Warehouse 13

A friend of mine purchased the DVD for Season 1 of Warehouse 13. We've started watching it. And have now got through the first disk...3 episodes out of 12 I believe.

Now, Warehouse 13 is definitely a SciFi, excuse me, Syfy show. They are more overtly fantastical over other cable shows like those on USA. And, since I am a genre fan, generally more interesting to me. It's interesting to see that, post Battlestar Galactica, Warehouse 13 is more light hearted and less serious. Unlike Stargate Universe which is full of dark, annoying characters who are hard to relate to, yet inherently less likable than the BSG cast because they inherently act stupider while being just as angst filled.

Warehouse 13, however, seems to follow the mode of other Syfy shows like Eureka. With an inherently likable cast where nothing is taken too seriously and things are more self contained. I'll confess, though, that I've never actually seen an episode of Eureka, though I have read show reviews...point is I might be WAY off on this.

Like many cable shows that don't come from HBO, Warehouse 13 has an inherently small cast. There are essentially only 3 main characters, with a few side-characters that receive a little screen time when they interact with the main 3. You've got Arty, the 'mysterious' but likable and 'dark' head of the Warehouse. And Myka and Pete, to Secret Service agents which are brought into the Warehouse for their special skills. Pete is psychic, at least in a limited way, and is very good with people and has very good street smarts. And Myka has a strong sense of detail, a very good education, and more book smarts. The two are supposed to complement each other very well, but while X-files comparisons are often linked to this show, I'd say there is very little in common with that show.

Warehouse 13 seems to thrive on the quirks of it's characters and it's artifacts, and the Warehouse itself. Though it's probably too early to tell, a lot of the fun of the show seems to come from the discovery of the nature of the artifacts themselves and how they became artifacts in the first place. Yet, even from the second episode, the character's tend to be very cavalier with the artifacts in general, playing with them, and treating them as interesting diversions. And there is a few obviously story-elements already being introduced, mostly in regards to Artie himself (and his past) which I know will become more important later.

So far though, Warehouse 13 seems to be very much a 'monster of  the week' format, with the focus being on the investigation of a new artifact. I've heard, though, that the show turns much more serial later on, so we'll see what happens. As a light-hearted affair, I'm finding the show to be pretty interesting, if not perfect. I might end up purchasing the show for myself at some point (but I'll wait for the Blue-Ray version).