Eureka | |
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Also known as | A Town Called Eureka |
Genre | |
Created by | |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Mark Mothersbaugh John Enroth |
Opening theme | "Eureka on My Mind" |
Ending theme | "Eureka on My Mind" (season 1) "Carter's Theme" (seasons 2–5) |
Composers |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 77 (TV episodes) + 8 (webisodes)(list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Production locations | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 44 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | Sci-Fi Channel |
Release | July 18, 2006 – July 16, 2012 |
Related | |
Warehouse 13 |
Eureka (stylized as EUReKA) is an American science fiction television series that premiered on Sci-Fi Channel (renamed Syfy in 2009) on July 18, 2006. The fifth and final season ended on July 16, 2012. The show is set in the fictional town of Eureka, Southern Oregon (although in the pilot episode Eureka was located in Washington – and the origin of a diamond in the episode "Best In Faux" was shown as Eureka, California). Most residents of Eureka are scientific geniuses who work for Global Dynamics – an advanced research facility responsible for the development of nearly all major technological breakthroughs since its inception. Each episode featured a mysterious accidental or intentional misuse of technology, which the town sheriff, Jack Carter, dealt with, with the help of the town scientists. Each season also featured a larger story arc that concerned a particular major event or item.
The series was created by Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia and produced by Universal Media Studios. While initially lacking in critical acclaim, Eureka was a ratings success for the network, averaging 3.2 million viewers during the second half of season three. [1] In 2007, Eureka was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects for a Series, and won the Leo Award for Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series. [2] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the show airs on Syfy and is known as A Town Called Eureka, although it is also shown under its original title on the BT Vision platform. [3]
Deputy United States Marshal Jack Carter stumbles upon Eureka while transporting a fugitive prisoner (his own rebellious teenage daughter Zoe) back to her mother's home in Los Angeles. When a faulty experiment cripples the sheriff of Eureka, Carter finds himself quickly chosen to fill the vacancy. Despite not being a genius like most members of the town, Jack Carter demonstrates a remarkable ability to connect to others, keen and practical insights, and a dedication to preserving the safety of Eureka.
Eureka takes place in a high tech fictional community of the same name, located in the U.S. state of Oregon and inhabited by brilliant scientists. Camouflaged by an electromagnetic shield, the town is operated by a corporation called Global Dynamics (GD), which is overseen by the United States Department of Defense. The town's existence and location are closely guarded secrets.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 12 | July 18, 2006 | October 3, 2006 | |
2 | 13 | July 10, 2007 | October 2, 2007 | |
3 | 18 | 8 | July 29, 2008 | September 23, 2008 |
10 | July 10, 2009 | September 18, 2009 | ||
4 | 21 | 10 | July 9, 2010 | December 7, 2010 |
11 | July 11, 2011 | December 6, 2011 | ||
5 | 13 | April 16, 2012 | July 16, 2012 |
The series was created by Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia and was produced by Universal Media Studios. The season one original music was composed by Mutato Muzika; season two and beyond were composed by Bear McCreary. The executive producers were Paglia, Charles Grant Craig, and Thania St. John. While initially lacking in strong critical acclaim, Eureka had been a popular success, averaging 3.2 million viewers during the second half of season three. [1] In 2007 Eureka was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects for a Series and won the Leo Award for Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series. [2] In the United Kingdom on Sky1 the show is known as A Town Called Eureka although it is also shown under its original name on the BT Vision platform. [3]
Characters from Eureka have crossed over to Warehouse 13 and vice versa, and characters from Warehouse 13 have crossed over to Alphas , making the triplet sister shows. [5] [6] [7] [8]
On August 17, 2010, the channel, now known as Syfy, announced that the show had been picked up for a fifth season of 13 episodes. [9] [10] Fan sites and a show writers' Twitter feed said on August 4, 2011, that the show had been picked up for a sixth and possibly final season of six episodes. [10] [11] It was then announced on August 8, 2011, that Eureka would not get a sixth season, but it would instead be canceled after season five. [12] However, one additional episode of the fifth season was approved in order to give the series a proper finale. [13] On February 16, 2012, Syfy announced that the show's fifth and final season would premiere on April 16, 2012. [14]
Eureka was part of Sci-Fi's developing shared fictional universe, with several characters crossing over between series:
Global Dynamics researcher Douglas Fargo (played by Neil Grayston) from Eureka traveled to South Dakota to update Warehouse 13's computer system in the Warehouse 13 episode "13.1". Warehouse 13 computer wizard Claudia Donovan (played by Allison Scagliotti) subsequently traveled to the town of Eureka, Oregon to check out the technological marvels at Global Dynamics in the Eureka episode "Crossing Over". Fargo again appeared in the Warehouse 13 episode "Don't Hate the Player" when Claudia, Lattimer, and Bering traveled to Palo Alto, California to find Fargo beta testing a virtual reality simulator with the aid of a dangerous artifact. Additionally, Hugo Miller spent some time in the town of Eureka, departing with Douglas Fargo at the end of episode "13.1"; he returns in "Love Sick", commenting that, "every week [there] something seems to go 'boom'!" His presence there is off screen.
The series premiere was watched by 4.1 million people, making it the top-rated cable program for that night; it was the highest-rated series launch in Sci-Fi's fourteen-year history. [18] The season two premiere drew 2.5 million viewers, making it the top-rated cable program of the day. [19]
For calendar-year 2008 as a first-run, the series delivered 1.42 million viewers in the 18–49 demographic. [20]
The third season premiere was viewed by 2.8 million viewers, and the season 3.5 premiere of Eureka earned 2.68 million viewers in its new time slot. [21] The fourth season premiere was viewed by 2.5 million viewers. [22] The fifth season premiere was viewed by 1.8 million viewers, [23] on par with season four's closing episode "One Giant Leap". [24] The fifth season closer "Just Another Day" generated 1.58 million viewers. [25]
Critical reaction was mixed, with general praise for the premise, but overall middling reaction to the writing of the pilot.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer : [26]
It's all very quirky. Too quirky, maybe, for an audience that is used to spaceships, robots, and explosions. Though every episode promises an "aha!" moment based in quantum physics and obscure scientific laws, this world is relatively flat, conceptually speaking, in comparison to the complexity woven into series such as Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica . This does not mean Eureka is a complete waste of time. Not at all. The characters are fun, Ferguson is believable and pleasant, the script is solidly constructed, and the visuals are slickly produced. All in all, it's a sweet series and probably not long for this world.
The New York Daily News : [27]
With its playful new series Eureka, set in the Pacific Northwest and telling the story of an outsider who comes to explore, and settle in, a remote town full of eccentrics, Sci-Fi Channel isn't just inviting comparisons to Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure . It's demanding them. But co-creators Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia hold up to them pretty well. Eureka has a premise, a cast and a plot that make it one of the TV treats of the summer. The folks at Sci-Fi Channel clearly intended to reinvent the summer TV series here, and come up with something breezy and fun. And Eureka – they've done it!
On August 8, 2011, it was announced that Eureka would be cancelled after five seasons. [30] Syfy decided not to order a season six of Eureka: "But Eureka is not over yet. There is a new holiday episode this December and 12 stellar episodes set to debut next year, marking its fifth season and six memorable years on Syfy. The 2012 episodes are some of the best we've seen, and will bring this great series to a satisfying end. We are very grateful to Bruce Miller and Jaime Paglia, their team of incredible writers, and an amazing cast and crew who have consistently delivered a series we continue to be very proud of. We thank the fans for their support of this show and know they will enjoy its final season in 2012." [31]
With the announcement of the show's cancellation, a fan campaign on social media emerged. Thousands of fans protested what they thought was the network's decision. [32] [ unreliable source? ] Executive producer Amy Berg clarified that the decision to cancel the show was made by Comcast, the controlling partner at NBCUniversal, which owns Syfy.
Everyone is asking why. It's simple, really. We are the network's golden child in every way, except profit margins. Fact is, #Eureka is an expensive show to make. And we could not maintain the quality of our show with the cuts it would take to make us profitable for Syfy's new parent company. Our creative execs at Syfy fought hard to keep us. Trust me, they LOVE us. We just couldn't make the numbers work.
— Twitter (via tvseriesfinale.com) [33] , Amy Berg
All five seasons of Eureka have been released to Region 1 and region 2 on DVD. Seasons 1–4 have been released in region 4. Season 3 and 4 were released in two separate sets for each season in region 1 and 2.
In 2014, Universal released the complete series to the German market as an 18-disc Blu-Ray box set (aka Eureka: Die Komplette Serie or Eureka Gesamtbox). This set is region-free and will play on Region A (North America) players. It is available to U.S. buyers via online retailers. This set retains the original English-language audio. Titles and on-screen instructions can be switched to English in the disc menus.
In 2020, Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete series to the U.S. market as a 12-disc Blu-Ray box set. Extras mostly mirror those in the 2014 box set, though two extended episodes from the 2014 set are not included. Critical and buyer reviews report this set has significant issues with video quality.
Eureka: Original Soundtrack From the Sci-Fi Channel Television Series | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | August 26, 2008 | |||
Genre | Instrumental | |||
Length | 76:39 | |||
Label | La La Land Records | |||
Bear McCreary chronology | ||||
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A soundtrack was released on August 26, 2008 on La La Land Records. [34] The album consists of 28 tracks from the show's second season. It also includes two variations of the Mark Mothersbaugh and John Enroth composed main theme.
All music is composed by Bear McCreary, except noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Episode | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Eureka On My Mind" | Mark Mothersbaugh and John Enroth | All | 0:32 |
2. | "Sheriff Carter's Theme" | Maneater | 3:29 | |
3. | "Prehistoric Love Spores" | Maneater | 2:40 | |
4. | "Allison's Theme" | Games People Play | 2:54 | |
5. | "Through the Vortex" | Games People Play | 5:04 | |
6. | "Fargo's Theme" | Noche de Sueños | 2:51 | |
7. | "The Mask of Fargo" | Noche de Sueños | 2:29 | |
8. | "The S.A.R.A.H. Mobile" | Duck, Duck, Goose | 1:18 | |
9. | "Let's Get Hitched" | Brendan McCreary | Sight Unseen | 3:56 |
10. | "When You Wish Upon Falling Debris" | Duck, Duck, Goose | 3:12 | |
11. | "Little Big Bang" | E=MC...? | 2:35 | |
12. | "Henry's Theme" | A Night at Global Dynamics | 5:23 | |
13. | "Taggart's Theme" | A Night at Global Dynamics | 2:04 | |
14. | "The Laser Canon" | A Night at Global Dynamics | 1:56 | |
15. | "Noche de Suenos" | Noche de Suenos | 3:25 | |
16. | "A Nuke for Fargo" | Try, Try Again | 5:43 | |
17. | "EurekAerobic" | Captain Ahab | Duck, Duck, Goose | 2:33 |
18. | "Victor's Getaway" | Try, Try Again | 0:36 | |
19. | "Henry and Beverly" | All That Glitters | 4:26 | |
20. | "Jack and Callie" | Sight Unseen", "Maneater | 2:33 | |
21. | "Everyone's Dumb" | E=MC...? | 1:50 | |
22. | "The Heathers" | Duck, Duck, Goose | 0:39 | |
23. | "Zane on the Lam" | E=MC...? | 2:44 | |
24. | "Erotomania!" | Maneater | 2:28 | |
25. | "A Night at Global Dynamics" | A Night at Global Dynamics | 3:54 | |
26. | "Threat of Nuclear Cleaning" | A Night at Global Dynamics | 2:21 | |
27. | "A Town Called Eureka" | 2:13 | ||
28. | "Eureka on My Mind (Reprise)" | Mark Mothersbaugh and John Enroth | 0:51 |
All five seasons of Eureka are now available for viewing on-demand on
In early 2009, Boom! Studios produced a comic book series based on storylines provided by Andrew Cosby (who is also the co-founder of the comic publisher), written by Brendan Hay, with art by Diego Barreto. [35] This was followed by a second 4-issue series called Eureka: Dormant Gene written by Andrew Cosby, Jaime Paglia and Jonathan L. Davis, with art by Mark Dos Santos. [36]
In 2011, Colin Ferguson appeared on Disasterpiece Theatre, discussing what Eureka might look like if directed by Michael Bay. [37] In 2012, Niall Matter also made an appearance on the podcast, discussing how Eureka would function as a "romcom". [38]
In May 2012, Ferguson appeared on Tabletop , a show on Geek and Sundry, where during the course of the episode he discusses his experiences and character in Eureka. The Geek And Sundry network is co-hosted, among others, by Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton, who made various appearances on Eureka. [39]
Sky Sci-Fi is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky, a division of Comcast. It was launched in 1995 as a localised variant of the US network Sci Fi Channel, with a similar programming line-up. It was on air each day from 8;00 am until 2:00 am, but only on cable as a lack of transponder space on satellite meant that it was only able to broadcast for few hours each day on that platform. It wasn't until the launch of Sky Digital in 1998 that the channel's full broadcast hours were available on satellite.
Colin Ferguson is a Canadian-American actor, director and producer. He is known for playing Sheriff Jack Carter on the Syfy series Eureka, the Maytag Man, and Lewis on Then Came You.
Jaime Erica Murray is an English actress. She is known for playing Stacie Monroe in the BBC series Hustle (2004–2012), Lila West in the Showtime series Dexter (2007), Gaia in the Starz miniseries Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011), Olivia Charles in The CW series Ringer (2011–2012), Helena G. Wells in the Syfy series Warehouse 13 (2010–2014), Stahma Tarr in the Syfy series Defiance (2013–2015), Fiona/the Black Fairy in the ABC series Once Upon a Time (2016–2017), Antoinette in The CW series The Originals (2018), and Nyssa al Ghul in Gotham.
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Warehouse 13 is an American science fiction television series that originally ran from July 7, 2009, to May 19, 2014, on the Syfy network, and was executively produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins for Universal Cable Productions. Described as "part The X-Files, part Raiders of the Lost Ark and part Moonlighting", the show's blend of science fiction, comedy and drama is said to have borrowed much from the American-Canadian horror television series Friday the 13th: The Series (1987–1990). The program follows a team of field agents who retrieve artifacts that have become charged with energy that can give them dangerous powers if misused. Once retrieved and neutralized, the objects are stored in Warehouse 13, the latest in a line of storehouses with infinite capacity that have served this purpose for millennia.
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Jaime Paglia is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He is best known for creating and producing Eureka (2006–12).