Warehouse 13 Information

Warehouse 13 is a U.S. television science fiction series that premiered on July 7, 2009, on the Syfy network.

Executive-produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins, the dramatic comedy from Universal Media Studios is said to have borrowed much from the American-Canadian horror television series Friday the 13th: The Series (1987"90), and has been described as "part The X-Files, part Raiders of the Lost Ark and part Moonlighting." The series premiere was Syfy's third largest debut to date, garnering 3.5 million viewers. The first six episodes were all among the top ten highest rated series episodes on Syfy. Episode 6, "Burnout", drew 4.4 million viewers, setting the record for Syfy's highest rated show. Season 2 began July 6, 2010. It was renewed October 5, 2010, for a third season of 13 episodes, which began July 11, 2011. It was renewed for a fourth season August 11, 2011, which began July 23, 2012.

Characters from Eureka have crossed over to Warehouse 13 and vice-versa, and actors from Warehouse 13 have crossed over to Alphas.

Premise

The series follows U.S. Secret Service Agents Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) when they are assigned to the government's secret Warehouse 13 for supernatural artifacts. It is located in a barren landscape in South Dakota, and they initially regard the assignment as punishment. As they go about their assignments to retrieve missing artifacts and investigate reports of new ones, they come to understand the importance of what they are doing. In Season 1, Episode 4, they meet Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti), who is searching for her missing brother; in Season 2, she joins the team as their techno-wiz. In Season 3, Episode 1, Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore), an Agent from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives comes aboard.

Production

Then known as SciFi, the network originally ordered a two-hour pilot episode written by Farscape creator Rockne S. O'Bannon, Battlestar Galactica co-Executive Producer Jane Espenson, and D. Brent Mote. Jace Alexander eventually directed a revised version written by Espenson, Mote, and Blade: The Series executive producer David Simkins. SciFi ordered an additional nine episodes on September 19, 2008. The series premiered in the U.S. on July 7, 2009 concurrent with the name-change to Syfy. The series is filmed in and around Toronto, Ontario.

Cast and characters

See List of Warehouse 13 characters for more information

• Eddie McClintock as Pete Lattimer is a "rule-bender" Secret Service Agent, now assigned to Warehouse 13. He has been able to pick up "vibes", both good and bad, since he was a child. The series frequently makes references to his being a recovering alcoholic who already had been sober for more than two years when the series started. He is also more than a little fond of cookies.
• Joanne Kelly as Myka Bering, once a rising star in the Secret Service, is a by-the-book agent. She has a scrupulous eye for detail and possesses an eidetic memory. She also has extensive knowledge of books, having grown up in a book store. Reference to a former love that ended in tragedy is frequently made, such as in the season one episode "Regrets".
• Saul Rubinek as Artie Nielsen is the Special Agent in Charge at Warehouse 13. A former cryptographer and codebreaker for the NSA, he has spent over 30 years at the Warehouse and is very knowledgeable about artifacts, both in the Warehouse and out in the world. He becomes a surrogate father to Claudia.
• Genelle Williams as Leena, the proprietor of the bed and breakfast in nearby Univille, where the team lives. She can read a person's aura.
• Allison Scagliotti as Claudia Donovan (Season 2-present, recurring previously) is described as a "young, hip, brilliant techno-wiz" who earns a job at Warehouse 13 after discovering too many of its secrets. She can hack into almost any computer network and has modified many artifacts to suit her needs.
• Simon Reynolds as Daniel Dickinson (Season 1) was Pete and Myka's boss in Washington, D.C.
• Aaron Ashmore as Steve Jinks (Season 4-present, recurring season 3) was an ATF agent before being recruited to Warehouse 13 for his ability to know if people are lying. In "Emily Lake" he is killed by Marcus Diamond (Sasha Roiz) on orders of Walter Sykes (Anthony Michael Hall); in Season 4, he is resurrected by Claudia using the metronome.

Agents of Warehouse 13 seem to be chosen either for their above-average intelligence (Artie is an expert NSA codebreaker, Myka has an eidetic memory and a wealth of encyclopedic knowledge, Claudia and H.G. Wells are both expert inventors) or because they possess a kind of extranormal ability (Pete and Mrs. Frederic both receive "vibes" regarding situations; Leena can read peoples' auras; and Jinks has the psychic ability to tell when a person is lying).

Artifacts and gadgets

Originally, artifacts are items connected to some historical or mythological figure or event. Each artifact has been imbued with something from their creator, user, or a major event in history. Some are well known: Lewis Carroll's looking glass, which contains an evil entity called "Alice" that can possess other people's bodies (Myka in Season 1 episode "Duped"), leaving their minds trapped in the mirror; and Edgar Allan Poe's pen and a volume of his writing, which can make whatever the user writes a reality. Some are not: Lizzie Borden had a mirrored compact that today compels users to kill their loved ones with an axe; Marilyn Monroe owned a brush that now turns its user's hair platinum blonde, which Myka once used on herself while under the influence of W. C. Fields' juggling balls that induce drunkenness and blackouts. Others are just plain bizarre such as Pavlov's Bell, which will call any dog to you but causes excessive drooling for 24 hours, or a magic kettle that grants wishes but will produce a ferret if the wish is impossible. The artifacts react with electricity and can be neutralized only by immersion in a mysterious purple goo produced by Global Dynamics, a research laboratory from Warehouse 13s sister show, Eureka. Artie has also mentioned that ingesting neutralizer will make you "see things". A new concept is introduced in Episode 47 (Season 4). Mrs. Frederic shows Claudia an artifact being created"?a silver bracelet worn by an ordinary person who exhibits extraordinary courage"?opening up new possibilities for future stories.

History

As the name suggests, there have been twelve incarnations prior to the current warehouse in South Dakota. The oldest was Warehouse 1, which was built between 336-323 BC under Alexander the Great, as a place to keep artifacts that were obtained during war campaigns. Following the death of Alexander, the Warehouse was relocated to Egypt, establishing the practice of locating the Warehouse in the empire that is the most powerful at the time, and therefore most able to safeguard it. It was at this time that Egypt's Ptolemaic rulers appointed a group of people, known as the Regents, to oversee the Warehouse and act as its first "agents" and collectors of artifacts. Warehouse 2 lasted until the Roman conquest of Egypt. Some of the other Warehouses include: Warehouse 7 located within the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan, Warehouse 8 in Berlin during the Holy Roman Empire (1260-1517), Warehouse 9 in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople (the inspiration for Ali Baba), Warehouse 11 in the Russian Empire under the Romanov Dynasty (the Napoleonic War with Russia in 1812 was an attempt to seize control of Warehouse 11), and Warehouse 12 located in the United Kingdom from 1830 until 1914. It was during the time of Warehouse 11 that the Regents began to employ the use of agents to gather and protect artifacts. This practice continued under Warehouse 12, with British agents traveling farther and farther searching for artifacts to add to the collection.

The next move for the Warehouse was to South Dakota in the United States. Unlike previous warehouses, which were placed in the centers of their empires, Warehouse 13 was located so as to hide it. The first Warehouse 13 was built in 1898, but the structure burnt down because of an insufficient understanding of how to safely store artifacts. The move to the rebuilt and current Warehouse 13 occurred in 1914 at the onset of World War I. The Warehouse was designed by Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and M. C. Escher.

Crossovers

Warehouse 13 is part of Syfy's developing shared fictional universe, with several characters crossing over between series:

• Global Dynamics researcher Douglas Fargo (played by Neil Grayston) from Eureka traveled to South Dakota to update Warehouse 13's computer system in the Warehouse 13 episode "13.1". Warehouse 13 computer wizard Claudia Donovan (played by Allison Scagliotti) subsequently traveled to the town of Eureka, Oregon to check out the technological marvels at Global Dynamics in the Eureka episode "Crossing Over". Fargo again appeared in the Warehouse 13 episode "Don't Hate the Player" when Claudia, Lattimer, and Bering traveled to Palo Alto, California to find Douglas beta testing a virtual reality simulator with the aid of a dangerous artifact.
• Dr. Vanessa Calder (played by Lindsay Wagner), who appeared in the Warehouse 13 episodes "For the Team", "Buried", and "Love Sick" as a physician and love interest of Artie, traveled to Fenton, Pennsylvania to investigate a series of deaths in which the victims suffered massive organ failures in the Alphas episode "Never Let Me Go".

Additionally, Hugo Miller spent some time in the town of Eureka, departing with Douglas Fargo at the end of episode "13.1"; he returns in "Love Sick", commenting that, "every week [there] something seems to go 'boom'!" His presence there is off screen.

At the end of chapter 10 of the first part ("The Mother's Tale") of the novel "Queen of Wands" by John Ringo, Artie and Claudia make a brief appearance where they come to collect a dangerous artifact that was recovered by Barbara Everette.

Reception

Warehouse 13 series premiere was the most-watched cable show on American television that night. With 3.5 million viewers, it was also Syfy's third best premiere ever, behind Stargate Atlantis (2004) and Eureka (2006). Joanne Ostrow of The Denver Post described it as "X-Files light, with the bickering Scully and Mulder stand-ins going off on Indiana Jones-style adventures." IGN reviewer Ramsey Isler gave the pilot a positive review, but felt that it was not enough to give Syfy "a chance to once again boast the best sci-fi show on TV." Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly gave it a negative review in July 2009, describing it as an "unholy cross between The X-Files, Bones, and Raiders of the Lost Ark." In July 2010, Tucker amended his opinion, stating that "Warehouse improved as it went along" and "grew more riveting"; he subsequently gave the show a rating of "B". In 2010, the series' composer, Edward Rogers, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Original Main Title Theme Music. Warehouse 13 has received seven 2012 Portal Award nominations, including best television series, best actor (Eddie McClintock), best actress (Joanne Kelly), best supporting actor (Saul Rubinek), best supporting actress (Allison Scagliotti), best special guest (Jaime Murray), and best episode ("Emily Lake"). It was Eddie McClintock's third straight nomination and the second nomination for Saul Rubinek and Allison Scagliotti.

Episodes

Media

DVD release

DVD Name		Release dates			Additional features
Warehouse 13: Season One	12	June 29, 2010	June 22, 2010	March 2, 2011	Season 2 Sneak Peek, Deleted Scenes, Artie-Facts, Saul Searching, What's in the Shadows, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, "Claudia" Feature Commentary, "Implosion" Feature Commentary, "Macpherson" Feature Commentary, Pilot Commentary with Cast And Crew, Pilot Podcast with Series Star Saul Rubinek, Gag Reel, Syfy Featurettes.
Warehouse 13: Season Two	13	June 28, 2011	July 5, 2011	July 4, 2012	Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, "Crossing Over" Eureka cross over episode, A Thrilleromedy, A Stitch in Time, Designing the Warehouse,"Time Will Tell" Commentary, "Merge With Caution" Commentary, "Reset" Commentary, Video Blogs, Photo Gallery. Does not contain season 2 episode 13 "Secret Santa".
Warehouse 13: Season Three	13	July 10, 2012	September 17, 2012		Of Monster and Men - 10 part animated series including exclusive chapter, season 2 episode 13 Secret Santa, Gag Reel, Guest Starring..., Love Sick, Audio commentaries on The New Guy, 3...2...1... and The 40th Floor. Does not contain season 3 episode 13 The Greatest Gift. (The R2 DVD includes The Greatest Gift.)

Novels

• Warehouse 13: A Touch of Fever. Greg Cox, Simon and Schuster, June 2011.

Comics

The first part of a five-part comic series were released in August 2011 by Dynamite Entertainment with part five released in December 2011. A trade paperback was released in May 2012 containing all five parts.