futon Critic. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20060719scifi01. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
- ^ Adalian, Josef (2007-07-11). "Audiences discover 'Eureka'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117968374.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&query=eureka. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
- ^ "Not a whole lot to discover on ëEureka'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 2006-07-18. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/277848_eureka18.html. Retrieved on 2006-07-20.
- ^ "SCI FI CHANNEL SCORES 7 EMMY NOMS INCLUDING WRITING & DIRECTING NODS FOR 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA'". The Futon Critic. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20070719scifi01. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
- ^ "Chilliwack Film Commission: Who's Filmed in Chilliwack". Chilliwack Film Commission. http://www.chilliwackfilmcommission.com/film_commission/whos_filmed/index.php?catid=6. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ "Ladysmith, British Columbia Film". Town of Ladysmith. http://www.ladysmith.ca/film.php. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ "Vancouver Film Studios - Who's Been Here". Vancouver Film Studios. http://www.vancouverfilmstudios.com/company/whos.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
- ^ "Eureka - Menu Screens Reveal Extras for Eureka's 2nd Season DVDs". TV Shows on DVD. http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Eureka-Season-2-Extras/9436. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ "My "Eureka" Soundtrack Is Finally Out!"
- ^ "LA LA LAND RECORDS, EUREKA"
- ^ Brendan Hay Talks "Eureka" Comics, Comic Book Resources, February 2, 2009
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eureka (TV series) |
- Official Eureka site at Sci Fi.com
- Eureka at Allmovie
- Eureka at the Internet Movie Database
- Eureka at TV.com
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