All that can be found in Wired’s exclusive clip (viewable above) from Eureka ‘s Season 5 premiere. In Monday night’s episode, titled “Lost,” head nerd Douglas Fargo (played by Neil Grayson) joins Dr. Holly Marten (geek queen Felicia Day) and Dr. Isaac Parrish (Wil Wheaton) to discuss an adrenaline-suppression system — which, as Marten notes, looks like an Orc king’s crown. (Parrish promises things won’t go as horribly wrong as they did with last season’s riot-suppression system.)
The fact that Fargo and Marten don’t believe the formerly surly Parrish illustrates that even Eureka ‘s characters have little faith that the technocratic utopia’s high-tech wonders will end up in anything less than the end of civilization as we know it.
That apocalyptic self-awareness probably contributed to the show’s nearing demise: When a program’s cast of quirky characters don’t believe in their mission, then it’s likely that viewers don’t either. ( Eureka ‘s achievement of television’s five-season threshold, a standard benchmark for shutdown, is probably a factor as well.) Whatever the reason, it’s sad to see Eureka go, when lesser Syfy shows like Warehouse 13 and Alphas still get to hang around.
Eureka ‘s deep-science screw-ups — from amok nanoids and multiversal rifts to sentient drones and wayward black holes — are far more engaging than Alphas ‘ metahuman drama queens and kings or Warehouse 13 ‘s sometimes-awkward magical tokens. (A hairbrush used by Marilyn Monroe that turns its users platinum blonde? Pass.)
It’s true that Eureka spent too much of its first four seasons swamped with soap opera between characters that were often less interesting than the show’s bungled technological and scientific exploits. Without Colin Ferguson‘s skilled comedic chops as Sheriff Jack Carter (and enough allusions to Twin Peaks to shake a Log Lady at), the show might not have survived this far.
But at least Eureka continually aimed for hard sci-fi comedy. Even in its softer moments, like animated holiday romp “Do You See What I See?,” made for cool brain candy.
Eureka airs Mondays at 9 p.m./8 p.m. Central on Syfy.
Blowback: What’s Your Eureka Moment?
With Eureka ‘s passing, Syfy will informally cede its geek credibility to fake ghost hunters, wrestlers and a seemingly bottomless gravity well of low-budget creature features that look fun on paper but execute clumsily onscreen. Say your goodbyes to Eureka, and let us know if Syfy still holds your interest, in the comments section below.
