# SciFi Channel Orders 13 Episodes of "Sanctuary" starring Amanda Tapping



## LarryFlowers

In February of this year, the SciFi channel placed an order for 13 episodes of the highly successful PPV Web Series *"Sanctuary"* see: http://www.sanctuaryforall.com/social_sanctuary/profile.php

This innovative web series was shot in the same manner as the movies _"300"_ and _"Sin City". _Everything on the show is shot straight to digital and makes massive use of CGI, with virtually everything being shot on green screen.

The series will star Amanda Tapping, best known as Samantha Carter of _"Stargate SG1"_ and _"Stargate Atlantis"._

Production began on the 13 episodes this month in Vancouver. Many of the production staff are Stargate alumni and Amanda Tapping has credit as Executive Producer as well as star.

No official premier date has yet been announced.


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## reds1963

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet


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## Doug Brott

Hopefully this show will replace some of the shows I enjoyed this past year ..


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## shocky

This looks very promising, but does it continue the online web series or does it pickup the 8 online + 5 more?


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## bonscott87

The 8 online only make one "pilot" episode so they might stretch it out to a 2 hour premier but the other 11-12 will be all original.


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## Terry740

I am glad that the Sci-Fi channel loves Amanda Tapping as much as I do . Can't get enought of that beautiful smile.


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## bicker1

The plans are to film the pilot again, from scratch.


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## IndyMichael

I liked it, but I like pretty much all SciFi shows.


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## rustynails

I did not like the show that much. I like Amanda but I don't like the premise of the show. It was alright but it isn't Stargate or Atlantis. I am a big sci fi fan and will watch it some more and give it a chance. It made me think of X-Men with the mutants but not as good.


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## phrelin

These days pilots seem to me to be a bit overdone. But the premise of this show was established as a web series and the transition to TV might be a bit rough initially.

There will be action, but it is also a bit of a morality play where "Mom" attempts to maintain the focus of all the others, so when confronted with apparent or real monsters they choose the moral option over one of evil. When the screen is occupied with discussions about this, as it was considerably in the pilot, it does slow things down.

But oddly enough, this is what the best scifi writing has traditionally been - a morality play that incorporates unfamiliar, even seeming unreal elements, to make us think about what it means to be alive and human.

And it can be entertaining if written well. I'm as yet undecided if they will be able to make this consistently entertaining.


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## bicker1

It was really well-done. I think this is going to become another of our favorites.


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## lwilli201

Amanda Tapping is strong and hard with a little vulnerability. She seems to carry that from part to part. It was a sad day when SG-1 was cancelled. Any one else as the main character, and this show would never make it. We will have to see where this story line goes.


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## RobertE

I liked what I saw in the pilot with the exception of one small thing. I have a hard time seeing/hearing that accent Amanda is doing. Don't care for it.


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## armophob

I was way too distracted through the pilot by the Geico caveman. Kept waiting for him to sigh and fold his arms.


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## lwilli201

RobertE said:


> I liked what I saw in the pilot with the exception of one small thing. I have a hard time seeing/hearing that accent Amanda is doing. Don't care for it.


At times it did sound a little British. Remember she was in England during the time of Jack the Ripper.


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## bicker1

It is actually a decent accent... figure if you've been living in the United States for about a hundred years, the English access of your youth would no longer be quite so pronounced.


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## Sirshagg

RobertE said:


> I liked what I saw in the pilot with the exception of one small thing. I have a hard time seeing/hearing that accent Amanda is doing. Don't care for it.


and I kinda liked it.


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## Sirshagg

armophob said:


> I was way too distracted through the pilot by the Geico caveman. Kept waiting for him to sigh and fold his arms.


I kept thinking it was that dog character from Dark Angel.


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## ImBack234

I watched Sanctuary (Web Series) and if thats the same, I'll pass. I found it very low budget and a lot of blue screen. Its just way to cheap looking for me.


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## phrelin

I think the production values are considerably higher than the web series.

According to The Official Amanda Tapping Website:


> Amanda has British roots - she was born in Rochford, Essex, and then lived in South Benfleet, Essex, but very shortly afterwards, when she was just one year old, her family relocated to Ontario in Canada. While obviously holding a Canadian citizenship, she still retains her British one.


 I'm sure various British accents are familiar to her and perhaps more natural than a U.S. accent.


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## RASCAL01

It seamed to be a spin on Torchwood. Done the American way.


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## jkane

I too kept waiting for caveman to cut to a Geico commercial.

I work with a guy who's been in the US for about 30 years. He works hard at keeping his accent on purpose. 

What kept distracting me was why they had to have a Daniel Jackson look/act alike including the scene where he walks in the room with an arm load of books. Too much!

I'll keep watching to see who it works out. With Friday's getting slim anyhow, It'll probably get watched in our house.


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## bicker1

Yeah, they probably would have been better off without the Daniel Jackson eyeglasses... the parallel wouldn't be so obvious.


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## Sirshagg

jkane said:


> What kept distracting me was why they had to have a Daniel Jackson look/act alike including the scene where he walks in the room with an arm load of books. Too much!


Same here. :lol:


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## longrider

jkane said:


> What kept distracting me was why they had to have a Daniel Jackson look/act alike including the scene where he walks in the room with an arm load of books. Too much!


I see I'm not the only one who thought that


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## Cmnore

Amanda Tapping=YUMMY

Look at her IMDB photo!


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## dreadlk

In Summary:
Amanda's accent is a huge distraction, the Daniel look a like was really just too wierd to watch and lastly the premis of the show is total crap.

From what I have seen SciFi Channel is not capable of making a good show, they have to buy good shows from someone else, eg. SG1 and BSG. 

It really anoys me that they make all these stupid Movies about Giant _____ or Killer _______. You fill in the blank.

Truth is they have made a movie on just about every creature. Why don't they instead by old shows like older Doctor Who episodes and stuff like Space Above and Beyond, Lost in Space Etc. and save the movie production cash for making one or two really good series.


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## phrelin

Let's keep the facts straight here. The show which started as a series of webisodes is produced by Stage 3 Media based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Key cast members such as Amanda Tapping, Robin Dunne, and Emilie Ullerup are Canadian and were in the web version. When considering production values you need to be aware of this information (from Wikipedia):


> Sanctuary is filmed almost entirely using the green screen technique. Unlike many other shows, elaborate sets are not built for the scenes to be filmed; instead, they are created using CGI technology.


Whatever else it is or is not, it is not a series version of a SciFi Channel movie.


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## ImBack234

Cmnore said:


> Amanda Tapping=YUMMY
> 
> Look at her IMDB photo!


You got to love her smile.


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## BubblePuppy

Ah..Thanks for pointing out her smile or else I wouldn't have noticed that feature of hers. :lol:


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## ImBack234

phrelin said:


> Sanctuary is filmed almost entirely using the green screen technique. Unlike many other shows, elaborate sets are not built for the scenes to be filmed; instead, they are created using CGI technology.


So when I take a look at this it could very well still look as cheap.:eek2:


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## ImBack234

phrelin said:


> Originally Posted by phrelin View Post
> Sanctuary is filmed almost entirely using the green screen technique. Unlike many other shows, elaborate sets are not built for the scenes to be filmed; instead, they are created using CGI technology.


I would guess Eureka was done the sameway but it doesn't look low budget. In fact I don't even notice the green or blue screen.
"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."
Maybe they use better technology for eureka. 
Either way after looking at this I find it to be just the Web Series played on tv.


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## bonscott87

ImBack234 said:


> I would guess Eureka was done the sameway but it doesn't look low budget. In fact I don't even notice the green or blue screen.
> "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."
> Maybe they use better technology for eureka.
> Either way after looking at this I find it to be just the Web Series played on tv.


Eureka is shot on location in Vancover. There is a small town that actually stands in for Eureka for outside "main street" shots.


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## phrelin

ImBack234 said:


> So when I take a look at this it could very well still look as cheap.:eek2:


The reshot pilot is not as cheap looking as the webisodes. Certainly it's not on a par with SG-Atlantis which is going to precede it on SciFriday, but certainly better than most stuff on SciFi in my opinion. However, it's never going to have a George Lucas budget to work with.


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## dreadlk

I liked her better before I saw that picture:eek2: 
Those legs are not what I Imagined



ImBack234 said:


> You got to love her smile.


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## Sirshagg

BubblePuppy said:


> Ah..Thanks for pointing out her smile or else I wouldn't have noticed that feature of hers. :lol:


+1


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## bobbyv

Terry740 said:


> I am glad that the Sci-Fi channel loves Amanda Tapping as much as I do . Can't get enought of that beautiful smile.


You and me both.


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## dreadlk

She does have a nice smile and wonderful personality


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## dreadlk

Cant believe I am still watching this but it paid off! Last weeks episode on board the wrecked plane was actually really good. If they can make episode with scripts that interesting they will be a success.


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## rustynails

dreadlk said:


> Cant believe I am still watching this but it paid off! Last weeks episode on board the wrecked plane was actually really good. If they can make episode with scripts that interesting they will be a success.


I agree! I liked that episode also. I could do without Amanda's accent and she isn't as good in this role. I liked her in Stargate SG-1 a whole lot better. I will keep watching it but its not one of my favorite shows that's for sure!


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## rustynails

I just watched the latest episode and it sucked. It was like it was based on the movie Gremlins. Its my last time to watch this show. It was especially disappointing after the episode on the plane!


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## BubblePuppy

I think this episode was titled: "The Trouble With Nubbins"


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## phrelin

BubblePuppy said:


> I think this episode was titled: "The Trouble With Nubbins"


Yeah, it was a bit of a ripoff of that original Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles". Surely these people realize that their audience is made up of hard core science fiction fans who are looking for original ideas?:nono2:


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## rustynails

Yes, that is it. The Trouble With Tribbles. I knew I had seen something similar to this episode. If they are already copying other sci fi shows, what chance do they have to succeed?


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## longrider

I see I wasn't the only one that made the connection to Tribbles. However I dont consider it a complete rip off, all that was borrowed was the creature itself and the act of getting into all systems - food stores, security, electronics, etc.

Definitly not the best episode but not enough to make me write off the series.

This talk made me think of one of the better lines from the original show:



> McCoy: Captain, as near as I can tell they are BORN pregnant!


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## jkane

Wow! I guess I am alone in liking it! I agree not Amanda's best role, but not terrible either.

As for Tribbles, I don't recall Capt Kirk setting a wild well camouflaged predator loose on the star base so it could hunt, kill, splatter blood from, and eat the tribbels! I thought it was an OK mix of a lot of shows.

If I have to pick one, it was more like Critters than any of the ones mentioned so far. Predator meets Critters. 

I still don't like the Daniel Jackson act alike. That bugs me. And I could have done without the pheromones line, but I guess it fit pretty well. I'll accept it this time as long as it doesn't become a problem.


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## frederic1943

SCI FI has greenlit production on a second season of Sanctuary, ordering 13 new hours.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20081113scifi01

.


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## LarryFlowers

frederic1943 said:


> SCI FI has greenlit production on a second season of Sanctuary, ordering 13 new hours.
> 
> http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20081113scifi01
> 
> .


This is good news, I enjoy the show and will generally follow Amanda Tapping wherever she leads....


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## Fontano

Good to hear.

Hopefully now, they will take the special effects a little more seriously.
They need some work on their GREEN SCREEN usage, so it doesn't look as fake.

I sitll enjoy the show, but they could do a lot better with that aspect of the show.


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## ImBack234

Fontano said:


> Hopefully now, they will take the special effects a little more seriously.
> They need some work on their GREEN SCREEN usage, so it doesn't look as fake.


:eek2: Thank you.


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## dreadlk

The Nubbins episode has pretty much killed my desire to see any more episodes. I really thought after the plane episode that they had started to get on track but now I have doubts. I will see what next week brings but after that it may be the end for me.

BTW why does SciFi think it's such a good idea to constantly remind the viewers that the everything in the show is a virtual set! It really dampens the experience and takes a lot of Oh's and Ah's of the visuals away. 

Just my 2 cents..


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## Doug Brott

I've all but written this show off ..


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## dreadlk

I have now officialy written it off, the Submarine Episode was the last straw!


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## phrelin

dreadlk said:


> I have now officialy written it off, the Submarine Episode was the last straw!


What was not to like? A 1938 submarine interior made over with newer electronics? Or the idiotic writing? In theory, the plot had promise....

Oh well.


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## rustynails

I keep watching it but it's not my favorite show by any means. The submarine episode was just so so. Nothing really to write home about. I keep hoping that the writing will get better.


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## phrelin

Maybe the next 13 episodes. But these episodes feel like they were written and created on the web by an apprentice group of young writers getting together with some fx geeks, which is how the show started. The producers are paying for pretty decent green screen effects, but this isn't from Lucasfilms and Amanda Tapping isn't Steven Spielberg.

Originally I think the webisodes were produced by a small group in Vancouver, B.C. under the name of Stage 3 Media. But the web site now says _Copyright © 2008 Kebet Holdings Ltd., a division of The Beedie Group_. From their web site:


> The Beedie Group specializes in the design, construction and management of industrial buildings in Greater Vancouver. Since our incorporation in 1954, we have grown to be a market leader in "build to suit" development and are the largest Landlord of industrial space in British Columbia. At the present time we currently have development projects underway in Delta, Richmond, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Surrey and Langley. On average our firm completes 10 to 12 buildings per year ranging in sizes from 20,000 to 400,000 square feet.


Guess they're "dabbling" on the creative side. If they have enough money, maybe next season they'll hire some established writers and directors.

But yeah, I'm watching it flounder about as a good idea without direction. I hope SciFi isn't paying very much for this first season.


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## armophob

I like it so far, but there is an annoying clumsiness to the storyline. This last episode with the introduction and then removal of her father was so poorly done that it makes you wonder how long they will be able to keep the series running.


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## armophob

Ok, this last episode with the bouncing camera really irritated me. I was so happy when they finally killed the camera man. That Blair witch stuff gives me a headache.


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## mreposter

I watched an episode last night with Tesla the vampire and the appearance of the daughter's father. It started out okay but the stuff back at the castle didn't make much sense and the story seemed to drag a bit. By the end I was just plain bored. It reminded me of the movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentleman - lots of potential, but poorly executed.


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## dreadlk

LOL yes I stopped watching it  yet let me say that the Father Episode was utter rubbish. Character is bought in and then for no logical reason is leaving!! To do what go back and live in a Card Board box!! Jeeez this show has now gone to the total stupid side.



armophob said:


> I like it so far, but there is an annoying clumsiness to the storyline. This last episode with the introduction and then removal of her father was so poorly done that it makes you wonder how long they will be able to keep the series running.


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## Doug Brott

I haven't watched one episode since I wrote it off .. I can honestly say I'm not missing it at all .. It doesn't sound like it has received overwhelming support.


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## Ferenczy

...still watching and probably will til the end (I'd imagine not far off unless there's an infusion of money/support) It has loads of potential but somehow just doesn't pull it off. Seems like each episode starts off with a decent premise then rapidly loses focus. It's real evident when they split the cast and try to run 2 storylines in the same episode. Amanda Tapping is doing pretty good in her role as Dr. Magnus but as talented as she is it's a bit much to ask her to carry the cast by her lonesome. 

One of the things the show has touted is it's 'Green' nature. That's all well and good but when alot of those green screen CGI scenes are shot, the perspective is a bit ridiculous and comes off as cheese rather than environmentally conscious.

I personally think if they don't start focusing the storylines to more character development and maybe the clash with the Kabal, it'll be a very short lived series...


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## frederic1943

SCI FI has greenlit production on a second season of Sanctuary, ordering 13 new hours.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.a...0081113scifi01


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## ImBack234

frederic1943 said:


> SCI FI has greenlit production on a second season of Sanctuary, ordering 13 new hours.
> 
> http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.a...0081113scifi01


God help us all!!!:eek2: 
Also your link doesn't work.


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## bicker1

Good link:

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20081113scifi01

The show has fallen towards the bottom of our list. We're watching it now, because the alternative, this time of year, is to either re-up Netflix for a full month when we only need two weeks -- and we're not going to waste money like that -- or watch Dirty Sexy Money, Lipstick Jungle, Crusoe, or My Own Worst Enemy, instead, and quite frankly, as mediocre as Sanctuary is, I'd rather watch Sanctuary than any of those four stinkers.


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## frederic1943

Here's the right link

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20081113scifi01

.


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