Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Continuing Continuum


If you haven't seen Continuum yet, what's stopping you?

Well, if you were worried about emotionally investing in a Canadian cable sci-fi show, and I don't blame you in that regard, there's one less reason to worry; Showcase has ordered a second season!

So far I have found Continuum to be smart and (relatively) hard hitting.  This is not your average feel good science fantasy, nor is it just about beautiful people running around in the adventure of the week (although Rachel Nichols is rather attractive. . . ).  There are real issues being explored here such as the nature of terrorism, the rising power of mega-rich corporations, and ultimately the nature of good and evil and our ability to differentiate between them.  For example, Kiera (Nichols) is an agent of the future corporate 'government' and she strives to uphold the law and bring the terrorists to justice.  However, through her eyes, we see more and more reason to doubt just how just the system is that she works for.  Her intentions are righteous, but is her effort misplaced?

Yes, the show is also about time travel.  But like all good science fiction*, the science is just there to help amplify relevant themes from our current time, to dissect them and offer them up for closer examination by the consumer.

I applaud that this show is actually set in Canada.  You'd be amazed how many television shows, especially Sci-fi ones, are made here.  Speaking of Stargate Smiley, fans of that TV series should easily recognize two of the stars of Continuum: Lexa Doig and Tony Amendola (one of them is married to fellow Stargate SG1 alum Michael Shanks, I'll let you guess which Smiley).

*That is not to say that I dislike 'hard' science fiction, just that I prefer a bit more social and philisophical speculation to go along with the technical manual of the future.

No comments:

Post a Comment