Syfy’s 12 Monkeys

Syfy released their newest series on January 16th, airing 12 Monkeys, a reimagining of the Terry Gilliam film of the same name from 1995. Co-executive producer Terry Matalas wants to stress that it is not a remake. “It’s a complete re-imagining. We’re all big fans of the original film and we didn’t want to just re-do what the movie does. Everything from the top-down changed. While the story has a lot of the same themes, it wouldn’t make sense to tell the same story again.”

You’d suspect that perhaps there would be new characters, or a different idea right off the bat, but based on the pilot this is not the case. The show follows James Cole (Aaron Stanford) as he travels back from 2043 to 2015 to find virologist Dr. Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull) to find the source of a virus that kills seven billion people. It sure sounds a lot like the film, but I digress.

It’s difficult to judge a series on just their pilot. The episode, “Splinter,” was shot in 2013 and doesn’t offer audiences anything new, yet, in the realm of 12 Monkeys. That being said, however, I really enjoyed the first episode.

It’s true, I’ll say it: I think Syfy could be on to something here. So far, yes, there’s not any new information, but just the first episode was a fun ride. To quickly recap, Cole is after a man named Leland Frost who he believes created the virus after Railly leaves a message from the past asking Cole for help. In 2015, Railly has no idea who Frost could be, but when she meets up with Cole again in 2015, she’s done her research. They track down a man named Leland Goines (Frost was a codename) and Cole, believing that he will disappear as soon as Goines is killed, guns him down, but he still finds himself standing there. He returns to 2043 to discover the plague still happened. At the end of the episode, Goines’ daughter, Jennifer, inherits her father’s company. She is seen frantically drawing on the wall, a sadistic smile on her face. She’s drawing the emblem of the 12 Monkeys.

The acting is good, the effects are pretty decent, and so far the writing isn’t bothering me. I’m anxious to see where the series is headed, and will be tuning in on Friday nights.

If you want to check out the pilot episode for free you can click right here. Check out the trailer below.

  If you enjoyed Carly’s piece, you can find the rest of her work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow her on Twitter @MrsCarlyRodgers.

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