Sci-Fi Storm

Helix, Syfy’s highly anticipated new series from Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica), garnered robust numbers during its special 90-minute premiere on Friday, January 10 from 10-11:30PM (ET/PT), ranking as the #2 cable entertainment program among Adults 25-54 (893K) in its time period.

Helix also delivered 1.82 million total viewers and 734K Adults 18-49.

This represented Syfy’s best performance in the time period (Fridays at 10-11:30pm) in more than four years among total viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

As well, the 11:30PM encore delivered nearly one million total viewers (988K).

Powered by Helix’s debut, Syfy was the #2 cable entertainment network from 8-11PM (ET/PT).

Helix also set records across Syfy’s diverse digital platforms:

· Helix was Syfy.com’s best series premiere day ever in all key metrics, ranking as the #1 section of Syfy’s Digital Portfolio.
· Helix’s premiere was Syfy’s second most social scripted series premiere (behind only Defiance), outperforming recent competitive cable series premieres including BBCA’s Orphan Black, Showtime’s Masters of Sex and Starz’s The White Queen.
· Driven by Helix, the Syfy Now website and mobile app set records for full episode segment starts.
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Here is a transcript of the press call we had with Helix producer and showrunner Steve Maeda and star Kyra Zagorsky (Dr. Julia Walker)…its a rough transcript at this point, but I wanted to post it before the show’s debut in just a few minutes on the east coast, so read fast! Helix premieres tonight at 10/9c on Syfy with a special double-episode debut. And don’t forget our brief preview including the first 15 minutes…

[ I’ve removed most press members names, as they aren’t always accurate, and I want to distinguish who is asking the questions – a few I can identify will be listed – I was on the call but got in late so I didn’t get to ask any questions myself 🙁 ]

Q: Steve, the setting of being up in the Arctic really seems to work well for this kind of thing. It makes you think of, like, “The Thing,” and stuff like that. Kind of talk philosophically about why a setting like this works so well visually and emotionally for this kind of story.

Steve Maeda: Sure. It’s a setting that is great for us because it’s not the newest setting under the sun. It seems familiar enough, but I think we’re doing a pretty interesting spin on it.

And what works for us really well is that it lends itself to a very claustrophobic environment because you can go outside but only for brief periods of time. It’s really dangerous. The weather is horrible, as I’m sure people who are in the Midwest and the East Coast right now can relate to.

And what it does is it forces you to be inside most of the time and that’s how we really saw this. That’s how Cameron, who wrote the pilot script, really envisioned the thing to begin with, which was a contained environment, someplace, you know, it’s almost like being set on a spaceship where you’re trapped inside with, you know, unseen horrors and then there’re all sorts of human problems as well that develop from that. So it really lends itself to the series as a whole.
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Just learned from the official Game of Thrones Facebook page…Season 4 begins on April 6th at 9/8c on HBO!

And catch the debut of the trailer on HBO this Sunday at 8:58pm ET right before True Detective.

Finally, there are a few details about the upcoming Netflix series Sense8, from Andy and Lana Wachowski (The Matrix Trilogy) and showrunner J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5).

According to TV Line:

The sci-fi drama will focus on eight people scattered around the globe who are connected by a shared — violent — vision. (Because it’s never a vision of kittens, is it?) Each episode — shot in the UK, Seoul, Mumbai, Nairobi, Berlin, Mexico City, San Francisco and Chicago — will follow the characters’ separate stories, even as one entity tries to bring the octet together and another tries to kill them.

Among the regulars (as yet uncast) are: a closeted Mexican telenovela hunk, an Icelandic party girl, a German safe-cracker, a Korean businesswoman, an African bus driver and a transgender American blogger (a la Lana?). Perhaps most intriguing, though, are Jonas, an apparently magic African-American who appears to all of the “visionaries,” and his evil counterpart, Mr. Whispers (arguably the best-named villain since The X-Files’ Cigarette-Smoking Man).

With JMS running the show, I’m sure the story will be compelling and told well…next up, director and cast!

If you haven’t heard, Helix is the next big scripted show from Syfy. And out of all the new shows that debuted so far or are debuting soon, this is the one I’m most excited for. Helix premieres this Friday, January 10th, at 10/9c.

Helix is a science fiction thriller, set in a secret corporate research facility inside the Arctic Circle – outside of any government oversight – or laws, for that matter. After a distress call, a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) travel to the massive underground Arctic Biosystems facility to investigate a possible retrovirus outbreak, but instead find themselves in a life-and-death situation which goes beyond just a virus and it seems everyone knows more than they want to say.

A bit about the main characters first.

The CDC rapid-response team is lead by Dr. Alan Farragut (Billy Campbell, The Rocketeer, The 4400), a top pathologist for the CDC who puts science first, but is closed off emotionally after find his wife and brother having an affair. Making matters worse, his wife is on the investigative team, and his brother is one of those infected.
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Syfy’s Being Human returns for its fourth season on January 13th, but we’ve had a brief glimpse into the future…and it involves a lot of running…

Way back in October, I was fortunately enough to visit the Being Human set and meet some of the production staff, crew and of course the stars of the show, along with a brief glimpse of the season premiere.

(you can see pictures of the visit, along with several other pics from the trip here on our Facebook page. While you are there, go ahead and like the page!)

Since then, I’ve seen a bit further into the future – about two episodes worth…

According to showrunner Anna Fricke, the theme for season 4 will be “Destiny”, and how the four roommates come to terms with what they are. However, they do need to deal with what happened at the end of last season: Josh not only has his wolf back, but is stuck as the wolf; Sally was dragged through her death spot to who knows where by Donna; and the vampires are in shambles after a widespread virus.
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I wish I had the money…and the basement! Line Rainville, from Quebec Canada, remodeled her basement for $30,000, but it wasn’t your average finished basement. Instead, she themed it to various parts of the Enterprise, including the bridge, Spock’s quarters, observation deck, and rec room with faux replicators!

“Capaldi? He’s too old…”

Those were some of the first words I heard when they announced Matt Smith’s replacement, Peter Capaldi. He is, after all, 24 years older than Smith. But then, Matt Smith was the youngest ever to play the role – he was 27 when he debuted. David Tennant was third at 34. Ironically the second youngest debut was Peter Davison, who was 29 – and is now David Tennant’s father-in-law. Christopher Eccleston was 41. The only other sub-40 year old was Paul McGann who was 36.

But regardless of Davison’s age, all the “classic” Doctors played the character as a fatherly figure. Advisor. Friend. Protector of his companions, and of humans and the Earth in general. It wasn’t until McGann that we saw any sort of romantic side of the Doctor. And although we didn’t really see much of that in Eccleston, his Doctor was still different than previous incarnations. He appeared to be younger, hipper – a more contemporary character to Rose, where something more than a father-child relationship might appear. That certainly continued with Tennant and more with Smith.

But it isn’t just teetering-on-the-edge-of-a-romantic-relationship angle. Overall the Doctor was different. He was alone – his people gone, and as far as he knew, forever – and he was responsible for it. He’s having to come to terms with it, and is perhaps even annoyed that he survived to have to. He’s younger in appearance but hardened. Perhaps he’s becoming a rebel. He cares less about the consequences of his own actions. Beings die at his hands. He isn’t immune to them, but seems more willing to sacrifice. After all, he had to make that decision on a grand scale in the Time War. And there was no one to stop him, keep him in check – or punish him. His compassion was lost, so he needed his companions to help him feel. After “The Name of the Doctor”, the last 7 years of the “new” Doctor made more sense.

Now that the reasons for this shift in character have essentially been resolved to a certain degree, I think the shift to an older Doctor makes perfect sense. He doesn’t need to feel guilty, or alone, or be mad at the Universe that made him that way. He can return to what he was, the father, the protector.

Whether the fans will go with him remains to be seen. There is the danger of losing the chemistry that has built up since last year with Clara. But there is a potential for new angles.

And if it doesn’t work out…well, there’s always the next regeneration.

One last message from our favorite Sontaran, who wants to destroy us…this time, Strax discusses the human custom of “Christmas”…

Are you prepared for the end?

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T minus 2 days and counting…to tide you over, here are a couple of clips from the Christmas episode, “The Time of the Doctor”, showing how a time machine can be very useful for certain things…
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