A marine biologist, an insurance salesman and a teen-aged boy find their lives fundamentally changed by the emergence of a new, and often dangerous, species of sea life, while government age... Read allA marine biologist, an insurance salesman and a teen-aged boy find their lives fundamentally changed by the emergence of a new, and often dangerous, species of sea life, while government agents work to keep the affair under wraps.A marine biologist, an insurance salesman and a teen-aged boy find their lives fundamentally changed by the emergence of a new, and often dangerous, species of sea life, while government agents work to keep the affair under wraps.
- Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
- 2 wins & 4 nominations total
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This is one of the better sci-fi series. It involves character development, a few really tensionate moments and reasonable episode scripts. As one other commentator said here, it looked as if it were a mini series, not a full blown series with filler episodes and low budgets.
The problem with the show, which in short is a Godzilla series, is that it started too big, with incredible monsters, fantastic science, then it all boiled down to local Americans doing stuff. Then, the show ended too soon, since the Olympics were coming and hey! a sci-fi show is a sci-fi show, but half naked athletic people running around aimlessly is much more important. So they only did 15 episodes instead of the expected 22. The audience was small, too, as people didn't really caught it on at 20:00. In the end the suits did it. Trust a marketing plan to destroy anything that looks remotely original and promising.
Conclusion: you have a show with good special effects, stuff like huge monsters killing people or destroying boats, then going into genetic engineering, transforming people, human clones, end of the world, tsunamis. Also, the only fillers are scenes with aggressive rednecks or other annoying people being killed for their stupidity. The down-side is that after 15 episodes that prepare something huge, the show ends. No real ending, no closure, just a bitter taste of cloth in one's mouth, as if you just swallowed a piece of suit.
The problem with the show, which in short is a Godzilla series, is that it started too big, with incredible monsters, fantastic science, then it all boiled down to local Americans doing stuff. Then, the show ended too soon, since the Olympics were coming and hey! a sci-fi show is a sci-fi show, but half naked athletic people running around aimlessly is much more important. So they only did 15 episodes instead of the expected 22. The audience was small, too, as people didn't really caught it on at 20:00. In the end the suits did it. Trust a marketing plan to destroy anything that looks remotely original and promising.
Conclusion: you have a show with good special effects, stuff like huge monsters killing people or destroying boats, then going into genetic engineering, transforming people, human clones, end of the world, tsunamis. Also, the only fillers are scenes with aggressive rednecks or other annoying people being killed for their stupidity. The down-side is that after 15 episodes that prepare something huge, the show ends. No real ending, no closure, just a bitter taste of cloth in one's mouth, as if you just swallowed a piece of suit.
There is no denying it. Sci-fi on TV is difficult. There are so many problems that the genre brings with it. Like the need for a good budget, solid writing, decent acting. Perhaps the budget and the script writing is the departments where i feel most attempts have failed. So does "Surface" succeed? Not completely, but more so than most.
The way i see it, a good sci-fi show doesn't really need a lot of CGI to work, nor does it need a ton of money. What it needs is the capacity to create a larger-than-life feeling. The feeling that there is more than meets the eye, something to make me curious and willing to try and figure out how it's going to end. Adding the pieces of the puzzle and sometimes saying "Aha!" is what makes or breaks a show like this one.
"Surface" had a couple of flaws. First of all it's basic premise is not as exciting as it could have been, nor is the revealed story as exciting (or daring) as i hoped in the beginning. Also the TV-feeling is very present much of the time. All the way from the crappy CGI (that ranges from decent to awful) to the rather shifting quality in the acting department. Also it feels sometimes a bit too family-oriented in that it takes the edge of sometimes and becomes almost cutesy. But aside from these flaws it's an enjoyable show. Maybe not as spectacular as some of the other sci-fi shows out there. But it manages to keep me interested the whole season and it offers a couple of nice cliffhangers between shows as well. The ending for me is not that appealing. I don't like shows that end without ending so to speak, leaving the story unresolved. It's especially unfortunate in this case since the show seems to be canceled after the first season (it is as of yet undecided).
HBO is to me the benchmark for quality television. Their series have the best actors, the best production values and above all the most solid writing. This is not HBO-quality, but it's good for what it is. Good enough to want another season without a doubt.
The way i see it, a good sci-fi show doesn't really need a lot of CGI to work, nor does it need a ton of money. What it needs is the capacity to create a larger-than-life feeling. The feeling that there is more than meets the eye, something to make me curious and willing to try and figure out how it's going to end. Adding the pieces of the puzzle and sometimes saying "Aha!" is what makes or breaks a show like this one.
"Surface" had a couple of flaws. First of all it's basic premise is not as exciting as it could have been, nor is the revealed story as exciting (or daring) as i hoped in the beginning. Also the TV-feeling is very present much of the time. All the way from the crappy CGI (that ranges from decent to awful) to the rather shifting quality in the acting department. Also it feels sometimes a bit too family-oriented in that it takes the edge of sometimes and becomes almost cutesy. But aside from these flaws it's an enjoyable show. Maybe not as spectacular as some of the other sci-fi shows out there. But it manages to keep me interested the whole season and it offers a couple of nice cliffhangers between shows as well. The ending for me is not that appealing. I don't like shows that end without ending so to speak, leaving the story unresolved. It's especially unfortunate in this case since the show seems to be canceled after the first season (it is as of yet undecided).
HBO is to me the benchmark for quality television. Their series have the best actors, the best production values and above all the most solid writing. This is not HBO-quality, but it's good for what it is. Good enough to want another season without a doubt.
I loved this series and hated to see it end. Why was it taken off the air? I don't understand why we get good series and they are removed, but we get junk on the air and they stay forever. Please advise. You can't leave us hanging like this!!!!!!! I looked forward to Monday nights so that we could gather around the TV as a family and watch the new stars that we had grown to feel personally involved with from week to week. We would always try to guess what would happen for the next weeks show. I would even have relatives call as soon as the show ended and discuss the plots each week. Can't you do something to help us out here!!!!!????? We really need to have a continuation of this series or make it into a movie to end it well. Think about it. We loved the characters as well. They were excellent in their parts.
I have to admit that the acting and the CG special effects in Surface are both rather weak, but seriously this must be one of the best sci-fi shows at the moment. It's storyline is rather deep going, interesting, the character development is pretty nice, and since episode 1x12 it's got a very nice twist to it. Sure, it has its ridiculous moments as any other show has but after all it's quite captivating and always makes you wait for the next episode. Especially now that it's going towards the season finale things are getting more and more interesting.
Besides current shows like Supernatural with its magnificent cinematography and scary atmosphere or Threshhold which started out very well but ended in me cancelling it because of its ridiculous always-the-same per-episode story lines this show - Surface - must be on par with Stargate Atlantis. Both shows have weak CG and weak acting but in the end they got stuff to it that makes you really wanna see what's happening on next. And that - I say - is good entertainment.
I will review again after the season finale, but at the moment I can clearly recommend this show. Thumbs up!
Besides current shows like Supernatural with its magnificent cinematography and scary atmosphere or Threshhold which started out very well but ended in me cancelling it because of its ridiculous always-the-same per-episode story lines this show - Surface - must be on par with Stargate Atlantis. Both shows have weak CG and weak acting but in the end they got stuff to it that makes you really wanna see what's happening on next. And that - I say - is good entertainment.
I will review again after the season finale, but at the moment I can clearly recommend this show. Thumbs up!
http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/10/03/surface-episode-3/
Surface: Episode 3 Posted Oct 3, 2005, 9:34 PM ET by Bob Sassone Filed under: NBC, Sci-Fi/Horror, Surface
Maybe a giant fireball of an explosion in the poolhouse will convince Miles that keeping a weird sea creature as a secret pet isn't the best idea in the world. But somehow, I doubt it. I still think it's ridiculous. It's not cute, it's potentially deadly, so the only two outcomes that will be acceptable are, a.) the kid brings the little creature to the attention of Laura or Rich, or b.) the monster grows up fast and devours the entire family.
So while Miles and his buddy are trying to figure out how to feed and train the little creature, Rich goes back to work at his insurance job (wow, what a dreary office/small desk he has - he should just quit and hunt monsters full-time), and Laura is having her own problems at work and has to get a job as a waitress ($68 in tips for 12 hours work...not too good). The appearance of these monsters are affecting all the major characters, in big ways.
This is the best of the new sci-fi/horror shows. It's not as boring as Invasion; it has a better plot than Supernatural; it's not as goofy as Threshold (save for the little monster subplot), and it's not as awful as Night Stalker seems to be so far. I like how they have three different plots going (Laura's, Rich's, Miles) but they haven't brought them all together yet in some forced, let's save the Earth sort of way. This show is methodical, but never boring. It's majestic and epic when it has to be, but it's never over the top. It's the only show of this bunch where I can honestly say I look forward to seeing every week and that is leaving me guessing as to what exactly is going to happen and where they are going with the plot. The structure is smart, and I love how it ends with some big event (the giant monster eating the boat whole from below, tonight's Old Faithful exploding into fire and smoke).
I've stopped watching Invasion, and I'm going to watch Supernatural only because I'm reviewing it. The Night Stalker I'll watch for the same reason or until it's cancelled. Threshold is fun too so I'll keep watching that. But Surface is the one I'll buy on DVD, if it ever gets to that point.
Surface: Episode 3 Posted Oct 3, 2005, 9:34 PM ET by Bob Sassone Filed under: NBC, Sci-Fi/Horror, Surface
Maybe a giant fireball of an explosion in the poolhouse will convince Miles that keeping a weird sea creature as a secret pet isn't the best idea in the world. But somehow, I doubt it. I still think it's ridiculous. It's not cute, it's potentially deadly, so the only two outcomes that will be acceptable are, a.) the kid brings the little creature to the attention of Laura or Rich, or b.) the monster grows up fast and devours the entire family.
So while Miles and his buddy are trying to figure out how to feed and train the little creature, Rich goes back to work at his insurance job (wow, what a dreary office/small desk he has - he should just quit and hunt monsters full-time), and Laura is having her own problems at work and has to get a job as a waitress ($68 in tips for 12 hours work...not too good). The appearance of these monsters are affecting all the major characters, in big ways.
This is the best of the new sci-fi/horror shows. It's not as boring as Invasion; it has a better plot than Supernatural; it's not as goofy as Threshold (save for the little monster subplot), and it's not as awful as Night Stalker seems to be so far. I like how they have three different plots going (Laura's, Rich's, Miles) but they haven't brought them all together yet in some forced, let's save the Earth sort of way. This show is methodical, but never boring. It's majestic and epic when it has to be, but it's never over the top. It's the only show of this bunch where I can honestly say I look forward to seeing every week and that is leaving me guessing as to what exactly is going to happen and where they are going with the plot. The structure is smart, and I love how it ends with some big event (the giant monster eating the boat whole from below, tonight's Old Faithful exploding into fire and smoke).
I've stopped watching Invasion, and I'm going to watch Supernatural only because I'm reviewing it. The Night Stalker I'll watch for the same reason or until it's cancelled. Threshold is fun too so I'll keep watching that. But Surface is the one I'll buy on DVD, if it ever gets to that point.
Did you know
- TriviaRegal Entertainment Group theatres did a cross promotion with NBC advertising this show. All of the promotion materials (i.e. posters, carpets, popcorn bags, etc.) had the show titled as "Fathom" well after the series was renamed "Surface".
- ConnectionsFeatured in Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Jon Heder/Jessica Biel/Nada Surf (2005)
- How many seasons does Surface have?Powered by Alexa
Details
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- Country of origin
- Official site
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- Also known as
- Fathom
- Filming locations
- North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher - 900 Loggerhead Road, Kure Beach, North Carolina, USA(Miles develops his interest in sea life)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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