Eureka is a title you will already associate with all manner of science related shows, hence it is known on British television by its extended moniker, A Town Called Eureka.
Set in a town populated by intellectual elites working for top secret research facility Global Dynamics to break the various barriers of futuristic technology, the show focuses mainly on its only layman inhabitant, Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson), and his tentative habit of getting into wacky situations and his grounded solutions to them. His token “will they won’t they” subplot is with the impossibly demure Allison Blake (Salli Richardson-Whitfield).
Other companions include lovable loser and super-nerd Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston), the “no-nonsense-except-when-she’s-in-love” trigger-happy cop Jo Lupo (Erica Cerra) and the science guy from Terminator 2 (Joe Morton) emerging some fifteen years later to play much the same role with a different name – Henry Deacon.
At this point it becomes tricky to outline the relationships between the characters, as this series opens with that most crowd-splitting of shake up devices “the ol’ switcheroo” in which the five above characters go back in time, returning to a universe that is ever so slightly and conveniently altered.
Fargo is now promoted to the head of Global Dynamics, Allison is demoted a rung or two (though her son’s autism has disappeared) and Jo is no longer involved with rebellious boyfriend Zane (Niall Matter), while Henry finds he is now married to co-worker Grace (Tembi Locke).
The remainder of the series sees them either coming to terms with, or trying to fix, this unusual problem. This is rather a bold trick to use as early as a fourth season, being a possible declaration that they were already out of ideas. One could call it sloppy writing or perhaps they’re just taking advantage of the bottomless well of possibilities offered by the sci-fi format.
The soap element runs parallel with the episodic synopsis, which for all its corny and often predictable plots does throw out some engaging scenarios. The tensions of the narrative are often at odds with the pleasing escapism of its fantasy environment. Rather like Star Trek set on earth in the present, it boasts the limitless imagination of the universe and frames it in a somewhat calculated and regimented manner.
The show treads something of a demographical tightrope in its attempts to please its target nerd audience with flashy fringe science themes while glossing it with the everyday tribulations of pretty people. Indeed, it features some exciting and award-winning visual effects and to its credit still uses real, live action sets, rather than the citadel of green-screen superimpositions you will see in your average trendy, city-scape sitcom. The result brings, appropriately, a sense of very bizarre things happening in an otherwise ordinary setting.
Certainly this is an addictive show after three or four episodes, though it’s not easy to dive into at the deep end. Playing a random episode and not knowing which universe you’re watching is a little disorientating to say the least.
Released on DVD on Monday 19th September 2011 by Universal Pictures UK.