In a secret lab where they do bad things-wait for it-something goes wrong. Our heroes are a small group of CDC doctors who are called in to help with an outbreak in a freakishly advanced research faculty surrounded by frozen tundra. In standard cosy catastrophe fashion, we have a nice enclosed population of 120 or so people which will doubtlessly decrease by regular amounts throughout the season.
The disease is the standard sci fi type where the person’s veins are pulsing and black, their eyes are bloody and odd, and they seem to have lost their mind to some other worldly presence. It looks a bit like the black goo from the X-files, the rage from 28 Days Later, and the zombie things from The Colony. There are images of severed limbs, melted bodies, and lots of nasty CGI rats and monkeys.
In the first two hours we are given a seemingly endless series of hints of things to come. Hidden relationships, mysterious bosses, prehistoric viruses, and some kind of shared consciousness. Add to that the usual mandatory I-Think-I’ll-Go-Down-In-The-Basement-Where-The-Monster-Is-Hiding and shaky cam crawling through the air ducts scenes and you have a halfway interesting show.
There is a lot going on in Helix. There are several story lines developing. There are a lot of characters with unknown motives. The research lab is huge and we have seen only a fraction of it. And one guy has vampire eyes.
The cast is good, though to be honest, outside of Billy Campbell they aren’t ringing any bells for me. The effects are excellent for a Syfy show, the CGI only looking clunking on a few shots instead of every shot as was the case with Warehouse 13 and Sanctuary. There were a lot of cut/jump shots that I found a bit annoying, but at least they didn’t do those pan and zoom shots that where the hallmark of Battlestar Galactic.
Helix looks good and I think it will be fun.
