Last Christmas the biggest news story at Syfy was probably its last minute cancellation of the Christmas Day Stargate Universe marathon. This year, however, it has earned goodwill with its Eureka and Warehouse 13 Christmas Specials.
“It was the last episode [filmed] before our five-week break.” Eureka star Colin Ferguson told SciFiNow. “It was very festive… We shot it in June of this year so the trouble obviously is trying not to sweat when it’s supposed to be freezing. But that does work into the story so it wasn’t as hard as that.” Eureka’s Yuletide episode, ‘O’ Little Town,’ is “standard sort of Eureka stuff,” Ferguson said. “But instead of end of the world or fright stuff, it’s way more fun stuff that we did with the special effects, and way more sort of comedic stuff.”
Contributing to the festivities is Matt Frewer, playing fan favourite Jim Taggart. “It’s great to bring Frewer back for episodes like that because he’s such a breath of fresh air and he’s such a good guy and he’s so funny and he’s so sort of lovely to be around,” Ferguson explained. “If anybody on the show embodies Christmas, it’s pretty much Matt.” Taggart could forever change the night before Christmas, though. “He’s a Santologist is what I believe the term was.” Ferguson revealed. “He’s doing all sorts of research on proving or disproving Santa Claus. He’s out to know everything there is to know about how Christmas would work if it was there.”
Meanwhile, at Warehouse 13 there’s a Christmas artifact under the tree and agents Latimer (Eddie McClintock) and Bering (Joanne Kelly) are after an unsaintly St. Nick. But ‘Secret Santa’ is no Silent Night, Deadly Night. “The Christmas episode is right in line with what we’ve always tried to do with the Warehouse 13 episodes,” McClintock said on a conference call. “They’re a lot of fun and there’s some tense moments but again at its heart it’s a nice family show.”
Bering left the warehouse team in the Season 2 finale but that’s forgotten for Christmas. “This Christmas/Hanukkah episode is really called the long lost episode in a way,” McClintock’s co-star Saul Rubinek added. ”It’s a standalone episode that has nothing to do with any of the other story arcs.”
Syfy premieres the Christmas Specials in the US tonight.
