End of Nights
Encyclopedia
"End of Nights" is the two-part season two premiere of the science fiction
television series Sanctuary. The first part originally aired on Syfy
and Space in the United States
and Canada
respectively on October 9, 2009, while the second part aired on October 16, 2009, both occasions following Stargate Universe
. It subsequently aired on ITV4
in the United Kingdom
on October 6 and 13 2009. Both parts were written by Damian Kindler
, and directed by Martin Wood
.
The episode follows from the season one finale, "Revelations", where the Cabal launch a weapon named Lazarus to turn Abnormals against Humans. The Sanctuary are able to find a cure by using a vial of rare, pure Vampire
blood. However, Ashley, who was kidnapped by the Cabal and escaped, turned against her team and took the vial before working on a cure. The episodes follow the Sanctuary's search to find her, only to discover that the Cabal turned her into a super-Abnormal. The opening two parter was met with generally mixed to positive reviews, and was viewed by around 1.8 million Americans.
(Amanda Tapping
) and John Druitt (Christopher Heyerdahl
) travel to Egypt
in the search for Ashley (Emilie Ullerup
), but learn that the daughter they knew is dead. However, in Montreal
, Ashley teleports
into an Interpol
office, steals a server containing classified files, and teleports away. Meanwhile, Tesla (Jonathon Young) is able to create a cure to the Lazarus virus, though Bigfoot (Heyerdahl) refuses to take it due to the fact it was developed by Humans. Even Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins
) fails to persuade him. The team find out about the break-in in Montreal, and discover that the files Ashley stole concerns "Operation Montana", a British government operation 25 years previously to experiment on six orphans to turn them into "perfect" humans, until Magnus shuts it down after she deemed it a rebound of the Nazi eugenics programme
. However, four of them have already been kidnapped by the Cabal. The Cabal, meanwhile, subject Ashley to tests by using the Vampire-blood from Bhalasaam, where they attempt to convert her to a "Super-Abnormal".
Henry and Druitt recover the fifth Montana subject in Essex
, while Magnus and Will Zimmerman
(Robin Dunne
) search for the sixth in Vancouver
. They arrive to find that he was taken by a group led by Kate Freelander (Agam Darshi
), a con-artist
with Cabal connections. She is captured by Magnus, but quickly escapes before they could learn anything from her. However, the Cabal finds out Kate was captured by the Sanctuary, and orders a hit on her. She is wounded during a firefight, but manages to flee and seek refuge in the Sanctuary. In exchange, she tells Magnus that she once visited a Cabal base in Alberta
, Canada
. Will, Druitt, Tesla and Magnus arrive at the warehouse to find Ashley alive, but is now fully transformed into a seemingly indestructible Vampire-hybrid, and that her original personality is destroyed. The team are able to escape before she could kill them. Magnus deduces that the Cabal are going to do the same transformation to the five kidnapped Montana subjects. In fact, the Cabal have already completed this, and declares war on the Sanctuary Network.
), a high ranking member of the Cabal. She is willing to hand over Ashley back to where she was in exchange that Magnus hand over the Sanctuary Network. Refusing to give into the demand, Magnus enlists Tesla and Henry to develop a weapon capable of neutralising the hybrids's power, but wants it to be non-lethal, which Tesla finds nearly impossible unless it is completely lethal. During the time they finish a prototype, the Sanctuary bases in Tokyo
, New Dehli and Moscow
are destroyed by Ashley and her army. Magnus and the team realise the London
Sanctuary is the next target, and they travel there to test the new prototype. However, despite the base's defenses, the hybrids break in and dispatch all the resistance they encounter, including the killing of Will's new love interest, Clara Griffin (Christine Chatelain
); the hybrids were able to see her when invisible. The prototype weapon is also unsuccessful; it only stuns the hybrids momentarily before overcoming the effects. The team manages to drive off the Hybrids with a fire elemental which and forces them to retreat, but the London Sanctuary is badly damaged. With no other choice, the team and whatever personnel are left of the London Sanctuary evacuate to the main base in Old City.
Magnus resorts to upgrade the weapon to its intended lethal setting, which would kill Ashley in the process. Realising they may face another unwinnable battle, Kate Freelander is released, though she tries to stay and fight, she is sent away as Magnus doesn't trust her. She would later stay and fight anyway. Magnus later visits Bigfoot, and leaves him a syringe of the Lazarus cure if he chooses to take it and save his friends. Henry maintains all the defence systems in the Sanctuary. However, the Cabal launch a virus to neutralise the EM shield
, allowing the hybrids to break into the base with ease. Now with a fully functioning weapon, Magnus is able to kill three of the hybrids before she confronts Ashley, and attempts to talk her into coming back. After Bigfoot takes the cure and saves his friends, he protects Henry and Will while they restore the EM shield, which destroys the fourth hybrid when he attempts to teleport. Magnus faces off against Ashley and the final Hybrid. The final hybrid attacks Magnus, but is stopped by Ashley, whose original personality (apparently buried, not destroyed) manages to regain control of her body temporarily. Ashley teleports with the final hybrid, killing it, but also herself in the process.
After the end of the first season, Damian Kindler
wanted to tie up loose ends from the cliffhanger, and to settle the series into a "new groove." He considered two beginnings; one would start with the action, and the second was the Cabal explaining their plans. Thinking the latter was too uninteresting, the former was chosen. Kindler also wanted to start it six weeks after "Revelations", since it was considered a good place to start, and joined right in the middle of the hunt for Ashley. In the script, though pivotal in the plot, Emilie Ullerup
only had one line worth of dialogue. During the original casting call, Babz Chula
's character was meant to be male, bald and German
. However, Chula's audition impressed the producers enough to have her instead. Andrew Lockington
was introduced as the new composer for the second season. Before filming began, the crew scouted locations in areas such as Montreal
to get their understanding of the area before the episode is to be set there.
Like the series, "End of Nights" was filmed mostly in green screen
. Since there is limited room on the set, one scene required five actors to be in it, which was not an easy task. In other scenes involving green screen, one side of the background was in fact real, which would give the viewer the impression of not knowing which side is visual effects, and which is not. The scene involving the tele-conversation between Will Zimmerman
and Clara Griffin was filmed live; Christine Chatelain
was filmed behind a green screen, 20 feet away from Robin Dunne
. The scenes set in Cairo
were in fact filmed in a back alley behind a Vancouver
studio, which was used several times before in the series. Green screen was added in the background to make the Cairo street look longer than the alley was. Another instance of outside filming was the scenes involving Ashley's conversion process. The filming location was a large, tall room. Director Martin Wood
previously used the area for filming Stargate: Continuum
. The scenes between Christopher Heyerdahl
as Bigfoot and Ryan Robbins
as Henry Foss were completed on one take, because Wood was impressed by the acting, and the camera angles. Furthermore, Heyerdahl was to wear contact lens
es to change his eye colour for Bigfoot. However, at the time of filming, Heyerdahl sustained an eye injury.
Overall, "End of Nights" produced around 1,200 visual effects shots, which made up over half of the 2,100 visual effects done in the entire first season alone. The premiere of the second season also had a slightly different opening title sequences. Though the same used from the first season, the producers changed the pictures of Magnus meeting Albert Einstein
, to those between her and Amelia Earhart
.
After the original broadcast, the first part was viewed by 1.85 million, among them are 946,000 in the Adult 18–49 demographic, and 1.15 million in the Adults 25–54 demographic. The viewing figures were up 18% from the first season average in the 18–49, and 7% from the 25–54 demographic. The ratings for the second part, however, dropped slightly to 1.77 million, though this still made Sanctuary the sixth most viewed series on Syfy the week it aired. In the United Kingdom, Part 1 was viewed by 334,000, ranking it the fourth highest viewing for the week, while Part 2 reached a slightly higher rating of 367,000, ranking it the third highest viewing for the second week.
Mark Wilson of About.com praised the episode for being a "harbinger of the new [and a more] confident Sanctuary" since the first season, as well as Martin Wood's directing of the story and Darshi's performance, but felt certain elements that didn't work well as they should, such as feeling more confined than the past episodes, and that the abnormals of the Sanctuary are barely featured. Paul Simpson of Total Sci-Fi rated the first part 7 out of 10, describing it as "hokum, but enjoyable hokum." Simpson also stated the scripting felt a bit sharper, though still high on melodrama
tic dialogue, and described the introduction of Kate Freelander allows a degree of fun. URBMN was mixed towards Christopher Heyerdahl
's performance; stating he was uneven as Bigfoot, but excellent as Druitt, and also found Agam Darshi "surprisingly tolerable" as Freelander. Overall, the reviewer considered that while the episodes, and the series in general, bears similarities with Primeval and Torchwood
, it was more the former than the latter.
Rob Vaux of Mania.com was overall mixed about the two episodes. He stated the first part doesn't leave much room for the newcomers to the series, but still holds a fair amount of interest, and was decently executed, and the low points remain "forgivable." Vaux praised Darshi's performance, but believed the other performers detracted her "appealine presence." Vaux believed the action sequences failed to catch hold, but improves with its character developments, stating the best moments involve Ashley's indoctrination, and Babz Chula
's "creepy performance." For the second part, Vaux stated that enough of the questions have been resolved to provide adequate drama, and leaves a few plot threads to ensure the viewers tune in the next week, and it won't make the viewer regret tuning in. Vaux reacted more positively on the second part's action sequences, and Druitt's onscreen presence.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Sanctuary. The first part originally aired on Syfy
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
and Space in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
respectively on October 9, 2009, while the second part aired on October 16, 2009, both occasions following Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe
Stargate Universe is a Canadian-American military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny many billions of light years distant from the Milky Way...
. It subsequently aired on ITV4
ITV4
ITV4 is a British television station which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a male-oriented line-up, including sport, cop shows and US comedies and dramas, as well as classic ITV action...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on October 6 and 13 2009. Both parts were written by Damian Kindler
Damian Kindler
Damian Kindler is an Australian-born Canadian writer and producer. He emigrated to Toronto, Canada, when he was young. He currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. He lives with his wife and his two children Hannah and Phoebe Kindler.He is most noted for his contributions to the Stargate...
, and directed by Martin Wood
Martin Wood
Martin Wood is a Canadian television director who has been directing since the mid 1990s. Specializing in science fiction, where he is best known for his work as a director and producer on Stargate SG-1 , as well as its spin-off series Stargate Atlantis .-Career:Martin Wood began his television...
.
The episode follows from the season one finale, "Revelations", where the Cabal launch a weapon named Lazarus to turn Abnormals against Humans. The Sanctuary are able to find a cure by using a vial of rare, pure Vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
blood. However, Ashley, who was kidnapped by the Cabal and escaped, turned against her team and took the vial before working on a cure. The episodes follow the Sanctuary's search to find her, only to discover that the Cabal turned her into a super-Abnormal. The opening two parter was met with generally mixed to positive reviews, and was viewed by around 1.8 million Americans.
Part 1
Six weeks since the events of "Revelations, Part 2", Helen MagnusHelen Magnus
Doctor Helen Magnus is the series protagonist and central character of the Canadian fantasy-science fiction television series Sanctuary. She is portrayed by Amanda Tapping...
(Amanda Tapping
Amanda Tapping
Amanda Tapping is an English-born Canadian actress, producer and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis...
) and John Druitt (Christopher Heyerdahl
Christopher Heyerdahl
Christopher Heyerdahl is a Canadian actor who has had roles in many prominent television shows and movies. He is tall.-Biography:Heyerdahl was born in the mountains of British Columbia and is of Norwegian and Scottish descent...
) travel to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in the search for Ashley (Emilie Ullerup
Emilie Ullerup
Emilie Ullerup is a Danish actress. She is best known for playing Ashley Magnus on the television series Sanctuary.-Early life and education:...
), but learn that the daughter they knew is dead. However, in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Ashley teleports
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
into an Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
office, steals a server containing classified files, and teleports away. Meanwhile, Tesla (Jonathon Young) is able to create a cure to the Lazarus virus, though Bigfoot (Heyerdahl) refuses to take it due to the fact it was developed by Humans. Even Henry Foss (Ryan Robbins
Ryan Robbins
Ryan Robbins is a Canadian actor. He was married to the actress Rebecca Reichert and they have one daughter.-Biography:...
) fails to persuade him. The team find out about the break-in in Montreal, and discover that the files Ashley stole concerns "Operation Montana", a British government operation 25 years previously to experiment on six orphans to turn them into "perfect" humans, until Magnus shuts it down after she deemed it a rebound of the Nazi eugenics programme
Nazi eugenics
Nazi eugenics were Nazi Germany's racially-based social policies that placed the improvement of the Aryan race through eugenics at the center of their concerns...
. However, four of them have already been kidnapped by the Cabal. The Cabal, meanwhile, subject Ashley to tests by using the Vampire-blood from Bhalasaam, where they attempt to convert her to a "Super-Abnormal".
Henry and Druitt recover the fifth Montana subject in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, while Magnus and Will Zimmerman
Will Zimmerman
Doctor William "Will" Zimmerman is a main character and male lead of the Canadian fantasy-science fiction television series Sanctuary. He is portrayed by Robin Dunne...
(Robin Dunne
Robin Dunne
Robin Dunne is a Canadian actor who is mainly known for having had numerous leading roles in sequels throughout his career, and lately for his role as Doctor Will Zimmerman in the cult Science fiction Television series, Sanctuary....
) search for the sixth in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
. They arrive to find that he was taken by a group led by Kate Freelander (Agam Darshi
Agam Darshi
Agam Darshi is an English-born actress, now based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.-Early life:Agam Darshi was born Agamdeep Darshi in Birmingham, UK. At a very young age she and her family moved to Canada. At the age of 14 she left home and moved to Calgary, to pursue a career of acting -...
), a con-artist
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
with Cabal connections. She is captured by Magnus, but quickly escapes before they could learn anything from her. However, the Cabal finds out Kate was captured by the Sanctuary, and orders a hit on her. She is wounded during a firefight, but manages to flee and seek refuge in the Sanctuary. In exchange, she tells Magnus that she once visited a Cabal base in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Will, Druitt, Tesla and Magnus arrive at the warehouse to find Ashley alive, but is now fully transformed into a seemingly indestructible Vampire-hybrid, and that her original personality is destroyed. The team are able to escape before she could kill them. Magnus deduces that the Cabal are going to do the same transformation to the five kidnapped Montana subjects. In fact, the Cabal have already completed this, and declares war on the Sanctuary Network.
Part 2
Magnus is able to make contact with Dana Whitcomb (Lynda BoydLynda Boyd
Lynda Boyd is a Canadian actress, singer, dancer, musician, and writer. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the Hollywood films Final Destination 2 , An Unfinished Life , She's the Man , and On Thin Ice, with Diane Keaton...
), a high ranking member of the Cabal. She is willing to hand over Ashley back to where she was in exchange that Magnus hand over the Sanctuary Network. Refusing to give into the demand, Magnus enlists Tesla and Henry to develop a weapon capable of neutralising the hybrids's power, but wants it to be non-lethal, which Tesla finds nearly impossible unless it is completely lethal. During the time they finish a prototype, the Sanctuary bases in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, New Dehli and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
are destroyed by Ashley and her army. Magnus and the team realise the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Sanctuary is the next target, and they travel there to test the new prototype. However, despite the base's defenses, the hybrids break in and dispatch all the resistance they encounter, including the killing of Will's new love interest, Clara Griffin (Christine Chatelain
Christine Chatelain
Christine Chatelain is a Vancouver, British Columbia-born Canadian film and television actress. She had a recurring role on The Collector as Taylor. Originally an art student in Vancouver, she tried acting as a hobby and quickly gained roles in 40 Days and 40 Nights and 3000 Miles to Graceland as a...
); the hybrids were able to see her when invisible. The prototype weapon is also unsuccessful; it only stuns the hybrids momentarily before overcoming the effects. The team manages to drive off the Hybrids with a fire elemental which and forces them to retreat, but the London Sanctuary is badly damaged. With no other choice, the team and whatever personnel are left of the London Sanctuary evacuate to the main base in Old City.
Magnus resorts to upgrade the weapon to its intended lethal setting, which would kill Ashley in the process. Realising they may face another unwinnable battle, Kate Freelander is released, though she tries to stay and fight, she is sent away as Magnus doesn't trust her. She would later stay and fight anyway. Magnus later visits Bigfoot, and leaves him a syringe of the Lazarus cure if he chooses to take it and save his friends. Henry maintains all the defence systems in the Sanctuary. However, the Cabal launch a virus to neutralise the EM shield
Electromagnet
An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by the flow of electric current. The magnetic field disappears when the current is turned off...
, allowing the hybrids to break into the base with ease. Now with a fully functioning weapon, Magnus is able to kill three of the hybrids before she confronts Ashley, and attempts to talk her into coming back. After Bigfoot takes the cure and saves his friends, he protects Henry and Will while they restore the EM shield, which destroys the fourth hybrid when he attempts to teleport. Magnus faces off against Ashley and the final Hybrid. The final hybrid attacks Magnus, but is stopped by Ashley, whose original personality (apparently buried, not destroyed) manages to regain control of her body temporarily. Ashley teleports with the final hybrid, killing it, but also herself in the process.
Production
Damian Kindler
Damian Kindler is an Australian-born Canadian writer and producer. He emigrated to Toronto, Canada, when he was young. He currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. He lives with his wife and his two children Hannah and Phoebe Kindler.He is most noted for his contributions to the Stargate...
wanted to tie up loose ends from the cliffhanger, and to settle the series into a "new groove." He considered two beginnings; one would start with the action, and the second was the Cabal explaining their plans. Thinking the latter was too uninteresting, the former was chosen. Kindler also wanted to start it six weeks after "Revelations", since it was considered a good place to start, and joined right in the middle of the hunt for Ashley. In the script, though pivotal in the plot, Emilie Ullerup
Emilie Ullerup
Emilie Ullerup is a Danish actress. She is best known for playing Ashley Magnus on the television series Sanctuary.-Early life and education:...
only had one line worth of dialogue. During the original casting call, Babz Chula
Babz Chula
Babz Chula was an American-born actress, permanent resident in Canada.-Life and career:Chula was born as Barbara Ellen Zuckerman in Springfield, Massachusetts. She was raised in Jamaica, New York...
's character was meant to be male, bald and German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. However, Chula's audition impressed the producers enough to have her instead. Andrew Lockington
Andrew Lockington
Andrew Lockington is a Canadian film score composer, who composes scores for American and Canadian films. He was born July 31, 1974 in Burlington, Ontario....
was introduced as the new composer for the second season. Before filming began, the crew scouted locations in areas such as Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
to get their understanding of the area before the episode is to be set there.
Like the series, "End of Nights" was filmed mostly in green screen
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
. Since there is limited room on the set, one scene required five actors to be in it, which was not an easy task. In other scenes involving green screen, one side of the background was in fact real, which would give the viewer the impression of not knowing which side is visual effects, and which is not. The scene involving the tele-conversation between Will Zimmerman
Will Zimmerman
Doctor William "Will" Zimmerman is a main character and male lead of the Canadian fantasy-science fiction television series Sanctuary. He is portrayed by Robin Dunne...
and Clara Griffin was filmed live; Christine Chatelain
Christine Chatelain
Christine Chatelain is a Vancouver, British Columbia-born Canadian film and television actress. She had a recurring role on The Collector as Taylor. Originally an art student in Vancouver, she tried acting as a hobby and quickly gained roles in 40 Days and 40 Nights and 3000 Miles to Graceland as a...
was filmed behind a green screen, 20 feet away from Robin Dunne
Robin Dunne
Robin Dunne is a Canadian actor who is mainly known for having had numerous leading roles in sequels throughout his career, and lately for his role as Doctor Will Zimmerman in the cult Science fiction Television series, Sanctuary....
. The scenes set in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
were in fact filmed in a back alley behind a Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
studio, which was used several times before in the series. Green screen was added in the background to make the Cairo street look longer than the alley was. Another instance of outside filming was the scenes involving Ashley's conversion process. The filming location was a large, tall room. Director Martin Wood
Martin Wood
Martin Wood is a Canadian television director who has been directing since the mid 1990s. Specializing in science fiction, where he is best known for his work as a director and producer on Stargate SG-1 , as well as its spin-off series Stargate Atlantis .-Career:Martin Wood began his television...
previously used the area for filming Stargate: Continuum
Stargate: Continuum
Stargate: Continuum is a Canadian-American military science fiction film released through MGM Home Entertainment , written by Brad Wright and directed by Martin Wood. The film is a time-travel adventure and is the second sequel to Stargate SG-1, after Stargate: The Ark of Truth...
. The scenes between Christopher Heyerdahl
Christopher Heyerdahl
Christopher Heyerdahl is a Canadian actor who has had roles in many prominent television shows and movies. He is tall.-Biography:Heyerdahl was born in the mountains of British Columbia and is of Norwegian and Scottish descent...
as Bigfoot and Ryan Robbins
Ryan Robbins
Ryan Robbins is a Canadian actor. He was married to the actress Rebecca Reichert and they have one daughter.-Biography:...
as Henry Foss were completed on one take, because Wood was impressed by the acting, and the camera angles. Furthermore, Heyerdahl was to wear contact lens
Contact lens
A contact lens, or simply contact, is a lens placed on the eye. They are considered medical devices and can be worn to correct vision, for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons. In 2004, it was estimated that 125 million people use contact lenses worldwide, including 28 to 38 million in the United...
es to change his eye colour for Bigfoot. However, at the time of filming, Heyerdahl sustained an eye injury.
Overall, "End of Nights" produced around 1,200 visual effects shots, which made up over half of the 2,100 visual effects done in the entire first season alone. The premiere of the second season also had a slightly different opening title sequences. Though the same used from the first season, the producers changed the pictures of Magnus meeting Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, to those between her and Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
.
Reception
Mark Wilson of About.com praised the episode for being a "harbinger of the new [and a more] confident Sanctuary" since the first season, as well as Martin Wood's directing of the story and Darshi's performance, but felt certain elements that didn't work well as they should, such as feeling more confined than the past episodes, and that the abnormals of the Sanctuary are barely featured. Paul Simpson of Total Sci-Fi rated the first part 7 out of 10, describing it as "hokum, but enjoyable hokum." Simpson also stated the scripting felt a bit sharper, though still high on melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
tic dialogue, and described the introduction of Kate Freelander allows a degree of fun. URBMN was mixed towards Christopher Heyerdahl
Christopher Heyerdahl
Christopher Heyerdahl is a Canadian actor who has had roles in many prominent television shows and movies. He is tall.-Biography:Heyerdahl was born in the mountains of British Columbia and is of Norwegian and Scottish descent...
's performance; stating he was uneven as Bigfoot, but excellent as Druitt, and also found Agam Darshi "surprisingly tolerable" as Freelander. Overall, the reviewer considered that while the episodes, and the series in general, bears similarities with Primeval and Torchwood
Torchwood
Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...
, it was more the former than the latter.
Rob Vaux of Mania.com was overall mixed about the two episodes. He stated the first part doesn't leave much room for the newcomers to the series, but still holds a fair amount of interest, and was decently executed, and the low points remain "forgivable." Vaux praised Darshi's performance, but believed the other performers detracted her "appealine presence." Vaux believed the action sequences failed to catch hold, but improves with its character developments, stating the best moments involve Ashley's indoctrination, and Babz Chula
Babz Chula
Babz Chula was an American-born actress, permanent resident in Canada.-Life and career:Chula was born as Barbara Ellen Zuckerman in Springfield, Massachusetts. She was raised in Jamaica, New York...
's "creepy performance." For the second part, Vaux stated that enough of the questions have been resolved to provide adequate drama, and leaves a few plot threads to ensure the viewers tune in the next week, and it won't make the viewer regret tuning in. Vaux reacted more positively on the second part's action sequences, and Druitt's onscreen presence.
External links
- "End of Nights (Part 1)" on syfy.comSyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
- "End of Nights (Part 2)" on syfy.comSyfySyfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...