User Reviews

When the term Sci Fi is used these days, we mostly think of spaceships, aliens and androids. That's a shame. Sci Fi has a long pedigree and isn't always about bloody space! ReGenesis was a show that delivered the type of sci fi that is, sadly, mostly ignored in this day and age. It explored how the science of today can run rampant, how seemingly positive experiments can go wrong, how politics and the military/industrial complex DO work hand in hand. (OK, we do see that in other shows, but not as realistically as here). From the get go, ReGenesis set a high mark for its dramatic portrayal of disease outbreaks and bio engineering run amok. Deftly, if sometimes over used, personal relationships between the main protagonists of the NORBAC team, weave nicely amongst the science of the show and the casting is without a doubt one of the best I've come across in a show of this or any other genre. Tackling many issues of disease outbreak/control, bio terrorism, political and military paranoia and genetic engineering it has gota be up there as the numero uno of 'What if..?' dramas. The characters within NORBAC are superbly realised throughout all four seasons and each brings a brilliant point of view/specialist area/personal drama to the over all feel of what could easily have been an over the head with facts based show.

Peter Outerbridge as main protagonist and head of NORBAC, David Sandstromm brought the kind of gravitas usually seen in high end, big budget drama and film. His character is complex yet all too human. He may be a genius scientist but he has problems relating to his family, likes to maybe drink a little too much and wants to bed any woman with a pulse! It was a shame that his character seemed make the lateral leap that solved everything and non of the other characters were given their '15 minutes' of scientific fame and allowed to take centre stage in this role within the organisation and thusly the story arcs. Outerbridge was, though, inspired casting. As the series and the show itself progressed, the not so simple marrying of Science drama and human drama was brilliantly staged during stories concerning his rebellious daughter, the loss of his mother and his fathers subsequent demise as well as the interpersonal relationships within the lab itself. On the science side, his characters fight to use good science to right bad science, investigate strange diseases and biological attacks and handle the different interests involved through politics and the military/industrial complex were very very believable. When he was frustrated, I was frustrated! The cast as a whole were awesome but extended merit must also go to Dmitry Chepovetsky's Aspergers syndrome suffering character, Bob Melnikov. This character was inspired, heart wrenching at times and above all, informatively written and acted concerning this strange affliction. Played with relaxed assuredness by Chepovetsky with just the right amount of ticks and mannerisms, all the while giving us grounding in his scientific speciality and the way Aspergus 'sufferers' can maintain and impart vast amounts of information. Empathy is teased from you rather than wrenched, as Bobs' condition dictates and Dmitrys' acting imparts.

Yes, the show did suffer from over use of its 'scientists at work' montages (yes yes, pipettes, petri dishes, centrifuges, DNA graphs WE KNOW!) and abruptness, it's major downfall. Some seemingly potential pandemics withered at the peak of the stories dramatic climax, leaving you with a slight 'Huh? But...'. And don't get me started on the ending of season two! There were so many important plot points left like gaping small pox wounds!!! They did tackle it in an interesting way through season three, points for that, but they just left too many bits totally unanswered and at times left me thinking we'd slipped through a hole into another 'same but different' universe. I do believe some of this may have been due to the way in Maxim Roy, who played NORBACs' manager, Caroline Morrison, left the show. In the finale where we see all the past characters involved in a montage, there is not one shot of her. This leads me to believe she departed on not so good terms and left them unable to film a proper resolve of the rather good thread that had permeated the first two seasons.

Saying all that though, the way they realised the end of the show was quite brilliant and totally unexpected.

I can't recommend this show enough. There aren't many like it ( I can only think of two, Asimovs' Probe and the English gem, Doomwatch). Superb acting, great writing, totally relevant science, real human dilemmas and interaction sublimely inter weaved with the high drama of the threats of viral outbreak, bio-terrorism, genetic engineering and the problems of politics/money via big pharma and a paranoid military (The killer crows and the air force was a great poke!). Watch it, enjoy it and relish a show unlike nearly everything you've ever seen!

I started watching 'ReGenesis' with moderate expectations. I had heard good things about the show, but then again that doesn't mean much. And unfortunately 'ReGenesis' didn't live up to my moderate expectations.

While it starts out looking like having an overarching plot, which it does to a point, from the 3rd episode on the serialized aspect becomes less important, and as the show becomes more episodic, sadly cases-of- the-week take over most of the screen-time. The show becomes formulaic, but at least the weekly story lines aren't all that bad.

So, the story itself is decent enough, but the storytelling is not. From the first minute in there's an awful overuse and abuse of music, horribly annoying effects, unnecessary flashbacks and mind-numbing montages. The dialogue is quite dumb, as the show tells you everything instead of being able to show it. Its usage of split-screen is completely uninspired and purposeless, the attempts at humour fall completely flat, and some wooden actors (especially Maxim Roy) don't exactly help much either.

It's not a bad show per se, it's just completely by the numbers and not always connecting them well, either. There's dozens of shows like it out there; ReGenesis doesn't manage to stand out among them.

I watched the first episode not expecting much. I was surprised that the story was rather enthralling. The actors are OK, if not great. Both Maxim Roy and the rest of the supporting cast are OK, but nothing more - adequate, without blowing my mind. Peter Outerbridge as the main character, geneticist Dr. David Sandstrom is actually better than that. His dogged dedication to his work at the expense of his own life and the people in it is very well portrayed.

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Where the series goes wrong is that they seem to have a lot of ideas, but didn't reject any of them and added them all as plot points which weakens the whole story. For example they got through the first viral scare so fast that by the time the tension mounted, it was already over. From there off to the next subplot and so on. Blowing from one major event to another works in a series such as 24 or Alias where there is always a high level of tension and unexpectedness but doesn't quite fit with this series.

Still I admire the effort of a Canadian cable channel in trying to do what HBO and to a lesser extent Showtime do which is TV programming with a twist from the average drab network fare.

One side I liked is that the whole series sounded and looked very natural with respect to booze. The 15 year old daughter gets a beer and her father doesn't go apes***. Can you imagine a teen on a WB show coming home and opening a beer in front of her dad without that being completely scandalous.

Final score 7/10 +.5 home team (canadian) bonus :)

This series showed up on a the Sci-Fi channel in the UK, but I watched it after a recommendation in a newspaper listing. I thought the characterisation and acting was in the main superb, on a par with any US or British series being made at the moment. Like another reviewer I thought that the main flaw was that they tried to cram too many plot lines into the series. When my wife and I saw episode I , we thought that it was a mini-series about a bioterrorist attack. However, just when they cranked up the tension on that story it ended abruptly and they started on another. This threw us completely and we almost stopped watching. I'm glad we didn't , because the real interest of the series is in the characterisation, as well as some of the story ideas. But there are just too many of them, and some simply peter out. This may be realistic but it makes the show disjointed and sometimes difficult to follow. Also, it may be a sign of age but could I suggest that the producers turn down the background music which often drowns out important dialogue.