DVDs
I just remembered that I own every episode of Sanctuary on DVD *and* on Bluray.......
and I'm still the only person I know who actually watched the show!!!
sanctuary
no-one asked, but here's my suggested order for watching sanctuary:
* Season 2
* Season 3
(except for episode 15 - it's just a clipshow episode so they could save money)
* Season 4
* Season 1
Season 1 comes last because while it has some great parts, it's got a lot of jank because they hadn't hit their stride yet.
I've considered putting season 1 in between the two halves of Season 3, but I don't know if that would actually be better - it might just be confusing.
Sanctuary thoughts
Sanctuary is a monster-of-the-week show about the people who protect the monsters, and I think Season 2 is the best introduction to that.
Season 1 doesn't work for me because it focuses too much on the Cabal, a group of monster collectors who want to use monsters for evil.
It feels like the show is playing with its formula ("what if there was an evil version of the sanctuary") before it's even established it.
(cont)
re: Sanctuary thoughts
Season 2 is where the show really comes into its own, and I think the big reason is that the season arc is really subtle (it's 99% just foreshadowing), and the show has time to focus on character and theme development.
Plus, they had a bigger budget, so they made more sets (the first season was mostly done in front of green screen, but imo the show works best with sets which mix real and CGI elements - it gives the series a unique fantasy realism style)
(cont)
re: Sanctuary thoughts
Finally, there's season 4. Season 4 goes back to the 13 episodes structure, and there were clearly some production issues behind the scenes.
But! It feels kinda like a mixture of Season 2 and Season 3. Most of the heavy story-arc stuff happens in the first 3 episodes (which I won't spoil), and then the remaining 10 episodes are basically about the various consequences of the first 3 eps.
And the finale works really well as an ending for the entire series, it's lovely.
re: Sanctuary thoughts
Season 3 is divided into two halves of 10 episodes each (rather than just one bundle of 13 episodes), with each half getting its own season arc.
Season 3 goes super-hard into its arcs, and I think it works really well for 2 reasons:
1) it's focused on an investigation into a weird holographic map they found - which suits the show much better than season 1's comic-book-villains.
2) The arcs are spread across just 10 episodes each, so it feels more like an ongoing drama.