ENTER THE CONTINUUM
Vancouver stars in new time- travelling TV series.
“What if” is one of the great questions of science fiction. Vancouver writer- producer Simon Barry knew that even when he was a student at the University of British Columbia’s film program.
What if, for example, a futuristic, science- fiction TV police procedural were set in Vancouver and filmed in Vancouver, with the city representing itself for a change, instead of filling in for a more rainy, wetter version of, say, Seattle.
Barry started to imagine various “what if” scenarios, all of them involving time travel and a crime of the century — literally, a crime hatched 60 years in the future and transplanted back in time to present day.
What if, say, there were a female detective from the future — 2077, say — who travels back in time about 65 years, incognito and undercover, to pursue a cell of violent extremists bent on destruction, who’ve broken out of their future prison and escaped back in time?
What if the world of the future is controlled by major corporations, and these extremists will do anything they can — include changing the past — to correct that?
What if, in pursuit of justice in the past to preserve an imperfect future, this detective were to become partners with a present- day policeman who has no idea who she is, where she came from, or why she behaves the way she does?
And what if the extremists, seemingly bent on destroying anything to do with today’s major corporations, believe they are on a righteous path, heroes for a greener planet, out to save the world — and future society — from the evil clutches of Walmart, Microsoft, Exxon Mobil, Google, Facebook and others. Continuum is the result. The new Canadian sci- fi series bows Sunday on Showcase.
Rachel Nichols ( Alias, Criminal Minds, G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) plays Kiera Cameron, the late 21st century detective stranded in present day. Calgary native Victor Webster, familiar to viewers of Mutant
X as the electricity- generating Brennan Mulwray, plays Cameron’s taciturn, present- day partner, Carlos Fonnegra.
Veteran 24 co- executive producer and Emmy- winning director Jon Cassar directed Continuum’s two- hour premiere, and established the series’ visual template. In all, 10 episodes are planned for the first season. More seasons are on the drawing board, depending on audience reaction.
Barry is tucked away in a sparsely furnished office high above Vancouver’s False Creek waterfront on this day, an uncharacteristically chilly spring morning. Separated by a closed door, the crew is putting the finishing touches on the day’s first scene.
In the scene, Nichols’ Det. Cameron is going over the case notes of a recent murder in front of her bemused colleagues. It’s not that taxing a scene by Continuum’s standard for high action, but the meticulous attention to detail requires numerous takes. It may be morning but, clearly, already, this is going to be a long day. The kind of day when a time machine might come in handy.
“I had this idea that I could take the time- travel genre and marry it with the police procedural, and make something out of it that would appeal to people and be satisfying,” Barry explained. “Time travel is a unique concept for telling stories. It opens so many opportunities, dramatically. There are paradoxes, and there’s the science, and absence of science.”
One of Continuum’s continuing paradoxes is whether the characters themselves understand the effect they are having on the future.
“One of the things that time travel in the movies and TV has taught us is that you need perspective to know if you’re changing the future,” Barry said. “We made a conscious decision, early on, that our characters are not in control of what’s happening to them. They’re basically pawns. One of the things that’s different from other time- travel shows is that none of our main characters are controlling the process, or designed the process. These characters are part of somebody else’s plan. So the mystery of whether or not they are changing time will remain open until the end of the show. When we do our last episode, that will be part of the reveal.”
Barry may have set his story in alternating versions of the future, but he has no idea what the real future has in store for Continuum as a long- running TV series.
“You never know what’s going to get traction, so as a writer you’re constantly nursing every idea you get, with the hopes that it gets to this point. You’re talking to a guy who’s been trying to do this for 10 years. I’m happy to get one season at this point. If I get two seasons, I’ll be thrilled.”