Warehouse 13 DVD boxset (DVD TV series review)
I have to confess that after ‘The X-Files’ ended, seeing the plethora of new series with FBI agents investigating weird events, I was a more than a little apprehensive about trying any of its successors. What swayed me with ‘Warehouse 13’ was largely the price so I could at least afford to watch and although I bought it in early 2016 and only watched all 64 episodes in the past couple months and then got addicted.
You would think that with a basic plot of collecting objects with enhanced ‘mystical’ properties and housing them in a big warehouse would only have two basic plots. Well, three when there are some heavy villains out there who either want some of the artefacts or even the entire warehouse itself. The number of the warehouse is based on the number of places it’s been moved over the years, the selection based on the most powerful country. Before the USA, Warehouse 12 was in the UK. If you’re curious about how the warehouse is moved, it’s revealed in the fifth and final season.
There is also a structure to how the warehouse is protected by the people who run it. At the top, there are the Regents who supervise, beneath them, bonded to the warehouse is the caretaker Mrs. Irene Frederic (actress CCH Pounder) who pops in and out keeping an eye on its agents. Life for them is perilous and although we don’t see who they replaced, two Secret Service agents, Pete Lattimer (actor Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (actress Joanne Kelly) get caught in the wake of an artefact hunt whenever they start causing trouble by Artie Nielsen (actor Saul Rubinek) and find themselves transferred to South Dakota where the world of wonder awaits them and living at a bed and breakfast house run by another employee, Leena (actress Genelle Williams), an empath with a feeling for the warehouse, ensuring that objects are placed in safety and not where they can activate each other. It should be pointed out that any object can be temporarily deactivated by being placed in an insulating bag or sprayed with a similar material. A few episodes into season one, we are introduced to Claudia Donovan (actress Allison Scagliotti), regarded as mad but only trying to save her brother lost in another dimension and becomes another recruit. In the second season, Steve Jinks (actor Aaron Ashmore), an agent for the Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms And Explosives is recruited because he has the ability to tell if someone is lying or not. It should be pointed out that Lattimer has a feeling for when things aren’t right, Bering a near total recall for things she has read and Donovan is a tech wizard.
Show-runner Jack Kenny also likes to recruit guest stars from other past SF shows, some as recurring characters from both sides of the Atlantic. Now that is definitely spoiler and there are some nice surprises. Indeed, what makes this show work is the amount of comedy and surprises incorporated. Oddly, when you think there’s going to be a bottle show showing extracts from earlier episodes, its turned on its head and shows new material and spectacular at that. This is what makes writing a review difficult because it needs to be enjoyed without too many spoilers or surprises. Some things are expected but there’s also the likely twist as well.
The extras aren’t put on the last DVDs for each season and I would suggest that you watch them after each or risk spoilers. There are two pod-cast stories included but they are spread over the DVDs but with no discernible idea where they fit into the continuity and can be read anytime within that season.
Is it worth watching? Oh, yeah! I’m going to make a point of rewatching it again later in the year. That should speak for itself. Welcome to the world of infinite surprises.
GF Willmetts
December 2016
(region 2 DVD: pub: Universal/SyFi Channel, 2009. 19 DVDs 2,660 minutes 5 seasons 64 * 44 minute episodes with loads of extras. Price: about £20.00 (UK) if you know where to look)
cast: Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, Allison Scagliotti, Aaron Ashmore and CCH Pounder
check out website: www.universalstudios.com/
