SANCTUARY season two expands on the mythology and storylines of the series.  One character is lost while another one, Kate Freelander, is introduced.   After the first three episodes wrap up the threads left hanging in season one, standout episodes are PAVOR NOCTURNUS, VERITAS, and HAUNTED while NEXT TUESDAY provides a bottle episode focusing on the relationship between Dr. Helen Magnus and Dr. Will Zimmerman (in a water tank set that is where most of the action takes place) and KALI shows a way for SANCTUARY to be unconventional by featuring a Bollywood dance sequence (before leaving us hanging for season three).   Also SANCTUARY continues to develop the look of virtual sets since the series is largely filmed against a green screen.  The virtual backgrounds look close to realistic when they are in darkness or during nighttime scenes.  They still need to work on the virtual set look for daytime.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentaries for every episode with cast and crew.   Amanada Tapping goes wild with the crew as they do go off tangets in addition to calling actor robin Dunne during the commentary for NEXT TUESDAY.  The tracks are insightful and enjoyable.

Making-of featurettes:

INTERNATIONAL SANCTUARY-   focus on the stories that show different sanctuaries around the world

AMANDA TAPPING DIRECTS VERITAS-   Amanda Tapping tells us why she loves directing and the cast (and the show’s creator) remark on why she is great to work with as a director.

DANCING IN MUMBAI-   Robin Dunne shows fans the Mumbai set that was built in the studio parking lot before behind-the-scenes footage (mixed with interviews with cast and crew) of Robin learning how to do a Bollywood dance for KALI Part 2.

SANCTUARY VISUAL EFFECTS-   a look at the various visual effects in season two

SANCTUARY GOES TO COMIC CON- creator Damian Kindler, and actors Amanda Tapping and Robin Dunne talk about the second season to an audience at San Diego Comic Con

WILL VISION: BEHIND THE SCENES- Robin Dunne takes fans on a tour of the Sanctuary studio building and introduces people to the various cast, crew, and support people involved in the series.

WILL VISION: SANCTUARY GOES TO JAPAN- Robin Dunne shows us the trip he, Amanda, Damian Kindler, and Martin Wood took to Japan to promote SANCTUARY and film a few scenes for an episode of SANCTUARY.

Bloopers and Outtakes that show the cast and crew being very silly rounds out the extras on disc four in addition to a Photo Gallery slideshow.

FINAL ANALYSIS:   SANCTUARY continues to amaze as a show I first wrote off as bad.  I’m glad I’m still giving this show a second chance as it continues to deliver great character arcs and stories.

This DVD review is ©6-26-2010 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com