Reception
The series premiere received a household rating of 2.2, the highest rated original series premiere from the Sci Fi Channel since the series premiere of Eureka in July 2006. The 2.2 rating represented more than 2.7 million viewers; 1.08 million among the adult 18–49 demographic and 1.4 million among the adult 25–54 demographic. This placed Sanctuary the number one cable program among adults 25–54, and number four among adults 18–49. The ratings success also boosted the web series to 1.2 million views. In the United Kingdom, both parts placed the series first place on the top ten viewing programmes for ITV4 during the two weeks they aired. The first part was viewed by 565,000, while the second part received a higher viewing figure of 608,000.
Reviews of the pilot were generally positive, where reviewers marked comparisons between Sanctuary, and other science fiction series such as Primeval and Torchwood, as well as the comparisons between Zimmerman and Stargate SG-1's Daniel Jackson. Jason Hughes of TV Squad described the episode as "one of the more hyped premieres of recent years on Sci Fi," and thought it made a "nice job of creating a cohesive narrative from the elements of webisodes," as well as praising Christopher Heyerdahl's acting for John Druitt's stereotype as the antagonist. Hughes also dubbed the green screen usage as a resounding success, though he felt that some of the scenes somewhat hindered the pace of the episode. Mark Wilson of About.com stated that the synergy between the writers and cast looked promising, and that Robin Dunne's performance is "one who really pulls the viewer into Sanctuary," as well as stating the cast served as eye candy for the viewers, since they consist of guest stars, who made other appearances throughout other series as Stargate (Tapping, Heyerdahl, Kavan Smith), Battlestar Galactica (Kandyse McClure), Flash Gordon (Panou) and The 4400 (Caiman Wiebe).
Tory Ireland Mell of IGN rated the episode a "great" 8.7 out of 10, describing the story as intriguing, and the concept as mind blowing, and though the concept of the series from a production standpoint was executed well, but criticised the seemingly slow pace. Paul Simpson of Total Sci-Fi rated the both parts 7/10, and made comparisons of this episode, and "Everything Changes", the pilot episode of Torchwood. He thought the first part, with such aspects as Heyerdahl's effective acting holds potential for the series, while the second part still reminisces Simpson of Primeval and Torchwood again, but still holds potential. However, Brian Lowry of Variety Magazine has said that the pilot episode was "Uninspiring" and further stated that it didn't "Rock anyone else's world."
The visual effects of the episodes were submitted for three award nominations, one of which was won. In 2009, the first part won a Gemini Award for "Best Visual Effects", beating fellow nominee "The Five". It received a Leo Award nomination for "Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series," but lost to Stargate Atlantis' "First Contact". It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects but lost to Heroes.
Read more about this topic: Sanctuary For All
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