Wednesday November 11, 2009
House of secrets
By MICHAEL CHEANG
A pair of mismatched Secret Service agents dig into artefact-related phenomena in Warehouse 13.
TV series that deal with paranormal activities tend to be more serious than funny most of the time. Shows such as The X-Files and Fringe often feature the characters running around in the dark with flashlights and their foreheads furrowed, worrying about the catastrophic implications of the phenomenon they have just encountered.
And don’t even get me started on the bombastic pretentiousness of paranormal reality shows like Ghost Hunters.
Ghost hunters: (from left) Allison Scagliotti. Saul Rubinek, Joanne Kelly, Genelle Williams and Eddie McClintock star in TV series Warehouse 13. Sometimes you wish these characters would just lighten up a little, and see the wonderful weirdness of the things they encounter and embrace the lighter, more fun side of it all (granted, Fox Mulder does tend to do so, but is always shot down by Scully).
Well, enter Warehouse 13, a show where the agents who are investigating these paranormal activities are more prone to say “What the heck, this electricity-eating monster is so weird and cool!” than “Oh my god, we must take this electricity-eating monster very seriously or it could destroy the world!”
As is usually the case with these sort of shows, Warehouse 13 focuses on a pair of mismatched Secret Service agents – Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Peter Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) – who are reassigned to Warehouse 13, a top secret facility which houses supernatural artefacts from all over the world (think the warehouse at the end of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and you’ll get the picture.)
The agents have to investigate paranormal activities and retrieve the artefacts that caused these phenomena so that they can be locked away forever in the warehouse.
They are supervised by DrArthur “Artie” Nielsen (Saul Rubinek), who is very much the stereotypical eccentric, absent-minded and very jaded expert mentor who has to guide the agents along.
Other characters in the show include the young upstart inventor Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti), and the mysterious Mrs Frederic (C.C.H. Pounder), who oversees the entire Warehouse 13 operation.
Feeling like a cross between The X-Files and spy comedy-drama Chuck with a little bit of Indiana Jones thrown in, Warehouse 13 is a nice change from the current crop of more serious science-fiction paranormal-related series’ like Fringe.
The idea that artefacts are the cause of paranormal activities is not a new one – but it’s a concept that allows the show’s writers a lot of room to play around with.
Basically, anything and everything could be an artefact – from snow globes to crossbows, and even human beings themselves. Some are harmless (like a dodgeball that keeps multiplying itself) while others are deadly and dangerous (check out the ones in the Dark Vault, which houses the most dangerous artefact).
There are even some very tongue-in-cheek references to real-life artefacts, legends and myths, such as the missing arms of Venus de Milo, Lewis Carroll’s mirror, Edgar Ellen Poe’s pen, and even Pandora’s Box (found on one of the warehouse’s shelves and marked as empty).
The production may look a little cut-rate at times (especially the green screen effects which look like they were used in Cicakman) and the stories a little too kooky and frivolous, but at least everyone looks like they are having fun making the show.
The two agents work well enough together, though I’d have preferred if the tension between them in the season opener had carried on a little longer into the season. After all, all the great couple/partners in sci-fi TV series and movies – Mulder and Scully, Buffy and Angel, and er ... R2D2 and C3PO – tend to thrive on not being perfect for each other, rather playing off each other’s differences.
In Warehouse 13, Agents Bering and Lattimer put aside their differences a little too easily, I reckon.
But then, in the face of weird stuff like bloodthirsty idols, invisibility swords and other crazy inventions, I guess they just found common ground pretty easily.
Also, while wonderfully kooky and cuddly at times, Rubinek tends to overplay Artie’s jadedness to the point where you get frustrated at his non-receptiveness and cynicism towards the obvious decisions during cases.
After an initial couple of episodes that focus on stand-alone cases and introduce the main cast of characters, the show starts to pick up mid-season, when an arch-villain of the warehouse is revealed and a central story arc is established.
It’s also fun to see exactly what kind of weird, fun artefacts the writers come up with in each episode (there is even a Wikipedia page dedicated to the artefacts featured in the show).
The series eventually ended its first season this year as the SyFy Channel’s third-highest rated debut show of all time. And with a finale that ends with a cliff-hanger, the second season (which will premiere next year) looks set to build on its popularity, and serve up more fun-sized paranormal investigations.
Mulder and Scully may have had the better show, but I bet they never had this much fun.
Warehouse 13 airs on Star World (Astro channel 711) on Fridays (8pm) with repeats on Saturdays (7am and 4pm).
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