With the debut of Syfy’s freshman show Warehouse 13 on 7 July in the United States, SciFiNow sat down with executive producer David Simkins and showrunner Jack Kenny to talk about what we could expect from a series that is being labelled as a hybrid between a drama and a comedy.
“If you look at some of the other genre shows,” Kenny said, “they’re either grounded in procedural reality or they’re way out there with aliens and other stuff. This is a show that’s more along the lines of National Treasure or Indiana Jones; this is something that could conceivably be true, so we’re just expanding on that and I think that’s what sets us apart from other shows. Plus we have an interesting dynamic in our two leads Pete and Myka. They’re very different, on every level, so that makes it much more fun and different from some of the other stuff on TV.”
The premise of Warehouse 13 follows two Secret Service agents assigned to the top-secret facility, which houses supernatural relics and artefacts from all over the world. Simkins expanded a little on the idea of these artefacts, and the central role that they play in the show as story facilitators: ““The artefacts are essentially the ‘MacGuffins’ of each episode,” he explains, “but each of those objects has a reverberating effect on the characters. For example, the episode that introduces Claudia is a direct result of an artefact that Artie was going after 12 years prior and failed, so all of these artefacts open doors into stories for us. And as the season progresses, we’ll be introducing another character who is also searching for artefacts, who essentially becomes Artie’s nemesis. Pete and Myka, much to their shock and dismay, realise that they have competition and this competition will stop at nothing to acquire the artefacts that they’re also going after. So yes, they’re MacGuffins in the true Hitchcockian sense that they reveal character and story but our series is ultimately about how our characters orbit that particular gravitational pull of whatever that artefact is from week to week.”
Warehouse 13 is currenty airing on Syfy. The series stars Eddie McClintock and Joanne Kelley in the lead roles, and will be featuring guest appearances from science fiction luminaries such as Joe Flanigan (Stargate Atlantis), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica, Chuck) and Joe Morton (Eureka). For our exhaustive season preview, pick up a copy of SciFiNow issue 31, on sale on 5 August 2009 from all good newsagent, or order online at the Imagine eShop.
