Pilot (Eureka)

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“Pilot”
Eureka episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 1
Written by Andrew Cosby
Jaime Paglia
Directed by Peter O'Fallon
Guest stars Maury Chaykin
Greg Germann
Rob Labelle
Garry Chalk
Jennifer Clement
Zak Ludwig
Chris Gauthier
Kwesi Ameyaw
Production no. 101
Original airdate July 18, 2006
Episode chronology
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– "Many Happy Returns"

"Pilot" is the premiere episode of the American science fiction drama Eureka. Although originally broadcast as one 2-hour episode, it functions as the first and second episodes of Season 1.

Contents

[edit] Plot synopsis

A freak car accident brings U.S. Marshal Jack Carter into the not-so quiet town of Eureka.

While transporting a fugitive (his daughter, Zoë) back to Los Angeles, U.S. Marshal Jack Carter crashes his car near the remote town of Eureka, where the country's greatest minds live and work on the next great scientific advancements. Jack is a fish out of water among the gifted inhabitants. As he comes to realize just what the town is, he gets caught up in the investigation of an experiment gone wrong. Walter Perkins, one of the brightest minds in town, has created a tachyon accelerator that threatens to tear apart reality itself. Before Walter can fix it, however, he is apparently absorbed by his own machine. Even with a town full of geniuses, it seems as if Jack is the only one capable of saving the town. He gets a young autistic savant he befriended earlier to complete Walter's equations, partially destroyed by the antimatter sphere created by Walter's machine. Then town mechanic and resident jack-of-all-trades Henry Deacon and other scientists at the Eureka Advanced Research Facility initiate a reversal to the impending cataclysm before the town — and entire world — are absorbed in the vortex. With the local sheriff injured in the incident, Allison Blake, the D.O.D. government liaison, requests Jack be reassigned as the new sheriff of Eureka.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • "Groom Lake" is a reference to Area 51, Nevada, where unusual and unearthly things seem to happen.
  • The laws of physics states that nothing can accelerate up until and then beyond the speed of light, but in theory it is possible to have something moving faster than light if it did that without accelerating (This particle group is called Tachyons). This is not a break from the laws of physics which the episode states.
  • In the pilot episode's commentary, the creators of the show point out the book which Susan Perkins is reading in the opening moments, Science and the Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Everything by Ervin László as a key hint into the direction and mythology of the show.

[edit] Significance

  • The main characters are introduced.
  • During the accident, we see two different versions of Jack and Zoe Carter, going different ways. It was originally intended to be referenced at the end of the pilot, with Zoe and Carter passing their past selves when leaving Eureka; however, the scene was cut because it was believed to be too confusing. There are no plans to follow up on the scene in future episodes.[1]
  • Beverly Barlowe poisons Walter Perkins' wife, Susan, and reveals that she's working for a covert organization that doesn't seem to have Eureka's best interests in mind.

[edit] Reception

The series' premiere performed well, with more than 4.1 million people watching. Eureka was also the Number 1 cable program for that Tuesday night, and was the highest-rated series launch in SciFi's fourteen-year history.[2] John Maynard of the Washington Post noted that "Pilot" was more character driven than special effects driven, which was a good thing because the effects were "so-so."[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jaime Paglia interview
  2. ^ SciFi press release hosted by TheFutonCritic.com URL accessed July 21, 2006
  3. ^ Maynard, John (July 18, 2006). In Sci Fi's Quirky 'Eureka,' Geniuses at Work. Washington Post. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
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