Survival Code

As a stand alone movie, I can see how "Borealis" may be slightly disappointing. As the pilot for a new series though, it's awesome. Why? It leaves one wanting more.

In an all-too-near future, the arctic icecap has melted, opening the way for new trade routes, oil fields, mining operations, and other untapped resources for the international community to squabble over. At the center of it all is Vic's bar. Owned by a former cage fighter and now the customs agent for the Canadian government, the bar is the center of life in an emerging frontier town.

Like many sci-fi shows, "Borealis" owes much to the genre of Westerns. The characters include a likable town drunk, a good-hearted prostitute, native Inuit, and a couple characters vying for the role of lawman, including Vic. But, it comes with a definite 21st century spin, including an American archaeologist funded by the Russians, an activist biologist determined to protect and document what remains of the arctic ecosystem, and an enigmatic international diplomat.

While the premise relies on climate change, the show doesn't get bogged down in preaching about the global warming we are currently causing. It moves along at a fast pace, with murder, fights and intrigue as nations, corporations and Vic all try to establish dominance in this new frontier. And since it's in the near future, advances in technology are evident, but not distracting or far beyond our current comprehension.

What really sets this apart from other Canadian sci-fi and fantasy is the acting and writing. The cast is excellent, and the main characters are entirely believable. Ty Olsson's understated energy really carries the pilot, but I also found myself wanting to see more of and know more about the characters played by Bryan Dick, Michelle Harrison, Greyston Holt and Christine Horne.

To me, fiction is most successful when the characters come alive in your mind and you want to continue their stories. In that, "Borealis" completely succeeds. And I sincerely hope that a network such as Space or Syfy feels the same way, and will use this movie as the pilot of a series, as it seems intended to be.

I too am at a loss with the reviews by the first 7 people and agree they must be associated to the movie somehow and have a stake in "gushing" over it. Shows like this have an agenda and a way of pushing it on people but then people who are more than likely associated with the show feel the need to come on here and skew the rating. Why not let the intended viewer decide without you folks helping it along. I'm sure they would be the first ones to howl at obvious conflict of interest in pushing a product.

Acting was just blah and what you would expect from an average TV show about a future that everyone seems to think is inevitable. How original the future is cold, so very cold and resources are scarce. The end is nigh unless we repent and lower our carbon footprint.

I just don't see this show standing out in a crowd of other shows that tell us we need to change our ways or else.

SURVIVAL CODE was a TV movie originally conceived as a pilot episode of a new show, BOREALIS. The show was never picked up so the viewer is left with this oddly lightweight film that takes a great deal of time setting up various characters in a specific location and then just randomly ends having only cleared up one or two sub-plots. It's an unsatisfying viewing experience, one which made me wonder why I'd bothered when it came to an end.

This low budget effort is a Canadian movie set in the icy Canadian wastes. The story is about various factions fighting over land rights. Although it is set in the future, the science fiction aspects of the story are kept to a bare minimum, no doubt due to budgetary restraints. The characterisation is okay even though the movie lacks big name or even recognisable stars. Bizarrely, some random scenes of cage fighting have been inserted into the mix in order to 'up' the action quotient. It's not an entirely successful choice.

I watched this 'movie' on a Saturday evening when nothing else was on, and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality. The script is good, the characters develop well, the complexity of the story starts moves along at a nice pace without rushing ... and then suddenly with absolutely no warning it just stops!

This was clearly made, and made well, as either a TV series pilot or as the first in a TV movie series (think Jesse Stone in a slightly sci-fi futuristic Canadian wilderness). But not having that warning going in left me hugely disappointed at the total lack of a conclusion. Obviously this wasn't picked up for some reason, but then it makes no real sense to have released it in its incomplete format.

This was a pilot for a TV series and was O.K., not the massive, breathtaking, wonderful production the top SEVEN reviews are gushing about and have OBVIOUSLY come from either people associated with the production or have some stake in it's continued(?) success.

For example, there's even a review from some guy in POLAND who's English is spot on and come ON get real people, there's no way this ever reached Polish TV, rental shops or whatever.... if you're going to post fake reviews, at least make them SEEM legit!

For a semi-scifi story, it's interesting enough and the acting is TV quality at best but it was better than a lot of the schlock that's being tossed our way these days. If it ever gets picked up for a full run, it might catch on for the plain fact that there IS so much garbage out there but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to become a reality.... it just wasn't THAT engaging.