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Great characters come in pairings. Having more than one hero makes for some of the most dynamic storytelling. Especially in sci fi. An alien invasion just isn't half as fun if the hero doesn't have a love interest; someone equal parts an object of affection, but also a level head to keep the hero from sinking into oblivion.
In The War of the Worlds, The Blob, Star Wars, and a steady stream of early sci fi, the pairing of a male and female duo made the story multi-dimensional. Would we care about Mulder's journeys into the unknown if not for Dana Scully at his side; driving him, while at the same time, holding him back from his own destruction?
On the Fringe, agent Olivia Dunham is paired with Peter Bishop, two unlikely allies if you consider that one is a practical agent and patriot, and the other is a free soul, unrestrained by any governmental constraints.
In the legacy of Battlestar Galactica, President Laura Roslin and Admiral William Adama, who reluctantly (in the beginning) band together to find humanity a home, became one of the most profound, enigmatic and endearing pairings in recent sci fi history.
There is always a balance; male and female, the comic and the serious, the good and the bad. The formula is so successful it's a driving force behind Sci Fi channels latest offering, Warehouse 13. In writing the perfect pairing for a tale about a secret warehouse (a sort of extension of the Pentagon's secret warehouse in Indiana Jones), the producers didn't look to sci fi pairings of yore. Instead they looked farther back to the classic pairing of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. Think Philadelphia Story...with ancient relics imbued with supernatural powers...and Saul Rubinek. (The incredible CCH Pounder also stars!)
Science Fiction has endured for many decades on the idea that the future will be a world of flying cars, spaceships, sentient robots and humans and extraterrestrials frolicking together, at resorts on Mars. In science fiction Zombies and Giant bugs, Vampires and Evil children can rule the world. And it is in science fiction that true love can prevail no matter what life throws at you. This is at the heart of the phenomena known on the world wide web as 'Shipping', or 'Shipperdom'. When storytellers (Writers, Producers, and studios-at-large) fail to draw the masses to the theatres on scare tactics alone, it's the love stories that speak to everyone.
In television, having two characters whose trajectory diverges on some alien landscape, resonants with many of us. We may not have flying saucers parked at McDonalds, or covert reptilians in the government, but we've all been in and out of love. Whether or not Myka Bening and Peter Lattimer become the next Scully and Mulder on their quest to protect the secrets of Warehouse 13 is not clear. But executive producers, Jack Kenny and David Simkins are looking to screwball comedies of the 1930's and 40's for inspiration.
Warehouse 13 tells the story of two government agents charged with the task of watching over a government sanctioned warehouse; the home of all supernatural objects of antiquity and beyond. Think the Ark of the Covenant, The (real) Spear of Destiny, and maybe even the skeletal remains of great historical/mythical heroes who shouldn't exist. Warehouse will be a story-of-the-week type of show, versus and ongoing plot, although there may be one great story that is the thread throughout the series.
Warehouse 13's two-hour pilot premiers July 7th, at 9m ET/PTon Sci Fi.
*You can view promo shots, the sneak peak , and the Promo trailer .
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