Monday, May 26, 2008

Sanctuary - BlogCritics: Internet TV Review: Sanctuary

From BlogCritics:

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/05/26/122457.php

(Please follow the link for the complete four-page review. Photos at the site.)

Internet TV Review: Sanctuary



Written by Niall Rough
Published May 26, 2008

It's almost a year to the day since Sanctuary began. Championed as "the first broadcast-quality, high definition dramatic series designed specifically for the Internet", it seems an appropriate moment to take stock of Stage 3 Media's web-exclusive experiment.

With an innovative distribution model and a high concept to seduce the horde of genre fans who – let’s be honest about it – practically own the Internet, the eight short episodes originally released over a period of four months last summer are apt to be digested now in a single sitting. And what better way to prepare for the thirteen impending full-length episodes ordered by the SciFi Channel than by asking, a year on, without the hype and PR doublespeak to coast on, how well does Sanctuary hold up?

"There are monsters loose in the world. And they are the key to the future of our race." So goes the sales pitch. I’ll spare you the particulars – you’ll hear enough of them should you choose to point your browsers toward Sanctuary for All and download the series – but suffice it to say that Sanctuary has as its premise a place where monsters of all shapes and sizes can book an indefinite stay in the myriad selection of cells and containment facilities Helen Magus has to offer. She's immortal, of course; a lovelorn scientist left over from Victorian-era England with a soft spot for the CG creatures that cause havoc on the periphery of contemporary civilisation. The titular sanctuary purports to be a place where they can kick back without fear of rogue vampire slayers or demon-hunting PIs, but it hasn’t yet proven much more than a sprawling Gothic mansion for Magus to lock up her who's who of captive supernatural species.

**snippage**

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