Surface

 

 

Create your own review

I suppose many potential buyers will wonder why they should purchase a 'complete series' box set that tells a compelling story but fails to provide closure... Well, at this price, consider that you will be getting more than 12 hours worth of great TV for the price of 2 nights at the theater... So at this price you get a real bargain because this series is very well made, it has interesting characters and when one episode ends you'll want to see the next one, and the next one after that...

This series does not reinvent the wheel. The protagonists become fugitives when they try to reveal facts about a sea creature the government wants to remain unknown. The ghost of Chris Carter's X-Files is always there: secret governement projects; powerful corporations playing with genetics 'because they can', conspiracies that will have an impact on the entire human race... We've seen that... But yet, this show borrows from classics and it's still entertaining because it 'feels' real... The science is good - although not always credible -, humans act like humans do, and there is good drama. 'Rich' is usually a hot head that acts before he thinks while 'Laura' is the cold rational one. But sometimes, the roles are completely reversed and such contradiction is irritating and unrealistic.

It is obvious that the creators of 'Surface' are also great fans of Spielberg's 'classics'... After seeing his brother drown because of a sea creature, Rich becomes obsessed and draws whirlpools by the dozens... You can't watch this and not recall Richard Dreyfuss doing his sculptures of Devil's Tower in Close Encouters of the Third Kind... The way 'Nimrod' - a domesticated sea creature - responds to a trail of salt is not unlike the response Elliot would get from E.T. with Reese's Pieces... That's annoying, but one can do far worse than emulating geniuses...

The sound is great, the image is excellent and the CGI is amazing considering this is a TV show. This is even a series one could watch with children 7+. It has its scary moments, lots of suspense, but kids will love 'Nimrod'...

Bottom line, I would have wanted more, but the way the story unfolds, one wonders how this could have made it through two seasons. Why? Buy the series, enjoy, and discover the answer for yourself!

"Lost" was a mega-hit during the 2004-2005 television season and imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, it is the highest level of cognitive reasoning of which most network executives are capable. Consequently, we were not surprised that three networks came up with alien invasion television series (apparently they could not figure out how to rip-off "Lost," so they decided just to go back and rip-off "The X-Files"). ABC had "Invasion," CBS had "Threshold," and NBC had "Surface." I watched all three of the series and it turned out that the more I liked a series, the quicker it went off the air. "Invasion" got through an entire series of 22 episodes, "Surface" got to air 15 episodes before its season ending cliffhanger became the final episode, and "Threshold" only aired nine of 14 episodes. That might it the one of the three shows available as a "complete series" DVD (Say it now and say it loud, we got cancelled and we want you to keep watching!), but all things considered it is "Surface" that best bears watching again.

Created by Josh and Jonas Pate, the premise of "Surface" is that what appears to be a mysterious new form of sea life starts popping up all over the earth with significant consequences for the show's main characters. Dr. Laura Daughtery (Lake Bell, who left being a minor player on "Boston Legal" to helm this ship), a young oceanographer who is the first person to discover the new life forms at the bottom of the sea. Then there is Richard Connelly (Jay R. Ferguson), an insurance salesman from Louisiana who loses his brother to one of the creatures while scuba diving. Of course nobody believes either of these people, so it is a good thing they link up fairly early in the series. Meanwhile, young Miles Bennett (Carter Jenkins), finds a strange looking egg and brings it home, where it hatches and gives the boy a secret pet he names Nimrod. There is also Dr. Aleksander Cirko (Rade Sherbedgia), the government scientist who apparently knows about the sea creatures, and who gets in the way of Laura and Rich from finding out more about the creatures.

It takes "The Complete Series" for the three main characters to finally get together, where we see that being left high and dry is not necessarily a bad thing (Episode 15; apparently there was no money in the budget for episode titles), so for most of the season we have the major plot threads of Laura and Rich on the one hand, and Miles and Nimrod on the other, with the efforts of the government to contain the situation weaving in and out. Overall, the Miles part of the story was more interesting, not only because it has the whole boy and his alien resonance of "E.T.," but because I liked the developing relationship between Miles and his older sister Savannah (Leighton Meester). It starts off as you standard older sister who cannot stand her baby brother bit, especially when Nimrod escapes at her party (Episode 2), but she ends up being the one family member that stands by him and his obsession (Episode 10). Plus Miles has his friend Phil (Eddie Hassell), who stands by him even while warning him how dangerous everything is gong to be.

Ironically, the Dr. Laura part of the story is the least interesting element, even though she is clearly supposed to be the show's star. This could simply be because she is in the familiar role of the person trying to prove "there is something out there," while Rich has the advantage of being a guy in way over his head. But a brother being killed in front of him makes him the haunted figure in the series, which is more compelling that Laura having the government out to get here. Plus she has the job of having to explain everything every time Rich wants to know what the hell they are seeing, what the hell is going on, what the hell should they do next, so on and so forth. Watching this guy try to keep up with everything that is happening is clearly the position that most viewers can identify with, and Laura is handicapped by the fact that she cannot be smarter than the people out to get her or the premise of the series goes out the window.

There was a major fatal flaw to "Surface," namely the idea that the government is going to be able to cover up giant sea monsters attacking all over the world. After all, we live in a world where CNN usually manages to get to everything before the federal government, so keep sea monsters off the news is going to be impossible, especially since the big beasties have minds of their own. So every time Dr. Cirko and his head henchman Davis Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) try to control the situation I just have to roll my eyes. This becomes a major problem for the series, because once word gets out, then it does not get to be about just these three characters, and since the sea beasties are a lot more active than the aliens on "The X-Files" the basic premise becomes rather untenable. So I am not at all sure about where they were going to go with a second season given where the show ends (or even if the cliffhanger was what they always intended or a desperate ploy to get the show renewed). But this problematic element is another reason that the Miles-Nimrod plotline was the best part of the show, because it was the part of the story least affected by the big picture.

I was so depressed when i heard that NBC was cancelling the Show after a fantastic first season. The episodes got better and better as it went along until it's jaw dropping season finale when the three (four if you count Nim) meet.

I am definatly pre-ordering this DVD to add to my collection. And hopefully if there is enough of a following we can get the studio and the actors to do a Surface movie - Come on we can't let the evil creatures or the evil govornment win.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 7 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

4.0 out of 5 stars Great sublime Sci-fi adventure
"Surface" is the hit that never was,: a consistant thiller drama withv believable sci-fi effects. I would highly recommend this on-going NBC-TV series that unfortunately foiled by... Read more

Published 16 months ago by ravaler

4.0 out of 5 stars "It is a new world"
I knew of the series on NBC and was interested. However, I have a life and cannot wait week-in and week-out for a program that I have to record because I do not know if I will be... Read more

Published 20 months ago by bernie

2.0 out of 5 stars Surface
Okay but the ending was less than satisfying. Obvious they were hoping for a another year so the set leaves the viewer less than satisfied.

Published 22 months ago by Donna R. Ritchie

5.0 out of 5 stars NBC makes another mistake cancelling Surface
This was a very compelling hour of TV each week. Once again NBC has lost touch with the fans of sci-fi by cancelling in my opinion one of three (Surface, Invasion, and Threshold)... Read more

Published on Aug 23 2006 by Steve J. Swain

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 7 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!