Surface - Season 1 [DVD]

"Surface" is a science fiction TV series that was aired on NBC during 2005. It follows three main characters in three different parts of the US, Dr Laura Daughtery a marine biologist, Rich Connelly an insurance salesman and Miles a teen-aged boy who all find their lives fundamentally affected by the discovery of a new and dangerous species that dwells in the sea.

`Surface' is a patchwork. The storyline is obviously borrowed from many other films and TV series such as E.T.,Close encounter, X-files, The Abyss, The island etc...While watching the series it felt like an initially ambitious project which showed some promise but eventually suffers at times from bad writing and rather poor CGI special effects in general. Some are great but most look rather average. If only more money had been allocated to the monsters effects I suspect it would have contributed to make the entire series more believable and as a result more successful. The acting is fine but not great.

It must be said that the show was cancelled after 15 episodes due to low audience ratings and it shows during the finale episode. Everything seems rushed and while some kind of conclusion is given, many questions are left unanswered. It all ends on a rather ambiguous if somewhat interesting way.

Despite its flaws, the show is still fun to watch and has its good moments with real tension, adventure and great action.

You might want to rent this series but should you be interested in buying it, I suggest that you go for the R1 edition from amazon.com. Unfortunately this UK region 2 edition is stripped of its original 5.1 Dolby soundtrack (you get a 2.0 stereo) and the original widescreen aspect ratio has been reduced from 1.78 to 4.3!!! What's worse is that the image has been panned but does not appear to have been scanned so you often get the feeling that something is happening off screen.

This series is a real oddity, there are 2 specific plot strands with the creatures in this story and lots of confusing, not always very smart plot twists, WARNING:CONTAINS SPOILERS.
The smaller creatures appear like an attempt to throw in human interest and appeal to the younger audience. One becomes a pet for one of the main teen characters.
The more interesting larger ocean dwelling creatures are what sparked my initial interest. These creatures look pretty impressive as would befit the revelation that these creatures grow to about 150/200 feet long.
In the end it moves from what would have been a great tale involving living dinosaurs to an interesting tale that may, or may not, involve genetically created sea-monsters before degenerating into conspiracies involving shadow Government agencies and lots of soap opera style background stories. The uniting of the main characters at the end does make some sense but the ending itself sadly leaves every single thread still unravelled.
It feels like it wanted to be something to everyone and that may have led to its early demise with the series being cancelled after only 15 episodes. Maybe there was more to this that never had a chance to be revealed.
The short documentary included here unfortunately does not answer any of the questions I wanted to ask as it is only a "coming soon" advertising promo show. It will remain, in my eyes, one of the nearly great TV shows. The main question will still remain, just what the hell was it about?. This box set was an ideal opportunity for someone involved with the show to actually explain all the loose, and often contradictory, threads. This was the main reasons I bought this box-set, sadly that opportunity was not taken, if it was then I could have easily given it 4 stars.

I so wish I could give this a thumbs up. I find myself scraping the bottom of the compliment barrel to see if theres anything I missed but finding nothing but small tiny scraps of hope and light. You see, "Surface" should be brilliant, but...well, isn't. I watched the pilot and instantly was thinking that this thing had so much potential, but alas, within a few episodes it was clear it had already lost its steam and was doomed for an early cancellation. Or at least no renewal after season one.
It deals with sea monsters. The opening jaws-style scare sequence is wonderfully done, never really showing anything and suggesting quite a bit. And this really is where the potential lies - discovery of a new species; but problems and clichés set in like wet rot within a mere episode or two. All of a sudden they're potentially aliens, or genetically engineered creatures, and there's government cover ups and sci-fi loonys with their own theories. If it had stuck to the basic premise - that perhaps this WAS a new species from deep below the surface, then it may have retained credibility and, importantly, stability. As such, no. As plot points and plot twists start to drip out of the woodwork the whole system starts to crash. It becomes a tedious slew of repetitive red herrings and dead-ends, escape attempts and scientific mumbo jumbo. And, annoyingly, sometimes dodgy special effects. I mean, kudos for trying to do something epic with a low budget, but it can be done better than this with some clever photography or model-making.
I'm deliberately missing out complaining out the lack of coherence in the plot, as the series was cancelled - and therefore lack of proper denouements for most of the mysteries are forgiven. But one reaches the end of episode 15, and one is left not caring what happens next. And that's not a good sign.
They do try and bring `real life' into it; family dysfunction; teenage angst, etc; but it never really gels with what is going on.
The story is told from two very different perspectives - again, a really good idea - one from the perspective of Laura Daugherty, whose research is the first to reveal the existence of these monsters and the subsequent cover up / man-hunt that ensues. She meets up with Rich, who lost a brother to the creatures and whose entire sense of reality is consumed by a need to know more about his bro's disappearance (to the point of near madness). The second perspective is little Miles, who discovers a juvenile monster and basically forms an ET style bond with the little thing, ultimately bringing everyone he cares about into and out of danger like a yo yo. The two plots converge but not until the very last episode. As I said, it's a good idea, as you discover the various angles of the story from inside and outside, so to speak.
The acting is so-so. Not groundbreaking television standard, but watchable. Rich borders on annoying sometimes, but experience has taught me there are people just like him, so I'm not using that as a complaint.
So overall then. Ohhh I so wanted to like it - as a marine biologist myself the idea of a new species is enrapturing by default, but to see the ideas handled with so much cliché and boredom, it hurts. The lack of structure - no way to tell one episode from another by any standards - makes remembering the series a difficulty. It'll fade into obscurity and, unfortunately, won't be saved by a cult following. On the surface, a good idea, but below, murky clouds of dishevelledness unworthy of remembrance.