For those of you that might have missed this, Amanda Tapping’s Sanctuary has joined in the recent channel hopping bonanza, and now has a new… erm… Sanctuary… for it’s 3rd season over on UKTV’s Watch (Sky 109, Virgin Media 124) from the 19th of October 2010.
If you’ve not seen any of Sanctuary yet, it’s well worth a look. Here’s a synopsis of the story so far…
The story so far…
The show follows Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping), a 158 year-old English scientist, and her team of experts run an organisation known as The Sanctuary that seeks out non-human intelligent creatures, known as Abnormals, and tries to help and learn from them. Magnus tries to protect these things that most people would consider monsters and the Sanctuary serves as a safe haven for these “Abnormals”. However the team also has to find, contain and sometimes destroy the more dangerous ones. There are various Sanctuaries based around the world, with Helen and her team based at Sanctuary headquarters in Old City.
Magnus was a member of a group of experimental scientists known as “The Five”, which included also Nikola Tesla, Nigel Griffin, Dr. James Watson, and John Druitt, who wanted to push the boundaries of their understanding of the physical world through unconventional means.
At some point during their partnership, Magnus acquired a vial of untainted vampire blood and used it in a serum that “The Five” injected into themselves. After the injection, they each developed different gifts; Magnus gained a high level of longevity, Nigel Griffin acquired the power of invisibility, Dr. James Watson’s intellect was tremendously heightened, John Druitt developed the ability to teleport through time and space, and Nikola Tesla undergoes transformation into a vampire, with the additional power of electrical manipulation.
The main foe of the Sanctuary network are “The Cabal”. A powerful shadow organization that captures, studies, and experiments on Abnormals in the belief that the Abnormal population is a threat to the human species. At the start of season 2, Ashley – daughter of Helen and fellow member of ‘The Five’, John Druitt – is captured and experimented on by the Cabal, turning her into an Abnormal. The process destroys her personality, and she is killed during an attack the Cabal force her to make on Sanctuary Headquarters.
The Cabal’s overall plan is to incite humanity against the Abnormals so that they can wipe out the entire Abnormal population and gain a greater amount of power over humanity.
The Sanctuary Team:
Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) – An 158 year-old English scientist and team lead.
Dr. Will Zimmerman (Robin Dunne) – Forensic psychiatrist and an insightful psychiatric profiler with a knack for finding the strange and curious, reluctantly joined the team to aid in the study of beings he can hardly believe himself. Over the years he and Magnus have become close friends, and although unsure at first, by the end of the 1st season, he has becomes a pivotal part of Magnus’s team.
Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins) – The resident geek who keeps the Sanctuary’s defenses in check, as well as being a weapons designer and a brilliant computer scientist. During the 2nd season it also became apparent he is himself an Abnormal, with werewolf type abilities.
Kate Freelander (Agam Darshi) – She joined the team in season 2 and is a (ex)con-artist with Cabal connections and a vast knowledge of their tactics and movements. After annoying one to many of her Cabal overlords, she switches sides to the Sanctuary (albeit is reluctantly at first), and has now become a permanent member of the team.
“Bigfoot” (aka the big-guy) (Christopher Heyerdahl) – He acts as a butler, chauffeur, body guard and general handy man. He is an intelligent Neanderthal-like species, and a former patient of Dr. Magnus. Side note – Christopher Heyerdahl also plays part-time team member, and ex of Magnus, John Druitt.
This season, Sanctuary is getting a full 20 episodes run (upped from its usual 13), and is airing in the UK on the 19th of October 2010, just 4 days after the US air date!
For more info, visit www.justwatch.co.uk