Details are sketchy

This blog post is about the show that everyone’s talking about with it being renewed for a fifth season; Eureka.

The team of writers at Eureka have yet again surprised us with this latest turn of events; a rewritten future. In a sense, it has taken the series and again proved that there are no limits with what direction it can take. After spending the morning reading an essay by Scott Westerfeld on alternate worlds in science fiction television (in this case Buffy the Vampire Slayer). I felt I needed to write a blog on the subject as I found that his ideas really applied to Eureka and their most recent season in particular. This is not the first time that the writers at Eureka have used time or interdimensional travel and the characters have wrestles with the moral implications of it, but I believe it is the one that has affected the show the most. Of course, anyone reading this is probably a fan of sci-fi and so I don’t really have to explain the ideas behind time travel and chaos theory etc. So I’ll just go ahead with a recap of what has been happening so far this past season.
Last season left us with Carter’s life in disarray; his daughter had left for Harvard (another great character development from struggling teen to someone who realises their capabilities), his girlfriend Tess Fontana has left for Australia for work and the love of his life, Alison has given birth the late Nathan Stark’s baby. Things are shaky for him to say the least. As for Jo, her relationship with Zane has finally taken shape and things are looking up, helping her so soften as a character from the angry, strong woman she has been so far. Fargo, typically is jealous of this but continuing his normal life, he decides to date a fellow scientist (who is sadly for her second choice). As for Henry, his feelings for Kim have again resurfaced and do in the beginning of the fourth season with an unexpected arrival. Other than that, he is named mayor of Eureka and continues saving the day with his superior knowledge as always.

But onto the next season there are some drastic changes in this little town. The season opens with Jack, Alison, Fargo, Jo and Henry going back in time on founder’s day to the original opening of Eureka as a town sometime in the 1930’s. After a while trying to get back to their own time they manage to, but things aren’t as they left them. Characters were getting set in their ways and although I haven’t seen it happen yet, there was a real danger of storyline getting repetitive as many shows have done. This is why I believe the writers decided to shake things up a bit. And shake things up they did. Bet they’re just happy bending the space-time continuum isn’t so farfetched in this town.

By doing this, I think that Eureka has successfully made the transition from being a short-lived show with a cult following to what will be a long-running show remembered by many. Some shows (some great shows actually) have been cancelled way before their time for many different reasons but I am so happy this one survived and now, after being renewed for its fifth season, I think it’s definitely in the running for a couple more yet. Each season opening and finale have had gripping twists and revelations that have kept us coming back for more and this one is no exception. I was a bit hesitant of it at first, mainly because, as a general rule I’m weary of time-travel arcs as the can be easily confusing or messed up, but there is nothing wrong with this one. It’s dead on and there isn’t a problem in sight.
Coming back to the first thing I said about reading Scott Westerfeld this morning and it making me think, he says of science fiction that there are two distinct types of stories; “Trespass” and “Alternate World” stories. This first thing I should probably mention is that if you’re watching a TV show, it’s pretty much guaranteed you’re watching a Trespass story. Eureka is no exception. A Trespass story is one in which a stranger comes to town and they must be dealt with and all evidence of them ever being their removed before the characters can go on with their normal lives. In short; strange things can happen, but only if they’re dealt with and resolved at the end of the episode. In Eureka’s case, it is not so much a person that comes to town (although that has been known to happen) who has to be dealt with but instead, an idea that someone has dreamt up in a lab and experimented with, often resulting in it reacting badly with some unforeseen problem, thus leading to often deadly consequences. These problems are systematically solved by a combination of Carter’s logical thinking, the main character’s expertise in their fields and with the help of the person at fault (who are very rarely doing anything maliciously). The nature of these universes is that they return to normal at the end of every episode, which makes them perfect for television.

So this decision to switch timelines in the season premier and following episodes was one that everyone immediately expected to be resolved quickly. And so when they were returned to their own time, we believed this was the resolution we were expecting, so you can imagine how great a twist it was when those truly awesome writers decided to change the future they returned to. This was again, another thing that we expected to resolve itself, but it didn’t. The nature of this show had been changed to what Westerfeld describes as the “Alternate World” story. It is “...the reader going on a journey to another era, another planet, a world that follows different rules”.

Not many things in this world are visibly different, but things more personal to each character were altered hugely. For the most part, things appear to have been changed for the better, Tess never moving to Australia, Henry married again to a fellow scientist and most heart-warmingly of all, Alison’s son Kevin no longer is autistic. Of course, not everything is perfect, how could it be? Zane and Jo’s relationship does not exist, as does Fargo and his girlfriend’s. It’s a sad turn of events but they are given different chances in life; Jo is the head of security at Global Dynamics working under the new head, Fargo. These differences, caused by a scientist from the original Eureka camp making his way through time with them to the 21st century has brought a fresh feeling to the show. We now have the constant struggle that these characters go through having to keep from everyone the fact that they are from an alternate timeline, this shared secret bringing the characters together much closer than before. This decision by the characters to not tell anyone for fear of repercussions has thus made this timeline the main one, allowing the show to revert back to the “Trespass” story it once was, giving us great stories that can conclude in an episode in a new world.

This storyline is sheer genius; a perfect plot device to strengthen character relationships and breathe fresh life into the show. With season five confirmed and only part of season four having aired, I have to say that this is one show that has gone from strength to strength, improving with time and I would like to congratulate the writers and everyone who worked on it. Great actors and a well made show that clearly has a dedicated team working on it. Can’t wait for the next episode and bring on season five!

Back again. So recently I followed a user on Twitter that tweets quotes that are by people who meant them to be inspirational and the majority of them are. Some are not so. But one in particular stood out to me and really made me think a day or two ago.

"You are what you think about all day long." - Dr. Robert Schuller

Then it occured to me. I've always had my heart set on working in the games industry and it was probably in agreat part due to my uncle's career. He has always worked in the video games industry and is now the president of Rockstar Leeds. I have been there for work experience over the years and really enjoyed the small amount of time I had there; the people are great and the place they work has such an atmosphere with people workin together and all getting along. I aimed my work in the direction of the arts and always used computers, always getting good grades in my other subjects but for most of my school time doing much better at art and design. Although my uncle found his way into the indusrty fairly easy, making some lucky breaks without any of the necessary qualifications you have to attain nowadays, I was always told and figured out for myself that I needed to work hard to get to the place he was at. Money, accomplished in the field and he had everything that I wanted to have to. It never really occured to me that there was another path I wanted to go down and as I was such a big fan of computer games I focused on this. I took Animation (which I am currently studying) as I was told that the broad set of skills they would teach me would translate into many fields (they haven't taught us these skills yet...). But this is one thing I am really glad of. If I had taken Games Design I would have limited myself to a career that I have recently had doubts about. I would never say never to working in the Games industry as there are some incredible artists and animators working in that field and their advice and that experience would be invaluable, and I would love doing this for a few years. But since I have drifted more and more away from games and more towards my love of Television and film, TV in particular, I have realised Games are not the way I want to go in life. This quote really resonated with me, made me think.

If "You are what you think about all day long." then I am film, television, animation.

I am films. The writing; scripts, ideas and even the philosophies and depths behing the ideas in these series. Even more so the visual effects, the CG modelling, texturing, integration of the whole process and above all the opportunity to work on a long running project that allows for a new piece of work each few weeks to work on. This is where I really want to work and from now on I have decided to put everything into finding out about this career choice and doing everything I can to make myself employable in this industry. Films and television are my biggest hobby and I have a never-ending list of shows I am watching, analysing and wanting to work on.

I've decided to get organised and it's working! I'm making strides in learning French, finally understanding it much better and alhough slowly, my 3D modelling work is coming along too. But a real downside to this week is that my boss (oh how I hate her sometimes..) has given my so many shifts that I have barely any time to do all this work. I don't like working there but hey, I have to start saving for next semester so I can live now my rent's going up.. It'll be worth is one day! I'm sure of it :) But for now, I'm going to relax and draw a picture of Jessica from True Blood, should look awesome.

Night all