There is already a thriving business in Sanctuary fan fiction.  Much of it is quite recentl but some also obviously flows from the Sanctuaty Webisodes last year.

Here's one in Dr. Helen Magnus meets a certain Dr. Scully:

     http://www.sanctuaryfiction.net/viewstory.php?sid=43

We (CSM and I) watched the premier of Sanctuary last evening on the SciFi Channel.

I watched at least a few of the "webisodes" several months ago when they tried to launch Sanctuary as a pay-to-view web series.  The story was vaguely the same last night as in the first few webisodes, but significantly fleshed out.  And I think Amanda Tapping's fake British accent is toned down, which is probably a good thing.:-)

Sanctuary plays on the often-repeated idea that there are *things* and even monsters in our world that most people don't see.  This is certainly a theme of Torchwood, as it was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it also recurs through centuries of literature.  We both fear and are intrigued by the "monsters just out of sight" so they make fertile ground for storytelling.  As a result, there are very familiar elements about Sanctuary.  The real question is how innovatively the series takes on this theme.

It will take time because not all the back story is clear from the permier.  Dr. Helen Magnus is almost 150 years old and her blood apparently can keep other people young, too.  She once was engaged to Jack the Ripper, who was one of these "just out of sight" beings.  She now runs an institution that both protects the public from the dangerous beings, and protects vulnerable beings from mob rule.  The implication is that there are many baddies out there with nasty plans for all of us, but of course they don't much go into that in the premier.  It has to unfold as part of a story arc. Magnus also has a zaftig blonde commando daughter who runs around through tunnels a lot, wearing tight clothes, carrying big weapons, fighting bad guys and being a typical disobedient teenager.  Jackthe Ripper was her dad, but she doesn't know it.

On the technical side, the thing that is intereasting about Sanctuary is that much of it is shot using green screen, with the backgrounds filled in via CGI animation.  As my wife quipped, they make all the scenes dark so the CGI doesn't have to be as good.  The dark settings ARE reminiscent of The X-Files and much of Torchwood, and I will be charitable and say that they probably are for BOTH artistic and practical reasons. :-) 

I enjoyed the double first eipsode and I plan to watch the succeeding episodes.  I don't know yet whether it will hold my attention enough to watch it EVERY week, or just when I catch it.  That will depend on how attached I get to the characters, and on the quality of the storytelling. 

The original soundtrack album of the hit BBC TV series Torchwood is now available:

          http://tinyurl.com/3ogtmb

It was first made available to purchase for download back in August, and it now for sale "hard copy" as well.

The third season of the series began filming about a month ago and wil air as a five night miniseries sometime in 2009. 

Well, I'm not exactly sure I need another blog, but we'll see how this turns out.  :-)