Goodbye "Eureka"

SyFy's "Eureka" kind of flew under my radar in the beginning. I knew it existed and appreciated the premise - basically a fish-out-of-water story about an everyman sheriff in a town of super-geniuses whose research often causes havoc which only the everyman can objectively evaluate and resolve the weekly conflict. I watched it sporadically, usually liking what I saw, even if I didn't fully understand the character dynamics. But that changed for me the same time the show changed it's dynamics by sending the main characters to 1947, when the town of Eureka was a top-secret military base in season 3, entirely changing the timeline for season 4 and reestablishing characters in entirely new circumstances. Season 4 was exceptional, ending with the disappearance of the Astraeus, which was bound for Jupiter's moon, Titan.

The final season opened with the crew of the Astraeus thinking four years have passed since they left earth, while they are actually being held in a computer simulation in which the evil Senator Wen (Ming Na, no!) is using them to create technology and then stealing it for her personal gain. The series' last episodes were filled with ethical questions and dilemmas; obscure concepts (3D bio-printing, electro-biological interfaces, artificial intelligence); robotics; the military; death and resurrection; family and love, all with the same sense of humor and wonder it had from the beginning (which I discovered when I went back and watched the first two seasons in full. Of course, it didn't hurt that it had hotties like Niall Matter; Ed Quinn and star Colin Ferguson, as well as genre icons Joe Morton (The Brother from Another Planet; T2: Judgement Day) and Wil Wheaton (ST:TNG) and host of guests like Wallace Shawn, Ever Carridine; Olivia D'abo; Chris Parnell; Matt Frewer and Frances Fisher. I'm sorry to see this fun, outrageous and smart Sci-Fi comedy leave the air. But I'm also pretty happy that "Warehouse 13" returns next week in the same time-slot.

More, anon.
Prospero