Surface

There is no denying it. Sci-fi on TV is difficult. There are so many problems that the genre brings with it. Like the need for a good budget, solid writing, decent acting. Perhaps the budget and the script writing is the departments where i feel most attempts have failed. So does "Surface" succeed? Not completely, but more so than most.

The way i see it, a good sci-fi show doesn't really need a lot of CGI to work, nor does it need a ton of money. What it needs is the capacity to create a larger-than-life feeling. The feeling that there is more than meets the eye, something to make me curious and willing to try and figure out how it's going to end. Adding the pieces of the puzzle and sometimes saying "Aha!" is what makes or breaks a show like this one.

"Surface" had a couple of flaws. First of all it's basic premise is not as exciting as it could have been, nor is the revealed story as exciting (or daring) as i hoped in the beginning. Also the TV-feeling is very present much of the time. All the way from the crappy CGI (that ranges from decent to awful) to the rather shifting quality in the acting department. Also it feels sometimes a bit too family-oriented in that it takes the edge of sometimes and becomes almost cutesy. But aside from these flaws it's an enjoyable show. Maybe not as spectacular as some of the other sci-fi shows out there. But it manages to keep me interested the whole season and it offers a couple of nice cliffhangers between shows as well. The ending for me is not that appealing. I don't like shows that end without ending so to speak, leaving the story unresolved. It's especially unfortunate in this case since the show seems to be canceled after the first season (it is as of yet undecided).

HBO is to me the benchmark for quality television. Their series have the best actors, the best production values and above all the most solid writing. This is not HBO-quality, but it's good for what it is. Good enough to want another season without a doubt.

This is one of the better sci-fi series. It involves character development, a few really tensionate moments and reasonable episode scripts. As one other commentator said here, it looked as if it were a mini series, not a full blown series with filler episodes and low budgets.

The problem with the show, which in short is a Godzilla series, is that it started too big, with incredible monsters, fantastic science, then it all boiled down to local Americans doing stuff. Then, the show ended too soon, since the Olympics were coming and hey! a sci-fi show is a sci-fi show, but half naked athletic people running around aimlessly is much more important. So they only did 15 episodes instead of the expected 22. The audience was small, too, as people didn't really caught it on at 20:00. In the end the suits did it. Trust a marketing plan to destroy anything that looks remotely original and promising.

Conclusion: you have a show with good special effects, stuff like huge monsters killing people or destroying boats, then going into genetic engineering, transforming people, human clones, end of the world, tsunamis. Also, the only fillers are scenes with aggressive rednecks or other annoying people being killed for their stupidity. The down-side is that after 15 episodes that prepare something huge, the show ends. No real ending, no closure, just a bitter taste of cloth in one's mouth, as if you just swallowed a piece of suit.

The 15 episodes of the first, and I wouldn't be surprised only, season of "Surface" worked as involvingly as if it were a mini-series like "Taken." The executive producers, Jonas and Josh Pate, never seemed to be stalling or creating filler but had clear character and story lines and trajectories set from the beginning.

The production values, including of the sea monsters, were very high for a weekly series, so that even if the series is not renewed viewing the DVD as a whole will be very entertaining. An important element in its success was the filming locations in North Carolina which provided more visual variety than we usually see in most series which are routinely filmed on either an L. A. back lot and environs or in the Vancouver area.

While there were tips of the hat to many other sci fi movies and shows of the past (Jay Ferguson's "Rich" certainly seems similarly obsessed as Richard Dreyfuss in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"; the daring duo's extreme adventures under the sea certainly seemed like a tribute to Jules Verne, let alone "The Abyss"; some sort of cryogenics facility seemed a lot like something we'd seen in "Coma;" their nemesis seemed to be borrowed from "The X Files," etc.) but it all came together freshly and with some unexpected twists.

Unusual for sci fi, the female roles were key and interesting. While I at first thought Lake Bell's "Dr. Laura Daughtery" was too young (not to mention impossibly gorgeous in a bathing suit) to be a marine biologist, over the first few episodes her threatened status as a newly minted PhD was dealt with spookily as part of the conspiracy to make her suspicious. Her scientific capabilities were always believable, even if her survival luck was amazing. I remained a little unclear about her personal time line of her life with her son, who she must have had when she was a teenager, and ex-husband (let alone the apparent ex-boyfriend "Jackson" who literally stuck out his neck for her). But her devotion to her son was a sweet recurring theme, even as she kept abandoning him to follow leads and escape henchmen.

Martha Plimpton had a delightful guest starring arc as a quirky, guilt-ridden scientist. And the teen age girls actually had brains and feelings. While the mom was clueless, so was the dad, amidst their extremely upper middle class lifestyle.

The relationships between the brainy females and their guys was always appealing, and their dialog sprightly. "Rich"s practical life skills as a fisherman and insurance agent, and brute physical force, were continually balancing "Laura"s scientific knowledge. I was very impressed that the series kept their relationship as a friendship with loyalty but no exaggerated sexual tension, as he is throughout a devoted family man to the wife and daughters he has had to leave behind on his quest, helping to make this appropriate family entertainment.

Teen Carter Jenkins' "Mile Barnett" was geekily adorable throughout, from his boyish loyalty to an unusual pet and his first crush on a girl who actually appreciates him, to his exploration, and finally embrace, of new found super powers. I particularly liked how the series helped him find his way through his volunteer work at the aquarium, which is shown as not just a commercial show but a serious scientific institution.

The story certainly capitalized on the world's recent experiences with natural disasters to believably surmise how people react, from prejudice to panic. A particularly effective episode incorporated MSNBC news and web coverage into the story line for a cynical commentary on old and new media.

Some of the travel times around the country seemed as unrealistic as in "Alias" as the central duo tracked down clues (and they seemed to get as much sleep as "Jack" in "24").

But the bringing together of the central characters and themes in the finale was convincing and exciting, even as it left open plenty of story lines for a network to capitalize on for a second season. NBC was smart to rerun episodes on the Sci Fi Channel and hopefully that could continue to build up interest in even short term renewal or mini-series conclusion.

I set my TV to record this show every week because I can't stand to miss an episode.

My husband and I are hopelessly addicted (and we take pride in the fact that there aren't many TV shows we like to watch).

My son, who is away at college, came home on a short break. I told him the main storyline, and let him watch the third from the last episode of the season. He made me promise to record the next two so that when he came home on his next break, he could watch the season finale. Needless to say, he is now an addict.

The choice of actors, how they mix, their acting ability, along with the storyline makes this series absolutely riveting! I feel like I know these people and I can't wait to find out what happens to them next.

I even love that computer animated little Nimrod. (Okay, he does remind me of our two 5 foot long iguanas, even though they are a lot friendlier than little Nim!)

I truly hope we do not have to wait a long time for next season to start. And I love that part of this show is filmed in Wilmington, NC. Isn't it beautiful!? (We live only two hours away and we love those beaches!)

I also hope that the writers don't change for next season. So many times, I'll like a show, and then the writers change, and I find I no longer have any reason to watch it.

Anyway.. This show is a 9.5! Great job!!!

http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/10/03/surface-episode-3/

Surface: Episode 3 Posted Oct 3, 2005, 9:34 PM ET by Bob Sassone Filed under: NBC, Sci-Fi/Horror, Surface

Maybe a giant fireball of an explosion in the poolhouse will convince Miles that keeping a weird sea creature as a secret pet isn't the best idea in the world. But somehow, I doubt it. I still think it's ridiculous. It's not cute, it's potentially deadly, so the only two outcomes that will be acceptable are, a.) the kid brings the little creature to the attention of Laura or Rich, or b.) the monster grows up fast and devours the entire family.

So while Miles and his buddy are trying to figure out how to feed and train the little creature, Rich goes back to work at his insurance job (wow, what a dreary office/small desk he has - he should just quit and hunt monsters full-time), and Laura is having her own problems at work and has to get a job as a waitress ($68 in tips for 12 hours work...not too good). The appearance of these monsters are affecting all the major characters, in big ways.

This is the best of the new sci-fi/horror shows. It's not as boring as Invasion; it has a better plot than Supernatural; it's not as goofy as Threshold (save for the little monster subplot), and it's not as awful as Night Stalker seems to be so far. I like how they have three different plots going (Laura's, Rich's, Miles) but they haven't brought them all together yet in some forced, let's save the Earth sort of way. This show is methodical, but never boring. It's majestic and epic when it has to be, but it's never over the top. It's the only show of this bunch where I can honestly say I look forward to seeing every week and that is leaving me guessing as to what exactly is going to happen and where they are going with the plot. The structure is smart, and I love how it ends with some big event (the giant monster eating the boat whole from below, tonight's Old Faithful exploding into fire and smoke).

I've stopped watching Invasion, and I'm going to watch Supernatural only because I'm reviewing it. The Night Stalker I'll watch for the same reason or until it's cancelled. Threshold is fun too so I'll keep watching that. But Surface is the one I'll buy on DVD, if it ever gets to that point.